Bupe Suboxone/Buprenorphine FAQ & Megathread v3; 2010 - 2022

[Selina_sanity]

Is it true once your on sub for over 3-6 months its very hard to get off and 99% of people have suicidle feelings/depression which never go away? this is quite worrying. Has there been anyone who has tapered off subutex/suboxone and stayed clean? am really struggling to find any success stories out there.

 

[Pegasus]

well its been a while since I've posted here, went to a farm of all things for my summer recreation, and decided to once again try and quite suboxone, or at least lower the dosage.

I managed to get down to 2-3 mg a day, and then I used heroin for two days and fucked it all up, yesterday I took 16 mg, today I took 12.
I've decided that I really do want to quit suboxone now, and not just stay on a low dosage and shoot dope every other day. My question is this, I was on 4 mg for three weeks and in the last week of that i went down to 2-3 mg a day, then as I said before I shot .7 grams (or 7 bags) of dope over a two day period. My plan is to now do a real rapid detox, and just hope that I'll be ok. tomorrow I'm going to do 8 mg, the next day 4, then 2, then 1, and then I'm going to try and just drop it like that. I want to know if this is an ok plan, or if it's just going to backfire.

thanks

IMO you should start lower and go slower. If you're trying to get off quickly, taking 8mg on day 1 is not the way to go. You'll want to start at maybe 2mg sublingual/ 1mg snorted and go from there. That should be plenty to get rid of withdrawal. You can taper at whatever rate you want; If you're really trying to get off soon, you could probably dose only every other day and do like 2mg > 1mg > 0.5mg, or you could spread it out more. This is all dependent on what you want to do. I definitely recommend not starting at 8mg though.

Hi all,

I switched from mdone(70mg->30mg) to subs (6mg/day) about 12 days ago. I'm trying to taper off completely, and I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea on how long I need to wait to completely wait out methadone withdrawal?

What exactly do you mean? You want to taper off Suboxone and you want to know how long to wait before beginning the taper? You're just trying to avoid methadone withdrawal? Please clarify.

Regarding methadone, it takes people who were addicted to it for longer periods longer periods to get feeling normal. It is a very potent drug with more broad effects than opiates generally. You'll start to feel better with just bupe soon hopefully, like within a week or so.

 

[dpatches]

Is it true once your on sub for over 3-6 months its very hard to get off and 99% of people have suicidle feelings/depression which never go away? this is quite worrying. Has there been anyone who has tapered off subutex/suboxone and stayed clean? am really struggling to find any success stories out there.

I've had zero luck been on it for almost 2 years now. My Dr. has tried tapering me off 3 times with no success. I started at 16mg a day and the lowest dose I've made it to is 6mgs. If I go any less than that I feel like death, depression,mood swings, laziness, leg pains, usually complete withdrawals. I can't stand it and would love to be off it bc I can control myself now and I'm really having trouble with precipitated withdrawals when I do decide to use. Also the Dr. I see has 100 some odd patients on suboxone under his care. From being at his office so much I've met most of his patients and none of them have any luck tapering off them. Actually the only way he gets new patients is when someone gets kicked off for dirty urine screens. As a matter of fact most of those people end up back on the suboxone thru another Dr. Now that I think about I don't think I know or have heard of someone succesfully tapering off the suboxone that was on it more than 2 months. I know I've had no luck with it. FML8(

 

[Pegasus]

Is it true once your on sub for over 3-6 months its very hard to get off and 99% of people have suicidle feelings/depression which never go away? this is quite worrying. Has there been anyone who has tapered off subutex/suboxone and stayed clean? am really struggling to find any success stories out there.

No, not true. If you read around on this forum, you'll see tons of success stories. I've talked with well over a hundred or so people on this site as they went through the process successfully.

 

[dpatches]

No, not true. If you read around on this forum, you'll see tons of success stories. I've talked with well over a hundred or so people on this site as they went through the process successfully.

I'll have to look around and search for some advice to work me through it. But I'm having other troubles at this point.

 

[cire113]

Thats exactly why suboxone maintenance should not be taken lightly and be used in most extreme circumstances after all other methods have failed.. Ive been around the block and talked to tons of people.. Its possible to quit sub and stay sober.. But i'd say the odds are really really low of staying sober long term..Unless your one of the lucky ones or really have a fantastic recovery program..No doubt thousands of people have done this though

.This is just my personal experience its not right or wrong...;/ I hate to say this but its the reality from what ive seen; Yes people can quit but staying sober "long term" is the goal i hope..

I had 15 months clean after quitting sub once.. it was good but man the sub withdrawals lasted months for me it seemed like.. I was in lockdown treatment for 3 months; extended treatment 5 months and halfway house for 6 months.. When i moved out i didnt even last 90 days.. fucking i had a 1,000 opium poppies growing wild infront of my house (by random luck)... really sad story its true .. I would walk by them everyday and one day i just caved in .. Made opium, made tea, big fatty bulbs.. the whole nine yards... it was like the most fucked up shit ever!

I'd say the people that do make are the ones that have been on Sub longer and did a nice slow and long taper.. and had a good recovery plan and learned some life skills while being on subs(for the ppl on "maintenance")

ive talked to hundreds/known tons of people on sub... Ive got enough sub for about a few hundred days.. so it wont be pretty when i run out; I better stock up for the Armageddon lol

I just cant seem to quit opiates.. ive tried everything and Sub is the only thing that has been close to a real life for me ... Its like my brain has been physically rewired to need opiates like it needs food or water or sleep...

 

[Heroin Girl]

IMO you should start lower and go slower. If you're trying to get off quickly, taking 8mg on day 1 is not the way to go. You'll want to start at maybe 2mg sublingual/ 1mg snorted and go from there. That should be plenty to get rid of withdrawal. You can taper at whatever rate you want; If you're really trying to get off soon, you could probably dose only every other day and do like 2mg > 1mg > 0.5mg, or you could spread it out more. This is all dependent on what you want to do. I definitely recommend not starting at 8mg though.


What exactly do you mean? You want to taper off Suboxone and you want to know how long to wait before beginning the taper? You're just trying to avoid methadone withdrawal? Please clarify.

Regarding methadone, it takes people who were addicted to it for longer periods longer periods to get feeling normal. It is a very potent drug with more broad effects than opiates generally. You'll start to feel better with just bupe soon hopefully, like within a week or so.

My apologies, I was quite stoned when I wrote that, heh. I only took methadone around 6 months, highest dose 70mg and tapered to 30mg prior to the bupe switch. And yeah, I basically just wanna know how long to wait to taper bupe and safely avoid methadone withdrawal.

 

[SkagKush]

couldnt agree more cire.......bupe is also a rocky road.....just because ive been on long term maintenance doesnt mean ive had 100 percent sobriety....hell im at 72 hours clean right now!!!!!

long term sobriety is hard, i cant even think about life without bupe right now.....id be on the streets......

 

[dhopeless]

I never got the jerks on bupe, but always got it on heroin. Methadone doesn't make me jerk either, but I have never tried doses above 50 mg/day, so it might be dose dependant... wonder what the mechanism is behind the jerks... I guess it's the opiates disruption of natural sleep patterns, and the brain stimulation by opiates while one slowly goes from 'nod' to deep or REM sleep. It was a real relief for me when I went into buprenorphine ORT, to not get those jerks any more. I've also had two girlfriends who took 'happy-pills' due to some mild depressions before sleeping, and they would also get jerks. I never came around to figuring out exactly what the medication was, as they were very quiet about it, and then the relationships didn't go beyond a couple of weeks-months of mainly sexual relationships, so I am still wondering what it was that made the jerk. Does prozac do so, anyone?

In terms of the peeing, I never really made a big issue of it, but when I've been over at friends, or on excursions (field trips, field work, holidays, camping, etc.) with people and thus staying in the same living quarters as them, it was a bit of a pain to have to say that I needed to take a dump every time I needed to piss, because it would take that amount of time. And instead of having people wondering why I took so long to piss, I chose to have them think that I just shit a lot... hahahahaha....

And another thing... at festivals and that sort, or just out in the bush, it can be a real fun thing for the boys to line up for a piss, and I can never part-take in that sort of thing when on opiates... Nothing like pissing off a cliff with a couple of buddies, while enjoying the view and the sensation of the piss relief (a guy thing I think... girls might go to the bathroom together a lot, but when it comes to pissing in nature, I'm sure most dudes love pulling out their cock and just pissing wherever they want - a luxury that most opiate addicts must abstain from). Although I did have one friend who was just a big abuser of heroin as I was the previous years, and he never had this issue with peeing. He could snort a gram a day, and piss whenever he wanted, standing up... lucky son of a gun...

Oh man I can relate to this! I have a messed up bladder, or prostate, the doctors don't even know exactly what to call it, so even if I'm NOT on subutexm which is rare, I still have to sit to piss...going into a public restroom with friends and you ALWAYS say "I gotta take a shit, meet you guys out there.." Now the only opiate I ever take is subutex, and it doesn't seem to make my problem a whole lot worse, but on the other hand I've been on it so long maybe I just can't tell the difference anymore. But I LOVE subutex. I'll take it for life, because I find my quality of life better with it.

 

[spaceyourbass]

For people asking about tapering - The easiest way for me to get off suboxone is to sniff tiny amounts, just enought to get rid of withdrawals. Try to last as long as you can, then sniff a tiny (and I mean tiny, you need much less when it absorbs in the nose) line, or prepare a liquid solution with the strips and do a tiny amount. This method will at least help lower your tolerance. I've heard/read things like there really is no point in taking more than 2mgs at a time. I forget the exact reason but it seems like your body can't really make use of more than 2 or 3 mg.

I had a friend who tapered off suboxone under a doctor's supervision and with responsible use of benzos. Last time I saw him I actually brought him some, and he was doing great...clear headed and so excited to get off of opiates. He OD'd on heroin about a month later and died

 

[Pegasus]

Damn cire, living next to a poppy field right after quitting opiates sounds pretty rough. You may as well have drugs sitting in your house at all times.

 

[cire113]

Damn cire, living next to a poppy field right after quitting opiates sounds pretty rough. You may as well have drugs sitting in your house at all times.

Move 1,000 miles away Leave your life: go to treament for 1 year,; eat drink shit aa meetings; rent a house 15 months sober and randomly poppies start growing outside that happen to be Papaver Somniferum ...no really? fuck my life lol

 

[SkagKush]

^ ya that is fucked up....im sorry to hear this bro.....

 

[Tina Dopemau5]

I IV'd the Suboxone film again and after the first time it's been enjoyable. I can take such a tiny amount when I IV that my script can last a whole lot longer. Woo hoo!

 

[Trigeminal]

Do you guys think I could get a Suboxone prescription if I've been buying it off the street and self-medicating for the last few years? I've never heard of someone doing this before, but I would rather get a prescription than keep doing what I've been doing.

I did have a prescription a long time ago, if that makes any difference.

 

[Pegasus]

^I'm sure you could from some doctors, while others may frown upon it. If they say you need to be on a different opioid, you could always say you're on one that they can't easily test for, say O-desmethyltramadol or 7-OHM.

 

[PurpleLibra]

Is it true once your on sub for over 3-6 months its very hard to get off and 99% of people have suicidle feelings/depression which never go away? this is quite worrying. Has there been anyone who has tapered off subutex/suboxone and stayed clean? am really struggling to find any success stories out there.

Selina, I am no expert, but in my opinion and personal experience, this is absolutely false. I started taking Suboxone last October. My doctor started me on 16 mgs (or it might have been 12 mgs.. I don't remember) and I am now down to about 1 mg to 1.5 mgs a day. However, my doctor thinks I'm only down to 4 mgs a day so I've been able to hoard about 50, eight mg pills and with coupons, 16 of the strips.

However, I use a pill crusher and snort the pills. I've heard on this forum from someone that you get more out of the pill by snorting, so that may be why I was able to go down in dosage. I don't know. But, I'll tell you this... There are days I wake up and forget to dose, go to work and then around 4:00 I realize that I haven't had a dose yet! Sometimes I can make an 8 mg pill last a week, sometimes less. My next goal is to only crush half a pill and see how long that lasts me. I intend to go down to virtually NOTHING and hopefully not have one withdrawal symptom because I am a TOTAL pussy when it comes to withdrawals. If you want my advice, I'd buy a pill crusher at your local pharmacy (CVS, Walgreens, etc.) and use that to crush the pills and try snorting just a little bit and see how you feel. It only takes like, 20 minutes to hit you, so you'll know in 20 minutes if you need more or not. The first time I snorted it, I snorted 4 mgs. GAWD was that awful! LOL! The next time I did it I only snorted a small amount and found that it was effective for four hours.

FWI: I was doing 6-10 Roxi's a day when I started Suboxone last October. I'm sober, now. I'm more productive and have done more in the last few months than I have done in the last six years of my addiction. I finished my degree, got my paralegal license (Registered with the Florida Bar Association) and I'm not in that foggy haze that is Oxycodoneville. I have gone a day or two with as little as half a mg, so I know I can do it. If I cannot go lower or quit without withdrawals, I will happily stay on a half a milligram dose the rest of my life. Sure beats the hell out of a fucked up life and worse, overdose.

SPECIAL NOTE FOR CAPTAIN: Hi! missed you while the site was down and thought about you a lot. I hope all is well with you and I'm glad the site is back up and you are where you're supposed to be.

 

[dpatches]

Do you guys think I could get a Suboxone prescription if I've been buying it off the street and self-medicating for the last few years? I've never heard of someone doing this before, but I would rather get a prescription than keep doing what I've been doing.

I did have a prescription a long time ago, if that makes any difference.

Most def man I was buying it on the streets for six months while being court ordered to drug counseling and random urine screens. Well I kept giving dirty urines for suboxone and my counselor just assumed I had a script for them. One day she finally asked me I said no and she told me they had a doctor there and she could assist in getting me on it. She did I saw the Dr. and lucked out by not having to do the whole induction dose, which was getting dosed with 8mg and staying in the Dr's office all day as to make sure there's no bad reaction or precipitated withdrawals. It worked grat for a year and a half saved a ton of money, but finally got kicked off for having dirty urines for weed and coke. So needless to say I'm back to getting them on the street.

 

[CII~360]

I am on the fence about switching from Methadone to Suboxone. I am currently on MMT and the doctor wants to change me.
This thread answered so many questions, it has made me realize the whole reason for Bluelight. (before, it was just the nudie thread...lol)
Whoever had the idea for this site. Major Kudos.

 

[Pegasus]

^One of the biggest things to consider IMO is the difference in side effects between the two drugs. Methadone has a very wide range of actions other than acting as an opioid agonist. For me, the action that concerned me the most was the huge suppression of testosterone levels. Many opiates can cause this (not buprenorphine however), but methadone is perhaps the worst offender. If you research this topic, you'll see that many men who quit long term methadone use are forced into testosterone replacement treatment as their levels are very low. Bupe not having this effect makes it a much better choice for many people IMO. Bupe does have side effects as well, but not this one.