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SEEKING TREATMENT (The Clinic...)

You should ask the doctor at the clinic about your bloating. If he doesn't give a satisfactory response I would give real thought to seeing a doctor about it. Then again I am a mild hypochondriac.

As far as the taper goes keep in mind that because of bupes half life you wont feel the full effect of the dosing change for 4-6 days. So don't let that fool you into dropping your dose too fast. Otherwise it sounds like your going about things the right way. Are you having any cravings to use your drug of choice?
 
It really is. I don't think people realize that about 80% of the fight is with your brain. Everyone thinks the WD's are the bad part...don't get me wrong, WD's are terrible sometimes but we get over them far quicker than we think. Then it's a battle of wills.
So, yeah...doses my 16mg this morning at 6:30am and I feel no difference from when I would take 24mg. All that worry I had caused myself about dropping down and I'm totally fine. Although I'm sure it's hard when you make that final jump off...

I just want to be clean and free. Being a drug addict is equivalent to being a prisoner. And while I love the clinic because it's helping me right now, I also am a prisoner of it too right now.
 
Yup, glad to hear it. And you shouldn't gel any difference between 16mg and 8mg. Only reason to stay on high doses is to take advantage of the "blockade" effects of buprenorphine if you are at risk of relapse. Otherwise, there isn't much point on taking more than 2mg twice a day for maintenance.

And even then, you can get away with less Now, I'm speaking in terms of maintenance mind you. Higher doses are required during acute withdrawal for at least a few days, but after that, if you intend to continue using it for maintenance purposes, less is so much more).
 
So, should I try to make my next drop from 16 to 8? Or stick with the 25% reduction plan?
 
16mg straight to 8mg shouldn't be hard on you at all, but if it is you can go to 12mg then 8mg. Then the 25% taper is very reasonable. Once you get down to 2mg, take it slower than 25% though.
 
How long do you think the taper from 2mg all the way to 0 should take?

I do have a question...I go to a clinic everyday. They dose you all at once and I've never seen a pill less than 2mg. So...how will that work me down from 2 to 0???
 
Honestly I have no idea, perhaps by cutting it up? I really couldn't say.

It should take very long to get down to 8mg, maybe like two to four days. It all depends on how fast you want to go and your body's particular metabolic rate. No one on here can really tell you for sure, it's such a personal, individual kind of thing. But all things considered, if you're not wanting to really take your time, two weeks should be very comfortable in terms of getting down to 2mg. Really you could probably do it comfortably in less than 14 days, so say one to two weeks if you want to be faster than slower about it while remaining comfortable. Just take it one day at a time, you never know how your body will feel once you get to a new dose.
 
Yeah, it's not dropping to 8mg or even to 2mg that freaks me out. I've just heard when you're trying to get from 2mg to totally being off, that's what is so hard. Is this true?
 
Oh, I went ahead and dropped to 12mg today since I didn't feel any different from taking the 16mg vs. the 24mg. I hope I not rushing this!
 
Listen to you body, as the mind can play tricks on us while tapering and detoxing, and youll know if it is too fast or too much too soon just as soon as it becomes so. Until then, keep up outstanding work! Youre really quite brave, handling this like a champ.

Dropping from 24mg to 2mg will be relatively easier than 2mg to 0mg, but the hard part of the bupe taper isnt so much the taper itself, but rather the actual jumping off to 0mg. That is when you normally will feel the brunt of withdrawal symptoms if you do your taper right. And if you do your taper right, you wont feel all too much in the way of withdrawal symptoms at all, especually not compared to kicking without tapering.

Keep up the good work.
 
Yeah, taking at least a week off is a really good idea.

You need to give your body enough time to adjust in order to see how your taper is affecting you. That buprenorphine has such a long half life, you should really be waiting at least 4 to 7 days between adjustments in your dose before dropping further.

Plus it is just sage wisdom to take your time with something like tapering. You never know whats around the corner.
 
Have really felt terrible all day. I can't tell if I may be getting a stomach bug or a cold or if it has to do with my sudden drop in my dose. Ugh. I want to die.
 
Just an update. I ended up being really sick all night. Needless to say, I was first in line at the clinic this morning at 5am. After talking to my counselor and Dr, we decided to go back to 16mg, try to stay there for 4-6 days before making the next drop.
Is there a support group in this site for people on Bupe? Or you guys know of any online?
 
Take things a little more slowly in this case then. I don't know of any online support groups for buprenorphine, but I'm sure they exist. Glad you stuck things out and got your dose. It's all trial and error until we know how the drugs are gonna affect out individual bodies.
 
toothpastedog said:
Take things a little more slowly in this case then. I don't know of any online support groups for buprenorphine, but I'm sure they exist. Glad you stuck things out and got your dose. It's all trial and error until we know how the drugs are gonna affect out individual bodies.
Click to expand...

This is some excellent advice. Any taper is going to be unique to the individual. I have an incredibly fast metabolism so I had to go down a little slower than most.
 
Another thing I'll add. When I first started the program, I would feel good all day. Not high or anything. But I'd feel like my normal self. In the past few days, like 4-5 hours after I dose, I'll start to feel sleepy, get headaches, just feel kind of blah. I don't get it? I don't feel any WD symptoms so the medicine is still working. So I don't understand what this is that's popped up out of nowhere. I'll also start to feel really nauseous. The only thing that helps me is to drink a few sodas and take my prescribed benzo. Then it's like I feel ok again. And that sucks because I'm trying to come of the benzo as well. Any ideas, guys??
 
Some of that sounds like acute withdrawal symptoms, especially if you're also trying to come off benzos. That is really huge actually. Because you're coming off opioids and benzos, you really need to take much more time with your opioid taper than you would have otherwise if you want it to be as comfortable a transition as possible. Some of the symptoms sound a bit like a few of the side effects of taking buprenorphine too btw.
 
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