I don't get why people suggest slow tapering? Suboxone was engineered to be a rapid blind detox over the course of 2 weeks. The longer you're on it the more of a guarantee your going to go thourgh some type of wd's no matter what mg you drop off at.
For me anytime I cross over to subs I do a one week rapid non-blind detox, and I go through no wd's at all, it just doesn't make sense why you would want to stay on it any longer.
Where did you hear it was designed for rapid detox? It was first markets under the name Temgesic which was used as an opioid analgesic for the treatment of pain. After that it was markets for both detox and long term opioid replacement therapy. Also, just because a drug is marketed for one thing doesn't mean that it's best used for that, as many medications were once used for one thing until it was discovered that it was better used in another fashion. I believe that it was heroin that was first marketed as a less addictive drug to help those coming back from war that were hooked on morphine (or maybe it was the other way around, but still...). Obviously that didn't work out well.
While I agree that suboxone should first be tried as a means to detox a person over a ~5 day period, if the person fails at many attempts then they should try a long term treatment with the drug. Since the OP has already been on suboxone for over 9 months, a fast detox wouldn't really work for them at this point. A rapid detox is not beneficial if the person has not had the chance to make the proper changes in their life to aid in their recovery, so it's pointless if they are going to still be a little sick after the detox and go back to using.
The point of a slow taper is to allow the person time to make the proper changes in their life so that when they come off the drug they are less tempted to use. It's hard to improve the quality of your life in 1-2 weeks after being hooked on opioids for an extended period of time, which is why rapid detoxes aren't very successful. But if the person slowly tapers over 3 months or so, then they have time to distance themselves from the 'scene' while having the suboxone to help with their cravings so they don't cave so easily.
Many people get on suboxone when they are strung out, have no job, have a lot of 'friends' that use, and exhibit addict behavior. Suboxone can help them change those thing, so they have a more stable life with more positive relationships, a job, etc, so that when they finally get off of it they have less of a reason to go back to using.
