How do I possiblly get off BUPRENORPHINE & ALCOHOL? Please comment, Thanx

[NeedSobriety]

I have been on opiates (Oxy & Vic) for 10 years, finally went to detox and they put me on Bupe.

Been on Bupe for 2 years... I'm now down to around 2 mg per day

I started drinking heavily (Vodka) and can't seem to stop without feeling terrible

I have massive Anxiety

My family is tired of my shyt even though I started a successful business 6 months ago

I can barely work now

Thanks for ANY advice

 

[amapola]

I'm going to send this over to The Dark Side for you NeedSobriety. If you are looking for more detailed scientific discussion on withdrawal than try the Other Drugs Forum.

AP >>> TDS

 

[yuhhhhh]

let me preface this with saying i'm not trying to discourage you, i feel for all opiate addicts.

two years is a long time to be on bupe and 2mg a day is still a sizable dose. try to get down to .25mg or so a day, that would be a good start. there's no way to get around the withdrawals. for me the worst was dealing with the insomnia and crazy mood swings. i was fortunate enough to kick dope in an inpatient treatment facility. it made hell slightly more manageable. didn't sleep more than an hour or so for 12 days before i started getting a couple hours a night. personally i could not have done it outside of that environment. if you have any kind of option for treatment, DO IT. the anxiety and fear is natural but gets better in time. i have only been clean of opiates for 2 months but as you can imagine that seems like an eternity.

i don't know of an easy way to do it on your own. i honestly don't know how it's even possible but i'm sure there are plenty of people out there with more determination or grit or whatever than me.

i do know that even though you won't want to even move, exercise as much as you can. it helped me more than anything. i'm still dealing with PAWS today, still have sleepless nights and most days i'm extremely lethargic, but exercising does help.

good luck with whatever you do. hopefully others can provide some help for you.

 

[suessmayr]

I agree with almost all of the above post but I don't think that it's necessary to get down to below 2mg. Alot of people just stop at 1-2mg - I myself stopped at 2mg - and yesterday I read a thread by someone who jumped successfully at 4mg. So it's all relative, and in my view 2mg is definitely doable. I was on bupe for 3 years at 28mg.

Are you alcohol-dependent? If so, and if you have not abused them previously, benzos may be ideal for your situation. They are used in alcohol detox routinely, and also in bupe detox. I can't think of anything better to have some of when going through this shit.

 

[yuhhhhh]

i actually also stopped at 2mg but i only took suboxone for 9 days while in rehab. i would have only had 1mg for two more days so i just decided to get the ball rolling. i tried to refuse my dose on the second day thinking i would just tough it out and not deal with suboxone at all but after using heroin and dilaudid for months on end and pills for years before that i didn't make it a full 24 hours before begging for my dose.