Hi,
Little background story/information, I was a daily heroin user for about 6 months, got on methadone (I was well aware of the fact that it would destroy my tolerance and make coming off opiates much more difficult, but it was the best of a bunch of poor options at the time). I was on methadone for about 2 years, starting at 40 mgs/day, then jumping up to 50 mgs/day for most of the duration. I should note that once I got a weeks worth of take-homes, I started taking multiple doses at once (usually 200-250 mgs at a time), then downing bottles of loperamide (usually 72 pills / 144 mgs) on the weekends to stave off withdrawal.
I saw the writing on the wall, and combined with financial issues I decided to attempt to wean myself off of methadone about 3 months ago. I saved up 2 weeks of take-homes (around 500-600 mgs) and planned to taper myself down to 1 mg/day (cause why pay the clinic the same amount for 1 mg as 50 mgs, right?). Anyway, predictably that didn't quite go as planned, but I did manage to taper down over a month to around 10 mgs a day, although the last week I jumped up to around 20 mgs a day before I ran out.
At that point I got a prescription for clonidine and gapabentin. The clonidine was very effective in eliminating all w/d symptoms for me except for the worst RLS (in my case restless 'limbs' syndrome, as it affected not only my legs but my arms and my back all the way up and down my spine) that I've ever experienced, causing me to not be able to sleep. The gabapentin was completely ineffective at alleviating the RLS, even at huge doses. So I went out and got some alprazolam (xanax) to help me sleep. As anyone who has experience with xanax or benzos knows, one is prone to doing moronic things while under their influence, and I am no exception.
While on xanax, I relapsed on heroin for about a week straight. The last shot of heroin I had was July 8th or 9th. I had about 20 mgs of loperamide during the first day without heroin, and around 40-50 mgs on the second day. The next day I was able to obtain 8 mgs of buprenorphine (in the form of suboxone sublingual film), planning to do a quick taper as described by many here and elsewhere. All values are approximate as I had to cut up the film into tiny pieces and this is inherently inaccurate; I also varied the ROA from sublingual to nasal and rectal at times, partially due to efficiency and partially due to ease of dosing. Here was my quick taper schedule to the best of my knowledge:
Day 1: (July 11th) 500 mcgs (sublingual)
Day 2: (July 12th) 250 mcgs (sublingual)
Day 3: (July 13th) 250 mcgs (sublingual)
Day 4: (July 14th) 200 mcgs (nasal)
Day 5: (July 15th) 150 mcgs (rectal)
---(nothing on days 6-7)---
Day 8: (July 18th) 100 mcgs (rectal)
I haven't had any opioids since Saturday, July 18th (5 days ago). I've been experiencing mild withdrawal symptoms since then (constantly running nose, teary eyes, sneezing, occasionally sore legs, and that weird 'gurgling' where little bubbles seem to come up my throat). They've been uncomfortable but not unbearable, but have remained relatively constant for the past week or so (they would dissipate for a couple hours after dosing bupe but fairly quickly return). The issue is, I can't really tell if the effects are getting better or worse, and just the fact of not knowing how much longer (or potentially how much worse) this will last/get is causing me anxiety and stress just in and of itself.
I know there are too many variables involved to give a definitive answer, but anecdotes and opinions are better than no data at all. How much longer do you think the withdrawal symptoms will get, and do you think they will get worse before they get better?
Thanks for reading.
Little background story/information, I was a daily heroin user for about 6 months, got on methadone (I was well aware of the fact that it would destroy my tolerance and make coming off opiates much more difficult, but it was the best of a bunch of poor options at the time). I was on methadone for about 2 years, starting at 40 mgs/day, then jumping up to 50 mgs/day for most of the duration. I should note that once I got a weeks worth of take-homes, I started taking multiple doses at once (usually 200-250 mgs at a time), then downing bottles of loperamide (usually 72 pills / 144 mgs) on the weekends to stave off withdrawal.
I saw the writing on the wall, and combined with financial issues I decided to attempt to wean myself off of methadone about 3 months ago. I saved up 2 weeks of take-homes (around 500-600 mgs) and planned to taper myself down to 1 mg/day (cause why pay the clinic the same amount for 1 mg as 50 mgs, right?). Anyway, predictably that didn't quite go as planned, but I did manage to taper down over a month to around 10 mgs a day, although the last week I jumped up to around 20 mgs a day before I ran out.
At that point I got a prescription for clonidine and gapabentin. The clonidine was very effective in eliminating all w/d symptoms for me except for the worst RLS (in my case restless 'limbs' syndrome, as it affected not only my legs but my arms and my back all the way up and down my spine) that I've ever experienced, causing me to not be able to sleep. The gabapentin was completely ineffective at alleviating the RLS, even at huge doses. So I went out and got some alprazolam (xanax) to help me sleep. As anyone who has experience with xanax or benzos knows, one is prone to doing moronic things while under their influence, and I am no exception.
While on xanax, I relapsed on heroin for about a week straight. The last shot of heroin I had was July 8th or 9th. I had about 20 mgs of loperamide during the first day without heroin, and around 40-50 mgs on the second day. The next day I was able to obtain 8 mgs of buprenorphine (in the form of suboxone sublingual film), planning to do a quick taper as described by many here and elsewhere. All values are approximate as I had to cut up the film into tiny pieces and this is inherently inaccurate; I also varied the ROA from sublingual to nasal and rectal at times, partially due to efficiency and partially due to ease of dosing. Here was my quick taper schedule to the best of my knowledge:
Day 1: (July 11th) 500 mcgs (sublingual)
Day 2: (July 12th) 250 mcgs (sublingual)
Day 3: (July 13th) 250 mcgs (sublingual)
Day 4: (July 14th) 200 mcgs (nasal)
Day 5: (July 15th) 150 mcgs (rectal)
---(nothing on days 6-7)---
Day 8: (July 18th) 100 mcgs (rectal)
I haven't had any opioids since Saturday, July 18th (5 days ago). I've been experiencing mild withdrawal symptoms since then (constantly running nose, teary eyes, sneezing, occasionally sore legs, and that weird 'gurgling' where little bubbles seem to come up my throat). They've been uncomfortable but not unbearable, but have remained relatively constant for the past week or so (they would dissipate for a couple hours after dosing bupe but fairly quickly return). The issue is, I can't really tell if the effects are getting better or worse, and just the fact of not knowing how much longer (or potentially how much worse) this will last/get is causing me anxiety and stress just in and of itself.
I know there are too many variables involved to give a definitive answer, but anecdotes and opinions are better than no data at all. How much longer do you think the withdrawal symptoms will get, and do you think they will get worse before they get better?
Thanks for reading.