Hey thanks for your response. I have not had such a hard time tapering down, but then again I did not go above 1.2mg the last 4 years. My brain though still feels a little same as last year or when I was above 1mg. When you went low and tapered did you feel your brain healing?
Also when I hear about PAWS lasting 6 months to a year for some people it makes me think how can a taper reduce that? if someone was to be hit with PAWS for 6 months then should have they have tapered for 6 months?
I was never prone to depression in the past nor have I had depression issues in my past. When I use to do H (heroin) I always use to recover after 2 days, even 1, but it was not a full blown H habbit, and I did H on and off or 3 years. haven't touched H or opiates for 7 years (thats how long I have been on subutex).
I do work out a lot though, infact almost everyday, but how can anybody work out in withdrawals? aren't you prone to pulling a muscle? aren't you low in energy?
I am thinking of cutting down by 0.1 every 2 weeks, and then planning to stay on 0.25 for a month or 2, I hear this is the best way to taper down, to unwind all that half life built up, and for the receptors to get rid of much sub as possible, so when you jump you will jump from a dose you was stabilized on and at that a small dose.
What about rapid detox or naltrexone? I read somewhere this could be a good option? it helps to rid the sub from the receptors, even better when your only on a low dose...
I also read you can take naltrexone when you get hit with PAWS, is this true? I am not referring to low dose naltrexone but 50mg of a nal tab, or half and quarter of that..
I am happy to answer your questions, this will only be based on my experience and that of others that I have read about ( I have done a lot of reading on this though). I am going to split it up, because you have a few different questions. If anyone has had a different experience or something to add please do!
First of all, a little about me and my experience: I did 2mg, never more and sometimes less, for about 2 plus years. I had physical WD's that lasted for about 6-7 days. These were nothing close to WD's from H! I have posted in this thread my whole experience, mainly no energy, hot, cold, RLS. It sucked but I was able to still do things and seemed somewhat "normal" to people who did not know what I was going through.
If you have not had a hard time tapering I would taper as low as you can before you jump from taking subs. From what I understand this makes a huge difference. I jumped at 2mg, which from what I read is a large dose to jump from. Even jumping from that MG I felt that WD's were no big deal and again nothing close to H WD's.
As far as brain healing: At first it was all physical, then came some depression, I am also prone to this though. While I was on Sub's I felt very numb to everything and could be "cold" or insensitive at times. When I came off of them, I was really emotional, but I liked this because it had been such a long time since I had any real emotion. Even if I was crying, atleast I knew that I was able to "feel" again. I am not sure exactly what you mean by brain healing, maybe you can expand on exactly what you mean by this, like your symptoms ect...
As far as PAWS goes: I think this really all depends on where you are in your life. For example: If you sit around thinking to yourself, I feel so bad, my life was better when I had more energy, this sucks....then I think you will have a worst time with this. I constantly found myself, thinking to myself how do I feel now, I felt better when I woke up, last hour I had more energy, now I don't....Drove myself crazy thinking like this!!!!
With that said there are things you can do to help with PAWS. The reason why people have PAWS is because when you do drugs, it creates all these new dopamine connections in your brain, so when you stop doing them, you need more dopamine to keep you normal then the average because you body is now use to this. You need to rebuild your neurotransmitters to feel "normal" again. The best way to do this W/O drugs is to boost your dopamine levels naturally. I mentioned that supplement L-Tyrosine but more then that the best way to do this is by exercising!! Which brings us to the next question.
How can you workout when in WD's? First of all I would wait until you are done with most of the physical WD and not start to workout until day 5 or so. I don't think you will be able to completely understand this until you are on day 6 but I always felt my best when I was on my treadmill working out. When you work out your body puts out this dopamine that your body is so craving. Even on day 6 of feeling like shit right before I got on treadmill, as soon as I started to workout, I felt great!!! I mean better then normal! It was the weirdest thing but I am telling you it makes such a difference in the short term and especially in the long term. After working out I would be pooped, sometimes I would take a nap and actually this was one of the times I was actually able to get to sleep without having RLS. When I woke up I felt so much better, as if I did a bump of oxy or something. The fact that you already workout all the time is going to be a huge help in you getting off subs!
About the pulling muscle thing, you don't want to push yourself to much. You need to work out enough to get a sweat, and try to do 30 mins and even more if you can. most if not all of your exercise at this time needs to be cardio for the most part, to get your blood pumping and the dopamine going.
Tapering: yes you have the right idea, the smaller the better. like i said in the other post, people who have tapered that much (0.25 or less) say that they have close to none if any WD's. ( my boyfriend will concur) If you can do this, I think you will be home free! The half life of Sub's is long but I do believe that after about a week it is definitively all out of your system.
About the naltrexone, I don't know anything about this, maybe someone else can chime in on this?!?
My last word of advice which does answer your worry about needing a rapid detox: IT'S NOT THAT BAD!! you can do it! I swear after jumping from 2mg I look back on it after about a month, and it was not that bad. I read so many horror stories on the internet, DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THESE!! especially if you tapper correctly, these stories will not pertain to you! It's a small price to pay to be free from subs. The hardest thing for me was sleeping at night because I had RLS and feeling a little tiered though out the day. These symptoms lasted only about 2-3 weeks though. After that I remember getting in bed that first night with no RLS and sinking into a utopia of sleep. It's crazy how when you always sleep well you take it for granted, when you can't sleep well at all and then the first night you do sleep well, IT'S THE BEST FEELING EVER!
If you ever need any support please feel free to post or shoot me a pm, I am happy to help. It's all mental! exercise, eat healthy, chat with ppl in your same predicament for support, and above all don't do any drugs! (opioids) I do have other tips that I have posted (to many to list) that have worked for me in the thread, mostly about not being able to sleep and having a lack of energy. Make a list, go to the store, get what you need, set a date and the rest is history
