Harm Reduction Tapering Plan Mega thread - community project

[specneck]

Tough one man..

Youre gonna be in some discomfort no matter what, not sure myself about dosage because I always found bupe withdrawal more drawn out than heroin WD so i never came off bupe, only H.

I dont think you'd need even more than 2 of those subs though..

If I were you I'd be loading up on benzo's and vitamins, things like that. Get the immodium out, prepare meals.

Most of all though - know youre going to get through it and hold on to what made you want to get clean in the first place.

Again - not sure, just thought Id give my 2 cents and bump this up for someone who can give better advice.

Let us know how you go, regardless if you have a little relapse.

 

[80mg]

IMO...5 is enough.

You should do this as a schedule.

Day one - 1 8mg
Day two - 7mg
Day three -6mg

And so on. You actually have more than enough too get clean. But this is a schedule only if your serious. I was serious a year ago when I did it, but I love opiates and dont wanna get clean anymore so I dont bother

- 80

 

[oldhead]

First off GO LAKERS!!! Now I was up to 3 OC80's a day on and off for 6 years.Some days less depending on money. I got a hold of subs and had very little problems at 4mgs in 24 hours. I never needed to go higher. Did I feel as great as on the OC's? HELL NO but I funtioned fine. Within 4 days I was down to 2mgs every 24 hours. No problem. Remember subs have a loooong half life. Within 10 days I was down to 1mg every 24 hours. I snort it. Now this last mg. is gonna be a mother fucker for sure. Because of the low dose I still get powerful urges to use and I'm so depressed because of the new OP (OC has changed) but the money thing is keeping me in line. 1mg of sub a day is cheap for me. I wish you well and advise you read the mega-thread on suboxen. You'll find its different for each person.

 

[SubDude]

I'd try 2mg-4mg first and see if that holds you for 24 hrs and taper about .50mg every 2-3 days from there until you get down to .50mg. Then after you're comfortable there... drop to .25mg and drop from there... Should be minimal discomfort until your off completely. Then you can get further help with some "comfort strategies" like:

Chicken Soup
Warm Clothes
Exercise- a lot of walking
Hot-tub/Hot baths
Ensure/Gatorade/water

Comfort meds:
Clonadine- RLS- sleep
Loperimide- Immodium AD
Tramadol/Ultram
Compazine
Valium
Soma- Sleep
Requip- RLS
Phenegren
Kava Kava

sleeping meds:
Seroquel
Ambien
Risperdal
Trazadone

Be careful with some of the above because of dependence issues. Clonidine should be used along with BP device and friends assistance... and in low doses. It can be one of the best helps for "acute phase" of WD's. Best advice would be to go to rehab or at least see an addiction specialist for help

 

[darkz]

Yeah i actually found a place to stay for 7 days to kick so i won't be able to get dope. woooo. im going to get some xanax tmw and some bud, i should be fine with that right?

 

[tablehead]

Iv is hardest to quit from, but suboxone will fix that. Start on the lowest dose possible, I cannot stress that more, try like 1/4 of a 2mg pill, and add 1/4 after 2 hours if you feel sick. Then stay on that minimum dose for 2-3 days, and lower it as much as you can every day till you are taking super miniscule amounts, like .2 mg. then .1 mg is u can, and work then it will make the withdrawals almost non existant. Its a life saver, if you use it this way.

 

[ejnjgrl822]

i too have just started trying to self detox and its so hellish for me. i had about a 5-6 bag (when conserving) to a 12-15 bag (when money was good) a day habit. i sniffed all my dope. before that i was all into oxys then end of april discovered dope and that was pretty much it for me til now. here and there id get some oxys when i couldnt get d. yeah i know my habit isnt that long and its not that bad but the w/ds have just been killing me. when i ran outta dope tues, weds i went and got a blue with i did around 430 which did almost nothing obviously but keep me from taking my subs so i was up all night restless with some chills and sweats but afraid to take my sub til about 8am. yesterday i took about 2mgs suboxone (didnt feel great but i was afraid to do more because i really want to avoid w'ds from it and i only have about 16 mgs left) and at night i took .5 kpin. i'm picking up some xannies later to help with anxiety and to help me sleep at night. i brought my girl to detox monday and she was the one i had here for me and helped me. now my head races about all the runs we did and going down and getting it and just the whole process. its killing me. i just want my life back. now i have no one. so i was wondering what doses should i be taking to avoid being sick at all costs while weaning off the shit? i'm just scared and i have to be okay and get thru this with the least pain possible.

 

[ejnjgrl822]

i too have just started trying to self detox and its so hellish for me. i had about a 5-6 bag (when conserving) to a 12-15 bag (when money was good) a day habit. i sniffed all my dope. before that i was all into oxys then end of april discovered dope and that was pretty much it for me til now. here and there id get some oxys when i couldnt get d. yeah i know my habit isnt that long and its not that bad but the w/ds have just been killing me. when i ran outta dope tues, weds i went and got a blue with i did around 430 which did almost nothing obviously but keep me from taking my subs so i was up all night restless with some chills and sweats but afraid to take my sub til about 8am. yesterday i took about 2mgs suboxone (didnt feel great but i was afraid to do more because i really want to avoid w'ds from it and i only have about 16 mgs left) and at night i took .5 kpin. i'm picking up some xannies later to help with anxiety and to help me sleep at night. i brought my girl to detox monday and she was the one i had here for me and helped me. now my head races about all the runs we did and going down and getting it and just the whole process. its killing me. i just want my life back. now i have no one. so i was wondering what doses should i be taking to avoid being sick at all costs while weaning off the shit? i'm just scared and i have to be okay and get thru this with the least pain possible.

 

[.Lucid.]

please do not take suboxone for more than just a detox.. i wouldnt take it for more than a week. tops.

when i switched over from h to subs i tapered down to literally crumbs every other day but because i completely switched over and did suboxone for several months the withdrawal lasted like 3 and a half weeks when i finally stopped taking it. it was fuckin horrible and i shouldve just come off of the h. just becareful.

 

[jamesBrown]

Do not listen to these people telling you to take an ENTIRE 8 mg pill on day one and then 6 mg on day two...etc.......this is WAAAY too much to be taking and it will make the withdrawals MUCH worse in the end.

When I switched over from shooting up $200 worth of black tar heroin every day(for 4 years), all I needed to COMPLETELY take away my withdrawal and cravings was 2 mg's...and i probably could have gone with less, but thats what i ended up taking(I was prescribed 12 mg's/day but I knew better and took less)

Within a week of starting to take suboxone I was allready down to 0.5 mg doses. And I had NO problem lowering my dose...i.e...no withdrawal effects ...etc..

I recommend that you follow a tapering regimen that is similar to this......

2 mg's(suboxone)- day 1
2 mg'-day 2
1.5 mg's- day 3
1.5 mg's- day 4
1 mg- day 5
1 mg- day 6
.75 mg's- day 7
.75 mg's- day 8
.5 mg's- day 9
.5 mg's- day 10
.25 mg's- day 11
.25 mg's- day 12
and then if you choose....stay at .25 mg's as long as you want until you stop completely...or you can keep lowering thhe dose as you please until you decide to quit....At those levels you should have practicaly ZERO withdrawal effects. You can also extend the taper plan and lower your doses over an even longer period of time if you feel like it.

I know this from experience...as I said above...after only being on sub for a weeek, I was allready down to .5 mg's and I quickly lowered that even more and am now taking ~.3 mg doses and I actually feel more euphoria from the suboxone the lower dose I take.(1 8mg pill lasts me atleast 2 weeks...cser to 3 weeks or sometimes a month). When I take higher doses, all I feel is normal and I get a headache. And I can stop taking my suboxone anytime without any withdrawal effects at all....I know this because Ive gone almost 2 weeks before without taking any to see what would happen and all it did was make my first dose I took after the two weeks feel VERY EUPHORIC.

I know your trying to quit using everything and you dont wanna use suboxone for a long time and thats fine, but please take SMALL doses....it will benefit you much more in the long run and anything more is overkill and will cause strong withdrawal effects in the end. Also, at low doses, suboxone causes euphoria because its metabolite norbuprenorphine has room to attach to your receptors causing euphoria because its a full agonist unlike bupe which is a partial agonist. This will make it even easier to stop using heroin and make the whole tapering process much more enjoyable. Plus, once your down to a tiny dose, you can stop taking suboxone anytime you like without any withdrawal...or you can shoose to stay on it and enjoy the energy boosting, euphorical, anti-depressant, side effects it has....thats what im doing.....ive looooong stopped using heroin and i dont need to take my subs but I choose to because it helps brighten my day.

 

[ejnjgrl822]

yeah thats exactly what im trying to do. im not in any way looking for an addiction to these subs. i want on and off and want to get my life back and tolerance down so if in the future i decide to maybe have some opiates on a good day but wont get sick after it. i dont want to be sick at all. i cant handle it. i just want to be ok. i miss waking up in the morning feeling "normal" now i spend days in and out thinking about the dope journeys ive made and the whole getting bags, and opening them, emptying, and sniffing my life away. i killed the past 10 months of my life.. i just want it back and tolerance down to the minimum. its just hard all the mind games

 

[triiper]

you should stay on suboxone for a month or 2 then quit. you need to learn to live soberly. the w/d is the easy part. staying sober is another story.

 

[jamesBrown]

you should stay on suboxone for a month or 2 then quit. you need to learn to live soberly. the w/d is the easy part. staying sober is another story.

thats the general idea with the suboxone mainatance plans, but not everyone needs to be on sub for that long to become re-adjusted to sobriety.....some people dont need that at all. Everyones different...

...but in general, yes, its a good idea to make sure your capable of a sober existence before you quit taking suboxone.

 

[ejnjgrl822]

i just dont want to go on maintance. my girlfriend was on it for 2 years and after coming down she went right back to shooting h. i just wanna get on to get off so im not addicted and dont withdraw

 

[jamesBrown]

i just dont want to go on maintance. my girlfriend was on it for 2 years and after coming down she went right back to shooting h. i just wanna get on to get off so im not addicted and dont withdraw

are you saying that being on maintanence somehow caused yor gf to go straight back to shooting heroin when she got off of it?

because thats rediculous. The longer your on maintanence the more likely you are to stay clean when you get off. Thats the whole point....your on it for a long time to give you as much time as you need to re-adjust to normal sober living so that you wont feel the need to use when you get off, or so that you wont be in that drug addict mind set when you stop using suboxone.

 

[BearLeeLive]

need bupe taper plan-ASAP

I've been on subutex for about 5 and a half months. a few weeks ago i went from 8mgs to aprox. 2mgs over night w/ no problems.
i want to completly D-Tox from bupe relitivly fast. the problem is i dose to frequently. on averge i shoot 2mgs about 4 or 5 times with in 24 hr.
i know im doseing to frequently...does anyone (1st hand exp. please) know a way to accuritly messuer smaller doses w/ out a scale..i guess i could crush an 8mg pill and make 8 to16 lines , but that seems like it would be a mess and the lines wouldn't be exact.
im rambaling but i think you get the idea.
thanx,
BLL

 

[lozgod]

Sub is an opiate. When you detox you are going to get sick. There is no taper from my experience. I found tons of "protocols" and ideas but never read someone post something saying they did it and it worked. Get down as low as you can and jump and prepare to be sick for a least 2 weeks. Not trying to discourage you but bupe tapers don't work any differently than any other opiate taper. People seem to think sub is a miracle drug. From the experiences I read I'd rather go cold turkey from dope or oxy than Sub. Seems like the PAWS goes on for months.

 

[BearLeeLive]

i've heard simaler statements and the oposit.
to be honest, im trying to get off the pins, thus useing subs untill in can get on "done(i know it dont make sense) i guess what my oltamet goal is to get off the rig. have hep c and have had many absses. also i shoot in my neck and NEED to stop that!
by the way from my exp., i was in a 30 day nut hut and they succsesfully detoxed me w/ subutex untills on 2mgs a day for about a week(they started me on like 36mgs and taperd me down to 2mgs a day). one day i went yo get my subs and they said i was done. i had no withdrawl symtoms what-so-ever
thanx for the reply but fron experince,you can taper with bupe sublig...(spelling?)
thax again
BLL

 

[lozgod]

i've heard simaler statements and the oposit.
to be honest, im trying to get off the pins, thus useing subs untill in can get on "done(i know it dont make sense) i guess what my oltamet goal is to get off the rig. have hep c and have had many absses. also i shoot in my neck and NEED to stop that!
by the way from my exp., i was in a 30 day nut hut and they succsesfully detoxed me w/ subutex untills on 2mgs a day for about a week(they started me on like 36mgs). one day i went yo get my subs and they said i was done. i had no withdrawl symtoms what-so-ever
thanx for the reply but fron experince,you can taper with bupe sublig...(spelling?)
thax again
BLL

Well you're the first I heard about. How long did you stay clean afterwards?

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

your first step would be switching from IVing 8-10mg/day to sublingual an 8mg tablet it doesn't matter for the first week or so how you do it, could be 4mg twice daily or 2mg 4x daily its up to you..
Then the taper would be to drop down as low as you can comfortably.
So for example say you were able to drop to 4mg/day. (which you should be able to)
After a week on that drop to 2mg sublingual a day (this is where it might start to get difficult and you might just wanna cold turkey)or continue...
After a week on that just crush up 2mg and snort 1mg/day in 2- .5mg lines one in the late morning(hold off as long as you can) and one before bed (to prevent midnight breakdancing/sheet kicking, you know what i mean)
So now you're on 1mg daily, now you need to move to .5mg/day in one dose (you pick either in the morning or before bed) w/d's might start kicking in now and if they do, go with them, drop the subs and just w/d. Ride it out, get some Immodium, gatorade, ginger ale, hot showers/baths, clonidine if you can get it and any benzos you can try to get klonopin or valium they are longer lasting compared to xanax which will give you releif for a couple hours instead of half the day with the k-pins/valium.. (they help A LOT just don't get hooked on those, only use when desperate and not longer than 3 weeks(which is longer than how long w/ds last they will be most severe the first week and slowly get better the following week and then there are PAWS which is why i said w/d's will last two weeks but use benzos for 3(to help with PAWS)))
IF you were able to get down to .5 mg/day w/o w/d's than continue to .25mg and so on until w/ds do start.

Thats my advice.. hope you do OK