Bupe Detoxing off heroin and have a few subs. Is this advisable what I'm intending to do?

[JPaz79]

So I've been IV'ing heroin for about a year now. On an average day I'll do about 4 or 5 decent quality bags, but only need 2 a day to function normally since I get sick every 12 hours.

A few days ago I decided this is no way to live anymore and I can't handle it and am just so sick of living by the hour so I decided to break up with the jealous bitch heroin is. I miss my other drugs! lol

Anyways, I used 80mg loperamide along with a few other things to get me through it. I did feel pretty good but it just wasn't cutting it. I've had 4, 2mg Suboxone films laying around for months and decided to break one out 24 hours after my last loperamide dose and only took a half milligram. I only did the half milligram because I was afraid of the precipitated withdrawals. Within an hour I was feeling so good I couldn't believe it. So before bed, about 12 hours later I took another half milligram and passed out. When I woke up, I felt like I had never taken an opiate in my life and actually felt like myself again. I couldn't believe it.

So now here's my real question. If I only need a half a milligram to maintain myself to get through withdrawals, do you think this will actually work if I cut my doses up into a 2 week supply (which is all of it) and should I expect hell when I am out of them? Should I taper for week 2 and only use .25 milligrams for 2 more weeks?

I can handle feeling kinda bad just as long as I can keep myself in check and not go running back to my dealer. Cold turkey withdrawals is something I NEVER want to feel ever again in my life.

Thanks for all your help, I'm really going to need it

 

[ChinaWhiteHeroin]

It's good that you don't need so much. I would keep taking it as you are and when you start to get low on your supply then start trying to taper it down and hopefully you won't need it at all, although that desire will always be there, just got to keep that jealous bitch out of your life. Good choice to quit, stick with it man.

 

[Fire&Water]

You are the perfect example of the way buprenorphine is supposed to work, as the first pills manufactured were about a quarter of a milligram & you probably absorbed close to that amount ! I am glad for you & wished more people took as long of a break before starting so they also knew the affects of "nor"bupe.

Edit: It is also a possibility the amount of 'nor'bupe potentiated the loperamide giving you further relief

 

[ReversiblePulpitis]

I'd read up on some more sub taper threads. You may not even want to drag it out for 2 weeks, and save half of what you have for a rainy day ie relapse or acute pain relief.

id immediately try to do every other day considering its half-life. good luck!

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Hopping off of bupe at the sub milligram dosage is much easier than doing it at >1.. so you're already at an advantage. Only being on it for 2 weeks and jumping off at .25mg's should be pretty painless. You just have to make sure you stick to being clean.. because the more times you go back and forth from heroin to suboxone, the harder it becomes and the less the suboxone works.

 

[JPaz79]

Thank you all for the responses. I really appreciate it. I was truly shocked that I only needed that much to feel great. They do say "less is more" with this stuff so it's definitely true lol. I actually feel hopeful that this can work and that is not something I've felt in a long time. I really felt hopeless and in the back of my mind felt as if the loperamide taper just wouldn't work. I was also afraid that the suboxone would just make things worse because of the huge doses that doctors will put you on for so long. Now that I know what I am capable of there is nothing stopping me and I have every intention to stop and never go back to this evil hell. I will definitely attempt to space my doses as far as possible apart and just hope for the best.

I keep telling myself "you can do this, it's going to be okay" because I know I not only need to quit, but I want it more than anything in the world right now which is the most important thing when it comes to quitting. It has totally destroyed my life and its time to go back to the real me.

When I woke up this morning, I honestly felt like I had never taken an opiate in my life and felt happy and how I used to feel before the opiates ever came into my life. I genuinely felt like myself again and did for most of the day. I even worked for a few hours in a very busy waiter job that I just got home from and had absolutely no problems what so ever. I also took a xanax to help with the anxiety and just to chill me out a little ( I do have a little bit of a tolerance to them so I know it wasn't going to to be too powerful and I was able to function more than perfectly)

I appreciate all the support and will post back on how my progress goes so maybe others in my situation can follow in my footsteps. I know I can do this!

 

[luckyshot04]

Jpaz,

Congrats on making a good decision. I've made that decision before and did it like you (not with H though, Oxycontin and Opana). Even though I'm using again, I applaud you! You give me nhope.

Quick opinion on the subs (I did 18 months in the clinic and use them now for short-term detox): Smart move if you can take .25 mg and get by from the beginning. When I first went on subs, I was taking 8 or more milligrams a day. I had been using years and it was tough.

If you can stay that low, I think after you go through 8mgs over that time you shouldn't have bad withdrawls. Maybe grab you some 8mg strips if possible and keep em around just in case.

It's still easy to go back to dope, stay strong!

If you run out and can't take it, don't buy H, go get you some subs.

 

[JPaz79]

Jpaz,

Congrats on making a good decision. I've made that decision before and did it like you (not with H though, Oxycontin and Opana). Even though I'm using again, I applaud you! You give me nhope.

Quick opinion on the subs (I did 18 months in the clinic and use them now for short-term detox): Smart move if you can take .25 mg and get by from the beginning. When I first went on subs, I was taking 8 or more milligrams a day. I had been using years and it was tough.

If you can stay that low, I think after you go through 8mgs over that time you shouldn't have bad withdrawls. Maybe grab you some 8mg strips if possible and keep em around just in case.

It's still easy to go back to dope, stay strong!

If you run out and can't take it, don't buy H, go get you some subs.

Thank you Yeah, I'm attempting to get just 1 or 2 more subs just have handy just in case I get an urge to use. Quitting is the easy part compared to relapsing. Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it. I'll do whatever it takes to never touch it ever again. I know I'm ready for this.

2 years ago I had back surgery and was on 180 perc 10's for months and months prior to surgery. Even after I was cut off from pain management I continued to use Roxies and such for a few months and finally quit for a few months and felt great. Stupid me was reunited with an old friend from high school and her boyfriend was banging dope so I figured why not, might as well try it once and never do it again. HA who was I kidding lol. I've never ever ever in my life experienced withdrawals like this and never thought they would be like this since I had kicked before and it wasn't this bad. The withdrawals from this alone make me sick to my stomach to even consider using again. I know it will always be there and I have to keep my head up.

Good luck to you too. I hope you can find a way out for yourself and wish you the absolute best of luck. If I can do this, so can you.

 

[luckyshot04]

Thank you Yeah, I'm attempting to get just 1 or 2 more subs just have handy just in case I get an urge to use. Quitting is the easy part compared to relapsing. Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it. I'll do whatever it takes to never touch it ever again. I know I'm ready for this.

2 years ago I had back surgery and was on 180 perc 10's for months and months prior to surgery. Even after I was cut off from pain management I continued to use Roxies and such for a few months and finally quit for a few months and felt great. Stupid me was reunited with an old friend from high school and her boyfriend was banging dope so I figured why not, might as well try it once and never do it again. HA who was I kidding lol. I've never ever ever in my life experienced withdrawals like this and never thought they would be like this since I had kicked before and it wasn't this bad. The withdrawals from this alone make me sick to my stomach to even consider using again. I know it will always be there and I have to keep my head up.

Good luck to you too. I hope you can find a way out for yourself and wish you the absolute best of luck. If I can do this, so can you.

Well, thank you for your kind words as well!

It starts out as non-chalant with scripts (I had a dentist writing me Percs or Tabs every month for about 8 months, major dental work) and progresses to easily to a full-time addiction. I know the feeling of hooking up with old friends in the wrong game! Don't consider yourself "stupid" for this though, it's a disease and a lot of times we make decisions based on our addiction.

You're right though, relapsing will getcha. I am on subs for about 2 weeks, then I binge for a few days, and then back to subs. One good thing for me is since I no longer go to the clinic for suboxone, I have kept myself down to using no more than 2 mg's, even after a binge. I usually do fine on 1mg.

I give you the advice to get subs and not dope, but I fail at this miserably. Don't get down on yourself if you have a few glitches along the way, it happens.

I find Bluelight is great to talk with others who have a similar problem, it's a great coping mechanism.

You can do it though! You are ready because you want to quit. That's the first step, admitting you have a problem and then taking the corrective measures to fix it. I know if H was in my area, I'd be in the same boat. I pretty much am, just with pills. I even tried meth for the first time a couple weeks ago, I swore I'd never touch that shit. I was always an upper kind of guy, but I'm glad my first two experiences with that shit will be my last.

But if you can get those extra subs and then actually take them instead of copping dope, you will be on the right path.
According to your profile, you are going to succeed well with your goals in school and further along. I can tell you're intelligent by your writing and your college major; I luckily got my bachelors before my addiction got out of hand (Started Oxycontin about my junior year); I know if I had been using heavy when I started college, I don't think I would've made it.

Keep up the good work, good luck with kicking this and your education as well; Stay head strong!

 

[JPaz79]

I really, truly appreciate all the support I've been giving thus far, and come tomorrow morning at 11:00am, it will be my first full week clean. Last night I was just hanging around with a friend and doing things we used to do before dope and now I feel that I can appreciate being alive and just the smallest, most simple things we take for granted are the very things that are guiding and assisting me through this. The suboxone has been god-sent and I've been doing absolutely fantastic on them. When I go to work I will take no more than 1 mg for the day to keep me going (waiting tables). On my off days, I'll either just skip my dose if I feel I can or I will never take more than .5 milligrams for the day. I find absolutely no reason to take more than 1 milligram.

I've learned a lot this past week and I truly feel like I'm kicking ass on this road to recovery. I used to fear suboxone due to the fact that, at least in my mind, it's basically swapping addictions. Now that I know how we should "properly" be using this miracle of a drug, there is nothing in this world that can stop me now. I wake up every day with a smile on my face, ready to take on the world. If anyone is reading this that is struggling with an addiction, I would hope that you can follow in my footsteps and see that this is possible and to never give up. We all have so much more to live for, there's so much more to life than waiting around at all hours of the day to score and constantly wondering if you're going to have enough dope to make it through the week and living minute by minute.

I feel like a different person, and that's probably because I feel like myself again. I really think that my favorite part of all my progress this far, is how much money I've saved in just 1 week. This may sound silly, but I purchased a milky-way chocolate bar last night, and realized that I hadn't really bought anything for myself for a really long time. Every penny I earned went to dope. I think that was the best milky way I've ever eaten it's the little things.

Thank you so much everyone, I really love it here at bluelight. I will continue to update my progress and will possibly write out my own little recipe for a successful detox in the future when this is all behind me. If anyone wants to vent or talk about anything at all, know that you can message me and I'll do my absolute best to support, guide, assist, help, etc. I don't know where I'd be without the knowledge that I now know from how powerful buprenorphine is and how widely abused it is by doctors to give us such huge doses of it, when in reality you only need a fraction of what they tell you.

I know all of our bodies are different, and we all react differently to different things, but if this is working for me in sub-milligram doses, I can't see how anybody would need more than 1 milligram. I've been on and off opiates since I was 16 and am now 22. I don't regret any of it because I really did enjoy it for what it was, but now it just has to stay as something of my past. I had my fun with it, and now it's time to move on. This is what true happiness is, and I'm loving every second of it. Of course I miss using, but I know I don't need it anymore and can go back to a normal life. I've been making myself do things I used to do to get back into the routine of a heroin free lifestyle. I've been practically living on my piano just messing around and playing what I love. I also have an electric violin sitting around in my room that I'm making myself learn. It's also exciting to me because I'm forcing myself to re-adapt into society, and by doing this, it feels like everything is a brand new experience. I absolutely hate the mental effects of withdrawal such as cravings. By doing what I am each day, I'm slowly kicking those cravings out by telling myself I don't need it, I'm happy. The willpower alone has shown me that I'm capable of anything, and I'm going to be somebody one day.

Thank you guys, I love you all.

 

[brutus]

^ Glad to see things worked out for you.

Once you become a Bluelighter, you will be able to post in a blog, which I suggest you do.

I'm approaching a year clean and it's amazing how much life changes once you become sober.

 

[JPaz79]

^ Glad to see things worked out for you.

Once you become a Bluelighter, you will be able to post in a blog, which I suggest you do.

I'm approaching a year clean and it's amazing how much life changes once you become sober.

I will definitely do the blog when the time comes, thanks for the advice! I am very happy for you and wish you the best of luck. If we can overcome this, we can do anything we put our minds to.

 

[uno22]

I would ditch the subs after a week and just go all natural if I were you. You won't have much physical withdrawal symptoms after that and you can save the remaining subs for another time in case you should need them, or if you ever have a friend in need

I wish more people would realize that you only need .5-1mg of bupe to really get by.

 

[laCster]

Hopping off of bupe at the sub milligram dosage is much easier than doing it at >1.. so you're already at an advantage. Only being on it for 2 weeks and jumping off at .25mg's should be pretty painless. You just have to make sure you stick to being clean.. because the more times you go back and forth from heroin to suboxone, the harder it becomes and the less the suboxone works.

Good advice Scag, took the words right out of my mouth

Listen to this guy

 

[relapsequ33n]

help

Im new to this site as a member but always stopped by for advice when i wanted to detox n quit the bad habits i acquired. Im 23 years old if fort Lauderdale Florida , the city where you can find anything you want _ whenever you want. I started with roxies 3 years ago and went to a county detox 4 times. They gave me suboxen over a 7 day period and everyday they cut you down. The 4th time worked for 5 months i felt great until i got introduced to herion and fell in love. Its been about a year and ive been injecting 2-3 grams a day. I am ready to lose the little i have left and going back to the detox place is not an option. I got my hands on 5 suboxen strips 8mgs and a friend gave me methadone just in case

 

[dankJ]

first and foremost...CONGRATS on making the decision to try and get clean!!!! seriously..thats awesome. I think the way youre going about it in a pretty good way. use the sub to handle the dope w/d's and taper it down until you run out. and once you stop the subs...you can probably expect some pretty mild w/d symptoms if were taking them for 2 weeks or so...but compared to the dope..will be an absolute cakewalk! and your dosage is quite a low amount...so you should def be ok and be able to handle some mild discomfort.

again, congrats on taking that step and wish you the best of luck in sticking with it!!! (lol...now if only i could have the balls to get clean.... )

 

[dankJ]

oh sheesh...just now did i realized that the OP was way back in January. D'oh! i'd be curious to know if JPaz79 is still clean or not