Bupe Suboxone - should I be scared?

[Opioten]

I have abused opiates and benzoes for 3-4 years now. The last year I have detoxed alot of times but I always relapse no matter what I do (usually after 3-5 weeks). I go to NA/AA and I do whatever it takes to stay clean, but nothing have worked. I am now on suboxone and it scares the shit out of me. The doctor I go to at the local addiction clinic wants me to be on 24 mg of subuxone and slowly taper while I get my life together. The doctor doesnt know for sure how long I need to be on it. "It takes the time it take". The medication is free so the doctor doesnt push the drugs just to score cash.

I was in the hospital when they put me on suboxone. I was almost 3 days clean off 250 mg methadone daily and they needed the 24 mg in order to make the WD go away. I have CT'ed 500 mg oxycodon and 2 mg alprazolam (did both for 8 months) and it took 5 weeks before I felt normal again. The WD's was HORRIBLE but I have tried it so many times now that I can handle it. I have also CT'ed from a huge dose of methadone (which I got on the street). I have tried to stop 7 times now, but no luck.

Should I be worried about the suboxone WD when I want to get off the pill one day? Or are my previous CTs much worse? I am also afraid to get off the suboxone too soon because it really works for me. I now go to school, keep contact with my old (but very good) non-abusive friends and I feel like my life is going the right way. I have been on suboxone for 2 weeks now.

If I stopped the medication I would simply relapse again.

What do you guys think?

 

[Acidtek]

Hello mate, one good thing is that your doctor is not putting any pressure on you!

I have been through methadone and heroin withdrawal on a number of occasions and have also detoxed from subutex, if you have managed to ct from meth coming of the subbies will be pretty easy, it's possible to taper so low with subbies that it is pretty painless, I jumped off at .2mg and my withdrawal was over in four days, I had been on it for a year! I managed to sleep on the second night, I had a runny nose and my legs were aching a little, I had nothing to come off with like benzos or anything! Please don't worry to much, it's really not that bad, don't know what others think? Just take your taper nice and slow, I didn't feel a thing getting down to 6mgs and from then on I dropped my dose by .4mgs every two weeks. I hope this helps in some way!

As for relapsing when you come off, no one can say, staying off opiates is really hard as I'm sure you know, all I can suggest is to stay on your script if at all possible until you've tackled any underling issues that strong opiates have masked and have put some coping mechanisms into place, good luck buddy!

 

[ChaosBuild3]

There isnt anything to be scared of if you really want off. You can stay on subs as long as you think you need to. I've known people who have been on them for years because they just arnt ready to get off of them. Subs arnt anywhere near the wd's you get from heavy stuff. Like Acidtek said, you can taper the dose down to where you wont really feel wd at all. NA is a great way to get a support group and when you are really ready to get off if you have a sponsor they are usually available whenever you need them incase you think about relapsing again. I wish you luck my friend.

 

[fivelinefury]

Hey m8, just like Acidtek above said, it's great if your doctor isn't putting pressure on you. This must indicate that your doctor has an understanding of how addiction/withdrawal/relapse/etc works. I have also been pretty lucky with my doctor in my situation with valium addiction.

I'll just give you a run down of my situation in case it helps make you feel any better at all. I started using benzos for anxiety here and there about 7 years ago, which very quickly turned into abusing the shit outta almost all the benzos that exist (sometimes at the same time, blacking out for days on end, etc). This also lead to my abuse of opiates, along side benzos.

I still to this day am prescribed valium (after 80-150mg daily use for about 3-4 years until I had to quit my job since I could no longer get out of bed). And I began really trying to get off this stuff about 2 years ago now, and I will never know how many times I have relapsed man. It is just part of it, and I wish I knew this in the beginning now due to diagnosed depression/anxiety/etc. Because to me I was always the biggest failure and waste of space on the face of the earth when relapsing. But as much as we hate ourselves for relapsing and as much as a lot of every day people don't understand, relapsing will happen. I know you would already know this, but I know I have always needed to be reminded of this myself. I relapsed at least 12 times (lost count) when quitting smoking, but god only knows how succeeded at that lol.
The opiate side for me nowadays I pretty much consider now myself addicted to codeine (which no one knows about), as well as still unable to stop diazepam fully, due to severe anxiety. Tramadol, Suboxone, Xanax, Clonazepam, Temazepam, Lorazepam, are just a few other benzos/opiates i've abused all and had a period of addiction to some. I was addicted to Sub, but it was for a period of only months.

I know I have babbled on a lot, but just want you to feel you are certainly not alone when it comes to benzos and opiates. They are bastards of things. I myself have never actually been to NA/AA myself, but have had heaps of one on one counselling due to my anxiety. So you're doing great attending things like this mate. If you can know as long as your doctor understands and continues to prescribe for you, then try to not even think about getting off it if that helps, and just taper as slow as your doctor allows you to. All the time waiting to become sober is extremely annoying, I know still being on diazepam 2 years later 8)

Anyways, just take it slow, try not to think too much and beat yourself up too much about slip ups! Take care!

 

[verso]

From what I have been told, suboxone can be finicky and while you were fine with 8 mg, well, 2 mg may have you feeling terrible. So, you may want to taper down even more slowly than your doctor recommends by breaking the tablets up into quarters and whatever else.

 

[K88ABY]

for what it's worth I use subutex daily. Well, I jump from subs to H and back again depending on how things are. I've always found that if I use H for a substantial amount of time i.e, long enough for the sub to leave my system, I need to take a lot of it to stop my rattle. However. After a day of doing 8mg (split in half morning and night) I personally can get myself down to doing half a 2mg daily in about a week. I have not attempted to jump off because I always end up scoring, but I can't imagine being in too much pain if you taper slowly. There are tonnes of threads that cover bupe use on here, your questions will be answered a million times over.. having said that, everyone is different, but good luck to you. (Don't worry) ;-)

 

[Jordie]

My Doc is doing the same thing, He said that it takes as long as it takes, and since I have insurance it basically takes as long as I want it to, I have a few other issues so I won't be getting off it anytime soon but compared to heroin withdrawal or Methadone it is a walk in the park, you will feel some sweats and the runs, leg aches and all that but it's nothing and I mean NOTHING compared to Methadone, that's the worse one of them all my friend.

As long as you make your taper slow enough you won't notice anything though, if you are just going to stop at a mid dose than it will be harder but tapering down you may have some sweats, occasional leg pain, but most notably your brain will be trying to get back to normal so emotionally you might have some issues, I get depressed without my opiates.

Subs are a life saver, Don't be afraid of them. Embrace them and their ironic beauty.

 

[Znegative]

suboxone withdrawal is a lot shorter than methadone withdrawal. The one time I was detoxed off of it (from about 16 mg a day), i was rapidly detoxed in like 5 days (which isn't a good idea) I'd say that the worst part was the anxiety and the sleep issues, but it's not like methadone where you can't sleep for a whole month or more.

I also want to say, that i think you'll have an ok time getting off when it comes to it. The fact that you recieve the suboxone at a clinic means you wont have any to tempt yourself, and when you jump off, you know theres none around

 

[burn out]

The replies in this thread are quite contrary to what I've read in other threads and elsewhere on the internet, that suboxone, (after one has been on it a great length of time) can be extremely difficult to come off with withdrawal lasting far longer than heroin withdrawal even after a slow taper. I am on suboxone myself and I plan to not be on it for more than 2 weeks because of all the horror stories I've read about long term suboxone withdrawal. Am I fearing this for nothing?

 

[sekio]

Suboxone/methadone are just fairly powerful opioid drugs - they don't make detoxing any more dfifficult than coming off e.g. heroin, but people like to make a huge production out of the whole issue. Some people just find the psychological addiction to taking their drug of choice is harder to break than the actual physical dependence.

If you have the luxury of time, pick whatever works best for you and stick with it. You'll be clean eventually.

I think the real issue is that if you try to do a fast methadone taper the half life of 'done lends itself to a more painful and extended wd period over subs or heroin.