Day 2 of Suboxone Withdrawal - Looking for advice and and friendly support - Help!

spartin88

Greenlighter
Joined
Apr 30, 2015
Messages
12
This is my first time posting on the Bluelight Community but I'm hoping I can find similar people like myself who have been dealing with long term opiate addiction and have been able to detox off of Subtex. I am 28 and have been using opiates since 2011. I was using up to 200-300mg of oxycodone day ily at my worst times before trying to stop and going to 4 rehabs. I have hit rock bottom where I have gone from a driven, hardworking professional to someone who has damaged relationships with my friends and family and is now unemployed and on Michigan's Medicaid health insurance. I finally stopped using painkillers last year and was on 2mg of Subtex daily for the past 2 years on and off. I tried to detox myself off Subs over the holidays in December and was able to make it 50 days before relapsing when I was laid off from my job in February. Because I'm an addict and have lost all emotional coping skills and my thinking is all fucked up I decided to use 150-200 mg of vicodin for 4 days from February 10th - 14th. I am living with my sponsor, who is an incredibly caring and supportive person (because I have worn out my parents and their money spent on rehabs over the past 4 years) and after this relapse I stupidly decided to go back onto Subtex. I have been snorting 1-2mg of it daily since then while attempting to taper down to roughly 0.5mg a day (based on the 50% bioavailability absorption of taking it intranasalily).

Anyways I have had enough of living my life as a slave to this drug as it makes me lethargic, unmotivated and unable to function well enough to do me during the days. My sponsor's DOC was alcohol and he has 20 years of sobriety but he hasn;t noticed that I have been using and just has thought I've been going through PAWS. I'm so tired of living this lie and being of no use to anyone and just wasting my life away and so today is my 2nd day off of subs. I kinda know what to expect with the physical withdrawals however it's the crippling depression that lingers for so long that makes me want the day to be over from the moment I open my eyes. I know there are no shortcuts and I must deal with the pain and so I am going away to my grandparents farms to spend the next 7 days withdrawing. I know this may not be enough time to come back to living with him without being an emotional wreck and him eventually figuring out something is wrong but this is my only option because if I tell him that I had relapsed and been on subs since February he will cut ties with me. I know in my heart I need to tell him this at some point as I am an active member in recovery and go to NA and AA meetings everyday because I truly want to live a sober life and belief in the 12 step program.

The longest I have been able to stay sober is 3 months with 45 days of that being away in Florida at a rehab. I have been exercising usually 5 days a week doing everything from yoga, lifting weights, and running 3-4 miles. I am writing this post in hopes that I can find people on this forum to talk to for advice and support. I plan on positing my progress everyday in hopes that I can get through this and that my experience can offer others hope and strength to get off any type of opiates or drugs as well.

I currently have 70 - 2mg xanax bars, immodium, zofran for the nausea, and have also purchased lots of protein and L-Tyrosine. I would appreciate any advice that this community can offer to help me get through this challenging time. I truly want to be sober but know I can't do this on my own. I have told others in the program what is going on and plan to call them as part of my support network while I begin this journey. I know that everyone's body is different but I was wondering if the 50 days clean I had from December to February will help make this detox any easier since I will be stopping after about 4 months of being back on subutex. I know snorting the drug definitely has made things more difficult than they could have been if I had just been taking it sublingual as directed but it did allow me to keep my dose low at 0.5mg to 1mg daily. I am praying to god that I can get through this as although I am not suicidal I am very fearful of what's to come and for me I am viewing this attempt as life or death as I am an addict and I simply cannot live a quality and healthy life on subs. I look forward to talking with anyone who is willing to read this.

God Bless,

John
 
Hi John, we're with you and here to help, bud.

A couple thoughts:

1. Why not taper down a little bit more before jumping off? I know 0.5-1mg/day seems like a low dose but you'd be much better off jumping closer to 0.25mg; you'd hardly be able to tell the difference in the reduction of the dose, but will suffer more as a result of jumping at a high dose.

2. The 12 Step Program has a major fault in that it makes you think you're an "addict for life" and elicits feelings of guilt when you don't perform adequately. No one is an "addict for life" and it isn't really a disease per se, but a behavioral malfunction. Have you checked out SMART Recovery?

3. In any case, you will have some suffering to go through, but I think that 50 days' sobriety and the resulting fact that you've been on low doses for only a few months should make it much easier.

Hang in there. The most powerful weapon in your arsenal is willpower.

You've done it before, right? You can do it again.
 
Today I feel like utter shit and a complete failure. Thanks for you advice, I really appreciate the insight. Today has not been a good day. Since I've been away attempting to detox, I had stupidly brought along 1 - 2mg pill just incase I got too sick. I ended up caving in after making it 3 1/2 days and took about 0.75mg intranasal (which is roughly 0.37 after factoring the 50% absorption rate). The pathetic thing was that I wasn't even feeling sick physically. Mentally I'm a mess and I'm just craving anything that will alter my mind. I have been calling friends in the program the past few days which has helped, but today I couldn't get a hold of anyone and eventually I just did what I normally do and the "Fuck it" kinda instinct took over. I have 2 more days away from going back to living with my sponsor and I plan to try to not take anything the rest of the time. In fact I'm going to flush the pill down the toilet.

Phil- you may be right that I should continue to taper and try to minimize the suffering I will end up having to endure. I know there is no shortcut in getting off scott free with opiate addiction. Since Buprenorphine can take a lot longer to fully exit the body I was probably delusional in thinking myself that I could go away somewhere for 5-6 days and just go cold turkey and go back to living with a person in recovery who would definitely recognize something was wrong with me as I started to go from the acute phase of withdrawal into the PAWS. While, I believe this is a disease, a progressive one at that as the decline in my life over the past few years if proof, I completely agree with your perspective that this a behavioral malfunction. The way I responded to being mentally uncomfortable today is exactly that!!!!

The first thing I have to do and I am fully committed is to stop taking it intranasally :sus: and stop the ritual that comes alone with it ( the crushing of the pill, the rolling of a dollar bill, the snorting) and lower my dose as you've suggested to just keep tapering. I feel so guilty about what I've done it made want to cry a little, which is probably a sign that I am making a little progressive as my emotions are starting to come back. I just want to be my old self so badly and be able to make amends and do right to the people that I took advantage of these past few years. I have read a lot of research about how to taper but I would gladly like to here anyone else's experience on how to do taper down and minimize the side effects. I know that there is no pain free way to get past this but I truly want to change my life and stop this cycle. While I failed with stopping completely the 3 1/2 days at least helped me continue to lower whats in my system. So with that being said how long should I stay on 0.5mg sublingually before dropping down to .25 and then dropping down to as little as possible. I have read that you should try to lower your dose every 4-5 days since it takes about that time for the buprenophine concentration to adjust in your bloodstream. Just like every relapse, I plan to learn from this experience and just move forward and turn off the ass kicking machine. I really appreciate that there is a community of people on this forum that I can talk to and learn from your experiences and successes. Tomorrow is a new day and I plan to try to not take any sub tomorrow and just skip days as much as possible before dosing again. I have read Robert's plan but that was more for helping people switch form full opiate agonists and to detox off of suboxone over a matter of a few weeks tops.

I have heard of SMART recovery but never actually read up on it, but that's something I plan to do tonight. In the area I live there is a stigma that "SMART" recovery is a joke and that really the only way one can successfully recover is to surrender and turn there will over to a higher power. I do believe that there is a God out there that can help me put this disease / behavioral malfunction into remission. And I think that whatever recovery program one decides to be involved in their obviously has to be the desire to change their way of thinking an learn to live a different way. Anyways I think I'm starting to sound like a baby and just feeling sorry for myself so I will end my post on this note. I once again appreciate any advice that people can give in helping me taper and whatever other tools or supplements that helped them get through their own detox. I also must add that I had been severely abusing my lyrics prescription over the past few days to just put my self in a somewhat comatose state and now I must also deal with not using that to try to block whatever discomfort I feel as my tolerance to it has gone sky high and I fucked up and stupidly too 1500mg right after eating which made it an absolute waste and I felt no effects from it. So now I have only xanax (which I don't like at all and don't abuse) to help me get through any discomfort I may feel. I just want to taper in a way that I can take the drug and not have it make me feel tired, unmotivated, and not wanting to function, which I hope will be different if I take it sublingually and eliminate the "buzz" that I'd get snorting it. Sorry if some of this was repetitive. I'm just super angry and down on myself at the moment and am just typing what comes to mind. Thanks in advance to anyone that reads this and wishes to respond and help.
 
Also, are there any good supplements that will help with getting my brain chemistry back to a healthier state? I currently take 2000mg tyrosine with a multi-B vitamin which is necessary for absorption. I take a multivitamin. branched chain amino acids (BCCAs), and usually 60-80g of GNC amplified wheybolic extreme 60 protein, and have just started taking 5g of DL-Phenyline. I currently am not on any anti depressants (I've read they really don't help with PAWS anyways) although depression is something I have dealt with my whole life and at times I was on 10 Lexapro, which may or may not of helped ( since I was on subs I have no idea if it was beneficial). I plan to see a psychiatrist this Thursday and will disclose my addition history to him to hopefully help see if there is any medication that would be beneficial for what some doctors have said that I am type II Bi-Polar. Has anyone tried Latuda? Ultimately I don't want to be on any drugs and I hope that maybe its just been the drug use that has really been the cause of my depression and that I could be fine without anything once I'm clean. I just want this :? feeling to stop and I know it's going to take time. Thanks again for your help.

- John
 
Today I feel like utter shit and a complete failure.

Throw that out the window this is hard so please stop beating yourself up.<3

I had stupidly brought along 1 - 2mg pill just incase I got too sick. I ended up caving in after making it 3 1/2 days and took about 0.75mg intranasal (which is roughly 0.37 after factoring the 50% absorption rate).

When we are in withdrawals and we take something we pretty much return all the way to go and we don't collect 200$ Returning to go is rough as we just have to plod through all the ground we fought to get through again. We need to find a way to make it all the way through.

The pathetic thing was that I wasn't even feeling sick physically. Mentally I'm a mess and I'm just craving anything that will alter my mind.

Physical dependence causes the withdrawal.. addiction is a different beast. Addiction is the subconscious drive to use. Hunger is the drive to eat. Thirst it the drive to drink. We have the sex drive. Addiction is the drive to use our doc(s) Most opiate addicts focus on the physical withdrawals.. but that ends up being the easy part.;)

the ground we fought to get through again. We need to find a way to make it all the way through.

In fact I'm going to flush the pill down the toilet.
Yes if you keep it you will take it and then back to go.

medications for acute opiate detox

The medications I would explore the use of for detox would be:
>Clonidine< DOSED EVER FOUR HOURS..

one of either
>NEURONTIN< >HERE< >HERE< >here<
OR >Lyrica<
OR >phenibut<

>A BENZO BUT JUST AT NIGHT<
>a nsaid<
>melatonin<
tylenol
Senokot S is a stool softener and laxative. If you do not want the laxative you can go for strait stool softenerDioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate.

(Opi Withdrawal) what is the best comfort meds for opiate w/d?

Your Personal Opiate Withdrawal Arsenal


Then some great info about the Paws

PAWS LINKS
Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS)
Post-acute-withdrawal syndrome Wiki

Exercise and Brain Neurotransmission
Neurobiology of Exercise
Aerobic Exercise
Exercise 4 Health, Mental Health, and Addiction vs. The Endorphin Factory
Exercise 4 Health, Mental Health, and Addiction vs. I worked all that out
exercise and sleep

Chemicals and supplements to recover from opiate addiction
Diet & Neurogenesis


it is a powerful thing to keep our thoughts positive and here are some threads many of us use to help us do this.
Good things about being off drugs/getting sober
Share Something Positive from Your Day vs. It's All Around You
Today I Am Thankful For... Ver. 4 Infinite Chances in an Amazing World
Daily Personal Affirmations Log Vs IM THE SHIT & NOT a piece a.. not playing me. NOPE
Managing depressive thinking

Here is the mindfulness thread.
Anhedonia MEGA Thread


Your doing great. whats your plan for the acute withdrawal. Whats your plan for the paws? Whats your plan to treat the addiction?
 
Today I ended up taking the suggestion of trying to taper down a little lower and I took around .25mg (0.5mg intranasal). I know I mentioned above that I NEED to break the ritual of how I take the drug which seems to be one of the most difficult habits to stop. Its part of the addictive cycle that I've been in for years. Yesterday and today I ran 4 miles which felt great so I at least did something positive for my body. However, I feel like I have wasted the time I've had away since I now only was off subtex for 3 1/2 days before taking 075mg, and .5mg of sub the past two days. I guess I could say I've made some progress as my dosage has decreased, but I really just want off. My biggest fear is just that what has happened in the past is I'll go to rehab get clean for a little bit, then go back on subs after a relapse and then I end up finding a great job again in finance and then have to face the torment of trying to live my life on the drug, which for me just makes me tired, emotionless and just lifeless on the weekends. Now that I have this time off again as I'm unemployed I really want to cross over to the other side. I've never given Bup a chance taking it sublingually because once I learned in rehab that snorting it would give you an actual little mood boost as opposed to just taking subtex sublingually, it was game over. So tomorrow I am going to break the cycle and hopefully just start again and not take it for the day, but if I do I will only take it sublingual. While there are people that say they can live normal functioning and happy life on Suboxone, Subutex, etc. Maybe I am one of those people if I take the proper dosage and administer it properly. But even in the beginning when I was on suboxone a few years back, there was a period where I was fine and then eventually the depression, apathy, anhedonia, and lack of energy just started as I felt the drug's effects were starting to wear off. And the only thing that I know I was right about was that I was not about to raise my dose and risk putting myself in a permanent prison where I would have to try to get off 8mgs a day eventually, if for instance that was an increased dose that could have helped with those symptoms.

Bottom line I know I've fucked my brain up but I want to work my hardest to trying to become my old "non substance abusing person" and I know it will take time and suffering but I hope I can find any help here with my next move to make.
 
Neversickanymore - I just read your post after I wrote my message above. My plan for acute withdrawal was to use similar meds you recommended in my own opiate arsenal to just ride out the detox. However when I slipped and ended up back at go, I had thought that I should continue to lower dose down further from the usually 0.75mg-1mg I snorted daily down to 0.25 done sublingually. Today will be my first day starting over again with no subs. I am fortunate that I have until Sunday to reconnect with my sponsor (who I live with) when I return from my grandparents farm. Although I had used yesterday, the rest of the pill is gone and I have no access to any opioids while I'm gone. So this will give me 5 full days (Wed-Sun) to further detox myself. Is this enough time to be able to go back and live with my sponsor and act for the most part that I'm ok and functioning normal? We shall see. As mentioned earlier I hadn't even started feeling any real physical withdrawal symptoms at day 3. It was the mental / addict part in me and BOREDOM (I'm must sadly admit to) that drove me to that lapse. I will be reading up on those links you have provided me tomorrow and plan to post again how things are going. I know that some pain and discomfort awaits but I just hope that my low dose consumption over the past four months a long with rather vigorous exercise 4-5 days a week during that time will have helped my brain keep some sort of endorphins function.

Thanks again for you support and the links to the resources you have provided. PAWS is my single hand worst enemy but that is another topic for when I first get through this acute phase. I have read threads of people who have withdrawn from subs while working and so my question is, while it is definitely uncomfortable and everyones bodies are different. Is this physical part something I could get through with out red flags be raised at day 4 or 5 if I am coming off the rather small doses I said I have been on for the past 4 months.
 
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