Need Advice for Heroin / Fentanyl Fast Taper

Infinitblastoff

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
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4
I've been using some kind of opiate via IV for the last 3 years, sometimes switching to suboxone and sometimes switching back to dope. Lately for the last month I've been using dope which I suspect contains mostly but not only fentanyl. I want to stop but the withdrawals are so extreme for me that I cannot mentally will myself through them no matter how hard I seem to try. I really do however want to stop and have been sober for years at a time in the past.

All this being said I'm looking to do a fast taper to reduce the hard edge of withdrawals. I need help deciding which one of these two methods makes the most physiological and pharmacological sense to do.

Method 1: I pick a dosage lower than my normal dosage by a decent amount, I wait say 6 hours until withdrawal kicks in and I do my small dose. I'm not 100% better but I'm 40% or so better. I repeat this process every 6 hours until finally my body adjusts to this dosage and I stop experiencing the worst of the withdrawals and then I decrease again and repeat. Each cycle I make significant decreases.

Method 2: I do two bigger doses a day but with a longer duration between them, I'm still doing less than normal, still experiencing withdrawal, still never completely getting rid of symptoms but twice a day I get myself off deaths door step part of the way. This method would use the same amount as method 1 but instead of doing 4 doses a day at 6 hour spaces, I'll do 2 larger ones at 12 intervals. Does the time between doses matter as much as dose size? Either way time and dose are always both decreasing.

As a side note I know tapering can prolong the whole experience but it's just what I need to do, I do wonder however if someone with more knowledge of the physiology behind opiate withdrawal can weigh in here... I have always understood withdrawals to work like this, you do less, you get sick, if you do not return to the original dose needed to not feel sick but continue doing a smaller dose, eventually your brain begins replacing the drug with its own endorphins. So any amount of sickness as long as it's maintained and not back tracked by dosing higher would be improvement towards a lower dosage and less sickness later, am I correct on this? Anyone have any taper success stories?
 
I'm kind of in a similar boat as you. I relapsed beginning of July due to being exposed to it again by a toxic friend and have been shooting dope 6-10 times a day daily for the past month and a half now. I plan to quit next week when I have time off work.

MEthod 1 sounds better than method 2 however they both don't sound very practical. It is hard to taper off heroin because you want to get high. Depending on your schedule I would prefer to get it done all out of the way cold turkey.. I have come off dope numerous times and there is no pleasant way to do so. IF you have access to suboxone I would do that. Wait 24 hours since your last shot and take a low dose of buprenorphine (4mg) and taper off bupe in 3-5 days.

I will personally be attempting to quit cold turkey and use kratom/gabapentin/clonidine as comfort meds..
 
Infinit, welcome to you, you should also post this in the Sober Living forum, you will get additional support there and there are others there that have done successful tapers that would be happy to share with you.

Very proud of you for taking these first steps!

Feel free to pm me if you like
here for you anytime,
your friend,
Ash.
 
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Hi Larimar- Sober Living is the designated area of BL (setup by admin) for people trying to get clean. I'm pretty sure you'll find more help there than you will on the Dark Side. It really is a better area for getting good quit advice and support. Ash is trying to help you - she's good people.

Dale
 
That's fine, I just see her on a lot of posts trying to get stuff moved . I have tapered and successfully quit my opiate problems at this time. Thank you
 
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