Opioids Moving from Methadone to Suboxone

[needsubhelp]

I've been on Methadone for 6 years for opiate addiction and am moving to Suboxone because I'm tired of the methadone making me so cloudy headed and I want to get off soon and hear suboxone is much easier to come off. I was on 90mg of methadone, took my last dose Sunday morning and took my first dose of 2mg of Suboxone Today (Thursday morning). I can't tell if I feel better or worse. I still feel like crap. Should I be taking more or is this the Sub just getting in my system and the methadone out? I'm just not sure what I should do. I don't know how much of this I can take. Thanks

 

[Lorne???]

It's honestly still a little too soon to switch, 90mg is a large dose. At this point no dose of buprenorphine will be able to hold your tolerance. Damnit if I don't have time, I'll be back later if you need assistance...

 

[SkyblueMolly]

You could try switching to DXM(Dextromethorphan). It's an NMDA receptor antagonist, and there were a few reports of people who used DXM to quit opiates. The people said in some forum that they used like 300mg or 400mg of dextromethorphan and didn't start tripping because they were opiate users. Then they slowly tapered off DXM daily until they no longer felt hooked on opiates. It supposedly stops the urge for opiates. I read it years back. The memory of what I read long ago isn't that clear though. You could give the DXM a try. 300mg would make a non opiate user trance-like and maybe trip. Some opiate users did trp on 300mg DXM though. Start small doses to see how you react. Maybe IC-26 (Methiodone) could help too.
Hope it helps! Get well soon!
Stay cool! %)

 

[needsubhelp]

Yeah but isn't it too late now? I can't go back to methadone now can I? I don't want to anyway. I knew this would be hard..I just expected the Suboxone to make me feel a lot better or a lot worse. Instead I can't tell the difference. I guess I should be glad it didn't make me worse. I know 90mg is high but I need to make the change quickly for my job. The Dr told me to get ready for a bad week. I just don't know what to do now. Thanks

 

[The Doc.]

2mgs won't hold you at that dose your suposd to go down to at least 30mgs then take about a week off methadone (you can do heroin/other opiates for that week yes) then once the Meth is outta your system you can start the sub and feel better from it
Just so you know sub is the same thing as methadone so many people on here say they would rather go through ten methadone withdrawals then one Suboxone withdrawal they are both terrible to quit. It's not some wonder drug it's a strong opiate with lots of potential for abuse

 

[Pill__Head]

Hard to say exactly man, everyone reacts different. I was able to dose my sub only ~48 hrs. after my last dose of methadone( which was only 30mg, though keep in mind I went from 120mg down to 30mg in 1 week) and slowly the hell of WDs were lessening and lessening.. %)

You gotta get down to a lower dose ~30mgs methadone then wait a few days after a last dose of that to start your Subs.

 

[The Doc.]

I've been addicted to Suboxone for a year and I'm hooked on the stuff I can tell you I need it every 6 hours to feel good and normal I'm not free from opiates at all. Not yet anyways.
I was hooked on injecting the stuff for a while bow I've got outta those habits of IVing my suboxne but I'm still just as hooked even taking it the right way.

 

[Pill__Head]

^^ Aren't we all, hah.

 

[The Doc.]

Yep so many think SUB is the answer tot heir problems

 

[needsubhelp]

I know I should have gone down to 30 but I jumped the gun. I talked to someone else that did the same thing and had no issues. Now I'm kind of stuck. It's been over 96 hours without any methadone. If I were to go back wouldn't I have to go through all of this hell again. I wonder if taking the Suboxone will make me feel better tomorrow. I think I'm just screwed no matter what.

 

[The Doc.]

Well this is what happens when you stop something that works for you because someone else said sub is better now your screwed. I would stop all opiates for 4 days or so to reset your tolerance a little bit and free some of the chronic methadone built up in your body. After that you start the sub that's how its gotta be done sub is weird in the way if you take it too early then it will make you feel off or really really sick.

 

[needsubhelp]

I know I'm screwed. I know I should have gone down to 30 before switching. What I'm wondering is if 2mg of Suboxone is even going to do anything. I feel just the same as if I would have continued to not take anything at all. With that being said it would seem pointless to not take anything for a few more days because I'd still feel the same. I just don't know what I should do tomorrow. Thanks for the help!

 

[The Doc.]

The sub won't do anything if it hasn't already.
Its not pointless its what you gotta do to make the switch you could try taking a whole 8mgs at once see if that works but if not then nothing will and you need to detox some more without anything cause the methadone is interfering with the sub trying to do its job

 

[Lorne???]

Can you get any more methadone? How many subs do you have?

You basically have 2 options here:

A: get some methadone, and start back at 40mg. The next day, take 30. Then slowly titrate down to 5-10mg, go 36h or so and take your final 5-7.5mg, and then another 36-48h start at 2mg buprenorphine.

The second option is to take NOTHING for at least 48h(preferably 72) and then start with 2mg, if that still doesn't hold, go up to 4.

If you can get methadone I would take a week to wean yourself down, and then the subs will be far more effective.
Tell us if you can get any md's, and we can provide a rapid taper.

But at this point, your tolerance is simply too high for buprenorphine to be effective.

 

[Lorne???]

The sub won't do anything if it hasn't already.
Its not pointless its what you gotta do to make the switch you could try taking a whole 8mgs at once see if that works but if not then nothing will and you need to detox some more without anything cause the methadone is interfering with the sub trying to do its job

I wouldn't even try 8mg right now, it's not going to help, and will only set you back. The point is to give your brain time to downregulate, so that the buprenorphine will be effective.

 

[needsubhelp]

Yes I can get more of both. I'm prescribed to both so it's no issue. I've just got to come off the methadone for a bunch of reasons and went 4 days without it. I would hate to go back and put myself through everything again.

 

[Lorne???]

But that's just it, you don't have to go through everything again. 4 days without methadone will have inevitably lowered your tolerance. Now you can start at 40mg, and rapidly drop down, and once it's cleared from your system, you can make a smooth transition to bupe.

Of course the faster way is to go another 2-3 days without anything, but that will be hard.

I'm just telling you your best options for switching, unfortunately the transition from methadone to buprenorphine is quite hard, especially at that dose.

 

[The Doc.]

Yea I understand taking 8mgs isn't a food idea I told her to go with nothing but she sounded like she did not want to even think about taking no opiates for 4 days so that's an option to just try to take large dose of sub but its a dumb one as you may end up on some stupid dose like 16 mgs or something really unnecessary when you could've just inducted later and used a smaller amount.

 

[SAMCRO]

If you didn't get super sick soon after taking the first SUB then you've luckily avoided precipitated withdrawals. I would just try to go to sleep and take another 2mg of SUB in the morning. Coming from 90 mg methadone which is too high to switch to Subs I'm actually suprised it's not a living hell for you because that would generally be a high enough dose to cause P w/d's but maybe you metabolize methadone fast.

 

[The Doc.]

Yea thought it may have been precipitated withdrawal at first but she wouldnve been sicker than she was not the same as before so it means she don't have enough Suboxone due to having that high dose methadone still in your body which is why you need to be on a low dose then stop methadone for a week then go onto Suboxone after the weekis done.