good to see so many of us are on bupe now; or is it? well, def. good money wise and has helped my life a TON so far. I keep looking to drop my dosage every few months, so hopefully be off it within a year. just worries me what happens the minute is gone? hopefully the dope thought/connects are long gone. as of now, on bupe, they seem long gone. not sure if its the bupe or just me.
It's, in large part, the Bupe. It becomes more subtle the longer you're on it but it is doing quite a bit. It's pretty fucking powerful.
If you want to get off after a year I say fuckin go for it. You're better off getting off sooner rather than later. Longer you're on, harder it is to get off. Just taper slllooooooow. Like a mg a month at most. Maybe even half a mg.
My experience.... Sub gave me my life back 6 years ago. I was a massive dopefiend but Suboxone helped me flip that.
Sure as hell I've had relapses but I would always say enough's enough at some point and jump back on the Bupe.
Fast forward to last spring/summer. My doc tells me he thinks I'm ready to get off. I'm stable, working, have a solid relationship in which we're considering having a kid, etc.
I was all for it so I said yeah, let's do it. I go down a mg a month and am perfectly fine until I get to 2mg(started at 12mg)
Shit started to get hairy. Uncomfortable, craving, etc. I called the doc back and told him what was up and I was scared, thought maybe I should go back up to 3-4mg until I can sort my head out.
He says, "Stick to the schedule I wrote out for you and don't be a baby." That's what this motherfucker said to me. A "expert" on addiction cause he took a couple days of courses to get his Sub certification. Fucking joke.
So, I stick to the schedule and around the beginning of July I finish my last half mg.
I made it through 2 1/2 days of the WD. I felt SO uncomfortable, like there was a hole in my brain that the lack of Sub had left.
I went and got some Percs. Just to have a break. Percs ran out so I got some morphine. Just to take the edge off. Morphine ran out and then... Why not get some bags, just to feel that old style high? One thing leads to another and then it's full on relapse until I went back to rehab in October and got back on Sub.
Now, I've repaired my relationship, job's better than ever, etcetera. I can't go without the Sub at this point in my life. I thought my strength in sobriety before the taper was 90% me and 10% the Sub. I think it was probably more like 60-40 or 50-50.
I wrote that all out cause your post sounded very much like my way of thinking at that time. If you do end up dropping down be really careful.
A question for you... I'm on 8mg, too. I find it more helpful to not take the 8 at once but to do 4 in the am and 4 in the pm. Have you ever tried this and if so, did you notice a difference in how you felt?
