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The "Step-Down Technique" Opioid Addiction Taper Thread

bluerobot

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
74
https://youtu.be/2GGXE6mBLoI

https://youtu.be/2GGXE6mBLoI

https://youtu.be/2GGXE6mBLoI

Please watch this video.
I found this video on YouTube. If you're suffering from opioid addiction, I believe this to be a great technique on how to completely quit. I just recently switched to Suboxone and I am aware that the withdrawal is a lot longer than most other opiates but it is also a lot less intense. Before I ever even knew about this video, in the past when I was on Suboxone maintenance, I ended up quiting suboxone doing something very similar to this before almost on accident and it was relatively easy. I ended up relapsing on to Heroin but now I'm back on suboxone and when I'm ready, I plan to quit suboxone again this way.
Does anyone have any thoughts about this technique? Do you like it? Hate it? Think it's a good idea? Bad idea? Do you have anything to add? Any tips or suggestions? All thoughts are welcome. I want this thread to be a discussion about the "step down technique" for opiate addiction. Please let me know what you think. Sincerely, Blue.

https://youtu.be/2GGXE6mBLoI

https://youtu.be/2GGXE6mBLoI

https://youtu.be/2GGXE6mBLoI
 
Hi Blue- I've watched some of it so far. If you took the time to put up this thread, then I can take the time to watch and learn from it. For me, I wanted faster results. I've suffered for it too by getting those demons out of me faster, but once I got far enough along (maybe 18 to 20 days), I knew I was never again going through methadone withdrawals.

I just watched a YouTube video about how some people in Russia are trying to help addicts -and it was so terrible I won't post the link. They handcuff them to an old military style cot and that's how they get clean. One of them was videotaped in the middle of the worst of it. YouTube is full of ppl's stories trying to get clean. I hadn't realized just how much until I saw the suggested links around the video you posted.

In the USA, the help is there to make withdrawal easier, but only if you can pay for it and if you (not you personally) don't mind the word "addicted" in your medical records. What bothers me the most is the "if you can pay for it" part. Getting healthcare someone needs - whatever the reason - shouldn't be solely dependent on their level of expendable income. I know there is help, but not nearly enough. Maybe that's supposed to be my new thread though...

Thanks for your posts :)
Dale
 
Hi Blue- I've watched some of it so far. If you took the time to put up this thread, then I can take the time to watch and learn from it. For me, I wanted faster results. I've suffered for it too by getting those demons out of me faster, but once I got far enough along (maybe 18 to 20 days), I knew I was never again going through methadone withdrawals.

I just watched a YouTube video about how some people in Russia are trying to help addicts -and it was so terrible I won't post the link. They handcuff them to an old military style cot and that's how they get clean. One of them was videotaped in the middle of the worst of it. YouTube is full of ppl's stories trying to get clean. I hadn't realized just how much until I saw the suggested links around the video you posted.

In the USA, the help is there to make withdrawal easier, but only if you can pay for it and if you (not you personally) don't mind the word "addicted" in your medical records. What bothers me the most is the "if you can pay for it" part. Getting healthcare someone needs - whatever the reason - shouldn't be solely dependent on their level of expendable income. I know there is help, but not nearly enough. Maybe that's supposed to be my new thread though...

Thanks for your posts :)
Dale

Hey Socal - Thanks for taking the time to reply to my thread. Those Russian videos sound horrific. I would hate to go through withdrawal in that way. It reminds me of this movie called "The Basketball Diaries" with Leonardo DiCaprio. If you haven't seen It, I'd definitely recommend it. So wait did you ever get off methadone? If you were already at a low enough dose I suppose you could just fast forward to the end of the video and just follow the last steps. It'd be much faster that way. And yea I agree most treatment plans are extremely expensive. And if you don't have insurance or if insurance won't cover it than forget about it. It sucks. That's why I never went to a rehab even though at some point I wanted to. It's just too expensive. Even me being on suboxone is way too expensive. My doctor prescribed me 60 Suboxone strips and it was something like $700++. I literally couldn't pay for the whole thing. I'm lucky that i take such a small dose. I just payed for 15 strips and left 45 of them at the pharmacy. I think I still have like 6months to get them. I'll probably just pay for 15strips at a time anytime I'm about to run out. But ya the fact that essential healthcare like this is so expensive is not right. Hopefully something changes soon. lol it sucks cause I hear about these new drugs or treatment that scientists are working on for opiate addiction and they sound extremely promising, basically miracles lol but they aren't going to be available until years from now. I guess we just became addicts at the wrong time in life or we we're just born in the wrong era haha but ya that sounds like a great thread to start.

Hope you're having a great day btw:)
Sincerely Blue
 
Tapering is the key. The longer you taper and the lower you go the better things will turn out. I made the mistake of jumping off 50mg of methadone after tapering down from 150mg. That was a version of hell i don't ever want to re-experience. If I had just tapered too 0 i might had a chance but i got complacent and it screwed me hard. Learn from my mistake.
 
Tapering is the key. The longer you taper and the lower you go the better things will turn out. I made the mistake of jumping off 50mg of methadone after tapering down from 150mg. That was a version of hell i don't ever want to re-experience. If I had just tapered too 0 i might had a chance but i got complacent and it screwed me hard. Learn from my mistake.

Cj - yea that sounds like hell. Tapering is definitely the key. Back before I relapsed and I was on Suboxone I got down to tiny doses probably 0.25mg twice a day and what happened with me was I would forget to take a dose every now and then and I got to a point where for about a week I would forget to take a dose pretty much everyday so I was only dosing once a day. And then towards the end of that week I forgot to take that dose too. Once I realized that I could dose every other day and not feel like complete crap I started dosing every other day and one day I forgot to take that dose too and went two full days without dosing so I dosed and waited another two days and dosed again and I was planning to do that for a while but ended up forgetting that dose too and once I was on my 3rd day I realized that I felt completely fine. So I basically did the last part of my taper on accident and it was pretty much painless. I was super happy. but of course I ended up relapsing on heroin again in about 6 months like an idiot. And so here I am. Back on Suboxone.
Blue
 
Man, I really wanted this discussion to blow up more. I thought people would find the video for informative and helpful. But I guess I can understand that most people don't feel like spending 30 minutes watching a video. Honestly if you're too lazy for that, I would recommend watching the first and last 5 minutes of the video. Or at least the last 5 minutes. I think this could help a lot of people who are trying to taper.
 
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