well.. i guess i'll wait for da mods or maybe sum1 wit sum knowledge will answer my questions..
thanx in advanced
If you read some of my recent posts, I'm going through the exact same thing you are (bupe and benzo dual addiction... I started at 3mg Suboxone snorted daily, and 3mg Xanax daily). The biggest problem I had when tapering down initially was the fact that the drugs potentiate each other so much that even the smallest decrease in either drug is pretty dramatic. What I eventually did was gradually switch from Xanax to Klonopin because it lasts longer and makes tapering easier (note that Klonopin isn't the most ideal benzo to switch to; Valium is. The equivalency between these benzos is 0.5mg Xanax = 0.5mg Klonopin = 10mg Valium. When you're switching from one benzo to another, gradually work in about 0.5mg of Klonopin or 10mg Valium approximately every week (take more time if needed), replacing 0.5mg of the Xanax. You'll have to switch from Xanax because it is way too short lasting, and when you get to lower doses you will w/d between doses)
Now, let me explain how I got to where I am now. First, I concentrated on dropping from 3mg Suboxone up the nose to 0.3mg also up the nose, over the course of a few months, all the while tapering down my benzo dosage, which, as I said earlier, I had switched from Xanax to Klonopin (through these months, I only dropped about half of the total benzo dose). I did this
very gradually, and focused on the Suboxone first because of a few reasons, one being the fact that benzo tapers take an incredible amount of time, and the other reason, as I explain a bit more later, makes it easy to get a doctor to help you get off benzos (they know how dangerous benzo w/d is...). I'm now w/ding a bit from completely stopping the Suboxone A) because it's so damn strong, and B) because the mixture of the drugs makes for both drugs acting stronger than either drug on it's own. I will be able to deal with the w/ds, but I'd recommend getting a few weaker opiates to to the last part of the Suboxone taper with, after you get down to, say, about 0.5mg or maybe even a little less. Then you have the Klonopin taper to worry about, but any doctor will understand that you can die from w/ding from benzos, and you should be able to get a legitimate script to go nice and slow off of them.
Anyways, that's my plan, and it seems to be working pretty well for me. Like I said, I went from 3mg snorted Suboxone and 3mg Xanax per day to no Suboxone and about 0.75mg Klonopin in a matter of about 3 months(give or take a few weeks). It's not going to be easy to do, but it shouldn't be too painful either if you
go slow!
If you want to know everything there is to know about benzo w/d, I reccomend reading the
Ashton Manual, so you know exactly what you're in for and how to prepare for it. Good luck!