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Bupe or not to Bupe....

Hold tight man, with a bit of luck hopefully you'll sleep. If you've got any benzos or sedative antihistamines then tonight would be an 'acceptable' time to allow yourself a little taste to get you through the night. If not and you can get to a pharmacy before it closes then a small amount of promethazine (ask for sominex or phenergan) will help get you through the night.
 
For those of you who have willingly gone through a cold turkey withdrawal. God you have such huge respect in my eyes.

I honestly don't think I could do it. I've been in cold turkey withdrawal many times, and tried it willingly a few times, but I've never lasted very long.

I dunno how you guys do it. Cause I just can't. If I have any other option at all I always wound up going for it because I just can't tolerate opioid withdrawal.

Fucking doctors and their "it's like a bad flu" description is such fucking horseshit.

So yea, anyone who willingly gets through a cold turkey opioid withdrawal has mad respect in my eyes. I dunno how you do it.
 
ok so back from the chemist

they gave me subutex not espranor

took it about 20 mins ago, can I swallow yet ? have a mouth full of gross tasting spit

also dont feel anything yet
 
ok so its an hour now and I can feel it slowly starting make me feel better!

I didnt cave and use last night so this morning I was in proper wd's. Didnt really sleep last night (for an hour i think) and had this weird dream where I was pulling long lengths of hair out of my mouth

then i got up and paced around the front room whilst everyone was asleep and watched a couple of crappy 80's horror films
 
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JessFR said:
For those of you who have willingly gone through a cold turkey withdrawal. God you have such huge respect in my eyes.

I honestly don't think I could do it. I've been in cold turkey withdrawal many times, and tried it willingly a few times, but I've never lasted very long.

I dunno how you guys do it. Cause I just can't. If I have any other option at all I always wound up going for it because I just can't tolerate opioid withdrawal.

Fucking doctors and their "it's like a bad flu" description is such fucking horseshit.

So yea, anyone who willingly gets through a cold turkey opioid withdrawal has mad respect in my eyes. I dunno how you do it.
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I am the same, just cant deal with it, people call me a pussy and a wimp etc, but I dont care, just cant do it without help from something else.

last march i went 3 weeks cold turkey and it was HELL. Even after 3 weeks I will still having issues, mainly insomina and RLS/RAS and all my bone joints killed like fuck, constantly.

I've just gone 36 hours wd'ing so i can start the bupe, but now an hour and half later of taking my first bupe dose im starting to feel "normal". Not high, just normal. I suppose I have a slight buzz but i think thats just relief!!!
 
Well done for getting through the night!

If it took you keeping the stuff in your mouth for an hour to feel better that probably means that the dose they have you on is only just enough to keep you good. The long half life of buprenorphine means that it will take a few days for levels to stabilise in your body, don't panic if it doesn't keep you good for the whole 24 hours this time. If that happens then hopefully after a couple of days you will stabilise and it will hold you.

This is a good thing, it means that even though you are going on to a 'stronger' opiate it's not really increasing the size of your habit, which would mean a greater height to taper from. If after three days or so it's still not holding you then you can ask for an increased dose, don't be afraid of doing that. You should have some sort of meeting with your drug worker in the next few days to asses how the switch has gone right?
 
So its 12:37 and I feel good.

Not high, but all my wd's have gone. I seem to have a lot of energy which is a good thing! Also quite a bitch itchy too and a dry mouth.

I'll see how the dosage goes but at the moment I'm good, phew!

I have an appt with her (my key worker) on friday so I'll see how it goes regarding the dosage. I have her mobile number anyway so if i feel its not the right dosage I'll give her a bell.

Thanks for all your comments and advice, its been greatly appreciated m8!
 
Well done, hopefully this dosage will just work for you. Once you've stabilised then the hard work starts:

THECATINTHEHAT said:
Recovery framework basics:

Reasonably healthy balanced diet
Some sort of link with other people in recovery you can talk to and go through the journey with.
Close relationship with at least a couple of individuals with whom you can be emotionally honest and communicate openly. Maybe ask a couple specifically for support with what you're going through.
Good relationship with your drug worker.
Have some active interests/pursuits that you enjoy to do in your free time.
An exercise regime that will make you reasonably fit and healthy.
Plan and prepare for a detox (when/where/who/how).
Realistically probably get a therapist.
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Thank you for the posts, they are very helpful. Can I ask what your habit was, and what dose they have put you on to start?
Sounds like a great start! I can not handle WDs CT!! Just Too much to do to be that sick,and tired!! Family, Work, Sick parent,Etc. As said above " A BAD Flu" Right ; that lasts months
 
I was abusing a mixture of Codeine Phosphate 30mg, Codeine cough linctus (15ml per 5ml), Dihydrocideine and Tramadol. This has been going on for years and been hiding it from my family also.

Everytime I got caught I promised to stop, my wife even bought opiate urine testing strips to catch me out. I've attempted tapers, cold turkeys but could never stick to them. I just cant handle the weeks of withdrawal. Also I too have kids, job, mortgage, etc and I just have the time or willpower to just stop. So this time I went back to a drug abuse clinic (I have been there before but stopped going after a few weeks) and sat down with my keyworker and their Doc and agreed to try Bupe.

So I've been started on 2mg a day and this is my first day of the bupe. I stopped the real opiates on Wednesday evening to make sure I was in proper withdrawal before i took the bupe so i didnt go into precipitated withdrawal as read so many horror stories about it and DID NOT want to experience that!!

I know its only the first day but its now 3pm and I took it at 8.45am and I feel so much better, no WD's at all, Im hoping this will last until my next dose tomorrow morning.

What about your story ?
 
Good work man. Yeah bupe has a very long half life which is why it’s used for maintenance withdrawal, so you should be fine until tomorrow. My advice is give yourself a few weeks to steady and get your head straight and then start tapering. I only say this because that was my plan, but I got comfortable quickly and ended up staying on it for a long time. Sounds to me like you may have got the dose about right as well which is cool. Bupe is a funny drug man I tried cold turkey from 4mg and it kicked my ass!! I say it’s funny because I’m down to 1.6mg now and I feel the dose a lot more than when I was on 8mg.
 
I didn't get on with it at all. The switchover made me feel like poop and my chronic pain sky high. I got off it quickly then scored some gear. I know people that swear by it though
 
FatBellyWhipSlay said:
hmmm maybe I spoke to soon.

Felt good all day but in last 30 mins I've started to feel a few minor wd's coming back....
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Don't panic, the crash will be much slower than you are used to because of bupe's long half life. If you can get an early night and sleep then do, as long as you don't feel like total shit by tomorrow morning then this dosage might still work out as you stabilise over the next couple of days. If after a few days it's really not cutting the mustard then call the drug team and say you need to be switched to a higher dosage. It will benefit you to be in close contact with the drug team because they might only have a doctor who can write scripts there certain days of the week so if you call up out of the blue then there won't necessarily be a doctor there to write you a new one straight away.

Keep us posted with how you're doing. Plenty of people here who can help you navigate through this fairly painlessly.
 
A couple of questions from a curious Yank--

What is Espranor? Just out of curiosity. I could Google it, d'uh! Also, I don't know how programs in the UK are different from ours here. But it seems like, if you're a chronic relapser, like I was, why they don't suggest longer-term bupe at a low dose? A short taper will get you clean for a minute, but here it's mostly used for a year or more so that people can get their lives together before they try to taper to zero opiate use. I get that codeine, DHC, and Tramadol are all addicting enough to need a medication detox. I was on Tramadol for years, back when doctors here thought it was non-addicting.
 
if I could give a sadly large number of friends from my 20s any advice it would be "get on kratom and run as far as you can from bupe as humanly possible." That shit is a trap. All your doing is adding several large Band-Aids that take 4 times as long to tear off than a normal Band-Aid would. I understand that it gives addicts a sense of stability and comfort, but lengthening the wd period for any addiction just does not make sense. The pattern that ive noticed is as follows: addicts who do not get on bupe tend to burn out their addiction faster than bupe maintenance. Adding the possibility of literal years of addiction to an already shitty prospect. And yea, it may be just slightly easier to wd from than say heroin or Oxycodone, but in my opinion, not by much. bupe addicts will "maintain" (fucking stupid premise from hindsight perspective) for possibly years, only cementing the pathways that's bupe hardwires. I don't see any reason to add weeks to a wd period. Just wd and stop. It may be easier for me to think about quitting because ive done it. I understand that. But from my experience your much more likely to relapse when your in wd (makes sense right) why give you twice the amount of time to make that potential mistake.
 
ok so on Friday I started feeling shitty about 5 pm after my first dose, but only midly, then by about 8pm it seemed to calm down and i got quite a decent nights sleep!

then yesterday i woke up in full blown wd's, took my daily dose and felt good again after a couple of hours, but then by about 5pm again i started to feel crappy, then it calmed down again and i got another decents night sleep

woke up this morning feeling good! just about to take my daily dose, maybe I am starting to stabilise

hanging in there! thanks for all your nice comments, appreciate it! feel a lot more positive today....
 
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