A question about detoxing.

[Jabberwocky]

This is a perfect example in which tapering before induction is necessary. I was in a similar position after being on painkillers for 10 years due to a MVA. Why I am responding to this is many times those trying to induct will think they did not take enough suboxone and instead of reducing their dose of a full agonist they will just take more sub during the first few days. What happens in this situation is even worse PWD and the individual will go immediately back to a full agonist. Try reducing your dose of what ever opioid you take and get it down to an equivalent of about 30 mg of methadone or 60 mg of oxycodone.

Per guidelines set forth I think possibly by the NIH it is encouraged to have your dose equal to about 30 mg of methadone before induction onto buprenorphine. You also have to remember that with an extensive history of narcotic use it can take up to a week to stabilize onto buprenorphine. This means you will likely feel somewhat sick for the first week while your body adjusts to the lowered dose. I was able to adjust to suboxone transitioning from a dose of about 200 mg of methadone per day. It just took about 10 days of tapering down to 30 mg before I was able to properly induct.

This is a really important reminder. Thank you mate, it is never bad to emphasize this. Avoids so much unnecessary suffering.

And this is only the upper limit of how much full agonists one should titrate down to before switching.

It's important to realize that in many cases it makes more sense to go even lower than the equivalent of 30mg of methadone. And when one is taking a long acting opioid like methadone, it's a really good idea to switch to a shorter acting opioid for a few days or a week before jumping on the buprenorphine.

A lot of people just want to hurry and rush their recovery. It's always better IMO to take as much time as possible.