The only times I've been able to successfully get off of an opiate is when I just decided to do it one day and go cold turkey. I was on suboxone way too long and tapering wasn't working. Tapering has never made sense to me. With alcoholics they say one drink is too many....to me it's the same no matter what your drug of choice is.
I know I sound naive, but I will say I think your idea of using a short acting opiate actually makes more sense to me than tapering. The only thing is...once you feel a tiny bit of a high, an addict wants more. So ultimately it could never work. I recently started using Kratom to help me with an oc relapse (more like any opiate I could get my hands on relapse). And it worked....i was a little sick for a few days & then I did ok. The only problem is I started using the kratom regularly (you're totally surprised right?! never saw that coming). But it is very short acting. Which probably means the wd will be violent for a few days but won't last long. So in a way, I'm about to try what you were suggesting and see if one can transition from hard opiates to a shorter acting one and then get off. The one good thing about suboxone was that it let me get used to living and not being high, but kept my opiate receptors sated. So by the time I did go through physical withdraws, I wasn't fighting the mental obsession at the same time . In that way, I think the kratom might work...it doesn't get me high but it does plug the opiate receptors. And since I don't really get high off it, I don't fiend for it. Increasing the dose doesn't really do anything. So I am tapering a little with it. While I'm not looking forward to the WD, I don't think the length of the withdraw will be as bad since it is so short acting. Mainly just waiting so that I have five days in a row off where I don't have to get off my couch or interact with anyone. Yes, I know all that sounds pretty naive...but let me fool myself for a bit longer...until about day 2 of the WDs. Ultimately, I really don't think there is any easy way to get off opiates other than gutting it out. But I'd hate to waste a perfectly good theory.
OFF topic: Good luck with getting off suboxone. It won't be easy. But you will be so proud when a month has went by and you realize you have done it!!! It's one of the longer withdrawals I've went through. But not quite as intense as some opiate withdrawals. I really wish doctors wouldn't be so quick to prescribe it. They have no idea what they are doing to the patient. I would never make that choice again.
If you need anyone to talk to when you are coming off the suboxone, I would be happy to help. The length of the withdrawal is mentally taxing. I wasn't expecting the length of it, so when I passed the date I thought I should have been feeling better on, I started to panic. Kinda let the black clouds take over. You start thinking you will never come out. For me, talking to someone who had been through it already, totally saved me. I just needed someone to tell me that it was normal to last that long. Then I calmed down and got through the rest of the WD pretty easily. Like I said it's not quite as intense as some opiates...just lasts longer. Also, from what I've read since then, I think the length of my withdrawal was definitely due to the length of time I was on suboxone. So don't let your doctors keep you on it one day longer than needed. They don't really understand the drug. A textbook understanding is far from comprehensive. Unfortunately, it's a money mine for them. Every time I start a conversation in my head where I try to explain to my doctor everything she did wrong...I just start screaming at her, even in my head. So I haven't tried educating her in person yet. But I think it's information that really needs to be spread.
