Need advice / kicked out of Suboxone program ...

[Luv3paws]

I am gonna make this as short as possible - because I could write a book- & I will say sorry for the awful typing before I even start....
So I have been on Suboxone for almost 7 yrs- addicted to opiates- well no dr told me I'd be switching one habit for another this stuff is a bitch to get off- so anyways I have been working with my ass of a dr to wean down from 16mg to now I am 2mg - I have been tapering down for about 7 months now- I will admit these last two months going from 2mg to get me to 1mg has been hard-as much as dr wants me on 1mg- I feel like I start withdrawling on 1mg- get RLS- diarrahea - insomnia- feels like total blown withdrawals- he says I am making it up- ok why would I make this up-? So I went in this week for my monthly visit- he shows me the urine results from last month & it shows that I was negative for Suboxone in my urine- he wants to know why I didn't have any in my urine- I had no clue! I start to tell him that I was out on a medicine that made me very nauseus by my GYN so I have been drinking ginger ale and swallowing more of the film than usual(which now I have reserched and THIS IS A PROBLEM) and also I reminded him that just the last few months he has told me if I can try to go a few days without Suboxone - that if I feel I don't have to have it that would be great and I didn't need to take it daily! He glossed over that-
So he said he has tried to help me and wants to know what I have been doing with my Suboxone!!! And told me I can no longer see him!! I just got a certified letter in the mail stating I am no longer welcomed in the program and to if d another dr.
So now I am screwed! I was actually proud of myself for coming down from 16 mg to 2mg - but the depression I develope from withdraws is so intense and awful I can't stand it-
Do withdraws really only last about a week?
What about the mental aspects of it?
Can anyone give me any insight to my dilemma here.... Not going to be a happy camper pretty soon here !!

 

[Obiez]

Yeah, no point in sugar coating it, you are going to have WD. First few weeks will be screwed up because a flood of emotions will start to gush out, but that's a good thing, it means you are getting better. Mentally the only thing you can do is to find distractions. You absolutely have to force yourself to do so, but if you want it to go smooth you will have to get off your ass every day and remember that this is just temporary. Body and mind are connected (obvious no?) so your physical activity will ease your mental WDs a lot. You want to get clean right? So remember that doing something counter productive to your goal is pathetic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Avoid external stimuli that will heighten your mental WD. No sad songs, no sad movies, no documentaries about anything that has the potential of making you even more restless.

Get some magnesium, fish oil, vitamin B. Make it your daily ritual like taking subs was and drink tea that has no caffeine in it as it will have a heightened effect on your for at least a month. Find a mantra, or make up a positive sentence, or take a proverb and when you start wondering mentally just repeat it over and over again until it absolutely is the only thing in your mind. This is very effective for stress and I swear to you it has an enourmous impact on concentration and over all well being. My mantra was "Do more, think less, occupy no stress". I tried a bunch of difefrent ones but that one was very quick to repeat and i could get the wheels spinning fast. I must have looked like a lunatic when I did it as some days I did it for close to a full hour, but after that, after you hit the moment, you will be , if nothing else, relaxed for the next couple of hours.

Pay attention to your nutrition and be sure to get lots of raw food, fish, and be as glutine free as possible as you want to go slow at first so you can run faster later. It's a paradoxical concept from a very intelligent guy called Rich Roll (i'm not rick and rolling you, it's his name).

Occupy your time, and think of it as prison. You can do your time, or let time do you. I recommend going to the swimming pool and doing a lot of breathing exercises under water and swimming. I also recommend doing squats. You don't need to go to a gym to do it, you can do indian squats http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb8YuEcETiw you can do them without any weight and get the same result - it activates a part of your brain that produces endorphines which give you relief. I don't mean do 10 of them, i mean do as many as you physically can, and add 1 more repetition every day. You should stop exercising the moment you start noticing your brain concentrating on your activity, which happens faster then you hit your limit, but you should do it even past that point as what you are trying to get out of it is feeling physically better as well. If you do it right, exercising is going to suck way worse then the WDS and once you are done your WDS will be, at least for a period, alleviated. Whenever the WDs start sucking really bad, night or day, you do that. It will not help with your insomnia unless you really put your body through some tough, tough exercises. I know it all sounds overwhelming but it is just part of the process. It sounds very hard, but if I managed to do it, anyone can.

Remember it's just an amusment park ride that sucks. It's nothing more then that. You can bitch and complain but you can't get off until it stops, and the thing to focus on is not when it is going to stop, but how do I use my time productively while i wait for it to stop.

Godspeed and good luck!

 

[Slum Survivor]

dont feel alone in yur issues.
my sub doctor had to sit there and wait and wait... to get results to barely show on my bupe piss tests.

he would look at me, as he tests it and say. dude what the hell? are u not taking it? and then a couple of silent minutes later he would say, o ok i see it now. even at 12mg.
i eventually was just dropped out of the blue, when the last visit i had spoke of trying to wean myself off of subs. he had told me not to, and bumped me back up to 12 mg. then a couple weeks later i find out im cut off? wtf?

I also W/D quite heavily even at <.5 mg of sub. so i know you are not lying, its sometimes different from one person to the next IME.

only thing that helps me, is to remember how awful and hardcore the w/d was when i cold turkey'd from normal opiates.
and yes its very important to stick to exercise and eating decent. it makes a huge difference in the cold chills for me how i eat. probably a lot of things.

as for your questions: its going to be less intense, but more drawn out over time as far as w/d's go.
the mental aspect is hard because bupe has anti-depressant qualities. im feeling the crash mentally very bad right this moment actually. its just how u focus it i suppose.