29 days off suboxone. Depressed; anti-depressants?

[Baron27]

First off I just want to thank everyone that’s helped me so far. Blue light has been not only a great resource but great for support.

So ive been off subs for about a month now. Most of my physical symptoms have faded. No more RLS, or GI issues. Just sweating and chills for the most part. The worst of it has been the depression and insomnia. It’s gotten pretty bad at times but I know this is just part of the process. I will admit I have not been perfect during these initial stages of recovery. I have taken other recreational drugs just to cope with how shitty I felt in the beginning (no opiates).

I’ve considered taking anti-depressants but I’m also a little torn because it’s only been a month. Maybe I just need to give myself more time and not be such a baby. I’ve taken them in the past and they did work.

Any guidance or info would be very much appreciated.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I've tried soooooo many antidepressants over the years, and none of them really helped. A few of them were worse in terms of side effects. All I'm trying to say is don't set you expectations too high regarding antidepressants. They certainly can be a (big) help to some people, but you will still have to take action and do the work for yourself. Stuff no one can do but you kinda thing.

It's been a month since you got off buprenorphine? Honestly, at that points I'd serious consider going on a vacation and taking some iboga. Or if that isn't possible some kind of NMDAr antagonist closer to home. Pharmaceuticals that help include clonidine, as well as something to help you sleep like trazodone.

What kind of antidepressants are you taking? Dose? What kinda of sleep meds have you taken before? If you're getting an antidepressant from your doctors you can probably get something like clonidine to help with the cold sweats and trazodone (or whatever) for the insomnia. Pretty benign stuff.

Ant doctors who refuses to prescribe something like that just isn't listening to his patients (the irony of course is how similar the word patient and patience are...).

 

[Baron27]

It’s been pretty close to a month, 29 days to be exact, I took .25 on days 7 and 12 I believe but that’s been it. Nothing since. You know what? I do need a vacation. Just booked 1 week in Jamaica, no joke! Haha, the gf is going to be thrilled. Leaving in 2 weeks.

When you say iboga, are you referring to ibogaine? Where I live, it is legal, they even have an ibogaine clinic. It’s super expensive though (4500$). I’m considering trying it on my own but have heard that it can be dangerous.

Do you have any experience with it? The guy from the clinic told me it’s the “real deal”. I almost paid him right then and there.

I’ve been taking trazadone and melatonin, it’s helped a ton with sleep (rather then getting literally 1 hour of sleep for a week straight I’ve been getting 3-4 hours at a time, which is huge. I’ll take it)

 

[Jabberwocky]

If ibogaine is legal where you live (lucky mother fucker ) definitely check it out. Are you north or south of the US?

Sounds right up your alley. It isn't necessarily pleasant, so do plenty of research first (especially if you don't already have a lot of experience with psychedelic drug use).

 

[cj]

I've had a really good response to celexa and remeron in combination. I went from heavy depression to light depression in about a month. Pretty good considering I haven't done any lifestyle changes.

 

[Baron27]

North of the U.S — Toronto, Canada.

<snip>

In terms of experience I’ve fairly experienced with LSD and Mushrooms (I’ve always had an amazing time on LSD, I can’t say the same for shrooms unfortunately)

TPD, someone told me that the mortality rate for ibogaine is 3%...which can’t be accurate. If it were I’m pretty sure this clinic would not be permitted to remain open as they would have had numerous deaths by now. This has to be false, what do you think? As always, I appreciate your insight

CJ, thank you for your response. While anti depressants have never made me feel “good” per se, they’ve made me feel less shitty, like you’ve described. I was on Lexapro, which is like a cousin of Celexa. Not sure I’ve heard of Remeron, is it an ssri? Not sure if I should go the anti depressant route or just give myself more time, although I have no idea how long this will last!

 

[Jabberwocky]

From my understanding people only die from iboga/ibogaine in unmanaged settings. If you're in generally good health and would pass a normal physical, chances are you will be able to tolerate ibogaine. The one caveat is that for someone who isn't experienced with entheogens, it's wise to tread lightly.


So if you go that route try seeing how mushrooms or LSD (real mushrooms or LSD) does you, one or twice. After that, you should be familiar enough that if you're in goodish health you will be able to handle iboga.

But iboga like a lot of stuff in recovery - the more work someone can put in to addressing their situation prior to stopping using, the better. Using can be a lot of work, but even if you're using there is still a lot of stuff you can do to help yourself make the transition.

 

[cj]

North of the U.S — Toronto, Canada.

http://www.torontoibogainecentre.ca/benefits-vs-risks.html

In terms of experience I’ve fairly experienced with LSD and Mushrooms (I’ve always had an amazing time on LSD, I can’t say the same for shrooms unfortunately)

TPD, someone told me that the mortality rate for ibogaine is 3%...which can’t be accurate. If it were I’m pretty sure this clinic would not be permitted to remain open as they would have had numerous deaths by now. This has to be false, what do you think? As always, I appreciate your insight

CJ, thank you for your response. While anti depressants have never made me feel “good” per se, they’ve made me feel less shitty, like you’ve described. I was on Lexapro, which is like a cousin of Celexa. Not sure I’ve heard of Remeron, is it an ssri? Not sure if I should go the anti depressant route or just give myself more time, although I have no idea how long this will last!

No remeron isn't an ssri which is why I tried it. It's also sedating which I really like. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirtazapine

Its a tetracyclic antidepressant