Bupe End of bupe taper

[Bluelightspecial2]

I was playing around with about 100 mg/day of oxycodone for a month or two. I got on suboxone for reasons that aren't worth going into here. I've been on bupe for about 6 months now.. Most of that time was just 1-2mg per day. I've also gotten back on clonazapam (currently 1.5mg/day). Over the past month I've tapered down to around .25-.5mg of bupe per day. I think I'm going to jump off tomorrow.. I'm not sure how bad to expect it to be.. It seems like it should be mild, but I've felt like shit through most of the taper so I'm not sure what to expect. (I.e I'm stopping from a baseline where I already feel crappy.)

The real problem is the psychological aspect of things though. I can't fucking stand myself. All I want to do is find the right combination of drugs to keep me obliterated, happy and productive at all times. Currently I hate bupe, I hate benzos, I hate weed I hate alcohol and I hate being sober. I feel so tired (just mentality and emotionally exhausted for no reason). I just want to drive into oncoming traffic. (I won't of course but I'd live to.)

 

[effie]

I'm going to move this to Other Drugs as they cover tapering plans and have a lot of experience with buprenorphine, hope that's okay

BDD > OD

 

[dcraver877]

man i felt exactly the same way when i decided to jump off two weeks ago. the first 5 days were pretty hellish (jumped off at 1.5mg) but I spent the first 3 days in an inpatient detox facility and they fed me phenobarbital every 4-6 hours. It helped a bit but the entire time I was there I was thinking I rather be at home so I could smoke some herb...anyways, glad that's over with. I hear you on the energy too. After being on sub for 3.5 months it stopped doing anything for me. I felt like I was a walking brick wall that couldn't feel emotion. I rather feel pain than feel like that.

I'm seeing a psychiatrist (or two...depending on how it goes) next week. I'll let you know what he thinks of my situation and if he decides to prescribe me anything. I'd see if you could get some benzos, gabapentin, lyrica, or any barbituate to help with the first several days of w/ds. I honestly thought I'd be feeling a lot worse right now. My mood is pretty damn good, but I can tell my body is still trying to adjust to not having the bupe. The sweats are just starting to subside on day 14.

 

[Bluelightspecial2]

Yeah the brick wall/numb feeling sucks. It's been about 24 hours for me. So far just a lot of joint and muscle aches, irritability and the beginnings of nausea. Which days are the worst? I'm hoping to do the whole thing with little or no time off from work.

 

[flyonth3wall]

^^ How long exactly would depend on several things - but in a general sense once you're in acute withdrawals ( which it doesn't sound like you are yet, and will take more than 24hrs for bupe.. ) the severe symptoms will last anywhere from 3-5 days before you will gradually, day by day, start feeling better. The insomnia is usually the last thing to come right unfortunately. If your withdrawals do turn out to be harsh, in all honesty going to work and acting 'normal' is gonna be extremely difficult if not impossible, so I would suggest the first couple days off of work, if you can ofcourse. But it would make your life a hell of a lot easier. Good luck man, and congrats on getting off. In a couple weeks you will be sooooo glad you did this

 

[Bluelightspecial2]

36 hours now, and it still really hasn't set in that bad. Muscles and joints continue to ache, I'm starting to have hot and cold flashes, generally just feel shitty, but I wouldn't say I'm really sick yet. I'm kind of hoping I did the taper long enough that this won't be so bad. We will see I guess. So far it is not even as bad as wd from a moderate oxycodone habit. Continuing to take 1.5 mg/clonazapam daily.

I also have alazopram, temezapam, soma, propanalol, weed and alcohol on hand in case I need them. Gotta grab some Imodium. My current goal is to tough it out @ work through Friday. I'm not going home unless I start puking uncontrollably.

This stuff is weird and I have no sense of my personal timeline for it. I just want to be sick-sick because I figure it's all down hill from there. This annoying quasi-sick/waiting to be really sick shit sucks. If had access to any real opiates I'd probably be high already so I guess it's good I don't lol. Trying to keep from increasing benzo usage as part of this. (I'd rather be dope sick than withdrawing from a lot of benzos.) Just the normal clonazapam with weed as a second line of defense for now anyway.

Thanks for the support, looking forward to the other side of this.

 

[tundra523]

im actually in the process of jumping off of 1mg a day. started at 9pm tuesday then wednesday at 5pm i took about .5mgs SL and its 9 hrs now and i feel fine. not crazy sick or anything so my plan is to just keep lowering the dose and increasing the time in between doses until im taking almost nothing. it might seem like overkill but i seem to be very sensitive to withdrawal effects compared to alot of people i know. ill check in tomorrow with an update.

 

[Bluelightspecial2]

Why change the timing between doses instead of reducing dosage? Do you have the film? Like you I'm pretty sensitive to withdrawal symptoms, but do far it's been 52 hours and I'm still pretty good. (Shitty, but not truly sick.). We'll see if it gets worse I guess.

If your interested my tapering process involved using an exacto knife to cut 8 mg strips into very small peices. I kept the dose at about the level where'd I'd start feeling mildly achy about 8-9 hours after taking it. As soon as I started to feel more comfortable at a level I pushed dose down again. Starting at between 2-4mg this made sense.. I imagine if you're starting from a much higher dose a taper like this wood be longer and more unpleasant then just going through full wd.

Good luck!

 

[DustnRoses]

I am 4 days off sub now. I was taking about .5 to 1mg every day for about 2 months, give or take...My WD has been a walk in the park...last night I woke up at 3am with extremely achy legs, but I took 2 tylenol, got back in bed, and fell asleep within 30 or 40 minutes...woke up feeling ok. I have had no depression, and no diarrhea...not sure why, maybe I'm just unique. This isn't my first time dealing with opiate WD's, and I'm starting to think I might be wired differently than most people, because I've never had a really rough WD from anything, be it dope, OC, or sub. I've always had a few minor symptoms, for a few days...I hear some people go through up to 2 weeks of WDs, and I feel so bad...it's so unfair too, since we're all told sub is a way out, when really it's just a substitute (although many have reformed their lives with the aid of sub, so I'm not downplaying it's value).

Not to piggy back on your thread, but I was hoping someone could answer me this...I didn't quit to become clean, I just wanted to make sure I'm not physically dependent....it would seem that after 4 days of hardly any WD's, I am in the clear? I ask because I still have some sub, and want to do some...I haven't even considered it over the past 4 days because I wanted to give enough time to make sure I got through any potential WD, but I'm fairly certain now that I'm through it. Would I be setting myself back by doing some tonight? I will not be doing any tomorrow. I have the willpower to use sparingly. I haven't used since Sunday, and it was on my own accord, with no help from anyone, just my determination to do it. My only worry is that by doing some tonight, I'll "re up" my receptors, and be back to square one...does it work like that?

 

[ms4104]

If it's your 1st time withdrawing from any opiate and you were only taking 1mg for 2 months withdrawal will definitely be in a whole different catagory then someone who has used for years and between bupe/mmt/opiates has not has any break.

And yeah withdrawals will peak between day 2 and 4 IME..so if you feel fine on day 4 I think you wont be in for any surprise. Personally, being where you are I wouldn't do any tonight..you are like really close to the finish line.

 

[Bluelightspecial2]

This seems to be much easier than expected for me as well. Currently at 76 hrs and still eating full meals and functioning semi-normally. My primary complaints at the moment are psychological, although its also true that everything hurts no matter how much ibuprofen I take and that my sleep is fucked up. I've had wd from heavy Percocet use that were significantly worse than this.

I guess it pays to be a dabbler at times, heh heh. Just in the interests of science my whole thing was: 2 months of 100mg/oxycodone per day or so, than 5-6 months of bupe, starting at 4, than dropping to 2, 1 and then briefly .75 and then .5.

I feel a bit silly for being so worried about this, but it was all new to me. Thanks for the support. Now the main decision is whether to stay off, get back on or get on something else. If I'm going to be chained to a substance I'd at least like it to be one that actually makes me feel good. Thinking about popping a few 10/325mg percocets here and there with bupe as a bridge if necessary if a habit develops.

 

[mareseatoats]

I don't have any great advice to reply with, but as I read your post, I just thought doesn't it really suck that the only way some of us feel we can get through the rest of our lives- at least semi-sanely, would be just to continue on some kind of "under the influence" regimen? Otherwise everyday life just sucks...sad thing; and I totally know how it feels.

 

[ms4104]

I would like to beleive that I am not in that situation.. I mean I feel like that a lot..but I am 27 now.. when i was 18 I hadnt ever drank yet. Now its nearly 10 yeras later and I abused a lot of drugs.. prior to that I never ever felt ht eneed or felt chemically imbalanced. So I would like to think I can return my brain somewhere near that state..and not need to be medicated to live life.

Personally I think the notion of life-long maintenance (bupe or mdone) is simply insane.

Keep us updated bluelightspecial.. I am really anxious to see how it turns out. You are doing fuckin GREAT!! I am going to be trying to do the same thing as you soon//. ive been on bupe a long time but I know a friend who just jumped off from .25mg and he said wtihdrawals were a walk in the park they were nothing like heroin withdrawals.. not nearly as bad as even making the transition from a heavy dope habit to bupe. He just said it was like constant PAWS lol or just minor withdrawals which escalated to moderate during the peak on like day 4-8. It was totally bearable. I actually chilled with him I was blown away that he was like able to eat a little food and stuff. I was expecting a hard as fuck detox bein gthat he was on bupe for 3 years at 8mg before tapering down his last year.

 

[Bluelightspecial2]

110 hours at this point. Today was the first day that was better than one before it so I guess the whole thing has peaked already. What a relief!

Ms it sounds like our usage patterns are kind of similar.. I started @ 17 really took off at 18 and am 27 now. 4 of those years I was sober but on a ton of psych meds a lot of the time. I fantasize about dropping out of life file a year to live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. I feel like after 6 mons - year off everything I'd have a better sense of whether my brain can re-adjust. Sadly this just isn't realistic right now.. I need to function to eat and support the people I love and I need substances. (licit or illicit) to function.

Our experiences are slightly different in that I was emotionally fucked up from the start. If I trace it back i think my problems snowballed from some sexual stuff that happened when I was 7 and 8, and (as pussy ass as it sounds), severe, frequent migraines that I got started getting around 6 or so. That plus loving but flawed parents and other minor bullshit. The problem is that now it's not really about making peace with those initial events... It's more about unravelling the patterns of thinking and acting that I developed to cope with my world.

I'm kind of glad in a way that drugs did the damage that they did, because they forced me to start taking some harder looks at myself.. Without the bottoms they lead me to as teenager/early 20's person I imagine I could have ended up being a pretty twisted fuck.

For now substances are a quick fix (when they work).