Questions about getting off suboxone

[spacetrippin]

I go too school in 2 months
I'm not sure if I should wait till after school too get off subs, or do it now
And my real question is
And what truly scares me
Is paws, people say you feel depressed and low on energy for months
That's insane, if it's true it almost feels like a better idea too switch too Kratom for awhile,but if not then it will be fine
Any help greatly needed thanks

 

[JohnnyPotSmoker]

In my experience, suboxone has been easy to move away from. What will get you most is the anxiety and the overall adjusting of mindset that I am not using a drug anymore (hence the placebo effect).

Start tapering down slowly, just 1/4 at a time and make a commitment not to go back up once you have moved down. You could even try to just stop, which in the past, I have been able to do with bupe.

Seems your main concern is whether to do it before or after school starts. That really depends, are you on a prescription from your doctor? If you feel that getting off of suboxone will then feed directly back into a drug habit, then I would definitely stay on it throughout the school year as I would perceive the drug addiction (seeking behavior along with the environment in its entirety) as more of a threat to your future.

If you are obtaining suboxone illegally, then the best choice would be to start your taper now before the school year begins.

As far as PAWS goes, you may have a little anxiety, but I think most of this will be gone by the time school starts.

I will personally avoid Kratom and kick the habit.

 

[simco]

OP, PAWS is really unpredictable. But it is likely that if you've been on subs for a while that you'll have some lingering effects after getting off them. If possible, it really does seem like a good idea to start getting through that before you head to school, assuming you want to get off the subs sooner than later.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Were you using other opioids at school OP? If your school environment is connected to your past use, it may be better to continue taking buprenorphine.

I wouldn't worry too much about PAWS, for most people it is very manageable and not at all as bad as you might think. It's nothing like the acute withdrawals.

Here's the thing about tapering - it takes about two weeks for the acute withdrawal of buprenorphine to subside, and a taper will take a couple months if you've been using buprenorphine at a high dose or for a significant amount of time. If you've only been on it a couple months until now, a short taper of about a month and then detoxing may be advisable, but that depends on how long you've been on it.

Even if craving isn't going to be an issue when you start school again, two months is still a fairly short timeframe to taper and manage the acute withdrawal. I'm not suggesting getting off buprenorphine once classes have started is a good idea, but if you can manage it tapering until you've got a full two months or more to deal with the process of transitioning off buprenorphine you might be better off.

How long have you been taking buprenorphine and how much have you been taking OP? Why are you thinking about getting off the buprnorphine now?