How to treat withdrawal symptoms from taking Suboxone too soon?

[ThosJ]

Twice, now, I've taken buprenorphine before the heroin was completely out of my system. (Apparently, my body takes longer than the usual 12-18 hours to get rid of it. I assume this is at least partially due to the fact that my habit is pretty big.) Both times, I went into immediate withdrawal for the next 6-8 hours. It was awful.

I've obtained some Suboxone, and I want to try using it again on my own. (The previous two times were in inpatient detox.) I'm going to wait 24 hours, and make sure I'm beginning to show symptoms of withdrawal before I do it. My question is this: If 24 hours later turns out to be too soon, and I go once again into immediate withdrawal, can I use heroin to stop withdrawing? Or will the naloxone make that impossible?

 

[Keif' Richards]

You really need to try to learn from your mistakes. If 12-18 hours of abstinence sent you into precipitated withdrawal previously, then I would recommend at least 24 hours if not more before dosing your Buprenorphine. Wait until your withdrawal gets significantly more severe. I think you'll agree with me in that experiencing a little bit of "normal" withdrawal beats the hell out of going through PW.

You can theoretically use other opioids to counteract the PW, but due to the Buprnorphine/Naloxone being active in your system, it would take huge doses of heroin or what have you. I can't stress enough here that the key strategy is to not put yourself into PW in the first place. Give yourself plenty of time in between your last Heroin use and when you use the Buprenorphine. Once you are in that state of PW, you basically just have to ride it out.

Benzodiazepines, Clonidine or maybe some Muscle Relaxants would all be good choices for mitigating some of withdrawal symptoms, but don't go overboard.

 

[Phil.McKeer]

Seriously OP...just wait. Don't think of it as "x hours". Its really more about how you feel. You need to wait until you are in FULL ACUTE W/D. This means your nose and eyes are running like faucets, you're sneezing 12 times in a row, you have the shits, and perhaps the most important indicator, your legs are kicking like you're riding a bike.

If you're not there yet, just don't take any subs. Why would you anyways, if you're not in severe withdrawal, you need no subs! Simple as that.

Its not enough to "wait 24 hours and make sure you're beginning to show signs of w/d". Unless you want to plunge into PW again! So stop thinking in terms of hours and start thinking in terms of how you feel. Google "cows withdrawal score sheet" to help.

 

[Ligaturd]

12-24 hours is fine for most opioids. If you are doing Fentanyl or Heroin laced with Fentanyl (most heroin coming from Mexico will be laced with Fent as well as Heroin from all over the world being mixed with it in both the US and Canada), Fentanyl is a short acting opioid but it's metabolite nor-Fentanyl can stay around over 36 hours after the last dose. Even if one is in full withdrawal. Some people have had precipitated withdrawal a couple days after their last dose. If you get precipitated withdrawals after 24 hours it is quite likely you have been doing Fentanyl laced Heroin.