Bupe Best way to taper down?

[Pissed_and_messed]

I don't know about how your mind works but attaching my identity to certain hobbies has fueled my addiction and destroyed my life, in the sense that when I truly do lose that hobby (ie age out of skating due to injuries) you go to a very dark place because you lost something you attached your whole self worth and meaning to exist for....then it's time for drugs to numb that loss.

this was bad.
Even tho situation wasnt really that bad. But I was in dead end anyway.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

this was bad.
Even tho situation wasnt really that bad. But I was in dead end anyway.

Yea in my specific cases the situation wasn't that bad for the first things I lost (I don't even think about them or truly miss them anymore)....but how I reacted with the addiction really fucked my life up far beyond just losing a hobby....and caused me to lose even more.

 

[Treyderaid]

I don't know about how your mind works but attaching my identity to certain hobbies has fueled my addiction and destroyed my life, in the sense that when I truly do lose that hobby (ie age out of skating due to injuries) you go to a very dark place because you lost something you attached your whole self worth and meaning to exist for....then it's time for drugs to numb that loss.

This trait has benefitted me in being successful academically and in carreer...but even you could say I overdid that and destroyed myself by going to hard in that arena.

I'm really working on trying to let things go that I loved because I've had to let a lot go and it really feeds the addiction

I agree with you and relate to what you said a lot. I just went skateboarding, I literally just got back from the skatepark. I don't skate like I used to. But I love decking Rock n Rolls and grinding long frontside 5050s and some sweepers and disasters if I'm feeling fancy. Maybe even a crailslide. But man, I too really struggled with letting competitive skateboarding go. There was a period of time in my late twenties where I was losing tricks and getting older and I was bummed for sure. But I personally got past it and I'm so grateful to still have skateboarding in my life even if the competitions are past my time, I'm okay with that and the hobby brings me much joy. I hope it did for you too.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

I agree with you and relate to what you said a lot. I just went skateboarding, I literally just got back from the skatepark. I don't skate like I used to. But I love decking Rock n Rolls and grinding long frontside 5050s and some sweepers and disasters if I'm feeling fancy. Maybe even a crailslide. But man, I too really struggled with letting competitive skateboarding go. There was a period of time in my late twenties where I was losing tricks and getting older and I was bummed for sure. But I personally got past it and I'm so grateful to still have skateboarding in my life even if the competitions are past my time, I'm okay with that and the hobby brings me much joy. I hope it did for you too.

Well thats great you learned to moderate yourself.

With anything I never knew how to moderate..it was all or nothing so in skating for example I resumed doing it in my 20s after a few years break and I had to do try all the crazy shit I was doing at 16 and 17 and my body could no longer handle that sort of punishment andnthe muscles were probably weak while i still had the muscle memory to do the tricks ...and I really fucked my spine badly.

Even after my spine started hurting I was so hard headed I kept skating doing further damage.

All or nothing is a dangerous attitude to have we you always choose the "all"

 

[LucidSDreamr]

I agree with you and relate to what you said a lot. I just went skateboarding, I literally just got back from the skatepark. I don't skate like I used to. But I love decking Rock n Rolls and grinding long frontside 5050s and some sweepers and disasters if I'm feeling fancy. Maybe even a crailslide. But man, I too really struggled with letting competitive skateboarding go. There was a period of time in my late twenties where I was losing tricks and getting older and I was bummed for sure. But I personally got past it and I'm so grateful to still have skateboarding in my life even if the competitions are past my time, I'm okay with that and the hobby brings me much joy. I hope it did for you too.

Well thats great you learned to moderate yourself.

With anything I never knew how to moderate..it was all or nothing so in skating for example I resumed doing it in my 20s after a few years break and I had to do try all the crazy shit I was doing at 16 and 17 and my body could no longer handle that sort of punishment andnthe muscles were probably weak while i still had the muscle memory to do the tricks ...and I really fucked my spine badly.

Even after my spine started hurting I was so hard headed I kept skating doing further damage.

All or nothing is a dangerous attitude to have we you always xhoose the "all"

At 40 I've been reduced to my newfound passion of gaming which I never did at all growing up. It's something I guess. I even find myself going so hard that my hands start hurting sometimes.

It's that addict trait bleeding into other things besides drugs...I want more more more!

 

[Eligiu]

Thanks a lot. Its all clear now. After searching and reading a lot about tapering, there is one useful conclusion. The best way to reduce the dose is not to cut more than 25%. After doing that stay at least a week on it before cutting down again. I managed to get to 4 mg and next week l'll go down to 3mg. If everything is good the week after that l will be at 2mg and that's the end of my journey. I am staying on it for life. Hopefully it'll work and I won't develop tolerance?
ps. Just one more question. When on 2mg, is it better to take it at once or 1+1?

I've been on suboxone 5 times. Well suboxone 4, and the buvidal injection once.

I've used this tapering schedule to taper of with zero side effects, except for the time I had to do it faster than the time written here.

You need to switch on to subutex first, which comes in 0.4mg doses if that's available where you live.

Start at 2mg.
Week one, drop to 1.6mg
Week two, 1.6mg and skip the last day of dosing.
Week three, 1.2mg
Week four, 1.2mg, skip the last day of dosing
Week 5, 0.8mg
Week 6, 0.8mg, skip the last day of dosing
Week 7 0.4mg
Week 8 0.4mg, skip the last day of dosing.

At this point you need a pill splitter, and if you are under supervised dosing make sure you do this at the point you get your takeaways. This will be the last takeaways you'll take and the last time you go in if you're on supervised dosing. If not, just do what you're doing with a pill splitter.

Week 9, 0.2mg alternative day dosing
Week 10, 0.1mg, alternative day dosing.

That is the end of the taper.

You can stretch out the weeks for this and do it slower if you need to, but that is the increments you want to reduce using.

By skipping the last day of dosing before dropping the dose I've noticed that it seems to trick your brain into accepting the new, lower dose of bupe as acceptable because you'll be in extremely mild withdrawal (I'm talking a runny nose maybe and for me I'd get a cough, but that's it).

Alternative day dosing reduces the overall level of the bupe in your system I think. It may not do anything, but I found it worked better when I did that.

The only time I've had an issue with this was doing it in 6 weeks instead of the 10, and even that wasn't awful. The first and last time I did it were literally painless, and my only noticeable symptoms were again, a runny nose and a cough. The other time was maybe a bit worse with some insomnia as I started on a higher dose.

YMMV, I think it could depend on what dose you start on and how long you have been on it, I always tried to stay on a low a dose as possible, but yeah. This has always worked for me.

Note: this is the actual tapering schedule they use in Australia for getting people off. Everyone does it at their own rate, they have a maximum of 12 weeks to do it. But most come off at 4mg. I just drop it lower.

 

[Foxycontin]

How long have you guys been taking Bupe for? This thread kind of scares me with regards to its usage. I took Bupe early this morning for the first time in my life. I was on oxycodone XR intranasally for almost a full year, max dosage 600mg/day, went up and down with dosing but just want to stop at this point. Tapered the oxy down from 400mg/day 2 weeks ago, to 200mg/day last week, then 100mg/day this week, 50mg yesterday morning and went cold cut. I have 28 8mg tablets of Bupe. I held off as long as I could to avoid PWD, but around 5am (~20 hours post last oxy use) I took around 1mg Bupe sublingually, then around 1,5mg SL an hour later. I really didn't notice any benefit, and I had to get up to go to work, so I took a Targin (20mg oxy/10mg naloxone ORALLY) about 45 minutes later. Im writing this now about 2 hours after and I feel great, and not sure what's the reason. Anyways, Im rambling - back on topic - I thought that I would take Bupe maybe once or twice during withdrawal, and then I would feel "normal" and that would be that. I was also completely wrong about dosing - as mentioned here previously, the dosing guidelines are really high, before I read this I thought that I should be popping 8mg to start once or twice, but I guess that would be wrong? 2mg should be starting dose for a first-timer for a non-opioid-naive person? Thanks for any information!

 

[Man67]

I've been on suboxone 5 times. Well suboxone 4, and the buvidal injection once.

I've used this tapering schedule to taper of with zero side effects, except for the time I had to do it faster than the time written here.

You need to switch on to subutex first, which comes in 0.4mg doses if that's available where you live.

Start at 2mg.
Week one, drop to 1.6mg
Week two, 1.6mg and skip the last day of dosing.
Week three, 1.2mg
Week four, 1.2mg, skip the last day of dosing
Week 5, 0.8mg
Week 6, 0.8mg, skip the last day of dosing
Week 7 0.4mg
Week 8 0.4mg, skip the last day of dosing.

At this point you need a pill splitter, and if you are under supervised dosing make sure you do this at the point you get your takeaways. This will be the last takeaways you'll take and the last time you go in if you're on supervised dosing. If not, just do what you're doing with a pill splitter.

Week 9, 0.2mg alternative day dosing
Week 10, 0.1mg, alternative day dosing.

That is the end of the taper.

You can stretch out the weeks for this and do it slower if you need to, but that is the increments you want to reduce using.

By skipping the last day of dosing before dropping the dose I've noticed that it seems to trick your brain into accepting the new, lower dose of bupe as acceptable because you'll be in extremely mild withdrawal (I'm talking a runny nose maybe and for me I'd get a cough, but that's it).

Alternative day dosing reduces the overall level of the bupe in your system I think. It may not do anything, but I found it worked better when I did that.

The only time I've had an issue with this was doing it in 6 weeks instead of the 10, and even that wasn't awful. The first and last time I did it were literally painless, and my only noticeable symptoms were again, a runny nose and a cough. The other time was maybe a bit worse with some insomnia as I started on a higher dose.

YMMV, I think it could depend on what dose you start on and how long you have been on it, I always tried to stay on a low a dose as possible, but yeah. This has always worked for me.

Note: this is the actual tapering schedule they use in Australia for getting people off. Everyone does it at their own rate, they have a maximum of 12 weeks to do it. But most come off at 4mg. I just drop it lower.

Thanks for the advice mate. We don't have pills here, only original Suboxone strips. But your method should work. Meanwhile l managed to tapper down to 2mg. That's it for me. THE END. I am staying on it for life. No side effects and plenty of benefits. My alternative would be much worse. Go back to painkillers and antidepressant again. No way. This was a lifesaver for me. Why fix something that is not broken?

 

[Man67]

Congratulations mate! My path was similar to yours and it's my second day on 2 mg (started at 16). My tapering was slower and since I jumped from 16 to 8 the rest was 0.5mg per week. Also no side effects and bowel movements and sex drive returned to normal. I am done as I intend to stay on this dose for life. It still helps tremendously with my depression and chronic headache. I wish you all the best and just be patient. According to many people that last part (from 2 to 0) is the hardest. If 50% doesn't work, try 25%. Cheers!

I had a minor set back. Apparently 2mg is not enough to manage my chronic headache. It was OK for the first couple of days. After that I wake up in normal state, take my 2mg dose and my headache starts?! Is it a rebound or tension headache l don't know? But from tomorrow I will get back to 4 again. My Dr. warned me last time not to tapper that fast.

 

[Treyderaid]

Today is my 5th day at 1.5 mg. Tomorrow will be my 6th and final day at 1.5 mg. On Tuesday I will begin taking just 1mg daily. I plan on continuing to take 1mg for 7 days. Then I will go down to 0.5 mg for 16 days and I will jump. I am a little nervous, but excited too. I feel ready. Thank you all for your guidance and advice during this crucial and challenging period of my journey. -Trey

 

[Man67]

Good luck mate.

 

[Treyderaid]

So today is my 1st day at 1mg of buprenorphine. (suboxone) I feel no withdrawal effects. But again, with the long half-life of buprenorphine I'm not expecting to feel much of a change until tomorrow or even the day after. It's a cloudy day and I've been smoking a little bud and took 0.5 mg of clonazepam this morning and I'm chilling. might go skateboard later. I hope everybody is doing well.

 

[Man67]

So today is my 1st day at 1mg of buprenorphine. (suboxone) I feel no withdrawal effects. But again, with the long half-life of buprenorphine I'm not expecting to feel much of a change until tomorrow or even the day after. It's a cloudy day and I've been smoking a little bud and took 0.5 mg of clonazepam this morning and I'm chilling. might go skateboard later. I hope everybody is doing well.

You are almost there mate. Just keep up the good work.

 

[Treyderaid]

So I have made my way to 1mg, this is the 4th day. Today I'm going to do a little experiment. I have been experiencing some insomnia but I honestly think it has nothing to do with the buprenorphine. I think the insomnia is because after I skateboard aggressively for a couple hours (2-3 hours of skating a vert pool by yourself will leave you drenched in sweat with your heart thumping out of our chest) as soon as I stop skateboarding and sit down, my arthritis pain spikes dramatically, and honestly I have been taking a few shots of whiskey most days to mediate the pain which I know is a slippery slope for me. Alcohol always fucks my sleep up so I'm pledging not to drink today. That way I'll be better able to evaluate where I am in terms of side effects.

 

[Treyderaid]

I also think that as the day wears on (I take my 1mg dose in the morning), I start to feel a little nausea. And one more thing. I feel very calm all day. MY moods are very stable. With that being said, god help the fool that pisses me off lately, it's like I'm totally fine as long as no situation that angers me occurs, but damn, if I take a slam skateboarding I'm having a miniature meltdown like a prepubescent brat. Yesterday I was skating the skatepark from 12:00 PM-3:00 PM because that's before the kids get out of school and when I'm trying to slap frontside disasters in the 7 ft shallow end of the kidney pool, I don't really appreciate adolescents lurking in the corner of the park distracting me while they're talking shit and smoking dope like they honestly think they're the first ones to do it. Anyway, at least I have skateboarding to channel said aggression in a healthy way. But damn I feel bad for the Independent 215 trucks I've been grinding frontside 5050s through pool coping with at Mach-5 speeds this week. I hope everybody is doing well. -Trey

 

[Man67]

I also think that as the day wears on (I take my 1mg dose in the morning), I start to feel a little nausea. And one more thing. I feel very calm all day. MY moods are very stable. With that being said, god help the fool that pisses me off lately, it's like I'm totally fine as long as no situation that angers me occurs, but damn, if I take a slam skateboarding I'm having a miniature meltdown like a prepubescent brat. Yesterday I was skating the skatepark from 12:00 PM-3:00 PM because that's before the kids get out of school and when I'm trying to slap frontside disasters in the 7 ft shallow end of the kidney pool, I don't really appreciate adolescents lurking in the corner of the park distracting me while they're talking shit and smoking dope like they honestly think they're the first ones to do it. Anyway, at least I have skateboarding to channel said aggression in a healthy way. But damn I feel bad for the Independent 215 trucks I've been grinding frontside 5050s through pool coping with at Mach-5 speeds this week. I hope everybody is doing well. -Trey

I suffer from insomnia for the last decade. Opioids couldn't cure it, Bupe as well. The only way I could get some sleep is to take Benzo + Stilnox before bed. If you want a natural sleep I am the last person who should be giving you advice.

 

[Treyderaid]

I am way past the point in my life where I was determined to get "natural sleep". So yesterday I abstained from Alcohol. I got wayyyyy better sleep so I think the Whiskey drinking after my skateboarding sessions was the factor contributing to my erratic insomnia. I'm skateboarding in an open Halloween Best Trick Skateboarding Contest in Atlantic Beach NC Today, so wish me luck! I hope everybody has had a nice weekend! -Trey

 

[Treyderaid]

Today is my 1st day at 0.5 mg. So far no real noticeable changes. I have noticed I'm kinda hot-headed and I do have trouble getting to sleep. But I can do this and what goes up must eventually come down. I'm very close. I'm hopeful for the future and grateful to all of you for your attention and care during this difficult transition for me.

 

[Man67]

But I can do this and what goes up must eventually come down.

You are right. Believe in yourself because you are THE MAN! There is no doubt that you can do it, just stay strong and be patient. All the best!

 

[Xorkoth]

By the way I wanted to share this added bit. Yesterday I traded 2 of my 8mg/2mg bupe/naloxone combination Suboxone pills to a friend for 2 of her 8/2mg suboxone strips. Here is my reasoning for making this exchange. In my personal experience, cutting an 8mg Suboxone tablet in half with a pill cutter, while requiring precision and patience, is indeed possible, cutting the half of a suboxone pill into quarters with a pill cutter, while more difficult, is also possible; but, once you have a suboxone tablet split into 2mg quarters it's really hard to accurately cut it into smaller doses, and just not worth the effort; however with 8 mg strips, once I have them split into 2mg quarters, its pretty easy to cut them further into 0.5mg 16ths as long as you use very fine scissors or fingernail clippers.

Get a milligram scale. It's so much easier to dose a ground up pill with precision than a strip. What you do is crush up the pills and weigh the total amount. let's say 2 x 8mg pills weigh 768mg (this is what mine weighed the last time I did this). Then 768 / 16 = 48mg per 1mg of bupe. 24mg per 0.5mg of bupe. 12mg per 0.25mg of bupe. 6mg per 0.125mg of bupe. Etc. You can know EXACTLY what dose you're taking. Plus, the strips, when you get to super tiny bits, are so hard to get to stick to your mouth, and I feel like I end up not absorbing them well. Whereas any amount of pill powder, you can put under your tongue or (my preference) between my gum and lip, like tobacco dipping, no problem.

I dunno, I have never liked the strips much, but I guess it's personal preference. Can't tell you how many times I have wasted a tiny piece of strip because it wouldn't stick to the inside of my mouth and just got "lost" in there.