Suboxone Taper?

[barney521]

I have been on Suboxone for almost one year. There is only one doctor in my area that prescribes this medication. It has definitely worked for me and I have been off heroin for one year now. As the months have gone by I have started taking less and less suboxone. I was started on 8mg in the morning and 8mg at night, that was a year ago. Now I am currently using about 1 to 2mg per day. I want to get off it completely but my doctor says that's not a good idea. I don't really like my doctor but he is the only one I can find to prescribe it. He still gives me two 8mg pills a day and I have been stockpiling those for the last 6 months. I don't want to be on these anymore. 1to 2mg per day is totally sufficient for me. I'm exercising all the time and I feel really good. The only thing that scares me are the withdrawals. How bad will they be? I'm taking no more than 2mg per day. Can anyone suggest a taper that would cause little to no withdrawal symptoms?

[barney521]

To All, Thanks so much for the comments. I'm truly glad that I am on this forum. It seems that everyone wants to be really helpful and I appreciate that. This morning I took about .75mg and I feel ok. I've noticed lately that I'm much more tired than normal. I only take my dosage in the morning right when I get up. I have been tapering gradually and it seems to be working, but I won't really know until I cut them out completely. Tomorrow I am going to go down to .50mg and see how that works. I will try and not take any on Tuesday(that's my day off) and then I will even try and go further and take the dosage down to a crumb. I have Thursday and Friday of next week off and I'll try to go both those days without taking any. I will let you all know how it goes. I do have a therapist that I'm seeing and she knows all about my drug problems. The doctor that prescribes my pills, I don't really think he has my best interests at heart. He still prescribes the same dosage and I continue to taper and not tell him. I don't want to say anything bad about him but it almost seems like he makes more money the more he prescribes this to me. I told him months ago that I wanted to start tapering and his reply is always "well, maybe next month, but I don't think you're ready yet". Little does he know, I'm already below 1mg a day. I have a very positive attitude toward this whole situation and you guys are making it much easier. Thank you all-I'll post in a day or two and let you know how I feel, Thanks.

[salsinator]

Hi barney521,

Welcome to the forum.  Suboxone is a good medication and works great for some people.  I took it for nearly 4 years and have been off if it for 11 months now.  It was difficult to stop taking and while we cannot give specific dosage information for a taper plan, I will recommend that you do as avisg says and get down to the point where you are only taking a small crumb per day.  I tried stopping once at 2mg and the withdrawal was horrible, ended up back on the suboxone after 3 days and was on it for another 3 years.  The other thing that you should be doing is only taking one dose per day, the further you can space your doses as you decrease, the better.  Even skip a day if you can - that will help.  Once you stop for good, it will take a little longer to adjust, but just know that you will get there.  Make sure that you are in some kind of aftercare program - recovery is just not the suboxone, you will need support when you don't have the suboxone.  Most of all, keep posting, you will get some great support here.

[vicki595]

Hi~  Just saw your post...
Yes,please keep posting. It sounds like you'll do well.  You're doing great right now.
Too bad about the Sub Doctor,huh?    Do you have a medical doctor you can touch base with on this?  
All the best~
Vicki

[barney521]

Hey Guys, Thanks so much for the advice, it's truly appreciated. I'm hoping I'll be completely off the suboxone by the end of the month. I will definitely do what you both said and take my intake down to a crumb and then every other day. I'll let you guys know how it works for me and thank you so much for the support.

[LeaAnn807]

You will still have some WDs, but just taper down to a crumb.  I applaud you for wanting off.  Lots of people would just keep on and on taking it as long as the doc would let them!

Hang in there!  You are doing the right thing!

[avisg]

we cant give out taper plans on the forum . Seen as there are no doctors here I will tell you I would contue dropping all the way down to a crumb and then a crumb every other day before you go off it seems to have worked the best for members