Harm Reduction Progress Mega Thread

[phoenix_risin]

Thank you Sub Dude.
I am down to 25 mgs. i do get TH's so it is easy to stack and save I honestly wish i had the self control to lower myself off and just not do anything no sub just slow taper and leave
I just never been a strong person when it comes to feeling bad

You say use both?? you can use done and sub at same time??

As far as how low before starting as i said i am at 25 now and was thinking 20 or 15?

Plan in place as far as what? support wise? Yea i have actually started doing things to get more active in Life and how do they put it living life on life's terms :0) Actually never knew what in hell that meant until recently.

Unsure how sub is dosed but would like to keep it low and taper off in atimely manner and not end up on that for a year or more i want off in a month or less
does that sound doable for someone determined?

 

[muvolution]

absolutely. Most people don't need to go higher than ~4mg of Suboxone/ day, and a rapid taper from there down is rather easy.

 

[SubDude]

^It's working really well. There are really no words to describe how much better kratom makes you feel when in withdrawal, it is incredibly blissful. I imagine people addicted to opiates regularly experience this type of enhanced effect from dosing after withdrawal brought their bodies below baseline...

I do feel the withdrawal to some extent, I am a bit irritable and I feel uneasy at times. I think if I dosed a little more often it would alleviate the occasional wave of withdrawal though, as I'm only dosing 2x per day rather than 3x like I usually do...

Good to hear... Curious as to whether you plan to use anything like clonodine for sleep...etc after kratom? Again I know nothing about kratom usage... do you intend to taper that too... if the plan is total abstinence. I'm guessing it's better to use 2x rather than 3x daily for tapering off.

Thank you Sub Dude.
I am down to 25 mgs. i do get TH's so it is easy to stack and save I honestly wish i had the self control to lower myself off and just not do anything no sub just slow taper and leave
I just never been a strong person when it comes to feeling bad

You say use both?? you can use done and sub at same time??

No don't do that... switch from MMT to low dose subs and taper off from there.

As far as how low before starting as i said i am at 25 now and was thinking 20 or 15?

Plan in place as far as what? support wise? Yea i have actually started doing things to get more active in Life and how do they put it living life on life's terms :0) Actually never knew what in hell that meant until recently.

Unsure how sub is dosed but would like to keep it low and taper off in atimely manner and not end up on that for a year or more i want off in a month or less
does that sound doable for someone determined?

If you can go ahead and get down to 15mg methadone and stay there for a few days... then you could probably switch to @ 2mg subs after about 48-60 hrs, depending how you feel. The more discomfort wd's felt after or around 48 the easier it will be to switch to subs. Then 30 days subs taper from there is not unreasonable, depending on individual. I can personally do about 100mg oxy for a couple of days and switch back to 1mg subs with no problem. But oxy is short acting and I'm already on low dose subs maint. I mostly take .5mg subs sublingually daily but also use 1 mg k-pins and trazadone 50mg for sleep.

Plan [to me] means friends and family support and perhaps a group of some sort. Also some comfort meds in case their needed... Doesn't sound like you want to prolong so you may be able to get by with OTC drug help.



BTW I meant first started in 1971 in my last post to you.

 

[BrokedownPalace]

Well its been 25 days since I jumped off of 70mg methadone. Last week I had a severe 'mental breakdown' i guess for lack of better words.. Relapsed on heroin for a few days. Wasn't good. BUT, on Sunday by the grace of god 12 suboxone landed in my lap from the clouds so now I am back on subs doing a taper. Monday I saw my new therapist/psychiatrist for the first time, and it went quite well actually. Very understanding and cool lady. Made me feel a bit better about my situation.

I can refill my prescriptions this weekend, (klonopin, neurontin, soma) and am gonna probably jump off the suboxone this weekend and use my prescriptions to manage any residual withdrawals.

Jumping off of MMT at that high a dose was not a good idea in hindsight. It was so much worse than I expected, and I didn'g have high expectations in the first place.. NO rehabs would take me, because they said 'its too big a risk' to take methadone patients higher than 30mg. Fucking frustrating.. I was about 2 hours from admitting myself to the hospital/psych ward but then the suboxone rained down on me, quite a stroke of luck.

I'm giving myself one last chance. If i can't stay clean/mentally stable after stopping the subs I don't know what I am going to do. I have always been full of life and dreams, but after getting stage 4 lymphoma ( beating it luckily) and numerous failed detoxes, my dad dying, whole life crumbled before my eyes..

I have never had such a great desire to kill myself until the past week or two during the methadone withdrawals/relapse.

One more try.

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

^ don't give up, you are stronger than the drug. Trust me, if i beat it (methadone, bupe and.. fwiw benzos) you can beat it. I am not a mentally stable person at all being bipolar and a number of other issues, so if I (a mentally screwed up person)can.. Than you (someone who beat cancer if im not mistaken) can deffinately beat it. I have faith in you and i encourage you to keep on trying. Practice makes perfect.
I wish you the best.. Good luck man.

~ T-Jae


EDIT: when i said don't give up i meant after this "one last time" not that you're giving up at the moment.. just wanted to clear that up, it was bothering me lol.

 

[caseface99]

Hood summed it up bro, a successful recovering addict isn't an addict who never relapsed - It's an addict who never gave up. Don't let a relapse bring you down, everybody does it. Just stick with it, and if you want to be opiate free then eventually you can/will be.

I'll admit though that jumping off methadone at 70mgs wasn't very smart indeed, there's a reason rehabs aren't willing to accept the liability.. (most likely it's the facilities' insurance company with the final word, but still...)

Anyway, the fact that you went through that sort of withdrawal and stuck through it as long as you did means you have more than enough will power to beat this.



As for myself, I'm doing well. Still only done opiates a couple times in the last 3 or so months, almost starting to feel normal since getting off bupe but still some lingering PAWS for sure. I never quite feel comfortable in my skin pretty much 24/7 and mainly falling asleep and staying asleep is impossible without weed so i decided im going to go ahead and get an MMJ card... cause why the hell not ha especially if i have a legit reason(s).

But yeah, otherwise im pretty good. Just working a lot and it sucks. 38-40 hours a week after not having a job for almost 2 years. It feels good to be responsible though, I've only called out once so far and it was legit.

 

[BrokedownPalace]

Yeah I am trying to stay strong. I had made it about 16 days cold turkey before relapsing. I am not a mentally stable person by any means either. I can finally re-fill my medications this weekend so I am just toughing out this suboxone taper until then. It is goign better than I expected. My new therapist is very cool/understanding, so that made me feel a bit better.

Yes I did beat stage 4 cancer. Went thru months and months of chemo therapy, I got a bone marrow transplant, surgery, a whole bunch of shit. Somehow I was able to do that rather easily (relatively) but I can't make it thru a few weeks of withdrawal.

Mentally i am just so worn down.

But thank you guys for the kind words, dfeinitely makes me feel a bit better.

I hope everyone else is doing okay !

 

[SubDude]

Yeah I am trying to stay strong. I had made it about 16 days cold turkey before relapsing. I am not a mentally stable person by any means either. I can finally re-fill my medications this weekend so I am just toughing out this suboxone taper until then. It is goign better than I expected. My new therapist is very cool/understanding, so that made me feel a bit better.

Yes I did beat stage 4 cancer. Went thru months and months of chemo therapy, I got a bone marrow transplant, surgery, a whole bunch of shit. Somehow I was able to do that rather easily (relatively) but I can't make it thru a few weeks of withdrawal.

Mentally i am just so worn down.

But thank you guys for the kind words, dfeinitely makes me feel a bit better.

I hope everyone else is doing okay !

Hey man... hang in there. I've had a few things which caused me to question if it's worth it or not, but this isn't about me... To use a baseball analagy.... Life throws everything at us from fast balls, curves, knuckleballs, change ups and bean balls. Sounds like you've had just about all thrown at you. But your still in the game and playing hard. I'm rooting for you to hit a home run this time.... however, what ever happens, keep up the good fight and you'll come out of this stronger than ever.

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

Yeah I am trying to stay strong. I had made it about 16 days cold turkey before relapsing. I am not a mentally stable person by any means either. I can finally re-fill my medications this weekend so I am just toughing out this suboxone taper until then. It is goign better than I expected. My new therapist is very cool/understanding, so that made me feel a bit better.

Yes I did beat stage 4 cancer. Went thru months and months of chemo therapy, I got a bone marrow transplant, surgery, a whole bunch of shit. Somehow I was able to do that rather easily (relatively) but I can't make it thru a few weeks of withdrawal.

Mentally i am just so worn down.

But thank you guys for the kind words, dfeinitely makes me feel a bit better.

I hope everyone else is doing okay !

Hang in there man, I'm still on Suboxone as well, it really is a miracle drug! Use those benzos to their full potential and you'll be able to do it!

 

[need some help]

Help, help. Things have been great lately, felt stable blah blah blah,.... then after a few majors triggers were pulled today i feel like i'm at square one. Jonsey, shaky hands, obsessive thoughts, the works really. i know that 6 months of work is a hell of a lot of time to put into trying to make my life better, just to throw it away, but if i wasn't on sub i'd be making a phone call, well, two hours ago. As it is i'm already scheming and doing the math on the next time i could get away with taking something and having it work. i miss the feeling, just knowing what that first blast feels like, especially after this amount of time. It freaks me out a bit, i thought things were level, and i felt like the worst had passed. What the hell!? i guess i'll take a xanax and up my fairly small dose of sub for the night and see how it goes in an hour.... this isn't meant to be a sympathy inducing rant, i really am just baffled. Anyone else out there had a sneak attack? i've had dreams before, when i woke up feeling high from the memory, but not anything on this level.

 

[phoenix_risin]

Plan [to me] means friends and family support and perhaps a group of some sort. Also some comfort meds in case their needed... Doesn't sound like you want to prolong so you may be able to get by with OTC drug help.
QUOTE]

THANKS
Sorry took me a minute to say that Life jumped in the way and i had a sick child to deal with.
I am at 15 and still feeling ok some breakthrough pain in back and hip. Doctor gave me Orycodone 20mgs
I am scheduled for a pain management meeting this week
So confused where i will will end up now But Thank you for your experience and advice it means a lot

 

[Pegasus]

Wow, I looked back over this thread and realized that I am now just over two weeks into bupe w/d... I still am waking up every morning in w/d and don't sleep more than 5-6 hours except on the occasions where I take kratom and go back to bed. I am so thankful that kratom exists... every day, at least 2x per day, my body gets pulled out of this unending, horrible withdrawal. The opioid effects of kratom when in withdrawal are certainly enhanced by my body being under baseline when I dose, so the euphoric effects are greatly enhanced.

I feel really good about myself not being really addicted to any substance anymore. I'm still using kratom 2x daily and experiencing withdrawal from buprenorphine, but there is literally 0% chance of failure from this point and so I already think of myself as having made the transition. The real challenge will be to avoid opioid dependence for the rest of my life -- I enjoy the effects of opioids and likely always will, but I need to learn from my experiences and not become physically dependent ever again.

 

[BrokedownPalace]

^Good job Pegasus, glad to hear that !

For me I am about 2-3 days away from jumping off of bupe.. I'm down to 1-2mg per day, and the last two days I have been really feeling it.

But in other (good) news I thinks I found me a new girlfriend, and I am definitely much happier now than I had been. Withdrawals are much easier when you're with someone you like (and vice versa).

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

^ till you puke on them while shitting your pants..
lol just kiddin BDP.. good luck with the getting off opiates and wit the new gf!
I haven't been on here for like a week or something maybe longer so i donno whats going on with everyone.
Been too busy selling jewelry (im allowed to say that, right?)
I'm still not dependent on opiates or benzos anymore still. Hopefully it stays that way.
Good Luck everyone who needs it!
Talk to everyone later i suppose.

-HOOD

 

[BrokedownPalace]

^Lol. That made me laugh. Thanks buddy. Hope you're doin' alright too.

 

[DeLee]

Wow, I looked back over this thread and realized that I am now just over two weeks into bupe w/d... I still am waking up every morning in w/d and don't sleep more than 5-6 hours except on the occasions where I take kratom and go back to bed. I am so thankful that kratom exists... every day, at least 2x per day, my body gets pulled out of this unending, horrible withdrawal. The opioid effects of kratom when in withdrawal are certainly enhanced by my body being under baseline when I dose, so the euphoric effects are greatly enhanced.

Nice to hear. I don't know if it is alowed to recomend videos on youtube but there are som videos if one searches for "dopesickjoel" where he uses Kratom to combat heroin withdrawal. Seems to work pretty good if you ask me.

 

[SubDude]

I've seen a few videos of Kratom on utube. Most are for making kratom tea or resin from the leaf. I've also watched a couple of dopesick joels. He has about 15-20 documenting his WD from heroin. "ronlungdtoker" claims to have the best technique for making the strongest tea?? I'm wondering if Kratom or Tramadol is more effective with WD's. And which of the 2 have the least discomfort after coming off those. I watched a couple of videos from subs dr's and both said most people relapse during the PAWS phase.

My own dr said there's an 80% relapse rate according to the latest study he read?? There must be a lot of variables to consider and I wonder about their methadology? If they were studying long term addicts... it probably has validity. I don't want to sound negative but if true, and you have been an opiate addict 10+ yrs and over 35-40yo... Is it really worth all the pain and depression to try?

 

[caseface99]

^^ Maybe the percentage of failure is always recorded so high because the successful people are never documented as much as the failures are. Not that anyone who relapses is a failure, though im sure you get the point.

 

[Been&Done]

^^ Maybe the percentage of failure is always recorded so high because the successful people are never documented as much as the failures are. Not that anyone who relapses is a failure, though im sure you get the point.

^^^Good point.

I'm happy to report that i refilled my Subutex after 2 weeks of 0.2 Suboxone, and with those nasty Naloxone headaches....I'm finally headache free, and loving the great outdoor weather after this cold indoor winter. As a celebration last night, i took around 1.5 mg after a few weeks of 0.2's and 0.1's and i enjoyed it and did feel "opiated" to some extent (Nothing like Full Agonist of course) Hope all is progressing well and excited for that lovely spring.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Yeah I am trying to stay strong. I had made it about 16 days cold turkey before relapsing. I am not a mentally stable person by any means either. I can finally re-fill my medications this weekend so I am just toughing out this suboxone taper until then. It is goign better than I expected. My new therapist is very cool/understanding, so that made me feel a bit better.

Yes I did beat stage 4 cancer. Went thru months and months of chemo therapy, I got a bone marrow transplant, surgery, a whole bunch of shit. Somehow I was able to do that rather easily (relatively) but I can't make it thru a few weeks of withdrawal.

Mentally i am just so worn down.

But thank you guys for the kind words, dfeinitely makes me feel a bit better.

I hope everyone else is doing okay !

You're doing great BDP - don't feel bad about relapsing 16 days of cold turkey withdrawal. When I was using heroin I would say I could go about 3 days tops.

Methadone is often said to be more difficult to discontinue than heroin as well. And you were on a high dosage.

Or do you mean after buprenorphine? I'm not sure which one.

Either way you're doing great.

Wow, I looked back over this thread and realized that I am now just over two weeks into bupe w/d... I still am waking up every morning in w/d and don't sleep more than 5-6 hours except on the occasions where I take kratom and go back to bed. I am so thankful that kratom exists... every day, at least 2x per day, my body gets pulled out of this unending, horrible withdrawal. The opioid effects of kratom when in withdrawal are certainly enhanced by my body being under baseline when I dose, so the euphoric effects are greatly enhanced.

I feel really good about myself not being really addicted to any substance anymore. I'm still using kratom 2x daily and experiencing withdrawal from buprenorphine, but there is literally 0% chance of failure from this point and so I already think of myself as having made the transition. The real challenge will be to avoid opioid dependence for the rest of my life -- I enjoy the effects of opioids and likely always will, but I need to learn from my experiences and not become physically dependent ever again.

I'm glad to hear that Pegasus! Great job!