somewhat new - Please help

[Sta071]

Hello. I am looking to start the process of getting off opiates and am looking for any support I can get. Here is my situation:

I have been taking just over 60mg of oxycodone every day for the last 7 months. It started at 50mg and has worked its way up to currently 60mg.

I kicked oxy's back at the beginning of January after taking what had grown to 50 mg a day over roughly a year, but unfortunately I relapsed a couple months later and got back into the routine, thus the situation I am in now.

So I have been through withdrawl before. I guess my concern is that this time the dosage is a bit higher. I've had a script of suboxen in my possesion for almost a year but have never used it, I have it almost as a precautionary measure. I also have a script for Clonidine, which my doctor gave me for the withdrawl after I came clean to him the first time I went through this.

I have 60mg of oxy left and then I will not be able to get any for a week, so I figure now is as good a time to quit as any. I've wanted to quit for a while but have had trouble as oxy's have been easily accessible to me.

Should I just go cold turkey starting tonight and see what happens? I figure if it is unbearable I can maybe take 30mg over a couple days and go cold from there.

I know a lot of you have taken much higher doses and gotten through quitting. Just looking for general advice and support as to what my best plan of attack is here.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Smoky]

Hi, Welcome to the site!

Congrats on getting off opiates now verses later when the time might not be so right. That's a tough questions on what to do, and everyone will have a different opinion. You probably know about precipitated withdrawal?

I personally tapered, then used some subs once, another time methadone. If I were you I would do a brief use of the suboxone to mask the withdrawals for a few days. You of course could taper the 60 mg and introduce the Clonidine when down to a lower amount, but that might be difficult…. and the temptation to use more might present itself. The Clonidine helped me tremendously when my blood pressure would spike at night. You could also pick up some loperamide.

Could I move your thread to another section for more responses? Best of luck on this, it's not easy… no matter what dose you are on. Good news is you did it before which will be helpful

Here is the Suboxone Mega Thread and FAQ v. 19. Also, the The Opioid Withdrawal Megathread and FAQ.

 

[Blazinlow1588]

Personally if I was you I would go as long as I could without using the suboxone. You need to wait a minimum of 24 hours or score at least a 26 on the COWS scale before you can take the sub. Subs are very powerful and you should not need more than 1mg in my opinion if you induct carefully. The clonidine should be able to help you significantly coming off of 60mgs.