Quitting Suboxone

[whattodo10325]

Hello Group,
Lets start with a brief history. I was taking 50 -60 (not mg, actual pills) of the Norco 10/325's a day, everyday, for quite a while. After talking with my Doctor and ending up in the emergency room twice, I decided it was time to quit. He told me it was a matter of life and death. I tried tapering and c/t, but obviously neither one of those worked for me. I did a lot of research on Suboxone and spoke to quite a few people on this forum about it as well. I knew that it was going to be tough no matter what I decided, but I knew I had to quit, and fast. Well, I decided to take the Sub train and I have now been on it for almost a year. He started me off at 2- 8.2 mg's a day and I am only down to 1 1/2 of the 8.2 mg's a day. I take 1/2 a pill in the morning and whole one in the late afternoon. This was not my original plan that I had in mind when I started taking the sub. From the research that I had done, I knew it was best to taper down quickly in the first few weeks and be done with it, but I didn't, and here I am. Anyway, I am finding it really hard to cut back, even a small amount less makes a huge difference in the way I feel. I am self employed and I am also married with 3 kids, so I have this idea stuck in my head that I can't slow down, or I will get behind in life. At the same time, I know I need to start to taper and then eventually quit. I have been telling myself that for months now. I think I am just afraid of the w/d's. If I don't take my sub for even 12 hours, I am useless. I am sick of spending about $300 a month on the pills (45 of them a month) and a $100 for each doctors visit. None of that matters though, I am not concerned about the money, I am concerned about my addiction to these pills. Don't get me wrong, I know that choosing Suboxone saved my life, especially given the amount I was taking, but now I want to be truly "sober". For me, I personally don't believe that someone is 100% sober while on Suboxone as it is a highly addictive drug. It just doesn't get you as "high" as the Norco. Any thoughts or input from anyone who has been down this ugly road I am on? I just want my life back and I am sure my wife and kids would like "me" back as well. Oh, and one more problem. My doctor always ask's what I need when I go to see him. He doesn't mean like Norco's or anything like that, but he pretty much let's me tell him how much Sub I need and how much I am taking. I cut back the first month I was taking sub and then when I increased my intake again, he increased my prescription to match. he mentions that I should cut back, but he leaves it up to me. Really nice guy and all, but way to easy going with the script pad.

[GA Guy]

First of all, your disease has been in remission the last year. Stopping the Suboxone does not mean that the disease will stay in remission. In fact, I found that after my year long Suboxone course my addiction was at the very same place it was when I first started the Suboxone. You should really get a recovery plan in place before stopping the Suboxone. That means getting to the root cause of the addiction and doing some work. I can see from your posts that you still have a highly addictive personality. The mental aspect of your disease is running rampant. First of all, you're dosing twice a day. Dosing more than once daily is addictive behavior and in reality, unnecessary. You're also on a very high dose for being on Suboxone a year. Anything above 4mg a day at this point is overkill and is a mental obstacle you must overcome. So, I'd suggest doing a few things under your doctor's supervision. First, get an aftercare program in place so you'll have a solid foundation in place when you get off the Suboxone. Second, stop the twice a day dosing..it's unnecessary and just addictive behavior at it's worst. Third, start gradually decreasing your dose under your doctor's care. You should be able to get to 4mg a day easily. If not, it's a mental thing that should be addressed within your aftercare program. Good luck.

[LoandTansMom24]

I have also been down this road, but it has taken me 4 and a half yrs to finally call it quits! The subs saved my life too (I was taking 240-460mg of oxycontin a day) and for that I am truly gratefuk. Our sub docs sound a lot alike. Mine would basically tell me the same thing...that I needed to start tapering, but would still let me tell her how much I was going to take everyday and she would write out the script. But whne my state ins. stopped b/c I no longer fell into the low income bracket, she basically wouldn't even help me come off. She had originally told me when I decided to come off the subs, there was meds she could give me to make wds more bearable. However, when the time came she told me I needed to take at least a week off work b/c I was going to be pretty sick and she knew it would be hard but to get as much excercise as I could. When I asked her about the meds to make it more bearable, she told me I needed to go see my family doc! Now, mind you this lady was my sub doc for almost 5 yrs. Anyway, enough venting! It took me 6 mths to taper from 1 and half pills a day to .05 mg. Today is my 3 rd day without subs and to tell you the truth...I feel ok! I am married, have 3 kids (all 5 and under) and I have a full time job! I'm not a doc by any means, but I cut my dose by 4 mg each time and sometimes, depending on how I felt, I would stay on the tapered dose a little longer than what I should have. So, if you're on 12 mg, I would go down to 8 mg for a week, and then stay on that 8 for a week AFTER you start to feel better, then go down to 4 mg, and stay on it the same way. Its a vicious cycle, I know, but you can do it! But Ga Guy is right! You gotta stop the 2x a day dosing! Its addicitive behavior. You gotta find out why you started on these pills to begin with. Its the only way. My addiction began after the birth of our first child. He died shortly after birth from a heart condition and thats when my addiction started! I just couldn't handle it and I never greived properly. I wish you all the luck in the world!! PM me anytime!