Bupe Suboxone/Buprenorphine Mega Thread and FAQ v17.0 + v18.0

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Yeah most people I know, myself included, detected relatively no change in feeling and therefore had no difficulty tapering down to around 2-4mg's, even if coming from really high dose like 24mg's, and coming down quickly.

Coming down from 2mg, and especially once you reach sub-milligram doses, can get rough and should be done very slowly at that point to increase the chances of success.

Tapering is like inducting.. if you do it right, you'll only have to do it once, which is why you need to be patient and do it the right way.

Many people bad mouth suboxone and methadone, saying they are impossible to get off, etc, blame the meds for all their problems, when they didn't actually come off of them the right way.. they just stop at a high dose, or taper to fast, and then are pissed that the withdrawals are really bad.

 

[BlueHues]

^Yeah, like I said, I only came off methadone once, but I was on it for almost 3 years and it wasn't bad. And I didn't even do the suggested 1-2 mgs a week...I came all the way down from 80 to zero at 1mg a day. So 80 days, and it wasn't really that bad...

Suboxone was worse for me, but its not like Ive actually made it off suboxone to being clean that many times to really judge....

 

[dopemegently]

^^

Yeah they made 4 and 12mg strips.. but what they really should have made was .5's and .25's. It would make the tapering process 100x easier if you could get a full size strip that's only .5 or .25, and be able to cut that into a bunch of pieces for literally microscopic doses.

I just don't why they'd make the smallest dose so large (2 mg of bupe is pretty damn large a dose). We shouldn't have to cut the pills ourselves-it gets very, very tricky when your cutting a 2 mg pill into quarters or even smaller. They only microgram sized bupe product I can think of is temgesic. It was used decades ago in hospitals before they figured out the potential for bupe in opiate addiction. I'm pretty sure temgesic isn't made anymore though, but I guess there's no harm in asking for it, when I get down to the 2 mg mark.

Mr.Scagnettie, I've been using 12 mg of bupe for almost 9 years now; if you were in a similar position, what rate would you taper at? Luckily, I've been offered a gradual reduction so there's no reason I can't do it the right way like you posted earlier. My keyworker tells me his clients are tapering painlessly, but struggling when they drop off at 2, which is what I've been hearing too.

 

[Not Again]

I think the worst of my problems were from 2-1 mg. Then into the mcg range. I was only on sub a short time less than 30 days but it got me off 400 mg oxy.

If I was at 12 mg for that long ^^^^^ I would definitely do it slow. I would drop to 10 mg just to see what the water felt like. If you seem ok stay at 10 for a week or 2 and drop 2 more mg. Follow that till you get to 4 mg and stabilize there for a while.

There is no painless taper after 9 years.

on a side note I went to the Dr and asked for something for sleep. I said probably 5 times no benzos and I came out with 30 more xanax. lololol

The secret is to say you don't want it and you get it. The DR assured me at .25mg there are no problems. Just like he assured me that norco and oxy were just fine. All the xanax I had was from another source so at least it's above water now.

Has anybody heard that the 3-6th week after sub is difficult for sleep?

The great thing is .25 xanax is the only drug I'm taking. I'm actually cleaner than I've ever been.

 

[dopemegently]

Yeah, it's been almost a decade: I know I'm gonna have to pay the piper when it comes down to it. I feel fine at 10 btw, but 8.is where I've ran into problems in the past - once I get down to 8, that's when things will start to get tough. Luckily, they're pretty much given me an open window for my reduction; they'll let me reduce as slowly as I like/need, so I'll have plenty of time to adapt to each reduction.

Dr's have also made me a lot of assurances in the past, including that bupe isn't actually an opiate at all, so the withdrawal is utterly painless... lets just say I like to do my own research now.

Congrats on getting clean Not Again, I'm not doing quite as well right now: I use large amounts of phenibut, benzos, and noids. Thanks for the answer though, and keep strong.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

I just don't why they'd make the smallest dose so large (2 mg of bupe is pretty damn large a dose). We shouldn't have to cut the pills ourselves-it gets very, very tricky when your cutting a 2 mg pill into quarters or even smaller. They only microgram sized bupe product I can think of is temgesic. It was used decades ago in hospitals before they figured out the potential for bupe in opiate addiction. I'm pretty sure temgesic isn't made anymore though, but I guess there's no harm in asking for it, when I get down to the 2 mg mark.

Mr.Scagnettie, I've been using 12 mg of bupe for almost 9 years now; if you were in a similar position, what rate would you taper at? Luckily, I've been offered a gradual reduction so there's no reason I can't do it the right way like you posted earlier. My keyworker tells me his clients are tapering painlessly, but struggling when they drop off at 2, which is what I've been hearing too.

Okay then follow his instructions for getting down to 2, (like I said, it's pretty easy to get down to that dose and there are a lot of ways to do it) and then when you get to 2mg's, start tapering on your own. I'm not surprised to hear about those people struggling when they hop off at that high a dose. Doctors really need to realize that it would be way better for patients and their chances of success would be a lot higher if they came off at a lower dose.

As far as a rate to taper at after 2mg's, I recommend coming down .25 a week. That'll make for a pretty smooth and painless transition. If you're still feeling withdrawals at those drops, try it every 2 weeks.

 

[Jabberwocky]

bad news, peeps. had a slip up last night. ran into a girl and she was going to grab a gram of "good shit". threw her the cash and BOOM! I only did it 12hrs after 8MG of bupe, so it prob. didnt hit me hard at all. I also didnt shoot and just sniffed in front f her cuz she was a sniffer. truthfully. I was far from "jammed" but I did get somewhat of a high.

but now I am def. going right back to the bupe route; my question: I took a bundle of dope last night at 830 and no bupe yet. when should I wait to go back on the bupe? I was gonna go 24hrs. sound about right?

 

[Jabberwocky]

ahh, it feels good getting that out to my bluelight peeps, ha. sadly, I ended up going home after blowing that gram, had a few beers, smoked a bow and threw a few xanny down. pretty SAD night for someone trying to get sober but whatever. I admit I did wrong and I have every intention on going back to 2 days ago when all was good and dandy. I'll always be open. In my mind here I was kinda "celebrating" my bankruptcy hearing win, my move to new apt next week, etc. yet I celebrated w/ the drug that brought me to that bankruptcy and my old LOST apartment.

 

[RTrain]

I am fairly confident that a one time slip up after months of being on Bupe will not require any waiting. Now that doesn't mean I would go get high and take some 4 hours later, but I am as I said "fairly" confident it wouldn't cause a precipitated w/d. I would wait until I don't feel the dope anymore at the very least, but it doesn't have to be 24 hours. If you wait 12 hours and bump off the small amount of H left on it isn't a system shock like when you were hooked on it and doing grams a day. It takes a little more than a one night stand for your body to readjust to needing the H on the receptors to prevent absurd sickness when it hasn't had it for so long.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

bad news, peeps. had a slip up last night. ran into a girl and she was going to grab a gram of "good shit". threw her the cash and BOOM! I only did it 12hrs after 8MG of bupe, so it prob. didnt hit me hard at all. I also didnt shoot and just sniffed in front f her cuz she was a sniffer. truthfully. I was far from "jammed" but I did get somewhat of a high.

but now I am def. going right back to the bupe route; my question: I took a bundle of dope last night at 830 and no bupe yet. when should I wait to go back on the bupe? I was gonna go 24hrs. sound about right?

I thought you were all happy and proud of being sober and on suboxone... I mean, no offense you came off pretty high and mighty sometimes when talking about how long you've been sober and how great it was, how wonder the suboxone was and that your dose was perfect and you had no intention of relapsing, etc, so this should be kind of a wake up call to you that relapses can always happen and that there is a pink cloud period after getting clean, especially with suboxone...

As far as when to start taking the bupe again, the fact you only used one day will make it so you should be able to just start right back on the bupe, as you still have plenty of suboxone in your system and didn't do enough dope to raise your tolerance past the point of suboxone helping you.

If you wanna play it safe, you can always wait until you start feeling withdrawals, then you know you'd be fine to take the suboxone.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I thought you were all happy and proud of being sober and on suboxone... I mean, no offense you came off pretty high and mighty sometimes when talking about how long you've been sober and how great it was, how wonder the suboxone was and that your dose was perfect and you had no intention of relapsing, etc, so this should be kind of a wake up call to you that relapses can always happen and that there is a pink cloud period after getting clean, especially with suboxone...

As far as when to start taking the bupe again, the fact you only used one day will make it so you should be able to just start right back on the bupe, as you still have plenty of suboxone in your system and didn't do enough dope to raise your tolerance past the point of suboxone helping you.

If you wanna play it safe, you can always wait until you start feeling withdrawals, then you know you'd be fine to take the suboxone.

I agree, dude. but remember me saying I was dropping my dosage, etc. and I was playing with 6MG now and prior was 16MG w/ a slow move to 12MG and then quick to 8MG and 6MG. I shook myself down too fast. Today I woke up in shame but it is what it is. I'll be going back to 8MG bupe until I feel I am ready again to move down the extra 2MG.

Weird, too.. cuz what if I didnt see her at the gas station? ya know!? out of all people/things to see at a gas station. but I am sure my other Boston peeps on here who know Lynn know how it goes. ha. I WISH I HAD GAS! fuck!

 

[Jabberwocky]

funniest part, and it brought back typical dope memories: she goes, "OK, so give me $$$". so I give her the money. and she walks away. I said, "hey, what did you drop the dope or something". she goes, "no, I gotta go get it now". AKA- I get it cheaper, you cant be around, or maybe ill take out of your bag, etc.

either way, she came back and we did it together which is why I sniffed. glad I sniffed; prob. didnt hit me the usual way and really didnt bring back that same once rush.

either way, I fucked up. I am upfront about it. I am back on bupe today and will take 4MG at noon and another 4 @ 8PM. and then go back to 8MG in the AM again.

 

[Not Again]

Yeah, it's been almost a decade: I know I'm gonna have to pay the piper when it comes down to it. I feel fine at 10 btw, but 8.is where I've ran into problems in the past - once I get down to 8, that's when things will start to get tough. Luckily, they're pretty much given me an open window for my reduction; they'll let me reduce as slowly as I like/need, so I'll have plenty of time to adapt to each reduction.

Dr's have also made me a lot of assurances in the past, including that bupe isn't actually an opiate at all, so the withdrawal is utterly painless... lets just say I like to do my own research now.

Congrats on getting clean Not Again, I'm not doing quite as well right now: I use large amounts of phenibut, benzos, and noids. Thanks for the answer though, and keep strong.

Thank you. I was lucky and only used sub for 30 days. It was a fast controlled taper from 16 mg to .125. It got me loose of 400mg oxy a day. I believe dec 16th or around was the last day on sub. Still making improvements, but life is back where it was.

Just need to get rid of the insomnia.

Most DR's are clueless to what painless is. Painless is at least a 2 months of hard times.After a decade you will have yourself some difficult times. Probably 6 months of tapering and 6 months of recovery. The faster you do it the better. Your here, so you are thinking about it. Once ready you are ready.

I just saw someone jump from 8-10 mg a day for a year or 2. He just said I'm done.He's near 17 days and back to work. A decade is a very long time. I would almost say that a taper and a high jump in your case might be near the same difficulty rating.

If you were to just stop you would have a world of hurt but it would be way faster than a taper and a jump.

A decade. Man your one of the originals. It hasn't been out much longer than that. The DR's then really didn't have a clue about it. They still don't.

 

[LSDiesel]

Well, I have an interesting story to tell yous

I recently decided to transition onto Suboxone. I have been on both Suboxone and Methadone in the past, with Methadone being the most recent maintenence, ending June 2013. So between June 2013 and January 2014, I have been doing kratom, loperamide and ECP dope. It eventually became all dope all day, as it always does... FOR ME.

Anyway, so on Tuesday night, at 7pm, I did my last dope shot....
Wednesday Morning... wakeup, shittty, call out of work.... feeling worse as the day goes on....
Wednesday Evening... at 24 hours since last dope shot... Take 2mg suboxone... doesn't do anything... doesn't make me feel better or worse
Early Thursday at 3?am (middle of the night) I take 2mg again of suboxone, still doesn't do anything, not putting me into WD or making me feel better
7am, I call out of work again, 10am I actually feel better, like alot better, the suboxone is working, even though I dosed my last dose over 7 hours previously.
So what does a dope fiend like me do once he feels better and can function and move about? He calls up the dope man!

So, it's thursday... around 1pm, almost 48 hours since I did dope, and I feel gooood from the sub, not high, but very energetic and functional.

I know if I am going to feel this dope shot, I prolly will need to do more than usual, so I plan accordingly.

Anyway, upon scoring the shit, I become intensely sick, like dry heaving, throwing up what little liquid I have in me.

As I was prepping the shot, I was extremely shaky.

After the shot, I felt so much better, but the mind is a crazy thing.

What happened? Why did I get so sick when I was prepping my dope shot. That hasn't happened to me in a LONG time.

Oh, BTW I took 2mg sub this morning and feel fine, I plan on continuing to take sub for the time being to get some time off from dope, hopefully months and then years..

 

[ellua]

My first thought is that the sub caused nausea and dry heaving, as it's known to make people vomit especially on induction; even if you've had it before, since it's been a long time, it could certainly have been a side effect.

 

[Jabberwocky]

all feels good after my 4MG sub dosage after using a gram about 12 or so hours ago. sad that I went 5 months and used but oh well; I was never truly "sober" but def. sober away from DOPE and will continue to be after last nights slip up.. cuz thats ALL IT WAS.. A SLIP UP! plus, I sniffed.. so come on!? does that count? ha. im joking, im joking, relax.

 

[LSDiesel]

My first thought is that the sub caused nausea and dry heaving, as it's known to make people vomit especially on induction; even if you've had it before, since it's been a long time, it could certainly have been a side effect.

But I was feeling good BEFORE the nausea, it was like my body was "prepping" for the shot, so it was like "ok boys, clear off those receptors, cuz we got a full agonist coming in, it's going to feel lovely!" After the shot, I had a very pleasant rush, and the dope "meshed" with the suboxone very well, with me feeling high for several hours, followed by being well with no cravings until I woke up this morning, upon which I dosed with 2mg sub, and didnt get any PWD even though I am dosing in less than 24 hours of taking a full agonist.

 

[atmosfear3]

Those in UK-If u can get onto Subutex or generic equivalent, (less bitter tasting,) it comes in 0.4 making it easier to taper.

 

[Ziggy stardust]

But I was feeling good BEFORE the nausea, it was like my body was "prepping" for the shot, so it was like "ok boys, clear off those receptors, cuz we got a full agonist coming in, it's going to feel lovely!" After the shot, I had a very pleasant rush, and the dope "meshed" with the suboxone very well, with me feeling high for several hours, followed by being well with no cravings until I woke up this morning, upon which I dosed with 2mg sub, and didnt get any PWD even though I am dosing in less than 24 hours of taking a full agonist.

I don't know about you...but I would dry heave in anticipation of dope when I was dope sick. I don't think it's that uncommon.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

But I was feeling good BEFORE the nausea, it was like my body was "prepping" for the shot, so it was like "ok boys, clear off those receptors, cuz we got a full agonist coming in, it's going to feel lovely!" After the shot, I had a very pleasant rush, and the dope "meshed" with the suboxone very well, with me feeling high for several hours, followed by being well with no cravings until I woke up this morning, upon which I dosed with 2mg sub, and didnt get any PWD even though I am dosing in less than 24 hours of taking a full agonist.

Yeah It's not uncommon for the excitement and whatnot right before you're about to do a shot, to cause you to puke and feel a burst of sickness. Could have just been all mental, because if the suboxone was holding you right prior to prepping a shot.. then that means you weren't in withdrawal.