suboxone

[jojo1911]

i have been an addict for the last 14 years and have never been able to get more than a month clean.  i just went to the dr. and she thinks that i would benefit from suboxone therapy.  i could use some help from people who are on it or have been on it.  i have taken it before but i have always bought it off the street and have never used it properly.  any advice would be appreciated.  

[tired_of_oxy]

My advice would be to forget setting an exact time. When you get into aftercare and get your support system in place you should decide to taper off when you feel ready. Although it's not a race, going off too soon is not good but generally people who stay on it a long time tend to have a harder time coming off.

Personally I decided to give myself just enough time to really get aftercare in place and going and then try to get off. I figured 3 months. I'm about halfway through my own plan but if I feel ready sooner I'll go off and if I feel I need more time then so be it. So forget the calendar to a point. Get aftercare in place and take it a day at a time. Give yourself enough time to get help in place, be out of active addiction and see when you think you feel like your confident in taking that step. The main goal right now is to get out of active addiction, get on a stable dose of sub and seek out help. Stay commited to aftercare and the rest will follow including when the right time is to go off.

Your heading in the right direction, sub can be thought of as a bridge to sobriety. But you have to do the legwork to get there. Congrats on the first step in reclaiming your life!

[jojo1911]

thanks, my dr. suggested going on it for a year.  does that sound accurate to you?

[tired_of_oxy]

I'm on it and my advice would be to stay on it for the least amount of time possible. Ita a good tool but needs to be part of a treatment plan if your goal is to be clean. Just like you I've quit, gone through those hellish wds only to go back a month later. I didn't get any aftercare andthat is the key to staying clean.

I'm starting therapy Friday and go to NA meetings. I believe getting the help I need to deal with WHY I needed to self medicate is the only way to lay those demons to rest and truly be able to set myself free and stay clean. I've tapered from 8-12 mgs of sub down to 4 in a short time. I want to be off sub very soon and am trying to do everything I can to put the odds in my favor when I do stop.

I have discovered that people with any decent amount of clean time, whether it be here or in my life, all have one common denominator-they all got aftercare. Sub can pluck you out of active addiction but it is no miracle pill, just  part of treatment.