clonidine and elavil - good for aiding withdrawal?

So....when I was trying to get off of opiates, or at least when I should say I STARTED my recovery process, my doc was privy to what was doing on.  She wanted me to get off without prescribing me Suboxin.  She said it was trading one addiction for another.  To make a long story short, I took it upon myself to get on Sub through another doc - an "addiction specialist" that I don't trust at all, but nonetheless was happy to be free from the prison of searching for pills (the drug of choice pills) for the two weeks I was out of my own scrpipt each month.  I'm saying i don't trust him because he initialy prescribed me 32 mgs of Sub per DAY!  What the hell?!?  He acts like I shot up ten times a day and all I was doing was taking 20-30 norcos per day.  ANYHOW my question is this:  my old doctor presribed me 10 mg of elavil and also .1 mg of clonidine.  I still have these scripts.  Does anyone know if this will help me with withdrawals from the sub?  BTW..I never took 32 mgs of sub a day.  I took 12 mgs every two to three days.  But since I didn't have to take them every day, I thought I wasn't physically dependent on them until I din't take them for 5 days and started having icky withdrawals. The main withdrawal I can't handle is the "creepy crawlies" or restless leg and arm syndrome. Will these meds help for that?  Anyone that has info will help..thanks  

[LoandTansMom24]

Hello and congrats to you for wanting to be clean!! I just came off of sub after 4 and a half years!! I took my last TINY piece of sub 13 days ago and I must say that it really wasn't that bad! It wasn't near what I had expected, but everyone is different so you may not have the same experience that I have had. Your best chance for minimum withdrawals is to taper down to as little as possible before stopping completely. I was on about 12-16 mgs a day and I tapered down to .5mg before I quit. I have never taken the elavil or clonidine, but I have read that they are both used for opiate withdrawals. It is my understanding that the elavil will help you to sleep as well as help with that anxiety feeling so many people have when trying to come off any drug and the clonidine is supposed to help with that creepy crawling skin feeling and with your blood pressure since our blood pressure usually goes up when detoxing. You can do it!! I have 3 kids (my oldest is 5) and I have a full time job. I haven't missed a day of work while coming off the sub. And I was scared out of my mind to do it, but if you keep a positive attitude, that will help you too! Good Luck and feel free to PM me if you want!! So many on here helped me in my time of need and I want to go the same for others!!

[TrayCee]

yes, both of those will help

Be careful self-medicating

[signmeup]

OMG...Thank you so much! I also have been on Subs for awhile now (over a year), so this is goood I can talk to someone whom has a similar history with these.  The scariest part of withdrawal for me is the restless legs.  I won't tolerate it and I know it will just make me go get ANYTHING I need to make it go away, so I will research further regarding the clonidine.  Thanks so much!  BTW, if you don't mind me asking, (even though I know it varies from person to oerson)  what do you feel about starting on antidepressants while detoxing so that they will work once fully detoxed, or is that just too much to deal with?  I really DON'T want to get on any ADs, I just want to not be depressed once it's all out of my system.  However, just the thought of that last sentence actually becoming a reality for me makes me so happy!