I am only writing this to help others. I have been reading some threads about the waiting period before taking suboxone and about how to use suboxone and I am shocked at the responses I read! Some people on this site have given horrible advice that can cause serious harm. do some of you WANT to make others sick with your advice? Fortunately, some here were spot on with their advice, but were followed by other posters who were dead wrong.
1. Everytime you take suboxone to deal with withdrawals, there is a chance your body will react differently. This is basic pharmacology. Also, obviously every person may react differently.
2. It does not matter if you are in withdrawal already, if you take subs too soon, you still may go into precipitated withdrawal. It is hard to measure what level of withdrawal you are having because it is all relative. I knew of one person's experience where he was in withdrawal, sniffling, restless, sweats, etc...and he took the suboxone about 10 hours after his last hit of heroin. HE WENT INTO THE WORST WITHDRAWAL OF HIS LIFE! Precipitated withdrawal from taking subs too early is HELL! It is 10x worse than the worse opiate withdrawals. I ended up in the hopital.
3. Just because you may have taken your sub 8 hours or whatever after your last dose of opiates and didn't go into WD, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN EVERY TIME! You are playing roullette and it will bite you in the ass.
The point is this, If you wait 24 hours and dont feel WDs yet, it is too soon.
If you wait 12 hours and you are in WD, it is still too soon. Wait 12 more hours.
If you are on methadone, don't play games with the timing. Its not worth it. The only SAFE option is to switch to other opiates for at least a week or more before you even think about taking subs.
It doesn't matter if you got away with it and were fine before, you wont always react the same. I learned this the hard way so now you don't have to.
Obviosly there are many factors which play a role in your reation such as type of opiates you are on, how long you have been on them, and what dosages.
My advice:
1. Whatever you are on, taper first.
2. If you take meth, switch to a lighter opiate first.
3. Have Xanax at your ready just in case things go bad, it will help a little. Also, when going from opiates to subs, often the body reacts with some anxiety. Xanax will help this. I know that a pharmacist will say not to combine the 2 and may be correct, its your call.
4. No matter how bad your WDs are, precipitated WD from taking subs too soon is exponentially worse. Remember, its all relative.
5. With all these things taken into consideration, you should then follow these basics:
Heroin:No less than 24 hours
Oxy: No less than 36 hours
I hope this helps at least one person out there doing a Google search. These are seriously powerful medications and I hate to think of someone else experiencing so much pain.
1. Everytime you take suboxone to deal with withdrawals, there is a chance your body will react differently. This is basic pharmacology. Also, obviously every person may react differently.
2. It does not matter if you are in withdrawal already, if you take subs too soon, you still may go into precipitated withdrawal. It is hard to measure what level of withdrawal you are having because it is all relative. I knew of one person's experience where he was in withdrawal, sniffling, restless, sweats, etc...and he took the suboxone about 10 hours after his last hit of heroin. HE WENT INTO THE WORST WITHDRAWAL OF HIS LIFE! Precipitated withdrawal from taking subs too early is HELL! It is 10x worse than the worse opiate withdrawals. I ended up in the hopital.
3. Just because you may have taken your sub 8 hours or whatever after your last dose of opiates and didn't go into WD, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN EVERY TIME! You are playing roullette and it will bite you in the ass.
The point is this, If you wait 24 hours and dont feel WDs yet, it is too soon.
If you wait 12 hours and you are in WD, it is still too soon. Wait 12 more hours.
If you are on methadone, don't play games with the timing. Its not worth it. The only SAFE option is to switch to other opiates for at least a week or more before you even think about taking subs.
It doesn't matter if you got away with it and were fine before, you wont always react the same. I learned this the hard way so now you don't have to.
Obviosly there are many factors which play a role in your reation such as type of opiates you are on, how long you have been on them, and what dosages.
My advice:
1. Whatever you are on, taper first.
2. If you take meth, switch to a lighter opiate first.
3. Have Xanax at your ready just in case things go bad, it will help a little. Also, when going from opiates to subs, often the body reacts with some anxiety. Xanax will help this. I know that a pharmacist will say not to combine the 2 and may be correct, its your call.
4. No matter how bad your WDs are, precipitated WD from taking subs too soon is exponentially worse. Remember, its all relative.
5. With all these things taken into consideration, you should then follow these basics:
Heroin:No less than 24 hours
Oxy: No less than 36 hours
I hope this helps at least one person out there doing a Google search. These are seriously powerful medications and I hate to think of someone else experiencing so much pain.
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