self detox with Suboxone.. need advice badly?

[momojoe]

Hi everyone (anyone)

I REALLY need some advice.  

My son is addicted to opiates. He is asking me to help him. My heart is breaking..I will be strong for him no matter what. This is not the first time he has come to me for help. I believe in my heart that he is ready willing, and agreeable to whatever he has to do to get this demon out of his life. My head is not so quick to follow, but I will not listen to 'it' right now. I will listen to my heart.

After a long long day..... and hours and hours and HOURS of heart to heart talking and crying. we have both decided to do this.......
I am going to attempt to detox my son starting tomorrow until his insurance kicks in. April 1st!
His drug of choice is three 80mg oxy a day. Today.. was his last day using. (30mgs@ 1:00pm and 30mgs @ 3:30pm) He wants to start the subox tomorrow morning.

We have 'aquired' one 2mg Suboxone and I will get more as needed until we can get to a doctor and have it covered by insurance. (I checked already, $550 for doctor not including perscript for Subox)  So my question is to anyone who has used Subox before. What is a 2mg cut into 1/4's going to do for him and how many 1/4 should he have a day.

and...Shouldnt he be in active withdraw for at least 8 hours before he even starts the Suboxone?

and... what about the 1/2 life of Suboxone does anyone know what it is?

Thanks for ANY advice or suggestions you have!  
momojoe

[Jeanne181]

The half life is 36 hours. How much and what was he taking? I have been on suboxone awhile and it saved my life. I would love to help.

[avisg]

its just to risky ,this is a med that needs to be given by a doctor ......... it can mess with your blood pressure ....... everyone  needs a diffrent amount to start ......then when they can get some help with the cost from the INS the sub doctors are not going to touch him becasue he got it off the streets .....

[opiatehead]

thats exactly what i said i am glad you are in the same frame of mind as me.  As i needed to be watched when i first took subox.....it was not an exact science by any means....also you are so right about the giving the pill to early...i saw first hand in the office i was at a person that had done that to themselves and they were really hurtin bad

[avisg]

mom,
I would strongly suggest you NOT try this without a doctor ,no one on this board can be for sure the amount that would work for your son none of us are doctors ...there are ricks with sub , if you give him it to early you can put him into percipated withdrawals ..... if you start him at home with sub ,no ones is going to want to touch him when his insurance kicks in . this is just my two cents ,i would hate to see anything bad happen two him

[opiatehead]

no problem momojoe

this forum helped me out when i was down now i can only give back to those in need of advice or just to chat. You are correct i have cut down my dosage and today is day 3 and i have cut down to a 8mg...however i am also going to my first group therapy tonight and was at a one on one session last night.  I was using less than your son my intake was at the worst 1 x 80mg oxy a day or 8-10 10mg vics or percs a day.  When they assesed my situiation"induction" they were actually taken back that i only needed 2 pills instead of 3 but everyone is different that is why it should be done with doctors supervision. good luck

[momojoe]

I suppose it IS late. I will post again tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your help.

[momojoe]

Joe is 5'11" He weighs approx 175
Using off and on for 2 years. Quit a few times for short periods of time only.
Percocets,
Oxy
Heroin
All I know FOR SURE is:
yesterday: 2 80mgs Oxy
today: 2 30 mgs (morphine) He had nothing else. I know it is horrible. !!
I know he was taking percocets last week but I do not know the exact amounts, I just called him to ask, but he did not answer. He might call me back.

Nauty: Please dont be upset about your suggestion. I appreciate you just being here for me. Thank you

[momojoe]

Okay, After days and weeks of digging into his world... he has pretty much come clean with me. I believe him now when he tells me what he is taking. (it also shocked the 'bleep' out of me)
He also seems to know himself pretty well. As he has tried to detox himself before. He is insisting that this subox cut into 1/4 will do something for him. He said he may have to take 2 1/4 throughout the day. I think you are right though. I cant see this working from what I have learned from others hooked on opiates. I will work on gettin him more tomorrow. I really dont want him to take the sub for more then 7 days. He HAS accepted that he will have SOME withdraw symptoms.

Opiatehead: Thanks for your info. I would like to talk with you more about how you are doing? You have already cut your recommended dosage that is great. How did you feel. and so quickly you will cut it down to 8mgs a day instead of 16mgs a day. Do I have that right?
I would  (and would love for my son) to like to keep in touch with you if you dont mind. He has been chatting with an ex addict already and is finding this easier knowing other people are going through the same thing... what do you think?
mmjoe

[GoingToMakeIt]

The post I gave gives a better idea of dosing. So although we cannot tell you what is the right dose, Naughty is correct. Most people start out 4-8x the dose you have.

[spacecadette]

Nauty is right...a two milligram pill cut into 1/4 is like giving him 5 mg of oxycontin to stabalize him for a whole day....it simply is not enough to give him the effect his body desires....for an apprx dosage i would need his weight, heighth, length of time using...was that all he was using?

[NautyOne]

PLEASE DISREGARD MY ABOVE POST.  I HAD NO RIGHT SUGGESTING DOSAGES  FOR SELF-MEDICATING.......KICKING MYSELF FOR BEING SO IRRESPONSIBLE.

nAUTY............

[momojoe]

wow guys! i left for a few minutes and .... give me a minute to read your replys
THANKS SO MUCH!!
back in a minute
mmjoe

[NautyOne]

From everything I have read .........I will do nothing if he is taking that amount of oxy a day.  The doc's would probably put him on a minimum of 12-16mgs a day.  In the beginning.......anyone? help!  I never play doctor out here, but 1 2mg. tablet will do nothing ........suboxone is a program.  It needs to be supervised by a doctor and tapered down ..........

Nauty........

[opiatehead]

first off i just started my subox program yesterday and i understand u dont have the insurance to cover the fee to have a doctors supervision but that is defffenantly the best way to approach it. that being said i can tell you the first thing they do is called an "induction" this basically is finding out how much of the drug of choice you were taking find out how long u are in withdrawels and then finding out how much dosage to give you so  you are not to much or not enough....i was using oxy 80mg daily as your sone i am 31 years old in good health and was in about 36 hrs of withdrawel which is where i was supposed to be for about 2 pill of 8 mg suboxone i must say i took it down today to 1.5 pills of suboxone and probably going down to 1 pill of the subox tommorrow morning but ...all that being said everyone is different and doctors are the best judges i amd just giving you my two cents....also i must say that it works wonders but...its about the person taking the subox he as to be committed not just using it to get him buy to his next fix...but i trust you know all that ...good luck and god bless if you have any other questions please askk.

[GoingToMakeIt]

Take a look at this post, it may have answers for you.
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/764

[confused456]

I have no experience either but I have heard good and bad things about it. Someone should answer as stated above, but if not, repost like she suggested above in the morning. Good luck!

[worried878]

I di not take sub to quit but many on here have...well some..I do not think anyone will give you actual dosing information for your son but they may tell you how much they took and what to expect...I googled it out of curiosity and found lots of info...hang on....it is late so if no one responds///repost tomorrow...I do know he has to be in WDs before he can take it