Bupe Bupe tapering

[Eastender]

i didnt fell my wife for years of being on maintenance because of my previous addictions and the possibility of her leaving me. but i soon realized that was a big mistake and most people understand and can work with you if your trying to help yourself get healthy. either way i'm not judging you i was in the same position. do you guys live together? she will almost certainly see something is up when your detoxing. might even think you caught a case of the corona! hahaha

Haha , yeah I actually thought she might think that funny enough, but luckily enough she is still working & I'm looking after her son at home , So I'm hoping that she wont see me rough in the daytime then I'll just take some meds at night to help me through, but yeah have thought about how difficult its gonna be from hiding it , I had a serious work accident back in 2001 which resulted in my leg being blown off, took me 2 years to walk again so thought I could say I've been taking opiate pain killers rather than saying about the brown stuff, but as shes pregnant her emotions are all over the place so really dont wanna burden her & protect her if you get me , very difficult bottling it all up that's why I'm so thankful to have come across this site by accident, it has really helped me with advice & what to prepare for & how to go about it in the right way, I have been a little down in my moods lately & she has noticed but just thinks its cos I cant work cos of lockdown here in uk, anyway you must of felt better with the support from your wife, it must be so much easier that she understands & helps

 

[codydion]

Haha , yeah I actually thought she might think that funny enough, but luckily enough she is still working & I'm looking after her son at home , So I'm hoping that she wont see me rough in the daytime then I'll just take some meds at night to help me through, but yeah have thought about how difficult its gonna be from hiding it , I had a serious work accident back in 2001 which resulted in my leg being blown off, took me 2 years to walk again so thought I could say I've been taking opiate pain killers rather than saying about the brown stuff, but as shes pregnant her emotions are all over the place so really dont wanna burden her & protect her if you get me , very difficult bottling it all up that's why I'm so thankful to have come across this site by accident, it has really helped me with advice & what to prepare for & how to go about it in the right way, I have been a little down in my moods lately & she has noticed but just thinks its cos I cant work cos of lockdown here in uk, anyway you must of felt better with the support from your wife, it must be so much easier that she understands & helps

it does make it a lot easier to have the support and help. and just to know that if i was feeling shitty i could feel shitty without having to try covering it up. added stress is all it is. however it all works out i'm sure it'll be fine! and wowzers about your accident that's pretty haywire.

 

[Karamazov]

@Eastender my doc was always oxycodone, the h on the rare occasions when I could not get it. Developed a nice little habit of 800 to 960 mgs a day. Did the methadone route for a short while, then on and off black market bupe for years. anytime I actually made it through wd I always relapsed. Finally got a real bupe script and have been mostly clean for 3 years.

still steady at 3 mg but feeling a bit wobbly and sluggish. Will prob drop to 2.5 in a week.

congrats on making it to .3! You are in the home stretch! Good luck guys!

 

[Eastender]

@Eastender my doc was always oxycodone, the h on the rare occasions when I could not get it. Developed a nice little habit of 800 to 960 mgs a day. Did the methadone route for a short while, then on and off black market bupe for years. anytime I actually made it through wd I always relapsed. Finally got a real bupe script and have been mostly clean for 3 years.

still steady at 3 mg but feeling a bit wobbly and sluggish. Will prob drop to 2.5 in a week.

congrats on making it to .3! You are in the home stretch! Good luck guys!

Wow that is some habit haha , bet you had fun tho, yeah dropping isn't is bad as it sounds , just nice & steady & I always listened to my body, I would drop ,notice it maybe for a couple of days then sort of stabilized, then a week like that then do the same ,set myself a target , & when down to 2mg , then went like 0.1 per wk, although recently dropped from 0.4 to 0.3 done 3 days & just gone down today to 0.2, only cos I took 300mg gabapentin last night before sleep, & I normally wake up in mild wd, but didnt, so thought I'll drop & hopefully be ok , gonna try to stay on 0.2 for a few days , then early next wk try 0.1 for a week then finally jump.... nervous & a little frightened I will admit as no experience at all, but will keep you posted, anyway best of luck with your taper, message me whenever & let me know how you get on

 

[Eastender]

it does make it a lot easier to have the support and help. and just to know that if i was feeling shitty i could feel shitty without having to try covering it up. added stress is all it is. however it all works out i'm sure it'll be fine! and wowzers about your accident that's pretty haywire.

Hi pal, yeah my accident was life changing & that's when I first started dabbling with heroin , it took away all the pain mentally, was on it for 3 years, then got methadone script & came off that after 1.5 years, was so painless too , reducing from 80ml daily , expecting bad wds but not really, then 10 yrs clean & I get myself into a mess again... gutted but down to 0.2 today with the help of a gabapentin 300 mg last night , woke up wd free for a change , fucking cravings are coming tho with this fucked up time & being at home , could so easily score now but my inner self dont wanna undo all the graft I've put in reducing the bupe, take care ,speak soon

 

[Karamazov]

Still steady at 3mg a day. Gonna switch to 2.5 tomorrow.
how you guys doin?

 

[codydion]

Still steady at 3mg a day. Gonna switch to 2.5 tomorrow.
how you guys doin?
[/QUOTE
good stuff! are you nervous at all? i'm doing good man today is day 27 off suboxone. things get better every day! still a battle though. every day it seems like you gain a few more minutes of good energy. little less anxiety every day. still got the shits real bad. takin er day by day

 

[Eastender]

Still steady at 3mg a day. Gonna switch to 2.5 tomorrow.
how you guys doin?

Hi pal , 4th night after reducing down to 0.2 & actually best nights sleep since I reduced , no sleep aid & didnt get any shoulder twitching & rls for a change , so feel positive today , knowing that the pain doesn't last forever , just need to get hold of enough comfort meds for the jump shortly, hows things with you..??

 

[Eastender]

it does make it a lot easier to have the support and help. and just to know that if i was feeling shitty i could feel shitty without having to try covering it up. added stress is all it is. however it all works out i'm sure it'll be fine! and wowzers about your accident that's pretty haywire.

Hiya , do you mind me asking what dosage you finally jumped off at? & if you could describe the first few days off bupe etc, I know I'm a pain but would be a great insight on what to get prepared for & understand what's happening, hope your still doing great & feeling better day by day

 

[codydion]

Hiya , do you mind me asking what dosage you finally jumped off at? & if you could describe the first few days off bupe etc, I know I'm a pain but would be a great insight on what to get prepared for & understand what's happening, hope your still doing great & feeling better day by day

i jumped at 1mg. after being on that dose for about a year. the first day off i was quite lethargic. bad mood no motivation and achey insanely bad case of the yawns all day. went to bed at normal time and slept that first night. second day was all the same symptoms but starting to intensify a little bit. plus sneezing a kazillion times a day. did not sleep that night. bad rls and was very tired but couldn't sleep. next day i was pretty miserable. bed ridden all day in and out of the shower. bad rls in my arms as well as legs couldn't sit still for a bit. my doctor finally prescribed me clonidine on this day and so i started to take that to help with some of the symptoms. and it did help. everything kind of seemed to peak after this point and most of the classic symptoms of withdrawal were present but not at the highest intensity. mood was all over. crying one minute to laughing the next to very irritable to deep depression. anxiety was king for a while. did not want to see anyone i just wanted to hide away. i don't think i slept more than a few hours for close to 10 days after that first night. and the sleeping thing is what really got to me. everything else is so manageable especiqlly with the right meds but the insomnia man. i love sleep and feeling good and rejuvenated in the morning. but that insomnia just drags you down. but it does start to get waaaay better. it was probably day 13 or so before my spirits started to pick up and i could get 5 or so hours of sleep in a night. after that the worst of it is gone and the anhedonia and anxiety hang on like a son of a b. every day it gets better

 

[Eastender]

i jumped at 1mg. after being on that dose for about a year. the first day off i was quite lethargic. bad mood no motivation and achey insanely bad case of the yawns all day. went to bed at normal time and slept that first night. second day was all the same symptoms but starting to intensify a little bit. plus sneezing a kazillion times a day. did not sleep that night. bad rls and was very tired but couldn't sleep. next day i was pretty miserable. bed ridden all day in and out of the shower. bad rls in my arms as well as legs couldn't sit still for a bit. my doctor finally prescribed me clonidine on this day and so i started to take that to help with some of the symptoms. and it did help. everything kind of seemed to peak after this point and most of the classic symptoms of withdrawal were present but not at the highest intensity. mood was all over. crying one minute to laughing the next to very irritable to deep depression. anxiety was king for a while. did not want to see anyone i just wanted to hide away. i don't think i slept more than a few hours for close to 10 days after that first night. and the sleeping thing is what really got to me. everything else is so manageable especiqlly with the right meds but the insomnia man. i love sleep and feeling good and rejuvenated in the morning. but that insomnia just drags you down. but it does start to get waaaay better. it was probably day 13 or so before my spirits started to pick up and i could get 5 or so hours of sleep in a night. after that the worst of it is gone and the anhedonia and anxiety hang on like a son of a b. every day it gets better

Wow , thanks for being honest about it all, sounds like you have been through it then , I'm sort of hoping that when I jump off shortly say at about 0.1 that I'll get similar wds but hoping for a shorter time .... well I can hope cant I, well I admire your strength & determination through all those times of not sleeping etc , yeah I'm the same as you about sleep, but like I said as I'm not working due to Corona I might aswell get on with it, hence the quick taper recently, I've had a couple of sleepless nights but nothing compared to what you went through maybe that will come , ok thanks again for taking the time & thought to respond to me ,much appreciated

 

[Eastender]

i jumped at 1mg. after being on that dose for about a year. the first day off i was quite lethargic. bad mood no motivation and achey insanely bad case of the yawns all day. went to bed at normal time and slept that first night. second day was all the same symptoms but starting to intensify a little bit. plus sneezing a kazillion times a day. did not sleep that night. bad rls and was very tired but couldn't sleep. next day i was pretty miserable. bed ridden all day in and out of the shower. bad rls in my arms as well as legs couldn't sit still for a bit. my doctor finally prescribed me clonidine on this day and so i started to take that to help with some of the symptoms. and it did help. everything kind of seemed to peak after this point and most of the classic symptoms of withdrawal were present but not at the highest intensity. mood was all over. crying one minute to laughing the next to very irritable to deep depression. anxiety was king for a while. did not want to see anyone i just wanted to hide away. i don't think i slept more than a few hours for close to 10 days after that first night. and the sleeping thing is what really got to me. everything else is so manageable especiqlly with the right meds but the insomnia man. i love sleep and feeling good and rejuvenated in the morning. but that insomnia just drags you down. but it does start to get waaaay better. it was probably day 13 or so before my spirits started to pick up and i could get 5 or so hours of sleep in a night. after that the worst of it is gone and the anhedonia and anxiety hang on like a son of a b. every day it gets better

Hi , so the only comfort meds you had during this time was clonidine? I've spoken recently to my local drug counsellor & they said they will give me some sort of sleeper for 2 weeks , but I have some tablets stashed away which I wont disclose to them , havent got clonidine tho , I have heard that on numerous threads on here saying it's a god send for bupe wds , I have plenty of gabapentin, & a few pregabalin, & only about 30mg of valium, also a handful of sleepers but not many , been saving them for when I come off , sounds like I'll be needing them haha

 

[Karamazov]

9

Hi pal , 4th night after reducing down to 0.2 & actually best nights sleep since I reduced , no sleep aid & didnt get any shoulder twitching & rls for a change , so feel positive today , knowing that the pain doesn't last forever , just need to get hold of enough comfort meds for the jump shortly, hows things with you..??

awesome! Some people jump from where you are at with no issues at all. I dont think you have anything to worry about jumping from .1.

things are good here. 2.5 today. It’ll be a week before I feel any issues probably, if I feel them at all.

 

[Karamazov]

Hi , so the only comfort meds you had during this time was clonidine? I've spoken recently to my local drug counsellor & they said they will give me some sort of sleeper for 2 weeks , but I have some tablets stashed away which I wont disclose to them , havent got clonidine tho , I have heard that on numerous threads on here saying it's a god send for bupe wds , I have plenty of gabapentin, & a few pregabalin, & only about 30mg of valium, also a handful of sleepers but not many , been saving them for when I come off , sounds like I'll be needing them haha

if you only have one comfort drug, you want it to be clonidine. It really works wonders for everything but the bone pain. heard good things about gaba too. What do you mean by ”sleepers”? Like benzos? Or like trazadone, etc?

 

[Karamazov]

Also, any doc should give you clonidine. It has no rec value and is virtually impossible to od on.

 

[Eastender]

if you only have one comfort drug, you want it to be clonidine. It really works wonders for everything but the bone pain. heard good things about gaba too. What do you mean by ”sleepers”? Like benzos? Or like trazadone, etc?

Yeah here in uk sleepers like nitrazapam , I have a handful of those , not many , but I'm presuming the drug services will give me zoplicon or something like that , I'm gonna ring them today & tell them my plan about jumping off next week & hopefully they will have a script for the zoppies too , also will definitely ask about clonidine off them , glad to hear you doing ok , spk soon bud

 

[sigmond]

I suppose I am lucky but no matter how much bupe I have taken, even if its 8-12mg/day, I can drop to .25 or .50mg without much discomfort. I do get achy and very tired for a few hours until I take another dose but its tolerable.

good luck man, I know once you drop off completely life is shit for at least 2-4 weeks. last time I gave up at like 20 days after I stopped taking any sub.

 

[Eastender]

I suppose I am lucky but no matter how much bupe I have taken, even if its 8-12mg/day, I can drop to .25 or .50mg without much discomfort. I do get achy and very tired for a few hours until I take another dose but its tolerable.

good luck man, I know once you drop off completely life is shit for at least 2-4 weeks. last time I gave up at like 20 days after I stopped taking any sub.

Oh really, what daily dose did you jump off at ? I've heard some nasty tales a out coming off buprenorphine, so thought I'd go as low as poss to give me the best chance of success, it sounds pathetic but been dropping like 0.1 per wk , got to 0.2 last weekend, today done 0.15 & thinking a few days just keep doing smaller bits of the tablet, as I have family members here who are unaware of my situation I'm trying to make it as smooth as possible, if on my own definitely would of jumped at maybe 0.5 & dealt with it , but looking after kids is demanding, gotta say being on lockdown here in uk & off work has helped me get it done quicker, how come you got back on subs then? Was it that bad ??

 

[sigmond]

So, this was a long time ago (2014) but I stopped completely after being stable on .25mg for about three months. The acute withdrawal (first 3-7 days) wasn't as severe as stopping a full agonist opioid like heroin but the symptoms I did suffer (aches, runny nose, insomnia, lack of appetite, anxiety, depression, anhedonia) are noticeable and relentless. I felt about as bad on day 20 of withdrawal as I did on day 7 or 14. The withdrawal did get better near the end of the 4th week but that was after I relapsed and nearly died.

I just got back on subs recently and if I had to tell you why I'd say its because I am a sucker for anything that might help me short-term and an idiot basically. IMO both subs and benzos should be most often only used for like 1-3 weeks unless you truly cannot avoid relapse without them.

But yeah, if you can get down to being stable on 0.1mg or lower do it just be prepared to deal with at least mild withdrawal symptoms once you drop-off completely. Its mainly aches, insomnia, anxiety and depression. I was never throwing up or getting diarrhea from sub withdrawal - but of course everyone is different.

 

[Eastender]

So, this was a long time ago (2014) but I stopped completely after being stable on .25mg for about three months. The acute withdrawal (first 3-7 days) wasn't as severe as stopping a full agonist opioid like heroin but the symptoms I did suffer (aches, runny nose, insomnia, lack of appetite, anxiety, depression, anhedonia) are noticeable and relentless. I felt about as bad on day 20 of withdrawal as I did on day 7 or 14. The withdrawal did get better near the end of the 4th week but that was after I relapsed and nearly died.

I just got back on subs recently and if I had to tell you why I'd say its because I am a sucker for anything that might help me short-term and an idiot basically. IMO both subs and benzos should be most often only used for like 1-3 weeks unless you truly cannot avoid relapse without them.

But yeah, if you can get down to being stable on 0.1mg or lower do it just be prepared to deal with at least mild withdrawal symptoms once you drop-off completely. Its mainly aches, insomnia, anxiety and depression. I was never throwing up or getting diarrhea from sub withdrawal - but of course everyone is different.

Hi , thank you for you detailed response, much appreciated on what to expect in the coming weeks then, yeah just wish I would have this info before I got started on this , drug clinics here put you on it longer than needed I think to stabilise your lifestyle etc , but looking back after a year on it I could of done it so much quicker & be much less painful, anyway I'm here now & just looking to minimize any wd that I can , at least they stop the chaos & panic of being an opiate addict relying on dealers etc, i trust your stable now , best of luck in your future taper, I'll maybe post here & let you know how it goes, thanks again , Eastender