Opioids very light heroin use suboxone detox, how?

[Micahtheother]

Hello, I am new here, and new to addiction. I went my whole life without addiction issues, then a lot of problems (past issues I never dealt with) and new things (death of a parent, divorce etc) all at once hit me. I started using heroine last June, only a TINY bit, like a hit the size of the head of a pin, about three times a week. Snorting it, never injected or smoked. and now, it is seven months later and I have a daily habit. I don't exactly know how much because it is always cut, but about one small bag will last me a day or two. So not very much, but when I tried to quit, my wd was bad enough i had to stop, and I can't let my sleep get too screwed up or it will fuck up my work. Everyone says to just tough it out and cold turkey, but the jitteryness and restless legs and anxiety are killing me. I don't have much tolerance I guess. I have access to suboxone and also to ativan or zanax. I have tried four times to cold turkey and it was always to much and I caved in. I want very much to be clean, and am taking care of the stuff that got me using in the first place with couseling, I feel like if I could just get past the part of feeling so awful during dt (nausea, kicky legs, jittery, anxious, depressed, my whole body feels like a broken bone) I am confident about not starting it back up! I am planning to visit my family, in a city I have no way to get heroin, my sister will look after me for a few days, does anyone have any advice on using suboxone to get thought the first 3 to 4 days? I don't want to just end up dependant on that too, I don't know.

 

[PotatoMan]

homeless ----> OD

 

[crzydiamond]

Well, you wouldn't end up dependent on suboxone if using it for 3-4 days to detox as described. You have such a minor habit though, you should only use a very small amount of sub. If you chose to use subs, I would do maybe 2 mgs the first morning, 2 mgs the next morning, 1 mg the third morning, and none the fourth day (unless you feel you need it, as they last over a day, up to 3, so you might be ok from the build up). The fifth day Take 0.5 mg. after that you should be ok. Maybe some minor issues but overall ok


The other thing is, with a smaller habit, you can easily take loperamide (Imodium) for the withdrawal plus some comfort meds if needed. If you take about 20-25 mgs of loperamide before going to sleep (before you start feeling icky) you should be able to wake up and get the blood flowing and feel 80% normal. Then take that amount every 12 hours for the first 3 days ( you can start the loperamide in the morning, but be aware it takes an hour to start working, about three to hit max, and lasts 12+ hours). After the first 3 days start decreasing the amount of loperamide. Drop maybe 1-2 pills per day (2-4 mgs). There is no "high" so you won't crave it, it's easier to just decrease than your DOC. Loperamide takes away almost all of the wd symptoms you mention, but you will still feel lethargic and also very dehydrated so make sure to drink water!


If you had access to phenobarbital I found that to be the easiest detox--I slept for 3 days straight, got up all delirious and disoriented, but after 4 days I had kicked a decent IV heroin habit pain-free.

Good luck. You should really get off now before it snowballs into a much larger--and more difficult to get off--habit.

 

[Micahtheother]

Thank you, for answering. I think I am going to try that suboxone schedule, I can't take loperimide because i already have way to many problems with constipation, even when cold turkey detox. I am afraid if I took anything like loperimide I would have a serious medical problem that way :/