-
OD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | Tryptamino
Bupe Buprenorphine Withdrawals
- Thread starter OC80toSub
- Start date
Mr.Scagnattie
Bluelighter
^^^
This. You're going to be in for a rude surprise if you think kicking suboxone is a walk in the park.
Wake_of_the_Flood
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2013
- Messages
- 37
You really think it's appropriate to talk about sub withdrawals like that in a "Bupe Withdrawal" thread with hundreds of replies spanning many years? Clearly it is not a cinch if you are the one person saying that in this whole thread. You're probably just trolling for attention and congrats you got it.
There is no easy way out of addiction, especially by switching to something else. Taper down from the amph and make some positive lifestyle changes if you really want to help yourself and your brain recover.
tomntrouble
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2013
- Messages
- 1
I took my last 8mg film on Christmas morning and dr has been closed so unexpected cold Turkey fo me its Sunday now i feel like shit but i would like to know how much more am i going to go throu
Well it depends on the dosage you were on and the amount of time you were on it for. When I quit suboxone 'cold turkey' a while back days 3-5 were the worst, and things began getting better around day 8, and I was out of the woods by the 2 week mark, but it took a month to really get back to normal.
Captain.Heroin
Bluelight Crew
My conventional wisdom is this ... Using amphetamines to get off bupe is one thing. Vice versa = no go.
Yeah I know I am sitting here in (bupe) withdrawal and I agree with you man "bupe gives me energy" is totally on my mind and it's 100% true.
So you're not wrong.
I just urge you to try not using amphetamines without needing anything.
Yeah I know I am sitting here in (bupe) withdrawal and I agree with you man "bupe gives me energy" is totally on my mind and it's 100% true.
So you're not wrong.
I just urge you to try not using amphetamines without needing anything.
Jellicology
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2012
- Messages
- 8
Can someone plz answer a few of my questions. Swim had replase on to heroin (smoking in cigs) to abt twice a week. When he started feeling some withdrawals he used tramadol in the days between. This went on for a month, then when the trams were not effective enough he used 0.6 to 0.3 mg of bupes (IM) in the days between. About two weeks ago he decided enough was enough and stopped H. He tapered on bupes quite fast. 0.6 mgs for two days, 0.3 mgs for 6 days and then took trams 100mg for the next 6 days. Tapering trams as well now, he took only 30mg for the last two days (each). But these damn hype Withdrawals don't seem to end. He is taking clopazepam, 2mgs a day to remain sane and 10-20mg valium per night to pass those 12 hours. Three days ago he did collapse from the chills and cold that he used H for a day. But he is certain that did not prolong the bup Ws, only helped get through his terrible day. Its been about 7-9 days off bups, where he was using on average 0.5 mgs a day at MAX and he did that for only two weeks tops. Now all he has to cope with are Goosebumps and the cold, and also weakness but that is ok. He has another for days before he has to resume his regular life, family, office, etc. What do U guys think will be his state then and how far has he come? When do the chills end? As far as he knows he is motivated to go all the way. And seriously, do only 14 days of hype use cause such long withdrawls?
Last edited by a moderator:
shocker52538
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 16, 2014
- Messages
- 7
Hi,
I have been using suboxone for about 2 and a half months every 3 to 4 days I use it about maximum 4 mg sublingually when I do use it I am just wondering if there will be any withdrawals from this because I want to stop and am gonna stop now.
Please respond thanks.
I have been using suboxone for about 2 and a half months every 3 to 4 days I use it about maximum 4 mg sublingually when I do use it I am just wondering if there will be any withdrawals from this because I want to stop and am gonna stop now.
Please respond thanks.
Mr.Scagnattie
Bluelighter
Yeah you might end up feeling some slight withdrawals. But, the fact you've only been doing it every 3-4 days will help, as you'd definitely have picked up a dependency and would get sick, had you been taking it everyday for the 2 and half months.
NeedHelpWithSubs
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 16, 2014
- Messages
- 8
I am a long-time reader but first-time poster on BL. I know this is an old thread, so please forgive me if I am in the wrong place. I really need help with Suboxone tapering and minimizing withdrawal. I was on pain meds for seven years for a back injury, and though I didn’t abuse them for a high (don’t get any), I did begin to abuse them to improve the efficacy. At the time I stopped nine days ago, twice a day I was chewing 75 mg of MS Contin plus taking orally another 30 mg (105 mg twice a day), coupled with OTC Codeine (Nurofen) 8-16 pills at 11.8 mg Codeine per pill. I know all the stupid parts of this.
A new doctor, who had no business or adequate experience prescribing Suboxone, gave me the sublinqual 8 mg strips and insisted I switch over. He started me too early, and I went into massive precipitated withdrawals (been through wds once before, and I know the real thing – though this was accelerated and horrific). He had no idea what to do but to take more Suboxone, which just made it worse (total 24 mg first day) and woozy. Eventually, after reading everything I could find on the web and Blue Light, I decided just to ‘rude it out’ and see if it improved. I had 24 hours of the full thing. Day 2 was better, but it was still as if withdrawal was going on and just partly masked by the Sub, and day 3 was worse than 2, even with a bit of a dose increase.
So I ignored my doctor’s advice and began to reduce the dosage every day quite rapidly, dropping either 25% or 33% a day. Every day I felt a lot better, though some of that may have been the long half-life of the Bup building in the system. My tapering from day one to ten went as follows: 24 mg, 16 mg, 18 mg, 12 mg, 9 mg, 6 mg, 4.5 mg, 3 mg, 2 mg, 1.5 mg. These are totals for the day, taken in three third sized doses. So I have only been on Suboxone 10 days, and I have dropped from 24 mg to 1.5 mg.
My question is how quickly can I jump to zero, and should I do this before the Bup begins to build habituation in my body? I have read that people get down to small doses of .25 mg and still get wds, but that is usually when they’ve been on it a long time. I also don’t want to find out that I am just postponing the opiate withdrawal, even having experienced much of it anyway. I know everyone is different. For me, opiates are not exact replacements and affect the receptors very diffently. I have actually had wds from one med while trying to switch to another. The Sub felt exactly like that. So I am keen to avoid getting hooked on yet another med that may not be serving much of any purpose. The only symptoms I am having now is really bad anxiety in the latter half of the period between dose 1 and 2 of the day. Any advice would be very, very much appreciated.
A new doctor, who had no business or adequate experience prescribing Suboxone, gave me the sublinqual 8 mg strips and insisted I switch over. He started me too early, and I went into massive precipitated withdrawals (been through wds once before, and I know the real thing – though this was accelerated and horrific). He had no idea what to do but to take more Suboxone, which just made it worse (total 24 mg first day) and woozy. Eventually, after reading everything I could find on the web and Blue Light, I decided just to ‘rude it out’ and see if it improved. I had 24 hours of the full thing. Day 2 was better, but it was still as if withdrawal was going on and just partly masked by the Sub, and day 3 was worse than 2, even with a bit of a dose increase.
So I ignored my doctor’s advice and began to reduce the dosage every day quite rapidly, dropping either 25% or 33% a day. Every day I felt a lot better, though some of that may have been the long half-life of the Bup building in the system. My tapering from day one to ten went as follows: 24 mg, 16 mg, 18 mg, 12 mg, 9 mg, 6 mg, 4.5 mg, 3 mg, 2 mg, 1.5 mg. These are totals for the day, taken in three third sized doses. So I have only been on Suboxone 10 days, and I have dropped from 24 mg to 1.5 mg.
My question is how quickly can I jump to zero, and should I do this before the Bup begins to build habituation in my body? I have read that people get down to small doses of .25 mg and still get wds, but that is usually when they’ve been on it a long time. I also don’t want to find out that I am just postponing the opiate withdrawal, even having experienced much of it anyway. I know everyone is different. For me, opiates are not exact replacements and affect the receptors very diffently. I have actually had wds from one med while trying to switch to another. The Sub felt exactly like that. So I am keen to avoid getting hooked on yet another med that may not be serving much of any purpose. The only symptoms I am having now is really bad anxiety in the latter half of the period between dose 1 and 2 of the day. Any advice would be very, very much appreciated.
shocker52538
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 16, 2014
- Messages
- 7
Thanks for the response
I would just consider that a 10 day taper and stop now. You could always take 1-2mg if you are too sick after a few days off of it, but try to stick it out.
NeedHelpWithSubs
Greenlighter
- Joined
- May 16, 2014
- Messages
- 8
tommyboy, Thanks for the advice and I appreciate you monitoring old threads. I realize I probably should have posted under the "Best Way to Use Suboxone..." thread, but I'm new at this.
As it turns out, the very next day after I posted, I took the first third of my 1 mg dose for the day but was in pretty uncomfortable shape with withdrawal symptoms (the big D, chills, excessive pain, unbelievable anxiety,etc.). I made a calculated risk and took the rest of my daily does at noon (so the other 0.666 mg). This worked like a charm, as the withdrawals abated within an hour, and I was good until around 9.00 p.m. I had to drug myself through the night with Ambien and Gabapentin, as by then things were not happy. The next morning I was in the same wd state, so I took the full 0.75 mg dose (still down 25%) and was good until about 5.00-6.00 p.m. Rode out the night the same way, and today I'm doing 0.66 mg in one dose, which seems to have again settled things enough. For the life of me, I can't figure out what's going on or whether this is a workable path. Maybe I'm just prolonging withdrawal, or maybe I am really making myself functional enough to get through it, work, etc. What doesn't make sense to me is that I calculated the residual Bup in my system based on a half-life formula I found on the web, and the total Bup in my blood is much higher than my current dose and dropping at a rate so quickly (about 25-28% per day) that the combining of the dose into one should not theoretically make much of a difference. But clearly it does, and not just psychologically but with physical symptoms.
I am laying this out there in case this is useful for anyone or adds to the general understanding of Subs/Bup. I seem to be able to reset the level of medication needed in my system on a daily basis, with some level of suffering but not nearly as bad as full on withdrawals. Maybe I am taking a bandaid off too slowly, but it seems to be the best I can do so far. If you (or anyone else) have any insight on this, I would appreciate the advice. I am now thinking I will wait until I am down to 0.25 mg in the next couple days AND that the residual amount in my system has dropped below 1.0 mg (about day 17). Maybe I am over-thinking this, but as much as this sucks, I am committed to finishing it.
As it turns out, the very next day after I posted, I took the first third of my 1 mg dose for the day but was in pretty uncomfortable shape with withdrawal symptoms (the big D, chills, excessive pain, unbelievable anxiety,etc.). I made a calculated risk and took the rest of my daily does at noon (so the other 0.666 mg). This worked like a charm, as the withdrawals abated within an hour, and I was good until around 9.00 p.m. I had to drug myself through the night with Ambien and Gabapentin, as by then things were not happy. The next morning I was in the same wd state, so I took the full 0.75 mg dose (still down 25%) and was good until about 5.00-6.00 p.m. Rode out the night the same way, and today I'm doing 0.66 mg in one dose, which seems to have again settled things enough. For the life of me, I can't figure out what's going on or whether this is a workable path. Maybe I'm just prolonging withdrawal, or maybe I am really making myself functional enough to get through it, work, etc. What doesn't make sense to me is that I calculated the residual Bup in my system based on a half-life formula I found on the web, and the total Bup in my blood is much higher than my current dose and dropping at a rate so quickly (about 25-28% per day) that the combining of the dose into one should not theoretically make much of a difference. But clearly it does, and not just psychologically but with physical symptoms.
I am laying this out there in case this is useful for anyone or adds to the general understanding of Subs/Bup. I seem to be able to reset the level of medication needed in my system on a daily basis, with some level of suffering but not nearly as bad as full on withdrawals. Maybe I am taking a bandaid off too slowly, but it seems to be the best I can do so far. If you (or anyone else) have any insight on this, I would appreciate the advice. I am now thinking I will wait until I am down to 0.25 mg in the next couple days AND that the residual amount in my system has dropped below 1.0 mg (about day 17). Maybe I am over-thinking this, but as much as this sucks, I am committed to finishing it.
Colonel Contin
Bluelighter
I'm curious if you go for a couple months after kicking a long heroin habit using subs to control cravings, dosing roughly .5mg to fend off a craving every day or two (sometimes even going three days), would the withdrawals be as bad as if you were taking it daily or dramatically less severe because of the days skipped/irregularity of the dosing?
Mr.Scagnattie
Bluelighter
^^
Obviously the less bupe you take and the lower the dosage, the less severe the withdrawals will be when you stop.
Obviously the less bupe you take and the lower the dosage, the less severe the withdrawals will be when you stop.
Kaye24trynabattle
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2014
- Messages
- 12
hi everybody! im new to this site and have been doing alot of browsing. was hoping to post in another thread aswell but its closed to posts i think..not too sure how this works still so bare with me..im just looking for ways to cope and talk to people about my experience so far with subutex withdrawal and what i have been taking to get through it...i do not have the luxury to go cold turkey considering i have a full time job and a crap ton of bills to pay and my life to still live as normally as possible.....my boss only gave me 4 days to detox and expected me to come back to work completely clean and ready to work my a&* off and train other servers all at the same time! well she didnt understand like most of you here(thats been there done that) how looooong the detox process is off subutex and for someone with extreme anxiety like myself it has been intensified times 20!im on day 10 of my tex wds and emotionally they havent been pretty....
Heres just a little background, i developed my first addiction, alcohol at age 19 and things got real bad for awhile, i have managed to keep that in check and went from 20 or more beers a night down to 2 in the evenings to just taste it and relax at night after a hard day off work! i can go without alcohol no problem anymore, have been self medicating for years as you all will see after taking the time to read this post. Anyway how i got here, well to continue on with my self medicating to help with my emotioal issues i moved onto opiates, ive been on and off benzos for years and never takin them to get high just to try an ease my anxiety..it gets really bad sometimes! never developed a problem with those...but those darn pain pills, they made me happy again i was fast at work thay made me feel less depressed and add a klon to the mix and i felt golden. well before i knew it, the old me just started to fade away and the new me couldnt funtion without snorting whatever opiate i could get my hands on to make it through the day! after about a year of flushing thousands of dollars down the toilet i was introduced to subutex.i thought it to be my link to getting sober because thats all i really want honestly! i went from snorting 60- 70 mgs of hydro oxy whatever i could get my hands on a day to get by with pretty much no buzz anymore, to only not even 1/4th of the subutex a day did the trick ! i thought this was gonna be the best tool to help me get clean...went right off the benzos and just took 1-1.5 mg a day of it for about 6 months, then in the last three months(was on it almost 9months total) i was up to 2 mg and wasnt happy anymore. became very anxious again and just wanted this monkey off my back for good! so i started planning my jump. being an addict and not realizing how strong this stuff really is i didnt do much tappering..the last 3 days before my jump i had a little over 2 mg and made that last 3 days and then just took the leap..I had been doing alot of research on ways to get through the w/ds and still be able to feel and act and work like a normal human being. i knew the 4 days i did get off work was just the beggining...anywho here i am 11 days clean from the tex and in day 10 of w/ds..
i found this stuff called Kratom(look it up people)there are a bunch of threads on it.. got some of that and got some tramadol, not many about 5 days worth and stocked up on some klons(if i hadnt i feel as if i would have went completely off the edge by now due to my anxiety levels are so so high) anyway the first 4 days i took low doses of the kratom and a klon or 2 and sleep and restlessness were the worst parts...when i mean low doses of the kratom i mean the suggested dose for someone without an opiate tolerence is atleast 5 grams and i didnt even barely push 3 through the whole day..i didnt wanna get high(and havent) i just wanted to have the w/ds ease the eff up because they are very hard..for me atleast. so then i did 200 mg of tram in the mornings for work the next 4 days and took nothing else but benzo and had a beer or 2 and smoke some reffer at night.again i want you guys to know at these low doses i still feel the w/d but the low doses are able to make them bareable and able to get through work! the benzo helps aswell cuz like i said anxiety so bad i feel like i wanted to ripp my face off at some points. this morning till i took some klon and only 2g of kratom i am finally feeling like a human for right now..this may not be the most orthodoxed way of doing things but i have bills to pay and a full time job to work and am desperatly trying to get clean! im not all the way there yet but im getting there and i know with my faith and support system i can do this...when people tell you youre better off withdrawaling off reg opiates like they told me when i first started the subutex i wish i woulda listened because the reality is if ida kicked the opiates without the sub the w/ds would be gone by now, but with subutex they will last up to a month and i had no knowledge of this until it was too late! Anyway, if anyone has takin the time to read this i thank you for your time and input..and i hope i havent broken any rules or anything because like i said im brand new here! wow just telling my story has lifted a brick off of my shoulders! God Bless you all! 11 days subutex free!!!!
Heres just a little background, i developed my first addiction, alcohol at age 19 and things got real bad for awhile, i have managed to keep that in check and went from 20 or more beers a night down to 2 in the evenings to just taste it and relax at night after a hard day off work! i can go without alcohol no problem anymore, have been self medicating for years as you all will see after taking the time to read this post. Anyway how i got here, well to continue on with my self medicating to help with my emotioal issues i moved onto opiates, ive been on and off benzos for years and never takin them to get high just to try an ease my anxiety..it gets really bad sometimes! never developed a problem with those...but those darn pain pills, they made me happy again i was fast at work thay made me feel less depressed and add a klon to the mix and i felt golden. well before i knew it, the old me just started to fade away and the new me couldnt funtion without snorting whatever opiate i could get my hands on to make it through the day! after about a year of flushing thousands of dollars down the toilet i was introduced to subutex.i thought it to be my link to getting sober because thats all i really want honestly! i went from snorting 60- 70 mgs of hydro oxy whatever i could get my hands on a day to get by with pretty much no buzz anymore, to only not even 1/4th of the subutex a day did the trick ! i thought this was gonna be the best tool to help me get clean...went right off the benzos and just took 1-1.5 mg a day of it for about 6 months, then in the last three months(was on it almost 9months total) i was up to 2 mg and wasnt happy anymore. became very anxious again and just wanted this monkey off my back for good! so i started planning my jump. being an addict and not realizing how strong this stuff really is i didnt do much tappering..the last 3 days before my jump i had a little over 2 mg and made that last 3 days and then just took the leap..I had been doing alot of research on ways to get through the w/ds and still be able to feel and act and work like a normal human being. i knew the 4 days i did get off work was just the beggining...anywho here i am 11 days clean from the tex and in day 10 of w/ds..
i found this stuff called Kratom(look it up people)there are a bunch of threads on it.. got some of that and got some tramadol, not many about 5 days worth and stocked up on some klons(if i hadnt i feel as if i would have went completely off the edge by now due to my anxiety levels are so so high) anyway the first 4 days i took low doses of the kratom and a klon or 2 and sleep and restlessness were the worst parts...when i mean low doses of the kratom i mean the suggested dose for someone without an opiate tolerence is atleast 5 grams and i didnt even barely push 3 through the whole day..i didnt wanna get high(and havent) i just wanted to have the w/ds ease the eff up because they are very hard..for me atleast. so then i did 200 mg of tram in the mornings for work the next 4 days and took nothing else but benzo and had a beer or 2 and smoke some reffer at night.again i want you guys to know at these low doses i still feel the w/d but the low doses are able to make them bareable and able to get through work! the benzo helps aswell cuz like i said anxiety so bad i feel like i wanted to ripp my face off at some points. this morning till i took some klon and only 2g of kratom i am finally feeling like a human for right now..this may not be the most orthodoxed way of doing things but i have bills to pay and a full time job to work and am desperatly trying to get clean! im not all the way there yet but im getting there and i know with my faith and support system i can do this...when people tell you youre better off withdrawaling off reg opiates like they told me when i first started the subutex i wish i woulda listened because the reality is if ida kicked the opiates without the sub the w/ds would be gone by now, but with subutex they will last up to a month and i had no knowledge of this until it was too late! Anyway, if anyone has takin the time to read this i thank you for your time and input..and i hope i havent broken any rules or anything because like i said im brand new here! wow just telling my story has lifted a brick off of my shoulders! God Bless you all! 11 days subutex free!!!!
pinpoint
Bluelighter
^ Behold, the great wall of text:
Kaye24trynabattle
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2014
- Messages
- 12
^^im sorry i cant read most of it but there seem to be some pretty nasty things said in there,cant read the whole thing cause half of the words are cut off..but idk if your just showing me an example of how long someones text can be or if this directed towards me..would love to have that cleared up please 
asap
asap
Last edited:
Buperman
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2014
- Messages
- 6
Hello all... Im a first timer and I want to write a brief history of my experiences with Suboxone and Subutex and then shed a Huge light on this tapering then jumping off thing since it seems like alot of people that taper down forget one thing before they jump... First things first, yes im new to BL and first timer on forums period but just because i am a newb doesnt mean im not educated and dont know what im talking about... I just dont know all the acronyms yall use.
I did a cold turkey withdrawal from 12-16mg of Suboxone per day and could not take any other drugs or otc/herbs whatsoever. The only thing I did was drink my way through it. Got hooked again and again quit cold turkey at 8mg a day but this time it was way easier thanks to me being able to/have access to different drugs.
Clonidine: My list topper. Lowers your blood pressure, blood pressure and rate of breathing. I also found that it greatly relieved my RLS. Great for bedtime
Loperamide: if w/d from suboxone or subutex it probably wont work for you until day 3 because buprenorphene has a long half life and is still binding to your mu receptors even though your not high. Depending on your dose at the time of you jump off, you may have to take more or less than me. Start at 4 if that doesnt help after 30 mins take 4 more etc. The key is only take it when you absolutely can not handle the w/d anymore such as for RLS (alot of peoples breaking point symptom),to be able to sleep or not shitting yourself when you have to run errands. Do not take enough Loperamide so that you can go about you day like your back on your opiate of choice only enough so w/d is tolerable. Alot of people just say f*ck it and take 150mg of this stuff and think theyre fine but after 2 days of not taking Loperamide, guess what? Loperamide is an opiate and it will cross your BBB! Loperamide addiction is very real and you will w/d from it. As with any other opiate use it in moderation or it will suck you in.
Vallium: Great for sleep but as with anything dont abuse it or you run the risk of dependecy. Try a milder approach at first as this should be your last resort. 5-HTP, L-Trytophan, Melatonin or even OTC sleeping pills first.
Adderall: Heres how Adderall works. Picture your brain as a bath tub, endorphins as water that flows outa the faucet into the tub, water going down the drain as endorphins being broken down, and adderall as the drain plug. When you exercise or do anything "rewarding" to your brain it produces endorphins. Think of this as turning on the water in the bath tub. Opiates/Opiods are artificial endorphins and when you are addicted your brain stops producing them because you already have plenty in your body. It also takes your brain a while to start producing them again and this is why we go through withdrawal. When you ingest opiates/opiods you are also turning on the water in the bath tub. So now you have a steady stream of water (endorphins) flowing into the tub (your brain) but they are still just going down the drain (getting metabolized and broken down by another compound your body uses to keep your endorphins at a steady level). When you ingest adderall (put the drain plug in), adderall inhibits this compound that breaks down endorphins and your brain has way more endorphins than normal (water filling the tub instead of going down the drain). Heres the catch with taking Adderall for opiate w/d: it wont do a damn thing but raise your heart rate and make you anxious (youre putting the drain plug in without water flowing) If your brain isnt producing its own endorphins. Until your brain starts producing at least some endorphins on its own again dont bother taking Adderall. By about day 7 or 8 you can use Adderall to fight the fatigue successfully.
Alcohol: Always resort to this before any other drug to battle w/d if you can hold it down. It wont be the best sleep but, yes, you can still drink yourself to sleep. Do NOT mix it with sleeping meds or other depressants or you might not wake up. I am NOT responsible for you if you do mix alcohol and other depresent or any other combination for that matter.
Marijuana: If it makes you anxious dont do it. You will just aggrevate your already existing symptoms. If it calms you down, do it.
Sex: Even though you are only going to last 5 minutes if your lucky, you will forget your even W/Ding.
Exercise: Force yourself to start exercising around day 4 or 5. It will stimulate endorphin production. I basically ran my way through W/D. Hop on the tread mill for even 2 minutes and youll feel better. It also decreases the time you spend dealing with PAWS.
Lastly, (here is for the people who can successfully taper down) i want to put in my 2 cents on this buprenorphene tapering. First things first in this theory, get a pill cutter for subutex or a razor blade for suboxone (as they only come in the sublingual strips now). Next, have a standard control size of how much you are going to take like peices of paper cut to give you a stencil for cutting your sub strip. Do NOT rip Suboxone strips with your fingers or break Subutex pills with anything but a pill cutter. You will never be accurate and even a little peice of buprenorphene is extremely powerful to someone without an opiate/opiod tolerance.
In all the forums that i have read everybody tapers by days at a time. Ive seen alot of different methods but the one that makes the most sense to me is the most common which is a gradual taper. If you take 8mg a day, when you are ready to start tapering, lower your dose by whatever is comforatable to you whether that be down to 6mg a day or 7.99mgs a day depending on how long you wish to taperdown. Keep in mind that buprenorphene has a long half life so dont try to taper down too much too fast. You could cut your dose in half for 4 days and feel like you are fine but when day 4 rolls around and w/d kicks in dont be suprised. The key here is starting the taper down weekly and then by the hour of your last dose.
Here is what everyone (from what I have read) does wrong: "Help, I jumped off at .5mgs of buprenorphene and im w/ding bad!!!". Once you are at .5mgs taper down by the hour. If you take .5mgs on monday morning at 7am take .5mgs at 8am on tuesday then 9am on Wednesday then 10am on thursday once you get to 4 days of consistent tapering hold that time for 4 days so when monday rolls around again take it .5mgs at 11am then tuesday at 12pm etc. etc.. Eventually you will be at every other day, then every third, fourth. Once you are at every 4th day I would say you are more than ok to jump off and not have any w/d at all. I think alot of people fail to understand just how powerful buprenorphene is to the non opiate tolerant human body. The first peice of suboxone i ever took was a tiny crumb given to me by someone who said "yea i know it looks small but trust me". I put that tiny crumb under my tongue and was flying high for a day and a half.
Keep this in mind, Everyone is different. What works for me might not work for you and vice versa. The hourly tapering idea is just my theory. It makes sense and probably is 99.9% true. In my eyes, I would rather "get hit by a train than slowy bleed out for months" so i prefer the cold turkey method. I also look at the w/d from cold turkey as God teaching me a lesson. Going through cold turkey w/d makes me never want to touch an opiate/opiod again, I have learned to welcome the pain because it is the price you pay for being high everyday and to get your clean slate or rebirth at the end. There is nothing like the feeling of conquering opiate/opiod w/d. You start to feel it around day 8 and believe me my friends you will feel invincible and better than you did when you were on the shit.
You were meant to have bad days and not always be in a good mood. If it werent for the bad things in life you would not have anything to base a good thing off of.
I did a cold turkey withdrawal from 12-16mg of Suboxone per day and could not take any other drugs or otc/herbs whatsoever. The only thing I did was drink my way through it. Got hooked again and again quit cold turkey at 8mg a day but this time it was way easier thanks to me being able to/have access to different drugs.
Clonidine: My list topper. Lowers your blood pressure, blood pressure and rate of breathing. I also found that it greatly relieved my RLS. Great for bedtime
Loperamide: if w/d from suboxone or subutex it probably wont work for you until day 3 because buprenorphene has a long half life and is still binding to your mu receptors even though your not high. Depending on your dose at the time of you jump off, you may have to take more or less than me. Start at 4 if that doesnt help after 30 mins take 4 more etc. The key is only take it when you absolutely can not handle the w/d anymore such as for RLS (alot of peoples breaking point symptom),to be able to sleep or not shitting yourself when you have to run errands. Do not take enough Loperamide so that you can go about you day like your back on your opiate of choice only enough so w/d is tolerable. Alot of people just say f*ck it and take 150mg of this stuff and think theyre fine but after 2 days of not taking Loperamide, guess what? Loperamide is an opiate and it will cross your BBB! Loperamide addiction is very real and you will w/d from it. As with any other opiate use it in moderation or it will suck you in.
Vallium: Great for sleep but as with anything dont abuse it or you run the risk of dependecy. Try a milder approach at first as this should be your last resort. 5-HTP, L-Trytophan, Melatonin or even OTC sleeping pills first.
Adderall: Heres how Adderall works. Picture your brain as a bath tub, endorphins as water that flows outa the faucet into the tub, water going down the drain as endorphins being broken down, and adderall as the drain plug. When you exercise or do anything "rewarding" to your brain it produces endorphins. Think of this as turning on the water in the bath tub. Opiates/Opiods are artificial endorphins and when you are addicted your brain stops producing them because you already have plenty in your body. It also takes your brain a while to start producing them again and this is why we go through withdrawal. When you ingest opiates/opiods you are also turning on the water in the bath tub. So now you have a steady stream of water (endorphins) flowing into the tub (your brain) but they are still just going down the drain (getting metabolized and broken down by another compound your body uses to keep your endorphins at a steady level). When you ingest adderall (put the drain plug in), adderall inhibits this compound that breaks down endorphins and your brain has way more endorphins than normal (water filling the tub instead of going down the drain). Heres the catch with taking Adderall for opiate w/d: it wont do a damn thing but raise your heart rate and make you anxious (youre putting the drain plug in without water flowing) If your brain isnt producing its own endorphins. Until your brain starts producing at least some endorphins on its own again dont bother taking Adderall. By about day 7 or 8 you can use Adderall to fight the fatigue successfully.
Alcohol: Always resort to this before any other drug to battle w/d if you can hold it down. It wont be the best sleep but, yes, you can still drink yourself to sleep. Do NOT mix it with sleeping meds or other depressants or you might not wake up. I am NOT responsible for you if you do mix alcohol and other depresent or any other combination for that matter.
Marijuana: If it makes you anxious dont do it. You will just aggrevate your already existing symptoms. If it calms you down, do it.
Sex: Even though you are only going to last 5 minutes if your lucky, you will forget your even W/Ding.
Exercise: Force yourself to start exercising around day 4 or 5. It will stimulate endorphin production. I basically ran my way through W/D. Hop on the tread mill for even 2 minutes and youll feel better. It also decreases the time you spend dealing with PAWS.
Lastly, (here is for the people who can successfully taper down) i want to put in my 2 cents on this buprenorphene tapering. First things first in this theory, get a pill cutter for subutex or a razor blade for suboxone (as they only come in the sublingual strips now). Next, have a standard control size of how much you are going to take like peices of paper cut to give you a stencil for cutting your sub strip. Do NOT rip Suboxone strips with your fingers or break Subutex pills with anything but a pill cutter. You will never be accurate and even a little peice of buprenorphene is extremely powerful to someone without an opiate/opiod tolerance.
In all the forums that i have read everybody tapers by days at a time. Ive seen alot of different methods but the one that makes the most sense to me is the most common which is a gradual taper. If you take 8mg a day, when you are ready to start tapering, lower your dose by whatever is comforatable to you whether that be down to 6mg a day or 7.99mgs a day depending on how long you wish to taperdown. Keep in mind that buprenorphene has a long half life so dont try to taper down too much too fast. You could cut your dose in half for 4 days and feel like you are fine but when day 4 rolls around and w/d kicks in dont be suprised. The key here is starting the taper down weekly and then by the hour of your last dose.
Here is what everyone (from what I have read) does wrong: "Help, I jumped off at .5mgs of buprenorphene and im w/ding bad!!!". Once you are at .5mgs taper down by the hour. If you take .5mgs on monday morning at 7am take .5mgs at 8am on tuesday then 9am on Wednesday then 10am on thursday once you get to 4 days of consistent tapering hold that time for 4 days so when monday rolls around again take it .5mgs at 11am then tuesday at 12pm etc. etc.. Eventually you will be at every other day, then every third, fourth. Once you are at every 4th day I would say you are more than ok to jump off and not have any w/d at all. I think alot of people fail to understand just how powerful buprenorphene is to the non opiate tolerant human body. The first peice of suboxone i ever took was a tiny crumb given to me by someone who said "yea i know it looks small but trust me". I put that tiny crumb under my tongue and was flying high for a day and a half.
Keep this in mind, Everyone is different. What works for me might not work for you and vice versa. The hourly tapering idea is just my theory. It makes sense and probably is 99.9% true. In my eyes, I would rather "get hit by a train than slowy bleed out for months" so i prefer the cold turkey method. I also look at the w/d from cold turkey as God teaching me a lesson. Going through cold turkey w/d makes me never want to touch an opiate/opiod again, I have learned to welcome the pain because it is the price you pay for being high everyday and to get your clean slate or rebirth at the end. There is nothing like the feeling of conquering opiate/opiod w/d. You start to feel it around day 8 and believe me my friends you will feel invincible and better than you did when you were on the shit.
You were meant to have bad days and not always be in a good mood. If it werent for the bad things in life you would not have anything to base a good thing off of.
Last edited: