Started Subutex- what to expect

[never2manyk9]

Hello, new member here and happy to found this place with a wealth of info. I have had a heavy love affair with opiates (pain pills) for 20 years. I started Subutex (Via doc) 4 days ago after abstinence from opiates for 36 hours, which in itself was torture for 24 hours. After starting with about 4MG of subutex 4 days ago, my head feels like I am in the clouds, I feel like I am on autopilot, very foggy. The doc prescribed 2 8mg tabs a day, I have managed to take about only 16 MG spread out over 4 days. Feel tired but constantly wake up during the night, a lot of night sweats. How long does this crap feeling last? I have absolutely no energy and feel like I've lost my love of life. I was taking about 100-120 MG oxy for the last 10-15 years.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

Don't up your dose! If you're not extremely sick then it's obviously doing its job and stopping the physical withdrawals, the mental fog will not improve by increasing your dose. Everyone is different, but honestly after a week on subs I find the mental fog/emotional blunting/fatigue etc lifting and I start to stabilise. You should see rapid improvements very soon. The depression may take a little longer to lift, but you can speed the process along by eating right and exercising as soon as you feel up to it.

 

[cj]

You will feel better as your body adjusts. Try to stay under 8mg a day. Less is more with sub

 

[never2manyk9]

Thanks for the responses. I’m feeling a bit better but still “ out of body”. I did the Subutex thing years ago and recall it making me feel numb but nothing like this. Definitely ready to jump off this Sub ship ASAP. Managed to make it to work in a haze and haven’t spent 1000$’s on pills from
Foreign vendors so I guess I’m headed in the right direction.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

Keep with it! Keep taking just 4mg or less. You won't be so eager to jump once the haze clears which will only take another week or so. You are already seeing improvement and it's about to get exponentially better until you feel physically "normal" and you just have to deal with the psychological issues that drove you to use in the first place. That's a much easier task than trying to deal with it on top of the physical, mental and emotional clusterfuck of withdrawals. I honestly believe that subutex when used correctly can give us addicts the space and time to deal with our mental/emotional issues, and then once we are on an even keel and reached a degree of equanimity then it will be much easier to deal with the physical withdrawal, which only ranges from trivial to only moderately difficult when subutex is tapered correctly. It can be a godsend and I believe (and data shows) it is the single most effective tool for beating opioid addiction but it has an undeserved reputation from a combination of people stopping without tapering from insane doses and having correspondingly terrible withdrawals and the AA disdain for use of any substance except for caffeine and nicotine (the mysterious exceptions) which they insist isn't "real recovery". I wonder how many people have been killed as a result of their obsession with purity. The point is though is that bupe can be extremely effective if you use it properly, so give it some time.

 

[never2manyk9]

Happy to report that today is the first day that I am feeling a bit more normal since starting Subutex a week ago exactly. Yesterday I went to the gym with no energy- not sure how I pulled it off, after work. Exercising seemed to make the RLS so worse last night that I probably only slept 2 hours, and that was after waking in the middle of the night to eat a crumb of Sub. I woke this morning though with more energy than the past week- so maybe exercise helped.
I'm still confused as to why this is SO much more mentally and physically difficult than when I did this 8 years ago.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

Happy to report that today is the first day that I am feeling a bit more normal since starting Subutex a week ago exactly. Yesterday I went to the gym with no energy- not sure how I pulled it off, after work. Exercising seemed to make the RLS so worse last night that I probably only slept 2 hours, and that was after waking in the middle of the night to eat a crumb of Sub. I woke this morning though with more energy than the past week- so maybe exercise helped.
I'm still confused as to why this is SO much more mentally and physically difficult than when I did this 8 years ago.

How many of those years were you on opiates for? There's your answer. Exercise definitely is a huge help, but IME the positive results lag behind forcing yourself to do it. It takes a week or two of me feeling exhausted after every workout before I start noticing the increased energy and more stable mood and then I start getting the "runners high" and endorphin rush after pushing myself, especially when my brain is still re-wiring from abusing H, so stick with it. Persistence is the key here - be persistent in taking the sub, persistent in not using, persistent in exercise, and the improvements will come.