Heroin My plan for quitting heroin, can anyone tell me is this will work?

[burn out]

so, I have become addicted to heroin. Been using it a year but daily only for a few months. I usually use between 80 and 300 mg a day, average maybe 200.

My plan for getting off is to wait for Christmas break when I get a week off from work. I can also call in sick for a week after that if necessary, so that would give me two full weeks if need be. My job also isn't so strenuous that going to work in withdrawal is impossible, I have done it before and it really sucked and was very hard but I made it through (dfont want to have to do it again though).

Anyway, I am planning to get some suboxone. Should I switch to suboxone before break starts and then try to taper off that and get completely clean as the break starts? How long should I taper?

One another thing, around the middle of January I have a trip planned with a girl that I have a serious crush on. I would like to not be feeling sick for that. If I took a few doses of suboxone/heroin over that weekend to elminate lingering withdrawal, how far would it set me back? Thanks.

 

[thugpassion]

One month is not a very long time to give your self to get "back to normal". Switch to the suboxone and stay on it or stay on heroin, for your trip if you can. It will be very hard to act like a normal person when your trying to transsion off either of these.

 

[Chn]

This will work. Take suboxone for 3 days. No more. Every 6 - 12 hrs for 3 days
then come off completely. dont chip or anything. this is what they do in rehabs and i have done a couple times haveing a worse habbit than you have explained. It will work. Quit dope. Take subs 4 - 6mg every 6- 12 hrs for 3 days then stop completely. youll be good

 

[sekio]

It's very dependent on what kind of a situation you are in.

 

[Ayrios]

Honestly, that isn't a horrible habit and I don't think you've been at it long enough (a few months) to experience much in the way of post-acute withdrawal symptoms after the first two weeks. If I were in your position, I would begin taking precisely enough daily not to get sick so that you don't make your habit much worse before Christmas, and then quit cold turkey the morning of your last day of work before Christmas break. I recommend you begin weighing your doses with a scale if you get fairly consistent unstamped powdered dope from a steady source (you mention weight and not bags, so this seems likely) so that you're basically sticking with the same maintenance dose every shot, just enough to keep you well. Eyeballed dosing is one of the two primary reasons (fewer side effects at higher doses being the other) heroin tolerance and dependance tend to develop faster than with pharmaceutical opioids. Make sure you have plenty of benzos, clonidine, weed, loperamide, antihistamines and whatever else you think will help you through the first week or two. Best thing to do cold turkey is to sleep as much as possible (benzos will ensure this despite insomnia) and just get that first week over with as soon as you can. Being able to take a second week off if necessary is of great benefit and why I think you can do it cold turkey without tapering over a long period of time (your maintenance dose right now would be less significant than your "get high" dose). With the size and duration of your habit, the only time I'd consider twice about recommending total cessation is if you're not sure if you can handle the artificial depression. If you're in a vulnerable position in life (BESIDES the heroin addiction), the artificial depression can hit you so much harder than the flu symptoms.

Will you be 100% on your vacation mid-January? Hard to say, maybe 80%, but at that point you're not going to be a boring, depressed, limp-dicked derelict who shits his pants if this is a girl you like and you're going somewhere fun. It's worth ending your use all at once at your stage, especially with those one or two free weeks you have just over the horizon. It's a perfect opportunity.

 

[epiks]

This will work. Take suboxone for 3 days. No more. Every 6 - 12 hrs for 3 days
then come off completely. dont chip or anything. this is what they do in rehabs and i have done a couple times haveing a worse habbit than you have explained. It will work. Quit dope. Take subs 4 - 6mg every 6- 12 hrs for 3 days then stop completely. youll be good

Your habit isn't bad enough to need that much suboxone. You should only need 2mg a DAY..maybe 4mg max.

 

[burn out]

Ok, so let me get this straight. You think I should quit heroin completely and then take suboxone for just a few days rather than do a drawn out taper?

And what if I don't feel well enough to go on this trip I have planned? Can I take suboxone for the weekend or will i have to through withdrawal over again after that? I mean, I am willing to take a small setback I guess, because I have a serious crush on this girl (although knowing my luck it won't go anywhere anyway) but I really would rather not be feeling sick and traveling.

also, I did quit heroin once time before but I only lasted 9 days. On the 9th day I was still having a lot of problems sleeping with sweating and hot cold flashes. After being up all night one night, I said screw it and got high and Ive been back on dope ever since (that was a couple months ago). So, the fact that I was still not well after 9 days makes me think mid January wont be long enough. I know this probably sounds silly that I am more concerned about the girl than my addiction to heroin but oh well.

 

[Flabu]

In theory, ANY plan to quit can work depending on the individual. Your plan for your habit seems decent, but I foresee problems during the weeks after the initial stoppage. Unless your one of those super people that can just drop a substance and forget about it. You don't seem like that though. I wish you the best of luck, I am on my 13th time trying to quit heroin right now. Its very hard, if you have any questions feel free to PM me =].