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Opioids Wanting/needing to jump off 16mgs of Suboxone? How long will w/d's last?

crestfallen

crestfallen

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 10, 2011
Messages
288
I've been on subs for 4-5 months and I'm at 16mgs a day. Lately I have been taking 8-12mg. I'm not working and I go to school 2 days a week so I figured now would be a good time to just stop them. I don't want to be withdrawing when I get a job or when I'm busy, better to do it when I don't have anything to do. I have about 15 8mg strips left but I just want to get off this shit asap.

Basically, how bad will the w/d's be and how long will they last? I know its best to taper but I don't have the money to pay for them and I just want to get off.What if I ct them now and when w/d's kick in, take 1-2mgs to stave it off for a while. If I do this my body will be accustomed to that low dose and it will be easier to jump off 1mg than 8mgs right?

I don't have access to any other opiates and I'm definitely not going back to that life so I think I can just suffer it out for a week or 2. I have Klonopin and I take wellbutrin xl everyday. What do you guys think?
 
Yes, as everyone says, going from 16mg ---> 0mg is going to be a living hell for no less than two weeks of acute withdrawal, although it could last up to three to four weeks of hell on earth. And your PAWS are gonna be nasty as fucking hell two.

The longer your taper and the lower your dose is when you want to jump off suboxone, the less intense you're w/d will be.

As has been said, pls don't cause unnecessary pain and suffering in your like by jumping off more than 0.5-0.25mg of suboxone.

And even a two week taper, which isn't really much at all, will make this infinitely easier on you to get off the suboxone.
 
I jumped off 400mg of Oxycontin Cold Turkey on Jan 17th. I'm still suffering. It was indeed hell on earth. Don't do it, no point in causing yourself unnecessary torture.
 
Damn..its that bad huh? What would a 2 week taper look like? I went from taking 16mgs a day to 4mgs (for about 4 days) and I didn't feel sick or anything, I was just a little depressed. But now I'm back to 8mgs a day. I hear its easy to taper down to 2mg without much w/d. But tapering from 2mgs is where it starts to get tough.

So how should I do a 2 week taper? btw I have the the film strips, not the tablets so I can water titrate my doses
 
These guys said it right. I was on 16mg and I would never even dare try to cold turkey from that. If you do you'll be missing school for at least 3 weeks and you'll have a hard time getting out of bed for at least a week or 2 I'd imagine. If you have 15x8mg you have enough to have a pretty decent taper. You say you're already at 12mg so just start from there. You can drop 2mg every other day until you hit 4mg then go down 0.5mg every other day (you could even do it a little slower than that). That is what I'd do at least. I was forced to do almost the exact same thing as you are doing. I was at 16mg and had to taper with about what you have left, maybe a little less, and when I came off at 0.25mg i still didn't feel that great for a while.

edit:

crestfallen said:
Damn..its that bad huh? What would a 2 week taper look like? I went from taking 16mgs a day to 4mgs (for about 4 days) and I didn't feel sick or anything, I was just a little depressed. But now I'm back to 8mgs a day. I hear its easy to taper down to 2mg without much w/d. But tapering from 2mgs is where it starts to get tough.

So how should I do a 2 week taper? btw I have the the film strips, not the tablets so I can water titrate my doses
Click to expand...

That's true. Coming off at 2mg isn't quite as easy as doctors and clinics like to say it is. If you're on 8mg you could go down 1mg every other day until you hit 4mg. Go down 0.5mg until you hit 2 or 1 and go down 0.25mg from there. It might seem slow but its better to take it slow now while you can otherwise you may end up wishing that you did.
 
Last edited:
A two week taper is like the minimum I'd ever suggest, but...

Drop down from 16mg to 8mg and stay at 8mg for two days.
Drop down from 8mg to 4mg and stay there for two days.
Drop down from 4mg to 2mg and stay there for three days.
Drop down from 2mg to 1mg and stay there for two days.
Drop down from 1mg to 0.5mg and stay there for three days.
Drop down from 0.5mg to 0.25mg and stay there for two days.

And there you have it! A super quick and dirty two week take starting at 16mg!

Honestly though, you'd be much much better of following the same dosage guidelines, at terms in how you reduce each dosage, but stay at each new dose for a minimum of 4 days.

Sorry really, the shortest taper I'm actually going to endorse would look like this:

Drop down from 16mg to 8mg and stay there for four+ days.
Drop down from 8mg to 4mg and stay there for four+ days.
Drop down from 4mg to 2mg and stay there for four+ days.
Drop down from 2mg to 1mg and stay there for four+ days.
Drop down from 1mg to 0.5mg and stay there for four+ days.
Drop down from 0,5mg to 0.25mg and stay there for four+ days.

That would take 24+days though...

Another way some like to taper is that, while they're reducing their dosage, they also reduce the frequency of their dose. They don't just work on getting their dose lower, but they also work on taking fewer dosages, or spacing when they dose father apart. The general sort of rule for this method is to dose as infrequently as you possibly can, while also slowly reducing the actual amount of suboxone you dose. You basically wanna wait to take you dose until you absolutely have to because you're in so much discomfort from w/d (so basically you'll be dosing once every two-four days). This is probably the one I find that works best for me. But it will take the most time. When the times comes for me to taper off suboxone for good, I'll most likely do something like this. But then again, I'll be doing under the supervision of my psychiatrist, who's an awesome money hungry Jew (that's not anti-Semitic because I'm a Jew too =D), and he'll be giving me access to stuff life neurontin and clonidine, so I don't expect to be suffering all too severely.
 
Thanks toothpastedog, I'm definitely going to start tapering soon. I'll use the second schedule, seems it would be a bit easier. I don't have clonidine but I do have neurontin. I think kpins will work too at least for anxiety and insomnia.

Anyways, thanks for the help and wish me luck
 
taper bro ... good luck..

Quitting subs is harder than quitting oxy IMO..

THe duration is never-ending do some searches plenty of information
 
My sub doc had me on 16mg/day...8mg at 7am 8mg at 7pm. I've actually only been on 1mg a day the whole time, but obviously never told him that. I too have to quit in the next two weeks....(impending jail sentence). Dr. told me to drop 2mgs a day..so 16-->14-->12 etc. down to 2mg, then 1mg for a couple days, then stop. I've been on sub for about the same length of time as you...

Honestly, and everyones experience are different, I don't think you absolutely need to get down to 1mg or less before quitting, without have terrible, long WD's. Yes, the lower dose you stop at, the less intense your WD's will be...that's obvious. But bupe WD is not that intense, at least in my opinion. My plan is to taper over the next 10 days from 1mg/day down to about .25-.5 and I don't think my WD will be too unbearable. But, I know that if I slip up, it's not the end of the world.

I honestly have never taken more than 2mg a day though, because I just don't feel any benefit from taking doses higher than that. Some people either don't know about the ceiling, or think they're getting benefit by going up to doses like the one you're on.

My advice to you is to get down to 4mg a day as fast as you can....I might even just start taking 4mg a day tomorrow...many people have said that they didn't feel the drop from high doses (8-16mg) down to 3-6mg, as much as they felt the drops from that dose, down to 1 or 2mg. So I'd advise you to get down o 4mg asap, then drop maybe .5mg every other day....


just my 2 cents. Good luck amigo.
 
Every ones already said it. You cant jump off at 16 mgs of bupe, youd be better off jumping off a Heroin habit. Get down to at least 1 or 2 mgs if you can...you will be glad you did.
 
HELL!! TAPER...and if I just hope this is all you were using, bc this will be hell..Honestly it is 2 weeks of agony....Hydrocodone is like a mild bug bite compared to something like a 16 mg jump off! Just for the analogy bc you obviously on this drug suboxone for some reason as to an opiate you previously could not get off. I thought one mg was tough I've done less than 1 mg 3 times. Once was the worst time I've ever had. I won't share that story here bc I was also on a dose of xanax so that is not relevant. But to answer your question 16 mg hell!!!! Get off ASAP suboxone is the most bull shit drug. It has made even the people that "quit" "not quit" if any one knows what I mean. I mean remember the days when you'd binge and then be A MAN and take the agony it was life...THEN SUBOXONE AND SUBUTEX hit the market hard circa 2007 and 08 - now people whine and end up switching back and forth. I was on sub for over a year multiple times as stated above in the post fyi. So get off ASAP.
 
I jumped from 24 mg a day for a year and I was feeling decent after a week. Of course I'm back on them now but only take about 4 mg a day . Sub withdrawals are not that bad man, nothing like methadone r even a heavy loratab addiction for that matter. They just linger , not intense just nagging. And this is coming from a pussy when it comes to detoxing. Don't let people scare you, it's not pleasant but you can function. Im tapering as we speak and about to jump again.
 
OlCapone said:
HELL!! TAPER...and if I just hope this is all you were using, bc this will be hell..Honestly it is 2 weeks of agony....Hydrocodone is like a mild bug bite compared to something like a 16 mg jump off! Just for the analogy bc you obviously on this drug suboxone for some reason as to an opiate you previously could not get off. I thought one mg was tough I've done less than 1 mg 3 times. Once was the worst time I've ever had. I won't share that story here bc I was also on a dose of xanax so that is not relevant. But to answer your question 16 mg hell!!!! Get off ASAP suboxone is the most bull shit drug. It has made even the people that "quit" "not quit" if any one knows what I mean. I mean remember the days when you'd binge and then be A MAN and take the agony it was life...THEN SUBOXONE AND SUBUTEX hit the market hard circa 2007 and 08 - now people whine and end up switching back and forth. I was on sub for over a year multiple times as stated above in the post fyi. So get off ASAP.
Click to expand...


dude...no disrespect, but please, keep that shit to yourself...if you're incapable of making an unbiased, rational argument, you're just spreading bullshit that will give people the wrong idea. I am not doubting that you had a rough experience with sub, I've heard a few people have....but to say its a BS drug, impossible to quit, etc. is just not true. It's a miracle drug for TONS of people. There is no magic pill....if you thought suboxone was magic, you're an idiot...I don't know how else to put it. You have to have a plan, and at least a little bit of willpower, and suboxone will turn your life around. Having experiences WD's from heroin, OC, and Suboxone, IN MY OPINION, Suboxone was a fraction as difficult as the other two. I will say, however, that my WD's were from much lower doses than 16mgs a day (see my above post) but when done with a proper taper, suboxone withdrawal is very doable. The biggest differences from WD's from shorter acting opiates is the mental aspect...I've found WD almost impossible from heroin/oc because I'm launched into an abysmal, deep, dark state of absolutely crushing depression...with suboxone, the depression was about 25% as bad. The feeling of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is actually encouraging in suboxone WD's...and, at least for me, the same can't be said about other opiates.

SO anyways, enough rambling, but I just wanted to say, this guy that I quoted, don't listen to that shit...it's discouraging, and more importantly, false. You CAN do it, I GUARANTEE you that. If you can even get to 8mg or less for at least a week ( you really should try to get down to 4mg or less though...)you can definitely get through it...and don't listen to people saying the PAWS will last for months and months...you were only ON sub for a few months! That's DEFINITELY a huge advantage for you, as some people really do have PAWS that last for 6 months, but that's after quitting a 2-4 YEAR sub addiction.
 
No one should be prescribed over 8mg Suboxone in my opinion. Just because I doubt it helps them any more. It's silly how doctors prescribe huge amounts like 16-32mg. Most people would be fine with 2mg.

I could probably use just one or two 8mg subs to substantially reduce the intensity of my WD, then I would just suck it up and deal with the rest.
Not saying everyone should do this, just saying it's possible to get off opiates using like 8-16mg TOTAL.
 
yeah, I agree with you in terms of maintenance Tricomb. However, I feel that during the induction phase, sometimes more buprenorphine is necesairy, especially when the full agonist you've been using is very potent, like oxymorphone. When I switched back to suboxone from a two week IV Opana binge, it was truly terrible, much worse than switching back from months and months of heroin use. Usually 16 mg would be all I'd need to rid myself of the physical symptoms, but with the opana, I took about 32 mg a day for the first three days, and i still did not feel like it completely erradicated my symptoms-but I did feel like the extra 16 mg helped a lot more (I tried at first to only take 8 mg, and I was still not right-and it wasnt precipitated withdrawal either).

However, after the initial induction, it's very easy (or at least IME, and many other's) to taper down from 32 mg-16 mg in a matter of days, and from there on, to go further down to 8 mg. Due to the long half life, when you're taking these high dosages of suboxone, you have so much more buprenorphine in your system then what you take daily, so at 16 mg/day, you are actually far above the cieling effect for sublingual administration. This actually is a benifit, because it makes tapering down relatively easy until you get to about 6mg a day I've found. The real hard work though is when you try and adjust to dosages under four mg, and it always has taken me about 12 days to feel fully stabalized on a new, lower dosage.

As far as the topic of this thread goes, quitting 16 mg cold turkey is NOT going to be easy. The withdrawals at this dose will be similar in intensity as kicking 30mg of methadone would be. You will definately feel shitty for at least 2 weeks, and the post acute withdrawal will be a real kick in the ass as well (and that can last anywhwere from 6 months-2years, though usually its around 8 months at least IME). You have suboxone left, so you have the option of tapering. Even going down to 2 mg/day and jumping is going to be a lot easier than 16 mg. IF you really want to get this over with as quickly as possible, i would skip days. At 16 mg a day, I could go about 72 hours between each dose without suffering too much, and when the time is up, then switch to a lower dosage like 4 mg. I gaurantee that it will hold you. From that point on I would stay on 4mg for about 5 days, drop down to 3 for 5 days, then 2, and then 1. When you reach one mg, I would stay at that dosage for two weeks, because you really want to feel comfortable when you're that low, and you have to give your body some time to adjust. Then you can go from there by decreasing your buprenorphine intake by 25% every four days, or just taper down to .25 mg a day and jump off.

No matter what you do, you are not going to get off of this thing without having to pay a little back-but you would really be doing yourself a favor to taper before jumping. I was detoxed after a few months of 16mg a day in one week. I went from 16>8>4>2>0, Needless to say, that is hardly a taper at all. The withdrawal sucked, and the depression and anxiety (along with sever emotional instability) eventually led me back to using heroin after a few months. Do it the right way, and you have a good shot at success.
 
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