Bupe Tramadol to Suboxone

[OscarWilde]

I've been on suboxone for 3 years. Sat at a maintenance dose of 6 mg for about year. The past two months I have tapered down to a very small dose; cutting a 8mg strip into 20 and taking 1/20th of an 8 mg a day. It hasn't been easy and I've had various stages of withdrawal symptoms from mild to moderate.

Nothing as bad as heroin or methadone but still it has been a struggle.

I recently stopped my suboxone dose about 2 1/2 days ago and have been taking about 200 mg to 400mg of tramadol for the past day and a half. While I don't feel any kind of high; I also don't feel any of the moderate withdrawal symptoms I was feeling (diarrhea, rls @ 2 AM, yawning, body feeling cold, very low mood)

I'm kind of worried about Tramadol causing me to relapse onto heavier opiates again and would like to go back onto my suboxone dose. How long do you suggest I wait before taking my sub? I've heard you can take sub and tram together; do I even need to wait at all? If I need to wait for mild to moderate withdrawals do I now need to up my dose a bit?

Thanks

 

[OscarWilde]

I realize that this has been discussed on the board and I've read through two threads.

I keep coming up with mixed information.

I'm also on such a low dose of suboxone I'm wondering what the effects will be.


If any one could link me to a thread or provide some information it would be much appreciated.

I also want to get off Tramadol before it's too late as I don't want an ssri addiction. Just wondering how long after my last tramadol dose should I wait before taking my suboxone.

 

[Herbal~Jah]

I actually did what you did. Used Tramadol when coming off of suboxone. It works very well and no it will not make you relapse, tramadol is very weak, if you relapse on something stronger its your own fault, not some stupid medication. Anyways using Tramadol to get off bupe is one of the best strategies for getting off of subs. Just don't use the tram's for more then like a week or 2... w0rd



P.S. - Your post title should read "Suboxone to Tramadol" ... Or better yet... "Using Tramadol while coming off Sub."

w0rd

 

[OscarWilde]

hey thanks for the reply.

So you think I should just drop the sub altogether? I did the math and realized I had tapered my sub dose down to 0.4 mg's. That's a pretty low dose but I was still feeling moderate withdrawals until taking the tramadol.

So only take Tram as needed? And continue to take less and less tramadol a day?.

I have the 50mg tramadol. What was the max dose you took when using it to come off of subs? And at what mg did you stop your suboxone at?

 

[amapola]

I'm kind of worried about Tramadol causing me to relapse onto heavier opiates again and would like to go back onto my suboxone dose.

At that low doses of suboxone it won't blockade other opiates very well at all so there is no real difference between bupe & tramadol at those levels in this respect.

How long do you suggest I wait before taking my sub? I've heard you can take sub and tram together; do I even need to wait at all?

You can take them together and many people do as all of the nonopioid mechanism effects of tramadol aren't blocked by bupe. That being said you still need to wait after taking nothing but tramadol for a while as the bupe has gotten out of your system and taking more could cause precipitated withdrawal. How long you wait is up to you but until well into withdrawal is the party line. It differs for everyone though.

If I need to wait for mild to moderate withdrawals do I now need to up my dose a bit?

No?

Remember that bupe and tramadol both bind with your mu-opioid receptor and the reason why the tramadol helped with the bupe withdrawal is because it replaced it there.

So only take Tram as needed? And continue to take less and less tramadol a day?.

This is your best bet for sure.

 

[OscarWilde]

Cool. Thanks guys.

This has been very helpful.

I'll stick with the tram taper. Seems to be easier at this point. I'm guessing I should try and be off of the tramadol no later than a week?

 

[amapola]

Super. Please direct any further discussion on bupe and tramadol here.
Tramadol and Suboxone

Though I see you've already found it already eh? Try not to cross post as well please

Feel free to PM me with any questions or concerns.

edit:

I'm guessing I should try and be off of the tramadol no later than a week?

Whatever you need. The sooner the better (though it will be harder).