Opioids just quit using heroin...have subs and xanax to help. need advice.

[Topmid]

ok so basically i've been using heroin almost daily for the last month. i had used before but never this much, only occasionally and never for more than 2 days at a time. i got a little hooked and would snort or smoke about a 20 a day. sometimes a 40. i'd say there were 4 or 5 days that i didn't use. the whole time i never got withdrawal symptoms until the past week.

2/28 i picked up a 40 and did most of it that night and throughout the next morning until i finished my last line at 2pm yesterday (3/1). of course i woke up this morning (3/2) feeling like shit but i decided i was gonna quit. my friend gave me a 2mg suboxone and an 8mg subutex to help with the withdrawals. i decided to take the suboxone first so i took it at 2pm. my withdrawals were gone and i actually felt a little high. it's now 11pm and i still feel fine and i'm about to go to sleep.

my question is how should i take the subutex tomorrow? my friend told me that i should put a quarter under my tongue and snort the other quarter in the morning and then repeat later at night and then the next day i should be withdrawal free. i've never had to go through heroin withdrawal before so i don't know how long this is gonna take or anything. you think it'd be better to do half tomorrow and save the other half for day 3?

i also have a 2mg xanax if that helps any...

thanks

 

[Rob27shred]

Your best bet is to use as little of the subutex as possible to stay feeling stable. Crush it up & break it into 8 equal lines. But do not sniff it if you truly want to quit. I only say to crush it up because it is the easiest way to separate it in to doses of 1mg or less. You said you felt good from a 2mg suboxone so your next dose should be no more than 1mg. I would take 1mg daily for 4 days, then 0.5mg for the next 4 days, then 0.25mg for the next 4 days. After that you will have 1mg left & I'd recommending just holding on to that & trying to jump after the 0.25mg doses. You should be fine & experience very minimal WD symptoms but everyone is different so I can promise that will be your case. That's the reason I would hang on to that last mg of sub. Just in case you still get acute WD symptoms after jumping at 0.25mgs. The Xanax I would save for a few days after your completely off the opiates. Day 2 or 3 of quitting opies is usually the worst & benzos can make you feel much better. Fair warning though, benzos are just as addicting as opies & the WD from them can kill you! So be very careful with using benzos especially when using them to quit another drug. Also do not think of suboxone/subutex as a magic pill that can get off opies free & clear cause that is the farthest thing from the truth. You will still experience some WD even if it is very light after using them to taper down. Subs are actually a very potent opie but only act on some of your opiate receptors in your brain so you don't get as high from them as a full agonist opie. But they are just as addictive as H & the WD from long term sub use is a very long & drawn out one. I got on suboxone before there was much known about using it to help with opiate addiction. They put me on a maintenance regiment thinking that was the best treatment. Well now it's 5 yrs. later & while it has gotten me away from street drugs & let me live a "normal" life I am still hopelessly addicted to them. Now if you go to a sub doc they will try to quickly taper you off of subs & that is the best way to use them to quit other opies. I hoped this helped some & good luck on your endeavor to get your life back in order.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Make the 8mg's last as long as possible. You're habit isn't that big and you haven't been at it for too long so your kick shouldn't be too bad.

One dosing schedule you could use is:

Day 1: 4mg
Day 2: 2mg
Day 3: 1mg
Day 4: .5
Day 5: .25 (You can choose to hop off here and probably be fine)
(If needed) Day 6: .125mg

Tapering down in such a way will allow for the least discomfort when stopping the bupe.

 

[Jman6181]

That def sounds like the best way, prob best to take half the xanax day one and split that up accordingly to.

 

[ech0s85]

if youve already taken 2mgs and feel fine id bet you could snort .5 mg every 24-32 hours and be fine from now on

 

[Topmid]

thanks for the feedback guys. unfortunately i haven't checked back until now. i'm about to end day 5 without using heroin. i must say the subs helped A LOT. despite having mild cravings, i really don't wanna go back to using. i've heard of too many overdoses around me, and even 2 people that i personally knew...

day 1 - 2mg suboxone
day 2 - 6mg subutex... did about 5 lines spread out between 10 hours. enjoyed the high i got off of it so kind of abused it there. ended up doing a good amount of coke that night too.
day 3 - 2mg xanax, took .5mg 4 times over about 8 hours. knocked me on my ass.
day 4 - totally sober, slept until 8pm and went back to sleep at 12am.
day 5 (today) - at about 3am i had a night terror and it was very terrifying. put me in shock for the rest of the day. thought about going to get a prescription for benzos but decided not to. i've been having minor withdrawals all day. cold sweats all day, bad social anxiety. everywhere i go i'm freezing. mentally, i don't need heroin, but my body definitely craves it. i'm actually about to get a subutex here in a bit so i should be fine for the next couple days.

i think i'm gonna make it! i know i am.

 

[BlueHues]

If Buprenorphine isnt doing that much for you, you didn't have enough of a habit to fuck with it in the first place!....you should have just taken benzos for a week!....And I say this in all kindness...

the typical maintenance drugs can be much harder to get off than the original drug you're trying to quit!....You wouldn't even have really needed 2 mgs to be "well"....

scagnatties detox plan was fuckin rock solid! Why did you fuck around and take six mgs and coke and leave yourself nothing for day 3?!

Anyway, that ship has sailed and you're picking up another 8mgs of subutex.....awwwwww shit!

Well.....I'd do

day one: 2 mgs
day two: slightly under 2
1
1
.5
.5
crumbs for a few days, as best as you can break them up from a pill

I'm on only 1.5 mgs of suboxone right now and I got off IV heroin this time starting my taper at 2 mgs! Buprenorphine is very potent, please don't become dependent on it...you are in dangerous territory....

 

[Topmid]

If Buprenorphine isnt doing that much for you, you didn't have enough of a habit to fuck with it in the first place!....you should have just taken benzos for a week!....And I say this in all kindness...

the typical maintenance drugs can be much harder to get off than the original drug you're trying to quit!....You wouldn't even have really needed 2 mgs to be "well"....

scagnatties detox plan was fuckin rock solid! Why did you fuck around and take six mgs and coke and leave yourself nothing for day 3?!

Anyway, that ship has sailed and you're picking up another 8mgs of subutex.....awwwwww shit!

Well.....I'd do

day one: 2 mgs
day two: slightly under 2
1
1
.5
.5
crumbs for a few days, as best as you can break them up from a pill

I'm on only 1.5 mgs of suboxone right now and I got off IV heroin this time starting my taper at 2 mgs! Buprenorphine is very potent, please don't become dependent on it...you are in dangerous territory....

i probably could've been fine off of benzos for a week in all honesty but i have a hard time finding them and i'd rather not get addicted to them... i hear benzo withdrawals are hell.

2mg sub had me way more than "well." i woke up and did a 2 mg line and felt pretty damn good. i thought it was just gonna stop the withdrawal and not actually get me high, so when i found out it got me high, i decided to do more and more all day until i was out... plus i figured since i had the xanax for day 3, i'd be gold after that.

i read that heroin withdrawals peak after 72 hours. that's why i figured this... but today i continued to have withdrawals, just not as severe. i got the subutex to help me feel better, and i did a tiny line about 30 mins ago and feel muuuuch better

i didn't realize how potent buprenorphine is, so i will definitely be careful this time around. i doubt i'll be picking anymore up after this since my guy's out and i don't plan on getting a prescription. hopefully the withdrawals end soon. i'm done fucking around with opiates and benzos... i can't stand having to go through all this bullshit just to feel normal. i was much better off doing psychedelics occasionally. those actually put me a positive mindset when i'm sober...

i have a need to get high and addictive substances are not the answer for me.

 

[Topmid]

also is it safe to go to sleep on subutex?

 

[BlueHues]

Believe me, I understand! Controlling your opiate use is very difficult, if not impossible for some people!

The reason buprenorphine and methadone are used is because theyre not supposed to produce as much euphoria as other opioids. Also, theyre long acting, so you only have to dose them once a day to maintain your levels and not go into withdrawal.

Unfortunately, in addition to being extremely physically addictive, these substances can, in fact, get you "high"!

Thats why, most of the doctors responsible for administering them will screen patients extensively to make sure that they "qualify" to use these drugs....

It sounds like, at this point, you may have a mild physical addiction going....But bupe could turn you into a full blown addict just as much anything else if taken regularly......

Shit, it may be easier to catch a bupe habit than a heroin habit! It has a half-life that gos on forever....

Just get off of it and be done! When you run out of this bupe you have, dont talk yourself into getting more! Just deal with the slight discomfort for a few day!

I'm not trying to be a dick, but a lot of us have have suffered for years trying to get off of this shit and its not fun at all, it sucks....It ruins your life! Shit, we all love the high, but you're right on the edge....

Please, as hard as it is it will only get harder, just move on!

 

[Topmid]

for sure man. thanks for the heads up! i honestly had no idea the bupe was as addictive as you say. i've gotta use this sparingly and with the intent to STOP using opiates altogether and not just to get high on something other than heroin. i appreciate the advice. after this sub, i will be done. time to put this shit away for good.

 

[BlueHues]

I mean, I'm glad you're SAYING that, and you could probably still do it, maybe without much effort....but shit IDK....Some random people you don't telling you to stop isn't gonna make you stop, but I hope you have the foresight to see where this whole thing is going...

-Good luck man

Edit: And yeah, the whole point of prescribing people bupe a lot of the time is to intentionally get them physically addicted to it, because tapering off of a stable dose of bupe is supposedly easier than a fast detox or cold-turkey, and it can give you a breather if you're whole life revolves around drugs and it gives you a chance to turn things around, but if you can get away with stopping opiates without it you're much better off, because getting off of it once it really gets into your system, isn't easy...That's all

 

[ReversiblePulpitis]

OP:
I have a feeling that the extra bupe you did on the days you binged probably didn't add much to the initial amounts you did earlier in the day, considering the half-life and binding affinity. the addict in you just wanted to redose to make sure you didnt lose the high, which is opposite thinking when it comes to bupe.
good luck.

 

[Topmid]

OP:
I have a feeling that the extra bupe you did on the days you binged probably didn't add much to the initial amounts you did earlier in the day, considering the half-life and binding affinity. the addict in you just wanted to redose to make sure you didnt lose the high, which is opposite thinking when it comes to bupe.
good luck.

ok that is good to know... exactly how long should a dose last? let's say 2mg, or even 1mg.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

ok that is good to know... exactly how long should a dose last? let's say 2mg, or even 1mg.

It's different for everyone but bupe has a half-life of around 24-36 hours... depending on your individual metabolism and body chemistry, you could need to re-dose before 24 hours or way after. It's long duration of action and half-life is the reason some people only need one dose every couple days. But like I said, others need to re-dose much sooner.

 

[BlueHues]

^Now that you say that, the half life doesn't sound THAT long.....I sometimes get a little runny nose and chills here and there after 18 hours and sometimes I dose around that point, but I can wait 24 and function, no problem...but as you say, different people metabolize it differently