I will be detoxing from longterm suboxone use and would like to extend an invite for others to join me so that we can help support each other

[suboxoneaddict]

I am about to emabark on a detox I have planned for about a year now. I have been on suboxone now for almost three years and I am finally paying heed to the downside. First, on the good side. Suboxone has helped me to stabilize my life along with AA and therapy. I have gone to school, become a drug counselor(I graduate this friday May 9th) become involved in a loving relationship, drastically improved my relationship with my family and stopped most of the negative behaviors associated with addiction. On the flip side however, suboxone is taking it's toll on me. The last time I was free of all drugs, was July of 05' after a protracted and painful detox from suboxone and methadone, which I had been on prior to the suboxone. I want to be completely sober again. Suboxone has ruined my sleep patterns, my creativity and robbed me of much of my enthusiasm for life. Since I no longer get natural highs, except from sex, I am ready to go through the arduous and drawn out detox that is a suboxone detox. I have been through many short term detoxes using suboxone and buprenex some as early as 95-96. I would like to share what will be my final detox with this community as I am actually going through it. In fact, I would like to invite others to detox with me at the same time. I will be done with school and have finished my last internship as a drug counselor and have set aside about 3 weeks to get through the worst of it. I am planning on using benzos during the first week and would like all the feedback possible. In exchange, I have a wealth of information about so many drugs. I have lived in 5 different countries and have been in more than 25 programs. The longest I have been in recovery is 21 months(current). While I have progressed in my life on suboxone I believe I have reached the point where it's effects are more harmful than helpful. Recovery is all about self-honesty and I know that to fully spread my wings in life, I must get off the suboxone. So, my detox starts on May 26th at which time I hope to be down to 2 mgs or less. Right now I am at 5mgs and I have been as high as 32mgs daily. I found that it is so much easier to taper when you split the dose into three or four administrations. A couple of months ago I got down to about two mgs a day but when it got tough at the end I decided to put the rdetox on hold until after my semester ended. So talk to me, I am originally from the NY/NJ area but have lived in the SF/ east bay area for the last five years.

[allaboutmary]

I am doing a long slow taper off suboxone.  I'm not really sure how much I'm taking now. It's just a crumb.  Next week I think I will try and go to every other day with my crumb. Then every 3rd day. So far it has been painless.  I think if you jump off at 2mg you will really feel it. Keep me posted.   Mary

[cocobeanlisa]

Hey,

I enjoyed reading your post and welcome and congrats,  on your plan/school and
all of the over things..I was detoxed off of hyrdocodone with suboxone and cant
understand why a Doctor would keep you on Suboxone for that long
of a period.  I was off of it in about 2 months...If your at 2mgs now try going to 1mg for a week maybe 2 weeks, than go to 1mg every other day for a week, than 1mg every 3 days before you know it will have forgotten to take your dose and you will not have w/ds and be clean....That is how my Doctor took me throught it..I did not suffer any w/ds at all..

That's just what I did nad my experiance...Good Luck..

Cocobean

[cocobeanlisa]

Oh and PS I have stayed off the pills for over a year, so I believe in the subx detox..
cocobean

[flmagi]

Good luck on your Sub detox. That is quite a high dose to jump off at, but totally your choice. I'm still at 3-4 mgs per day, started on Jan 30th. Not ready to jump off yet, but I'll be doing the slow and low taper.
Keep us updated on your progress.

[dare2cnect]

Oh my gosh!  Your post scares the heck out of me!  I just went through a HORRIBLE detox off of Oxycontin in the hospital.  They used Suboxone, and I am home and currently still taking it.  I do not want to get addicted to this too!!  The bottle says "Suboxone 8 MG - 2 MG Tablet".  I take 3 a day.  I don't understand the labeling.  Am I taking 8 mg tablets or 2 mg tablets?!  I know this is a far cry from the  10 to 15, 80mg tablets of Oxycontin per day that I was  snorting (long story what physical pain led to this), but still...I DO NOT want to get addicted to anything else!  I thought the Suboxone was going to be something easy to get off of when the time came (approx. 6 mo. per my psychiatrist)!  Please give your advise!  Perhaps it would be easier to wean off the Suboxone before I get dependent on it?!  I know the purpose is to keep me from going back to Oxy, but still....you know?  Sounds like you have a lot of experience so would love your take on it!  Thank you so very much!  I don't want to go through any more HORRIBLE detox's ever again!!

[worried878]

I have no experience with suboxone other than what i read...i do like to learn and it is very sweet of u to share with the others on here that are tapering off...there is an angel living in your heart!

[s10sittnondubs]

Suboxone supposedly has a longer half life which makes it stay in your system longer therefore prolonging w/d's.   Don't get scared at this because it scared me, but I was reading that after I ran out of my medicine.  I've heared plenty people on this site do a month or two month suboxone regimen/taper and didn't detox...but in my expeirence on the suboxone for 9 months was the same w/d's as oxycodone.  I am ct now for 8 days, and it is worth every hour I wait for the next.  I'd talk to your pysc and see what he says about cutting that 6 months to say 3 months, there are plenty more here just like us so please keep posting and stay clean.

[fishmeal]

Buprenorphine, (suboxone/subuten) has a half life of 37-1/2 hours and what you take today definitely effects two days from now.   So many times I've heard the long slow tapers are the best decreasing even slower as you go ending up ... say a crumb, every other day for a month.  It's easier to go from the higher doses down a percentage than the lower.  That's why some take two miligrams for a month and then 1 for two.  The main thing is that don't beat on yourself if you have to go back up for a few days because it beats relapsing!  This drug deserves a lot of respect because it is extremely powerful.

[suboxoneaddict]

Yesterday and today I have gotten down to 3mgs 1mg every 8hrs or so. I am so determined to get off of everything that it is making it easier to taper. I agree with you guys that 2mgs is too high to drop off from. My last day to dose is the 26th of may and by god I want to be at least at one mg, hopefully less. You know what scared me was reading this other really long post that I read about suboxone a couple of days ago when I first discovered this site. It was so long that they split ity in to two parts. I agreed with some of the stuff the person was saying but all in all I think that he was too negative. A big part of getting through detox is being motivated, having support and then after the worst has passed, getting up off your *** and exercising. Last time I started walking up and down the hills near my house and eventually I started swimming. Within a month or two I was ecstatic, feeling better than I had in years. Hey let me ask you guys this. I was thinking of taking some benzos just for the first couple of days during the worst part, I also have a bottle of tramadol that I could use, but I am not sure if that will just prolong my discomfort. I don't have the time to taper down to just a crumb so I am going to do the best I can with the time frame I set up for myself.

[worried878]

I have no experience with sub but did taper and quit hydros...soemtimes the goal u set..the time frame can be more important than the crumb...setting a date is so important as i have seen that those who do not...dont usually make it...good luck

[ILoveLukey]

Please keep posting. i want to follow your progress. I have been on Subs since February 25. I take 12 mg/day.  8mg-2mg pills, half morn, half afternoon, half evening. I just went to my doctor tonight. He filled my script for the next month and I told him that next month I want to start a taper. I told him that the Subs got rid of the bad depression I had and if I start to taper I am worried about the depression returning. He wrote me a script for Zoloft.  The best of luck to you.

[suboxoneaddict]

Down to 2 mgs today, I am feeling sluggish and the body aches are starting to arrive. I am taking .5 mgs every five to 6 hours. I sleep in two hour increments because more than that and I feel so messed up. I could never get below 2 mgs in my last taper. This time I got down to 2 much faster and with less discomfort. I really need to be at one by next monday so that I can have a full week at one or less before the final plunge. I think the important thing is to get as much of the detox out of the way before I go off completely. It is so much easier to suffer mildly as I am right now than to be going out of my mind as I did last time when I went cold turkey off sub when I was injecting 1mg four to five times a day IV. This week I will order the benzo I am to be taking for the first five days when I stop taking sub. Does anyone have any suggestions. I am thinking bromezapam or klonopin or maybe ativan

[tommm70]

Good luck to you, I quit Subutex earlier this year, and it was the toughest battle of my life. You sound just like me when  I quit. You know you are ready. I tapered down to around a 1/2mg or so, and was maintaining at 4mg. I was on it for about 6 months.

It will not be easy, this is a tough, tough wd. I won't lie and say it is easy. The worst part is the length of time. But stay strong, and take lots of hot baths. For me the toughest part was my job had just started for the season, and I almost lost it. I am athletic and could not get out of bed in the morning. Had I been new at my job, I woulda lost everything. Luckily I have been around a long long time, and my bosses were sympathetic.
Misinformation almost cost me my career.

Good luck to you.

[worried878]

Vlaium is the recommended benzo for detox...less addictive than ativan, klonopin of xanax...not sure about bromezepam u mentioned...it has gotten a bad rap due to being the first benzo introduced for anxiety...safer than most tho

[tommm70]

Oh I forgot to mention Clonidin. NOT Klonopin, Clonidin is a boold pressure medicine that is used for opiate withdrawal. It works awesome! It also makes you tired at night, so it has a double bonus.
Ativan or Xanax for a week  probably would not hurt if you can keep it from becoming a habit. If you tell your doc to only give you a week supply, you should be fine.

Get Clonodin though, not addictive, and it really works well.

[suboxoneaddict]

Hey, did you write that really long post in two parts about sub. It was the first thing I read when I discovered this web-site. Thanx for the encouragement. I have tried clonidine many times over the years but it actually makes me feel worse so I don't take it. I think that it is awesome that you have detoxed and that you come to this site to help others, thank you. I just left my girlfriends because I am more comfortable going crazy in my house when I wake up with the w/d's, unfortunately my girlfriend is the jealous type and she thinks that I am up to something and I wish that she had a less fervent imagination. It's like I am really sick and she interprets that as "you don't like me anymore". Oh well, what are you gonna do. Hey if any women are reading this can you tell my girlfriend that it has nothing to do with her. Thanx