I am currently coming off methadone but was in your shoes like 2 years ago. For me it was kinda easy i didnt have much trouble at all. Here is the short version of it. I went on suboxone after shooting dope for about a year daily got on 8mg and stayed there for about 7 months. Once my health insurance ran out and the suboxone cost me 140 dollars every week I did that for about 3 months before i started tapering.
I went from 8mg to 4mg in one go with no problems at all. I seriously didnt notice that drop at all no problems sleeping or anything. Same with the drop from 4mg to 2mg. I think i started waking up a little bit sick in the morning but thats not a problem because i would just take my morning dose and be fine. That was actually what helped was regardless of the dose and the drop i would be fine for the day get sick at night but not bad enough to not sleep wake up and be sick but take my suboxone and go to work. It would take about 1.5 hours for me to start feeling completely better but it wasnt terrible.
The drops after 2mg were harder but nothing i had to skip work for. As I recall the worst drop was actually 2mg to 1mg provided you dont count going to 0 as a "drop." The only thing that would happen is i would get sick earlier so 1am became 12am and sick in the morning became SICK in the morning but it wasnt bad because i didnt associate it with dope i associated it with taking my meds at that point so it was a minor disturbance to my day.
I tapered down to 0.5mg and was at 0.5mg every 36ish hours when i jumped.
The 0 point was difficult. Its hard to stop anything you are accustomed to taking daily, especially because subs were my morning coffee and they gave me so much energy it was nearly impossible to replicate without the drug. This made 0 a bit harder and my mood and energy were the biggest hit but nothing that ever made me think i had to call out or couldnt do it, in fact the pain and the idea it would literally be gone in 14ish days was what i lived for at that point. You spend so much time on opiates at that point your like "oh man what will i feel like after 2 weeks off, after a month off, what will it be like when this is a memory" i got to all of that and the best part is provided you enjoy your life and have reason for it being off opiates is great. To go from a slave to "i could go to europe or if i get stranded somewhere i wont count the hours until i get sick.
It is very liberating and if you want it, it can be yours. I dont have many issues with these things and i think its partly related to my positive view and the fact i think "if i cant do it then no one can" because i have a good self view. I think we are all capable of this outcome and you just need to love yourself and want it for yourself.
