Opioids Low dose Methadone switch to Suboxone?

[mikeavelli]

I have been on M.M.T. for 6 years & am on 24 milligrams of Methadone & I don't have any more MONEY, so I will be FeeToxed on the 1st. I have Several Suboxone Strips & was going to try & do A Two week Detox/Taper using the Suboxone. My Question is being on this Low of a Dose can I take the Suboxone 24 Hours after my 24 milligram Methadone dose ( I feel like Shit in the mornings by the way), or do I need to wait 3-4 days until I'm in Full Blown Withdrawal? Answers will be Greatly appreciated, Thank You...

 

[Fire&Water]

There are "heaps & heaps" of threads on this exact subject in this forum...

 

[BlueHues]

^You gotta wait at least 48 hours from the time the WD starts, everybodys different but thats the ballpark figure that ive heard thrown around a lot...

I've never jumped from methadone to sub, but it's supposedly pretty fucking rough....and if you're only planning on taking the sub for a week long taper, it might be like going through WD twice!

Suboxone WD may not be as bad as methadone WD, but it still sucks! Maybe do a month long taper IDK.....I have a hard time going from heroin to Suboxone these days....

Once you do transition to suboxone though, it's relatively easy to get yourself down to 2mgs or so, it's going from there to zero where it gets tough....

IDK if that helps, but I don't know that what you're planning on will really make it much easier on you IMO...

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

If you've been on maintenance for that long, with the incredibly long half-life of methadone, you have way more than 24mg's in your system factoring in the build up of doses. But, even if you just had a straight 24mg's in you, you'd still have to wait longer than 24 hours to take the suboxone. You need to wait until you are in full withdrawal, which will most likely not be for a couple days.

 

[SAMCRO]

How long have you been at 24mg's? I would suggest being at your current low dose 2 weeks so that levels have legitimately dropped b/c of long half life. I'd wait as long as u can stand it before dosing bupe, u wanna b in the psychically sick stage of w/d and not just anxious/bored. GL!

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Honestly it really depends on the person. There is not some set number of hours that is going to be perfect for everyone. Talking to doctors in my area they've said some of their patients were totally fine switching from around that dose of methadone to suboxone 24 hrs later and some people waited like 5 days and still got precipitated WDs when they took the Suboxone. Two methods that they use to help people make the switch:

- Switch from methadone to a shorter-acting oral opioid like morphine for 1-3 weeks, then wait to be in withdrawal from it and start the Suboxone (obviously this probably isn't an option for you).

- Stop the methadone, wait until you are in as bad of withdrawals as you can handle, take a very small amount of Suboxone (like 0.5mg), if you don't feel any worse after taking it try some more Suboxone (1-2mg) 1-3 hrs later and so on until you are feeling semi-better. This technique seems to substantially reduce the likelihood of precipitated withdrawals.

You can use the COWS and SOWS opioid withdrawal scales and buprenorphine induction charts/guidelines to help you determine if your WDs are severe enough to start the Suboxone.