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  • EADD Moderators: Pissed_and_messed | Shinji Ikari

Subutex in Thailand

Pingu

Pingu

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 14, 2004
Messages
3,337
Hi Bluelighters! I'm planning to travel to Thailand in a few weeks and will be there for at least a few months. I've been reducing my subutex amount daily, so when I get there I'll be on about 1mg a day and will continue to reduce to 0. Ideally I'd like to take one or two 8mg with me so I can continue the taper, but realise this is risky as Thai law is not clearing on the legality of bringing them in. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do?

Mods feel free to move this to wherever you like (apart from The Lounge :) )
 
I was thinking it'd probably be easier tapering in a foreign country as being in a different place and the heat usually helps. Plus I find tapering slowly with subs can be fairly painless. Is it likely I'd be able to get subs from pharmacies out there? Last time I was there getting diazepam was easy, particularly in Bangkok
 
I'd second trying to avoid tapering and/or withdrawing in Thailand. The heat may sound like a bonus but I've known several people who spent time travelling around Asia with habits of varying levels and they've all said that even mild w/d in heat and humidity like that ampilifies the unpleasantness exponentially. Not to mention the paranoia that is all but inevitible when in a country with such strict drug laws. I certainly wouldn't be taking any Subutex into Thailand (or anywhere else for that matter) without the necessary paperwork. They have a rather dim view of drug smuggling don't they? Couple of Subbies may not be much but I would definitely not risk it.

If you have a few weeks before you're leaving you should have plenty of time to taper down from 1mg. That would be my suggestion if getting the necessary paperwork in order to legitimately travel with bupe is not a feasible option.
 
Thanks for the advice all, I think I'll probably go for the taper in this country as that seems to be the consensus. In reality I think I'm probably closer to 1.5mg, and have about 2 weeks till I fly. What taper method would be the best? Start skipping days?
 
hmm, youve left this quite late. even if you cold turkeyed, youd probably be just be okay by the time you fly. if you can cold turkey, cold turkey. apparently its quite easy to get tramadol over there though, so they might help you out. youd be much better off getting this over with now.
 
Pingu said:
Thanks for the advice all, I think I'll probably go for the taper in this country as that seems to be the consensus. In reality I think I'm probably closer to 1.5mg, and have about 2 weeks till I fly. What taper method would be the best? Start skipping days?
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When I've had to do rapid Subutex tapers in the past I've always switched to snorting and used the tiniest - and I really do mean the tiniest - amount possible to stave off the worst of the w/d. The reason I switch to snorting is because it's far easier to tell what effect it's going to have in reasonable time. That and it just seems much easier to judge the amounts to me. You'd be surprised how little you can get away with and how quickly you can get down to nothing with bupe. I've gone from 16mg/day to nothing in a week on more than one occasion. Bupe has a long half-life which helps smooth over what would otherwise be a very bumpy ride. The tricky part is strictly limiting your doses. Just remember the less you take each dose means less left in your system to get rid of cos that long halflife can catch you out. If you can skip days too then so much the better but my method has always been drastic dose reduction and it's always been surprisingly painless (in the grand scheme of all w/d horridness anyway).

I think you have made the right choice and best of luck with a relatively painless taper <3
 
Cheers Shambles! I'm going to busy till through the week so am planning on going cold turkey starting this weekend. I'm aiming for as long as possible, although I'm thinking from experience 3 days will be as long as I can hack. Has anyone found pregabalin helpful for withdrawals? I've been told it's OTC in Thailand, so if I'm still not completely clean and it's helpful I could take a few of them with me..
 
Never tried pregabiln for w/d and didn't like 'em much in general myself, pretty sure I've seen several other who do rate them for helping take the edge of w/d though. I would usually go with benzos if anything but they both perform similar duties so whatever gets you through the night really.

However, I wouldn't fancy taking them through customs without the requistite paperwork. They may well be on sale in Thai pharmacies OTC but that doesn't necessarily mean they are legal and I'm pretty sure they'd be illegal to take through British customs on the way out without a prescription and doctor's note (could be wrong on the latter but I'd strongly suggest finding out).
 
shambles, no offence but your 10/10 opiate withdrawal is probably waaaaaay beyond most people's considering you were living on the streets and shooting.

i've cold turkeyed at abour 6mg bupe befoe, and although it was FUCKING HORRIBLE, it was very manageable as long as i ha a toilet and a laptop neaby, just get it over with, mate. youve no time to taper, so just do it. when you think about it, the rattle's the easy bit; the cravings are what gets ya.

and pregabalin is a lifesaver in withdrawals.
 
Also be aware that quite a lot of flights to Thailand from the UK will include a connection somewhere in the gulf, and thats another place you dont want to get caught with any drugs.

Having had a dose of food poisoning in Thailand before it really makes you realise how easy it is to get into serious trouble in hotter climates if you arent functioning properly. I was really struggling to stay hydrated what with sweating loads in the intense heat (temps can go above 40C at certain times of the year) and humidity and shitting every 20 minutes. I can't imagine it would be any better going through opiate WD.
 
When I travel I had always carried with me a medical report in English, the prescriptions (original) or stamped copy in addition to the receipts of purchase of the medications I have to carry. That should be okay in most countries. Idk if Thailand is an exception but it would be strange as people with medical conditions should be able to travel. It'd be unreasonable not to accept your docs.

People need to take their medicines and the officers at the airport are not doctors so they need official documentation that can prove you doing it legally and that is meant to be used by you due to your own private problems.

I have never had any problems whatsoever as long as I followed these international rules. In some countries you have limitations regarding how much you should take, i.e., maximum 180 days. But again it all depends on how your doctor prescribes it.
 
^ Good advice, Erik.

smackydowners said:
shambles, no offence but your 10/10 opiate withdrawal is probably waaaaaay beyond most people's considering you were living on the streets and shooting.
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The bupe tapers I mentioned were all within the last two years. I take your point that I've had a bit of prior experience but he's on 1-1.5mg of bupe and has a fortnight to quit - hardly the end of the world surely? You, I and he are talking about very different things. I was saying a rapid taper isn't too bad in the grand scheme (and it definitely isn't compared to most opies/crash tapers) and you are saying that turkeying from 4-6x the amount he is on was deeply unpleasant. I didn't turkey - and didn't suggest it - I tapered. Rather rapidly but tapered all the same. I definitely would not want to go from 6mg to nothing but nobody is suggesting that. 1-1.5mg rapidly tapered should be a doddle for just about anybody. If Pingu feels he can do it without the taper then all the better - I said that too if you read the latter part of my post.
 
Be safe Pingu.

South East Asia is not exactly the best place in the world for people recovering from opiate addictions.

I'm not going to advise you to smuggle a scripted med into Thailand *snip*. No bother. Thailand has a war on ice, yama, speed, heroin etc, but they don't really care about what's in your toilet bag if it came from a pharmacy.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Shambles said:
^ Good advice, Erik.



The bupe tapers I mentioned were all within the last two years. I take your point that I've had a bit of prior experience but he's on 1-1.5mg of bupe and has a fortnight to quit - hardly the end of the world surely? You, I and he are talking about very different things. I was saying a rapid taper isn't too bad in the grand scheme (and it definitely isn't compared to most opies/crash tapers) and you are saying that turkeying from 4-6x the amount he is on was deeply unpleasant. I didn't turkey - and didn't suggest it - I tapered. Rather rapidly but tapered all the same. I definitely would not want to go from 6mg to nothing but nobody is suggesting that. 1-1.5mg rapidly tapered should be a doddle for just about anybody. If Pingu feels he can do it without the taper then all the better - I said that too if you read the latter part of my post.
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i dunno, like. imo, 2 weeks isnt enough time to taper on subs. my point was that if he jumped off now, it would hurt but it wouldnt be that bad, basically. i think if he continues taking sub any longer he might be ill in thailand.

i see your point tharr.
 
jude cheers for the heads up mate, but I was out in SE asia last year and there was no problem, as even though opiates were everywhere I was having enough fun riding round on motorbikes etc to think about them. this time ill be with the missus so should be even easier :)

this is the second day of no subbys now and im not feeling too shabby. it may be the calm before the storm, guess ill wait and see..
 
That's cool. Hope Ye have a great time. Holiday, or staying a bit?

I remember we had some messages exchanged last year about a possible meet up but I was stuck in camp at work. Still am, at that:/
 
Cheers man! Yeah man it's all good, I ended up heading straight across to Bangkok then up to meet a mate in Chiang Mai. Where abouts are you working again?

This time I'll probably be staying for at least a year, with the intention of biking up Vietnam after we've spent some time in Chiang Mai. We'll see what happens though, as I'd quite like to check out some other SE asian countries aswell :)
 
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