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suboxone taper

What’s a general taper schedule for someone on 20 mg twice a day look like over time?
 
My experience was that even very low doses were hard to get off. Sub has a very long half-life in the body--as long as methadone, IMHO. For me, it was easy to get down to about 1 mg daily, but then it became difficult. Truthfully, I just switched to kratom, so I don't really know how long it would've taken to get feeling good. I'm old and crippled and in constant pain, as well, so "feeling good" is pretty illusory for me anyway. :unsure:🙏
 
Having known many, many people in my area in the US that have been on both doctor prescribed and illicit bupe maintenance (basically most of the addcits switched to shooting bupe and selling the rest of their scripts to addicts like me. Everyone new someone going to the sub doctor. I know people are gonna get tired of me saying this (especially the people on bupe lol. I mean no disrespect) but buprenorphine is just a trap 98% of the time. Of course im biased when I say this, but with good reason. It does help a small percentage of the people that take it, but just elongates the problem of addiction into a years long problem, and then subsequently, 4 times as long of a wd period. Its almost like getting on proper bupe maintenance is just to get you to where you just literally get tired of being on bupe, or anything like it, so you just stop. You wont quit until your ready, and what causes you to get ready to quit is often what I call "use fatigue"

So my advice is to just take the bandaid off when your ready. Actually prepare for it. If you can do a couple weeks worth of shopping, including all your symptom covering meds like loperamide and supplements. If employed or such, request a couple weeks off in advance. Working during 7 weeks of bupe wd was absolutely 200% the worst part of it (especially as a chef in a hot ass kitchen). It takes such a long tedious time to get off bupe totally ( like I said, 7 weeks...7 days to sleep one hour. But so worth it!) that being prepared can literally make or break your experience. It is possible to do it. Im living proof.

Just go ahead and do it. Theres very little difference in wd from 8mg to wd from 1 mg. But there is a whole lot of difference in being free, for any amount of time. The sooner you get free the better. Lack of freedom is in my opinion the worst part of opiate addiction...its so very psychological. Im sorry if I sound like im preaching, but I had literally 50% of a large group of friends on bupe, and only 3 of us have gotten off bupe. But those that got off get sick at the thought of that smell. However, those that never got on bupe, once their addiction burned out, or I guess they just wore out their affinity to opiates (it is possible for a lot of people, but there a too many factors to list) actually returned to normal life much much faster than those on bupe. If you graph the up and down cycle of opiate addiction on a timeline, the curve for classic opiates is much shorter, and steeper. But could also end the entire show sooner for the individual. Whereas, the curve for bupe is much much longer and less steep.

So basically to end a long rant lol. Once your ready to stop fucking around and get free, it doesn't matter if your on bupe or street opiates. Your gonna stop if you want to. Bupe just makes it take that much longer, so the more prepared you are, the better chance you give yourself. It is doable, and I wish you all the luck!


edit: I know everyone cant logistically take cannabis, but if you can I recommend one hundred percent smoking. It will aid in apatite, stomach issues, boredom and sleep (first hour of sleep i had was thanks to cannabis) and overall disposition. But some people get anxiety, so only if your comfortable with cannabis. I dont want to suggest anything that will make some issues worse, making relapse more likely Hedge your bets until you can be sure
 
I think long term bupe use is a trap. The longer you take it, the harder it is to make the decision to get off. Many times peep find that it just turns on them....meaning you get more side effects than it is worth.
There are no long term studies on it except for us. Most sub Dr's still believe it can be tapered for a month, down to 2mgs, and then stopped. This might work for younger peeps that haven't been on very long but for the most part, it's just wrong to tell a client/patient this information.

The sooner bupe users realize that maintainence isn't a good way to live, the better. Getting off of it is a process, but it's certainly doable.
If you ever went to the old suxsux forum, you might remember it had many horror type stories. That happens when you don't know how to taper or you don't have the knowledge to set yourself up for the protocol.

Like methadone, bupe is a long acting opiate (lao) meaning it has a long half life. All other opiates, heroin, pills and the like are short acting opiates (sao). Because of that, withdrawal off the LAOs takes longer and has more intense wd symptoms.

Most of you here are extremely savvy about this and know it is so much easier to get off SAOs. But, we take the easy way out. Bupe is good for a short detox, better than done. But using it long term is, in my book, dangerous.
 
tukabirdy said:
I think long term bupe use is a trap. The longer you take it, the harder it is to make the decision to get off. Many times peep find that it just turns on them....meaning you get more side effects than it is worth.
There are no long term studies on it except for us. Most sub Dr's still believe it can be tapered for a month, down to 2mgs, and then stopped. This might work for younger peeps that haven't been on very long but for the most part, it's just wrong to tell a client/patient this information.

The sooner bupe users realize that maintainence isn't a good way to live, the better. Getting off of it is a process, but it's certainly doable.
If you ever went to the old suxsux forum, you might remember it had many horror type stories. That happens when you don't know how to taper or you don't have the knowledge to set yourself up for the protocol.

Like methadone, bupe is a long acting opiate (lao) meaning it has a long half life. All other opiates, heroin, pills and the like are short acting opiates (sao). Because of that, withdrawal off the LAOs takes longer and has more intense wd symptoms.

Most of you here are extremely savvy about this and know it is so much easier to get off SAOs. But, we take the easy way out. Bupe is good for a short detox, better than done. But using it long term is, in my book, dangerous.
Click to expand...

Why is long-term bupe use dangerous? My doctor doesn’t have a plan for me to get off due to my chronic pain. What to do?
 
If you plan on staying in bupe the rest of your life at a low dose, that may be a viable plan. I don't know how old you are, your condition, your countries stance on bupe, or how your insurance works.

But....IMO, it is dangerous for two reasons. Like any drug, there are long term side effects that could happen in the near or far future; also if a person has to come off for surgeries, loss of insurance, any reason for discontinuance, they will quite possibly go thru a very long withdrawal that they haven't been told/educated about.

Bupe is a very powerful drug. Drs in the USA are very ignorant about getting people OFF of it. They sure as hell don't mind raking in the major bucks it brings keeping a full client load. But when a patient wants or has to stop, they fall back on the drug companies very poor tapering instruction. The protocol being...taper a few weeks to a month, get down to one or two mgs and stop.
 
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