a few questions about suboxone withdrawal

[j157]

questions about suboxone withdrawal:

1. Would it be fair to say that the worst part of the withdrawal with the strongest symptoms are the first 5 days (just to be clear I'm talking only about days where withdrawal symptoms are felt, not the 2-3 days it takes for the withdrawals to start)

2. If you decide to quit suboxone, but fail and take suboxone during athewithdrawal, and then immediately decide to quit/stop taking subxone again, will the 2nd withdrawal be longer.

3. Does taking benzos (ativan/valium) prolong suboxone withdrawal symptoms.

[sway1]

i'm glad i read this. i began sub a little over a month ago and it was going to be long term. perhaps i will re-think the duration. the last thing i want is a long drawn out detox again. i got my program in place. hmmmm...

[HenryS354]

Hi J,

I was on suboxone for 2 years, and today have been off of it for 51 days!

I'll try to answer your questions the best I can.

1) Suboxone withdrawal as you know takes 2-3 days to really kick in.  For me, my symptoms peaked at 7 days, and lasted steadily another week. So that puts me at 14 days in.  It took a good 30 days before I was really beginning to feel "Better" and it continues to get better and better from that point on.  I must say though, my wd's werent pleasant, but totally manageable.  I was able to continue doing everything I normally do day to day. Sure I was exhausted, but you can get through it. The worst is the RLS and the sleeplessness.  In all fairness though I did not taper, and came off at 3mgs. Much higher than most do.

2)If you take suboxone after you have wd'd from it, it wont make your wd's last any longer than the last time. You will just possibly start from square one again.  Your tolerance will be down, so a much much lower dose may hold you.  If you are talking about just taking it one day... all it will do is going to give you a reprieve from what you are feeling with the wd's. Once it wears off, you are going to pick up where you left off again. Its really not worth it for the few hours of relief you are going to get.

3) Benzodiazepines will not make the wd process any longer. To be honest, they didnt have much effect on me at all.  I took 2 prescribed xanax during my wd for the anxiety at night, and it did zip. Not worth it in IMHO.

Try and keep a good focused mind during your sub detox.  Attitude is everything. One of the worst things that we can do is focus on the withdrawals.  We need to look past those withdrawals and stay focused on the end result. That is what gets us to where we need to be.  Picture yourself standing on a beach, and the sun is setting over the water on the horizon....  The beach can be littered with trash and dead animals.... but if you look past all that and focus on the horizon all you see is the sun.  Weird analogy, but you get my drift.

Hang in there, and keep us posted!
Henry

[Jimzpep]

I have been on several opiates over the last year because of a botched fusion of c5 -c7 fusion.  I then ended up catching rsd from the operation and now my whole left arm has been rendered useless.  I have been documented with95% lose of movement of my left arm.  The pain with rsd is no joke.  Itr has completely changed my life.  I can no longer make any kind of fist with my l hand and for all that matters i can not touch any of my fingers together w/left hand.
As far as the sub.. I have gone through it and the only complication was a spike in my blood pressure. 195/124.  That is alarming.  As far as weaning myself off of all the the rest of the pk that i was taking.
180 mg oxy
8 100/mg of percicets

and for break through pain i was given 2mg tabs of dilaudid.
within 1 week i was able to transition to nothing but 1 8mg of sub.  2 months of suffering and then my doctors infused katamine into my motor nerves to my l arm.  Other than having cronic BAREABLE pain i am on the road to recovery.  Not taking sub anymore.
Total numbers of days on pk 567
"        "           "  "        "  suboxone 30
So i would say that it did everything that it said that it would do.

Good luck with recovery, even with severe pain being hooked on oxy and percicet is no way to live.  Update on the rsd.  It has now traveled to my cervical spine.  And i can no longer hold up my own head without the help of a full neck brace (Aspen)

[ang_811]

i can answer q 1.. as im 11 days clean off of suboxone, i didnt really experience ne wds except the first 4 days. even then they were pretty mild. im talking the only wds i had were a lil weak and tired. i was on sub 4 3 months. b4 that i was on methadone for well over a year. but i have heard people on here say that they didnt get ne wds until after 7 days. so pretty much its different for everyone. i was one of the lucky ones. the shorter ur on the sub the better. good luck!

[hljlelll]

I used Suboxone a few years back to get off Vicodin. You have to wait until you are in some pretty bad wd's to begin with before you take them. I landed up taking them for three years and although I had weaned myself down to 2 mg was terrified to get off because I had previously tried and it was awful. I finally did a couple days in the hospital and got off the Suboxone. Clonodine was a big help and Trazadone for sleep. If you go the Suboxone route, do not stay on it long term. Use it to get off your opiates and then wean off it as fast as you can. Then get support and try and stay clean.

[tiggz1977]

I can only answer #3 for ya I'm sure someone else later will get the rest as I don't know I never took it. I heard the withdrawals are worse on sub. anything that is not an opiate base medication will not prolong the withdrawals. Valium has no opiate in it. but becareful taking it it's ment to relax you too much can cause you to od and die. as with most medication take them as prescibed. always and ALWAYS talk to your doctor about how you are feeling that's what he/she is there for. :-) I'm not trying to be rude in any sense just we hurt and can't sleep and can't get comfortable I know I'm there with ya! and then we keep thinking to ourselves just 1 more just 1 more... and well it leads to trouble. Valium is also addictive, be sure to also talk to your doctor about how much and how little you should take he will set up something fr you. stay calm and be aware that what you feel now will pass and you wil be your old self free of the monster.

God bless