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How do get off Suboxone?
Hi, I have been on 16mg of Suboxone for over 5 years after abusing Oxycontin for less than 2 years. My mood is content, but I am a shell of a person. I do not work and I never leave my home. I get up in the afternoon and go on my laptop until I go to bed around 4am, and then I repeat the same thing the next day. I am extremely constipated and have no energy. I know I need to get off Suboxone, but I don't feel strong enough to and the more time that goes by, the weaker I get. There was only 1 time that I was ready to ween myself off Suboxone. It was after being on it for 6 months and a psychiatrist had put me on an anti-depressant. I mentioned to my doctor, that was prescribing the Subs, that I was ready to ween down and he said I shouldn't think about that now. So here I am, 5 years later. I get frustrated to why Suboxone affects me so much because I know plenty of other people who take it who can work and function properly. I used to be a very hard-working, family oriented person and now I don't work, hardly every see my family, and lost touch with most of my friends. But still, none of this motivates me enough to even go one day without Suboxone. I've called a few rehab centers, but they only offer like a 5 day detoxification, which makes no sense for the long term nature of Suboxone. Does anybody have any suggestions or is anyone in a similar situation?
I'd like to make a note, though. I am not condemning Suboxone. It stopped my life from spiraling out of control and I know I wouldn't be in this situation if I got some kind of co-therapy when I initially started taking Suboxone. I am blaming myself and the doctor who only cared about my urine samples every month I saw him. (Sometimes, I would have to stay in his office bathroom all day until I could produce a sample because the Suboxone also causes extreme urinary retention for me, even though the doctor didn't think that was possible.) I have a new doctor now who prescribes the Suboxone and thinks everything in my life is going great because I don't know what to tell him.
I'd like to make a note, though. I am not condemning Suboxone. It stopped my life from spiraling out of control and I know I wouldn't be in this situation if I got some kind of co-therapy when I initially started taking Suboxone. I am blaming myself and the doctor who only cared about my urine samples every month I saw him. (Sometimes, I would have to stay in his office bathroom all day until I could produce a sample because the Suboxone also causes extreme urinary retention for me, even though the doctor didn't think that was possible.) I have a new doctor now who prescribes the Suboxone and thinks everything in my life is going great because I don't know what to tell him.
Thanks for all the suggestions, I didn't expect so much feedback so fast. I was just checking to see if I had any responses before I went to bed and now I'm mad I didn't check back earlier. Tomorrow, I will be able to give more info.
To Wolverine819, after reading your post, I realized I didn't give enough information. It's just hard to put everything into words but I wanted to get to the point. Anyways, I've talked to my doctor plus a psychiatrist and a therapist about my situation. It's not like I'm telling everybody I'm fine and then coming home to go online and ask other people for help. I've also been to a few specialists for my constipation and urinary retention and have been in treatment for it. The problem with that is, nobody knows if the Suboxone caused my condition with my pelvic floor muscles or if the Suboxone only enhanced it. Up until a few months ago, I wanted to fix all my underlying issues before I attempted to get off Suboxone, both physical and psychological. But because it is so hard to tell what is caused by the Suboxone and what isn't, I recently finally admitted to my family that I think it would be best if I got off Suboxone first.
So here I am. I am so scared and I wanted to just find some advice from other people who have gone through it. It is so hard to find help, locally, about getting off Suboxone because it is used, itself, as an addiction recovery aide. My parents tell me I should go to a rehab, but I keep trying to explain to them that a 4 day rehab wont do anything because I will just be starting to get my withdrawals as it will be time to leave.
To sum it all up, I know I should have had some co-therapy or should have gone to meetings when I started taking Suboxone. When I was trying to get clean, before I got on Suboxone, I had the motivation to go to meetings and be motivated because all the recent pain was fresh in my head. The problem was I would eventually relapse. So that's when I found a doctor who would prescribe me Suboxone. I was so happy at how much it took my cravings away. My doctor never encouraged me to get other help and even when I did tell him I think I was ready to start weening down, he told me to not think about that just yet. So I continued on with my 16mg dose of Suboxone a day and I was still maintaining a job. Eventually, when I started getting worse constipation and urinary retention, I told my doctor and he thought I was just trying to cop out of giving him a urine sample, which didn't make sense because I would always give him a sample even if I stayed for a few hours to be able to give it to him. Then all he would say is, "the only thing I can do is stop giving you these," as he would point to my prescription. Of course I didn't want him to take those away from me cold turkey, so I stopped talking to him about it.
Everything, eventually, got so bad that I couldn't work anymore. Then, the day before one of my appointments, the doctor's office called me saying that the doctor no longer prescribes Suboxone and that I need to find another doctor. That is when I found the doctor I have now. This new doctor also helped me to find a Gastronologist, because the stomach cramps that went along with the constipation, was more bothersome than the urinary retention.
I eventually got diagnosed with "Pelvic Floor Dysfunction", but the GI still didn't know if the Suboxone had anything to do with the cause. My treatment was supposed to consist of bio-feedback therapy, but there did not seem to be any place in my area that offered this treatment for men. I was very discouraged.
I have since discovered a method that greatly reduces the symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, but I still am nowhere near normal.
Then it hit me that this is probably another reason to get off Suboxone.
I'M GOING TO END THIS COMMENT AND START OVER IN MY NEXT POST BECAUSE I AM HAVING A HARD TIME BEING CONCISE AND I FEEL LIKE I'M DRIFTING AWAY FROM THE MAIN POINT I CAME HERE FOR. I will not delete this post, though, because it may answer some of your questions.
To Wolverine819, after reading your post, I realized I didn't give enough information. It's just hard to put everything into words but I wanted to get to the point. Anyways, I've talked to my doctor plus a psychiatrist and a therapist about my situation. It's not like I'm telling everybody I'm fine and then coming home to go online and ask other people for help. I've also been to a few specialists for my constipation and urinary retention and have been in treatment for it. The problem with that is, nobody knows if the Suboxone caused my condition with my pelvic floor muscles or if the Suboxone only enhanced it. Up until a few months ago, I wanted to fix all my underlying issues before I attempted to get off Suboxone, both physical and psychological. But because it is so hard to tell what is caused by the Suboxone and what isn't, I recently finally admitted to my family that I think it would be best if I got off Suboxone first.
So here I am. I am so scared and I wanted to just find some advice from other people who have gone through it. It is so hard to find help, locally, about getting off Suboxone because it is used, itself, as an addiction recovery aide. My parents tell me I should go to a rehab, but I keep trying to explain to them that a 4 day rehab wont do anything because I will just be starting to get my withdrawals as it will be time to leave.
To sum it all up, I know I should have had some co-therapy or should have gone to meetings when I started taking Suboxone. When I was trying to get clean, before I got on Suboxone, I had the motivation to go to meetings and be motivated because all the recent pain was fresh in my head. The problem was I would eventually relapse. So that's when I found a doctor who would prescribe me Suboxone. I was so happy at how much it took my cravings away. My doctor never encouraged me to get other help and even when I did tell him I think I was ready to start weening down, he told me to not think about that just yet. So I continued on with my 16mg dose of Suboxone a day and I was still maintaining a job. Eventually, when I started getting worse constipation and urinary retention, I told my doctor and he thought I was just trying to cop out of giving him a urine sample, which didn't make sense because I would always give him a sample even if I stayed for a few hours to be able to give it to him. Then all he would say is, "the only thing I can do is stop giving you these," as he would point to my prescription. Of course I didn't want him to take those away from me cold turkey, so I stopped talking to him about it.
Everything, eventually, got so bad that I couldn't work anymore. Then, the day before one of my appointments, the doctor's office called me saying that the doctor no longer prescribes Suboxone and that I need to find another doctor. That is when I found the doctor I have now. This new doctor also helped me to find a Gastronologist, because the stomach cramps that went along with the constipation, was more bothersome than the urinary retention.
I eventually got diagnosed with "Pelvic Floor Dysfunction", but the GI still didn't know if the Suboxone had anything to do with the cause. My treatment was supposed to consist of bio-feedback therapy, but there did not seem to be any place in my area that offered this treatment for men. I was very discouraged.
I have since discovered a method that greatly reduces the symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, but I still am nowhere near normal.
Then it hit me that this is probably another reason to get off Suboxone.
I'M GOING TO END THIS COMMENT AND START OVER IN MY NEXT POST BECAUSE I AM HAVING A HARD TIME BEING CONCISE AND I FEEL LIKE I'M DRIFTING AWAY FROM THE MAIN POINT I CAME HERE FOR. I will not delete this post, though, because it may answer some of your questions.
Sorry about all that. This is my predicament. I want to get off Suboxone, but I don't have the same strength, fire, and determination that I had when I was trying to come clean before Suboxone. I feel the main reason is the Suboxone itself and I know the longer I wait, the harder it's going to be.
So I was wondering if anybody had any advice on how I should approach this. Should I try and ween down by myself? Is it really hard? And, most of all, I would like to know if there is anyone out there that has been on Suboxone for as long as I have and what they're experiences were like if/when they tried coming off of it.
Thanks, again, for everybody that already left feedback and thank you in advance for anyone that will.
So I was wondering if anybody had any advice on how I should approach this. Should I try and ween down by myself? Is it really hard? And, most of all, I would like to know if there is anyone out there that has been on Suboxone for as long as I have and what they're experiences were like if/when they tried coming off of it.
Thanks, again, for everybody that already left feedback and thank you in advance for anyone that will.
I would really love to get some advice from you. You said you helped someone that was on Subs for 10 years? That alone, makes me feel so much better. I will take any info you can give me. Thanks.
Are you a doctor? If not you should not be giving medical advice,and have this dude screwing around with his meds.He is under a Drs care he should be going to him for medical advice about tapering off his suboxone.This guy has a lot of issues and you shouldnt be screwing around with a med he has been on at high doses for 5 years.
There are so many experts on here when it comes to Suboxone and they have never even been on it.
You are telling someone you dont know,never met,know nothing about him,how to take his medication,that is crazy,and he is crazy for listening
There are so many experts on here when it comes to Suboxone and they have never even been on it.
You are telling someone you dont know,never met,know nothing about him,how to take his medication,that is crazy,and he is crazy for listening
I just wanted to say I was on opiates for over 25 yrs.Last March I was put on 16 mgs of Suboxone only to find out that it was to high of a does not to mention I couldn't take Naloxone.So I got my doctor to switch me to Subutex and immediatly began to lower my dose.Robert_325 was the guy that actually realized my problem.He also was the guy that helped taper me off the sub's.I had taken my last sub back in June 2009 and have been clean every since.This guy may not be a doctor but without his advice I honestly have no idea where I would be today.
This is the first time in over 25 yrs that I have been opiate free for over six months.I haven't even had a single craving.
I wish you the best,
This is the first time in over 25 yrs that I have been opiate free for over six months.I haven't even had a single craving.
I wish you the best,
sometimes one addict to another is the a lot of help...a lot of doctors have know Idea about the drugs they are giving us...don't you think...I dont think a lot of us would be here if they did...we all can share are experiences that helped us finally break the chains of addiction...
Please tell me if I'm wrong, but I thought that is what we are here for...
talk to you later, Melinda
Please tell me if I'm wrong, but I thought that is what we are here for...
talk to you later, Melinda
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