Opioids Suboxone 16mg/day for 3 days, taper schedule advice?

[jb99]

A psych just started me on 16mg/day Suboxone. I was inpatient with no web accesss to research.

What would be a good taper schedule to get out of this mess with minimal discomfort?

 

[Sertürner]

4mg a day for 3 days
3mg a day for 4 days
2mg a day for 6 days
1 day for 6 days
.5mg for 6 days
.25mg for 8
.125mg for 8 days
Drop off

48mg can go a long way. This is the best schedule I can think of for your limited supply. Let me know if you decide to try it!

 

[jb99]

Awesome thanks.

I did 8mg instead of 16mg this morning, and I may want to taper quicker thank your schedule, given I've been on it just 5 days.

I have 19x 8mg sublingual pink pills left and no scale, so I can't get much more precise than multiples of 2mg.

So last 4 pills could be:

6mg for 2 days
4mg for 2 days
2mg for 2 days
End

Of course realistically even though I know it could make it harder, I am tempted to keep doing 8mg each morning for 15 days before the taper- this is helping me with cravings and anxiety, and as.per that ceiling effect 8mg feels the same as 16 for me.

 

[Sertürner]

I imagined you had the strips for some reason lol, I guess because that is what I had and they make splitting the doses much easier. The faster you taper the quicker you will be done with the whole ordeal, but dont beat yourself up if you cant manage jumping off at 2mg. That is still a pretty strong dose of bupe. If you find it too hard to jump off at 2mg, and cutting the pills into 1mg or .5mg is too difficult you can always dissolve 2mg into 2cc of bacteriostatic water and dose it volumetrically. It can be stored in sterile water for up to 6 months so this would make dosing very easy.

 

[jb99]

I kicked 120mg of methadone years ago- slowly tapered to 20mg at which point i wasnt sleeping, was miserable and in a daze- then jumped off and drank alcohol. I'd been on meth only a few months but was still a nightmare.

I can't imagine this will be quite as bad, we'll see. Im using cannabis to help. I'll report how it goes. Thanks for the water suggestion but if jumping off 1 or 2mg after just a week or two on bupe is so unbearable I'll get my scale from storage, for smaller increments.

An aside, prescribers make these medicines seem so innocent, rarely do they fully disclose side effects or withdrawals.

 

[Sertürner]

Oh by the title of the thread I thought you were saying you had a script for 16mg per day for only the next 3 days, so I made a taper plan for the 48mg I thought you had.

1-2mg of bupe wont be nearly as bad as jumping off 20mg of methadone. But slow and steady wins the race. Cannabis willl help, and if you can get some gabapentinoids those will work wonders as well. Good luck to you sir and keep us updated.

Mr. Deeds

 

[PodTea121]

In my opinion, if you've only been on Buprenophine for 5 days I would just jump off from there

Doing a taper after such a short amount time, I believe would just be giving your body more time to become physically dependent on the Bupe.

 

[mostly-human]

In my opinion, if you've only been on Buprenophine for 5 days I would just jump off from there

Doing a taper after such a short amount time, I believe would just be giving your body more time to become physically dependent on the Bupe.

I agree with this. Just stop completely and if you really struggle after a couple days, just take 1mg portions until you can get some sleep and then keep abstaining.

There's really a great window right now to bail almost pain free. But if you stretch it much longer then the window closes.

 

[jb99]

Well So starting from hospital visit went 0->12->16->16->16->8->7->6->5mg today.

My plan is to continue tmrw ->4->3->2->1->0.

I feel tolerably well, and I could use cannabis if I have any symptoms.

 

[jb99]

So I was unable to stick to taper.

After previous post instead of
->4->3->2->1->0 I went something like
->4->4->16->24->24

Last dose was late last night, and I was on it for just 12 days total. So I'm hoping the withdrawals are tolerable.

 

[OpiumKing]

So I was unable to stick to taper.

After previous post instead of
->4->3->2->1->0 I went something like
->4->4->16->24->24

Last dose was late last night, and I was on it for just 12 days total. So I'm hoping the withdrawals are tolerable.

I read this whole thread, and when i got to this last post i almost spit my food out from laughing so hard.! You must like taking Suboxone for some reason.? Is it helping you in any way.? I think it is ...from what i have read so far. I would recommend following your Doctors orders, and stay on the Subs for a while. Especially with your past use of Methadone you mentioned. I would recommend taking 4mg QID ...4mg 4 times a day spread out every 4-6 hours for now on. Only if your Doctor plans on keeping you on this every month. This is a wonder drug for me.! Some people love this drug, and others hate it with a passion. Talk to your Doctor again if this is helping you. Don't feel ashamed if you need it, and it is helping you.!
Cheers

 

[jb99]

I dunno, the methadone withdrawals are too burned in my mind to want to prolong this.

I was sober most of 2018, all of 2017, and 2014-16, and once I can just get to a month or two, I'm generally okay on lowest therapeautic dose of Welbutrin and/or Lexapro, plus 100mg of trazodone for sleep.

I see your point, and I do like opiates, too much to want to keep fucking with them if I can avoid it.

I'd rather reserve them for those inevitable 'thousand mortal shocks that life is heir to' like when I slipped a disc renovating my mother's lawn last year, and needed a stretcher to get back out of the house... Some things are only easable by a low tolerance and IV Dilaudid.

 

[jb99]

Update, day 3 post Suboxone cold turkey, after

0mg->12->16->16->16->8->7->6->5->4->4->16->24->24->0->0->0mg (today).

Clearly my tapering plan failed miserably :/

I'll post continuing progress notes in this recovery journal thread.

Wish me luck.