quitting suboxone with percocet

[itstime]

I was on suboxone for 4 years (about 8mg per day at first and tapered down to 1mg).  Here comes the tricky part...under the supervision of my addiction specialist, I switched to oxycodone and think it will be easier to come off that that the dredded subox.  Subox is 30 times mg per mg more powerful than oxycodone.  And with its half life, it is like taking 30 mgs of percocet but never coming off of it for 24 to 36 hrs.  That is a lot of percocet to fill those shoes.  So far so good with the percs.  On day one I took 14 5 mg oxycodone.  Today, one week later I am down to 8 5 mg pills.  Next will be dropping one per day.  By next week I should be taking one a day for the extreem withdrawals.  Has anyone attempted this before?  If I get down to one 5 mg oxycondone per day....can I avoid withdrawals?

[LeaAnn807]

I think you need to put down the percocet and xanax and talk with your doc about some clonidine.  By your own admission, the percocet isn't giving you much relief.  You have been on it for a while, trying to get off the sub.  What's going to happen when you stop the percocet?  Back to sub to get off of the percocet?  Can't keep that up or you will just continue a bad cycle!   And the xanax can bite you QUICK.  Before long you will find yourself having to taper off of it, if you don't already!

Just think about what I am saying before you talk to the doctor.  I am just worried about the cycle you are getting into!

All my best!

Lea Ann

[Nrsoto203]

No, he's going to stop taking the percocet once he is tapered down to 5mg a day and then quit. Done ! Yeah he will have withdrawals physically for a few days but nothing terrible

[itstime]

Well I hit a snag last night.  Trying to manage the minor wd's with 5 mgs was working as long as I took them before the wd's kicked in.  My last dose was supposed to be around 2pm (5mg) and by 7pm I had restless legs.  Took one more at that time and by 3am it woke me up again (I get up at 4am to go to work and that last hr of sleep dictates my day).  I took one more.  At 7am I had the sweats and some chills.  So waiting until 2pm again was out of the question.  Going to the doc if I can't sweat it out this weekend to try colondine (sp?).  Not sure what else to do.  I am taking supliment pils and very small doses of xanax (0.05mg) to help with sleep but I will not take it two nights in a row because of its addictive nature *(not falling into that trap).  I am going to subtitute the hard nights with excedrin PM. I don't think I will make my goal of being at work all day tomorrow with having taken anything after 2pm today.  Errrr.  

[itstime]

I don't know that what my doc is doing would be concidered illegal because I was using subs as an "off lable" user.  Not for addiction, but for pain.  In any case, this seems to be working.  I took 5 5mg's yesterday and today I have taken 10 mg's so far and the day is half over.  Again, the biggest thing getting past this is not thinking of the pill as something I will feel.  I have noticed very minor sweats and leg gitters, but it is so slight that it could be related to anything.  No anxiety, i'm actually calmer than I ever was on Subs.  By Friday the Sub wd's would ahve been over but the last two weeks would have been hard.  I plan on taking one 5mg tonight before bed and tomorrow should be the last day I take any.  Boy....Its weird to be taking so few pills when I still have so many left!  It feels good!  Best of luck to anyone following this post for any reason.  

PS.  Thanks for the info from your past doc Sal.  It is interesting to hear that from soneone so close to the manufacturer.  It is a shame they don't have a sub mg set of pills which would be taken daily....but if someone is mentally done with the pills and is stuck on subs at 1-2 mgs...if you are truely done, Oxy 5's might be the way to go. You can't really snort them (they are already immediate release) and they don't feel that great if you do catch a slight euphoric feeling.

[salsinator]

My sub doc mentioned that the Mayo Clinic was experimenting with tapering off sub using a short acting opiate - like oxy or morphine.  He also mentioned that this was against the Harrison Act too - which is why he did not do this with me.  My sub doc worked for the manufacturer training other docs on how to prescribe sub - so he knew a lot about it.  He said getting past the last 2mg was tough and the company was not sure why, but I don't know that they were doing anything about it.  As long as you are under your doctors care and following the instructions for your taper, I think you should come out OK - get some aftercare though, as I would suspect that coming off a pure opiate you would probably have some craving once you are done.  the BP med - Clonidine does help for the withdrawal and make it a little easier.  Keep posting and let us know how things do for you once you are done with the taper.

[itstime]

Hi MissLesa,
You "jumped" from 1 mg of subx?  You are right that it is scary to even think about wd's let alone go through them.  You are saying they were not that bad?  I am down to 6 5mg oxy's now per day.  They are short acting and by friday the wd's should be based off one 5 mg tab 12 hrs later?  That can't be bad.  Did you have restless legs?  Chills? Sweats?  Thanks for the post.

[MissLesa]

Hi everyone...new poster here...I just wanted to say that I too used suboxone to detox from a 10-12 a day hydro/oxy addiction and I also weaned myself down to 1mg. I was so nervous about the w/ds but I honestly have to say I felt fine. I believe that our fear of w/ds makes us make choices that might be detremental to our sobriety.

I think you should have taken your doctor's advice and went with the BP med because what little w/ds you might have experienced could have been made easier with the clonodine.

Good luck to you.