Question about detoxing off a small (but a long time used) dose of suboxone...

[tystikk420]

Hey guys, sorry if this isnt the right place for this question but i figured a sobriety forum would suit just fine because thats exactly what im trying to do....detox into sobriety.

Anywayz, heres <the> question, im sure this has been asked before, so forgive me, <I> have horrible focus and drive to "find" things by searching through mass amounts of threads hoping to find the exact question swim wanted to ask (as <I> am doing here right now)

Ok, <I> used to have an akward but serious opiate addiction. long story short, <I> got to a point where <I> stopped IV'ing H, and was able to completely contain and suppress the withdrawals with a mere 2mg of Bupe. I know people who have to start on WAAAAYYY more Bupe than that and even then they still feel discomfort...but <I> was lucky enough to learn about suboxone right before swims addiction took off into new levels of pain and depression, and all the other horrible aspects of using to the extreme.


So I began taking 2mg under my tongue everyday for about a year. It became just a daily habit (me being completely unaware that Bupe has it's withdrawal symptoms too...i thought it was a "withdrawal pausing" drug in order to help addicts get off their opiate-based DOC, so they would take some sub for like a week until the opiates left their system and boom, they stop taking the Bupe and are magically cured of any prior addiction.) Long story short, i found this to be completely untrue. <I> kept at a 2mg dosing everyday until swim began crushing the tablets in order to reduce the dose down to 1mg, and somewhat unfortunately, sniffing said line of Bupe. At one point swim just legit stopped taking bupe, idk why, it just happened...honestly i dont remember having much WD's from this. But, then swim detoxed from 4mg of klonopins he was prescribed for 2 years, and bupe helped ease those horrendous withdrawals. So back to 1mg of bupe every swim went. Now <I> am stuck...yawning, tearing up, and achy body parts, back pain if he goes 24 hours without his 1mg dose.

Now theoretically, could <I> get off of bupe by replacing it very temporarily with a shorter acting opiate? Ideally 5mg oxycodone with tylenol? Since Bupe has such a long half life compared to percs/vics, swim figured swim could ween down to 0.5mg of bupe a day, and then start spanning the dosing to at least 24 hours apart to get swims body used to not having that normal amount of Bupe in it, but not long enough to go thru the TRUE WD's of not having ANY bupe present in swims body....then when ready to make the jump, swim thought this might work the best to make coming off the bupe the most pleasant way possible.

Monday - 0.25mg of bupe
tuesday - 0.25mg bupe
wednesday - 0.25mg bupe
thursday - no bupe
friday - Replace the line of bupe with 5-10mg of oxy (enough to "tickle" my opiate receptors but not get "high")
saturday - 5mg of oxy
sunday - nothing at all
monday - nothing at all
tuesday - 5mg oxy

The End.

I figured that way, <I> could overpower the bupe withdrawals by utilizing the shorter acting oxy's to get thru work.
and slowly as <I do> this the bupe continues to drain outtta my system while the full agonist opiate replaces it (but at such a small dose, its almost negligible)
Then by skipping days inbetween (mainly <my> days off from work) swim could endure the minor, yet still unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.


SOrry if that sounded too elaborate and confusing, but basically the question is...if <I am> only taking between 0.25mg-0.5mg of bupe a day, can he use small doses of full agonist opiates to combat the withdrawals from bupe so he can get thru the workday and go thru very little withdrawal symptoms on his days off until all bupe is out of his system and he only needs to detox from 5mg of oxy used as often as someone who got their wisdom teeth out would use. Maybe 1 a day or so?


Any help is GREATLY appreciated, swim wants to get rid of this bupe problem immediately....the clinics are overloaded and <my> connects are dwindling. As are his finances.
But <I> HATE withdrawals....as everyone does, but swim cant even stand the yawning onset and the tearing up in the eyes. <I> want to make this as painless as possible.
Swim also heard "Kratom" helps tremendously for coming off of Bupe? Is this true? if so, whats the method to that madness?

Edit: Took out the swims for you.. We don't use them on BL as they provide no legal protection. Please refer to the BLUA ( here) before starting any more threads or prior to any more posts. Welcome to Blue Light, it good to have you, enjoy and we here at BL will try and get this answered. also there is a search function where you can check for threads that pertain to your question/topic. Checking this will prevent threads that have already been addressed as well as point you in the correct direction to find valuable information on your subject.. Also Im going to discuss moving this to BDD or OD as they usually cover tapers and regularly cover the use of Kratom for detox.. Again welcome.

 

[neversickanymore]

I think this will do better for you in BDD.. Best wishes and there is allot of support and wisdom in recovery and sober living.. please keep us informed, best wishes.

Sober Living --> BDD

 

[ldeezmoney]

Man your story is identical to mine in so many ways. I know exactly where youre coming from...been there and tried that. Unfortunately what I found is that the bupe basically over takes any other opiates that you take. I tried the same theory that you're suggesting but instead of 5 milligram oxys I tried 20 milligram oxys. I basically could not feel anything from the oxy because of the 1/2 milligram of bupe. Its not that I was trying to get a feeling from the oxy, it's just that I was basically wasting my money because when it was time to get off the bupe I still had equivalent withdrawals as if I was getting off bupe alone.

This was almost a year ago - I am still on a half milligram of sub per day. I feel like I was duped by the doctor. Don't get me wrong I'm happy I'm not on dope anymore. but I will still be taking another pill the rest of my life to avoid withdrawal which is something the doctor specifically said I would not have to do. Sometimes I feel lost.

I wish I had better news to give you.... if you figure something out please let me know.

 

[neversickanymore]

I know of many people that have gotten off bupe and methadone.. I believe with your low dose you should just jump off and deal with the acute withdrawls.. either that or just continue to tapper until you literally cant figure out a smaller dose.. but in my mind that just prolongs you misery.. It wont be as bad as you think, so try not to expect the worst as you may cause yourself to get it.. I REALLY think that you will feel moderately sick for about a week to a week and a half. Then you will start to feel a little better each day. after a few months those extra opiate receptors shut down and your mind clears. I just don't think you can get into a much better position than you are at now. It gets bad for a little while, remember its not permanent, then it gets better each day and gets really good really quick.. cut that ball and chain.. you can do it

 

[ldeezmoney]

Its the "few months" part that gets me. I simply cannot function at work while in any sort of wd, be it oxy or bupe....and I can't just take off 2 months to get through. Ahh I hate this stuck feeling.

 

[tystikk420]

Man your story is identical to mine in so many ways. I know exactly where youre coming from...been there and tried that. Unfortunately what I found is that the bupe basically over takes any other opiates that you take. I tried the same theory that you're suggesting but instead of 5 milligram oxys I tried 20 milligram oxys. I basically could not feel anything from the oxy because of the 1/2 milligram of bupe. Its not that I was trying to get a feeling from the oxy, it's just that I was basically wasting my money because when it was time to get off the bupe I still had equivalent withdrawals as if I was getting off bupe alone.

This was almost a year ago - I am still on a half milligram of sub per day. I feel like I was duped by the doctor. Don't get me wrong I'm happy I'm not on dope anymore. but I will still be taking another pill the rest of my life to avoid withdrawal which is something the doctor specifically said I would not have to do. Sometimes I feel lost.

I wish I had better news to give you.... if you figure something out please let me know.

Thanks for the response, i hate to say this, but it is kinda nice to know im not the only one dealing with this very akward, sober yet still addicted routine? In all honesty i dont feel like i can claim to be "clean" to people cuz i always follow it up with "well i mean, i am on suboxone tho" and nobody ever seems to 100% approve of that, and rightfully so, i mean yea it doesnt really get you high (unless you combine it with a lotta downers) but whats the difference in having to use H to feel normal and havin to sniff bupe to feel normal? sometimes it really makes me wonder if i even ever got clean! But, personally, i have found that i can "break thru" the bupe on my receptors and be able to feel doses of oxy as low as 15mg...5-10mg is enough to take away headaches and stuff for me but thats about it.

I guess it boils down to, i got myself into this mess, i chose to use, i chose to take bupe, now i got to detox AGAIN. Sure, not as painfully as it was when i ran out of H and began WD'ing, but bupe is just a long, drawn out, very uncomfortable process that i need to take a week off from work if i wanted to just cold turkey it, which i also dont wanna do, cuz i dont wanna spend my entire vacation withdrawing lol

ughh, im gonna maybe try to cut my lines shorter and shorter every week until im barely ingesting any bupe at all, maybe that will work? who knows! haha

but thanks for the reply and good luck to you if u decide to jump off as well ! ill keep ya updated if i find any techniques worth trying !

 

[Venrak]

^It's your definition of being clean that is important.

I smoke cannabis daily, but no longer go through the insanity that is amphetamine addiction. I'm fucking clean.

 

[neversickanymore]

Its the "few months" part that gets me. I simply cannot function at work while in any sort of wd, be it oxy or bupe....and I can't just take off 2 months to get through. Ahh I hate this stuck feeling.

I do Know of one person that tapered rite off bupe strips with what he claimed was really no withdraw at all.. in the end he was cutting the strips he had saved as take home from the clinic and cutting them as thin as he could pretty much get with an exacto knife (razor blade). He just continued to taper and taper and really seemed to just walk away..

^It's your definition of being clean that is important.

I smoke cannabis daily, but no longer go through the insanity that is amphetamine addiction. I'm fucking clean.

AMEN~!!

 

[ldeezmoney]

About worrying about how others perceive your suboxone use.....I can pretty much guarantee they have never been in your/our shoes. The awesome thing about suboxone is you don't have to tell them that you're taking it and they will never know. So don't worry too much what other people think. You were strong enough to kick dope, just stay on the right track. I definitely commend you on starting off on so low a dose, which is the best and only way to do it in my opinion.

I'm glad you were able to find some solace in the fact that you're not alone. If there's ever anything I can do to help you out always feel free to shoot me a message. Best wishes.