Jumped from 1 mg Suboxone 5 days ago - no withdrawal?!

[abinoosh]

I either hid a prescription too well or flat-out lost 14 Suboxone 2 mg strips. Roughly this is what I used to take in one day, after stepping from 30 mg methadone (maximum dose, 120 mg).

That was 5 days ago. Though I left a message with my doctor, he hasn't called back. (He's good in general). I suspect he'll say that if things are tolerable after 5 days it's time to jump. But I don't know. After I switched to Suboxone I apparently did not suffer precipitated withdrawal, *except* for the fact that I cried for 24 hours straight.

I never got high from Suboxone until I got down to 1 mg. Researching a new ROA, I found 1 mg to 2 mg worked very well for a slight opioid buzz. The doc allows me 1.5 mg of alprazolam daily but I usually take only 1 mg. I've been free of restless leg syndrome but *not* free from the mental obsession - I've been searching compulsively for days - this is my mother's apartment and I hide usage from her.

The doc tells me I'm basically on "nothing" but 1 mg gives me a buzz and I'm not ready to give that up, damn it!

Otherwise I have access to sedating drugs, alprazolam, amytriptyline, a bit of herb and good old alcohol. So this is not really a huge deal. But I'm obsessed about finding the lost strips.

Bottom line: If I last plugged 1 mg Suboxone 5 day ago, how likely is it that I still have to face the worst of withdrawal?

 

[Phil.McKeer]

Are you experiencing any chills, goosebumps or sneezing fits? These are the most common w/d symptoms when kicking a low dose of buprenorphine (at least for me; everyone is different).

You may be in the clear, you may also just have a good amount of bupe in your blood and its still being eliminated little by little. Both are possible, we can't really know. How do you feel today?

 

[abinoosh]

Are you experiencing any chills, goosebumps or sneezing fits? These are the most common w/d symptoms when kicking a low dose of buprenorphine (at least for me; everyone is different).

You may be in the clear, you may also just have a good amount of bupe in your blood and its still being eliminated little by little. Both are possible, we can't really know. How do you feel today?

Six days since last dose. I feel kind of OK physically, but very weak. A little restless leg at night. I also have 2 tramadols and 13g or so kratom.

It is the mental obsession that is bothering me the most. There's a prescription vial somewhere in my mom's apartment, unless I dropped it on her old-folks campus. But if I had dropped it, someone on campus would see that it was returned.

There may be a random staffer who picked it up and didn't report, but it's not likely.

Chills, no. Goosbumps slight. Yes to sneezing fits, but I sometimes get those anyway.

Thanks for you response!

 

[SKL]

You're lucky. Bupe has a long T_½, but not that long. As for my piece of advice, I'd just suggest walking away now, and seeing what happens. Most people find it extraordinarily difficult to jump off bupe even at low doses, and the post-acute withdrawal symptoms like depression, etc. are a concern, but can generally be dealt with by other means without resort to opiates, although going back on Suboxone at a tiny dose might be advisable either to prevent this, or should it occur, but if you stay genuinely withdrawal-free for about 2 weeks, and can avoid post-acute issues, then, again, just may be able to simply consider yourself lucky, cautiously, but on the other hand, the emphasis is on the latter, the post-acute part; so I never advise anyone to stop abruptly or without a plan (which may include medication, therapy, lifestyle changes such as exercise, etc), if the post-acute stuff becomes an issue you will regret having stopped Suboxone even if you were able to dodge the physical part. Not a lot of doctors will re-prescribe Suboxone in these cases, unless you come in saying that you're using opiates again (assuming the doctors don't actually test, in which case you'd have to actually use them), so it's worth considering going to your doctor another time, getting another prescription, and doing a microtaper (from 1mg down to as low as .1mg, I use an alcoholic solution in a teardopper for this purpose; some people snort it, or other things, which I wouldn't recommend) over a long period of time. All really will be dependent on your long term goals, and how you continue to tolerate abstinence; withdrawal in the classical sense with gooseflesh, GI involvement, restlessness, etc. is not likely at all to sneak up on you now, but the mental aspects have the possibility to.

This post or any of my communications do not constitute professional advice nor do they establish a professional relationship of any kind; by this medium I make no claim to any professional credentials; in person consultation is essential for any medical, psychological, substance-related or harm reduction decisions. While peer support an advice can be helpful, any content posted online, regardless of it's source, cannot, by it's very nature, substitute for an in-person relationship with a clinician who has had the opportunity to take your history in the larger context and provide professional advice with all these factors, and others, taken into account.

 

[abinoosh]

<respectful snip>You're lucky. ...Bupe has a long T_½, but not that long. As for my piece of advice, I'd just suggest walking away now, and seeing what happens.

That would be the rational thing, right? Day 8 from jumping from 1 mg (plugged). Doc had his assistant call and say if I was that worried I should check myself into a 2-3 day detox. He could be worried about the DEA, or about enabling me, or both.

I'm still obsessed about finding the freakin' films, may drive home (2 hours there, 2 hours back) just in case the strips are there.

It's insane. I know now that the physical effects are manageable. But my brain/mind wants that 1-2 mg BAD. So what do I want, to get back on it and then initiate a taper when I feel like it? I'm not sure I'll ever feel like it! RLS is OK if I constantly jiggle my leg during the day. Since then, any passing nausea, clammy skin, body ache I attribute to WD but in fact perhaps I just dodged a bullet.

My doc is going to think I'm crazy, but then again, he is a psychiatrist ... if I said I need this to beat cravings for other opioids he might cave.

It's costing over $1,000 a year just in doctor visits! And insurance is stingy. The generic 2 mg pills are MORE expensive than equivalent films.

Thanks for responses!