Bupe Fast taper of Suboxone dose while managing withdrawal symptoms

Hi all,

I'll make this quick because I already had this all typed out, and then McAfee decided to reboot my computer...

Basically, I've been on Suboxone for a month and a half, and am currently on 8mg once a day. I just found out that my insurance plan (which was covering my meds) is dropping me in January, because I am over 18 and have finished University; there is no way I can cover the ~$500 a month that the greedy fucking wads want to give me this life saving medicine, and so I need to lower my suboxone dose... as quickly as possible.

When I first started Sub, I was at 2mg a day, and this helped immensely with my cravings. The only reason I escalated my dose to 8mg was because - when I first started on Suboxone - I was chasing a high that it gave me initially (I started Suboxone after sobering up). I now just want it for the cravings, as I realize that I cannot sustainably get a buzz from my subs.

So, does anyone have experience or methods for tapering their suboxone dose? How can I do it expediently, while keeping my withdrawals to a minimum? If I can ideally get my dose down to 2mg (even if it does nothing for me for a while), and save up some of the extra pills, that will at least buy me some time to figure out this giant mess.

I am thanking everyone in advance who can help me; I'm really depressed over this, and I just want my fucking life back. I can't handle all these money, medication, and psychological problems all at the same time I'm spending all my time alone and obsessing over how I'm going to stay on subs (and/or just plain not relapsing), and It's really killing me...

And yes, I've looked into patient assistance, and I do not qualify. I really need advice for tapering right now please.

bump? I could really use some advice with this..

It should be relatively easy to drop the dose in the beginning. I was in your situation and I managed to go from 8 to 4 with no issues at all. Then 4 to 2 with minor discomfort. It was only 2 down to 1 and then the rest of the taper that was hard. It can get a bit difficult to manage but just remember you balance out in a few days anyway so its not terrible and its better then the alternative. I went from 8mg to 0 in about 4 months and each time i dropped i cut my dose in half.

You can do it just remember why its important.

Thank you for the reply; I'm also in the middle of a very abrupt effexor taper... So my anxiety levels are at an extreme at the moment.

Another question if you or anyone else can answer: Advice for finding a good AA meeting? Every single one I've been to feels like an insider club, and nobody is even close to my age... I'm early 20's. It's very hard for me right now because I feel like I have no support, and I need it badly.

Cutting down to around 2 mg/day in a short time should be easy. Then you can take your time going even lower and like you said, if you stock you can last a while and figure something out.

Its basically my current plans. Just started the Subs 5 days ago. From here on I'm good with 4 mg a day. I only have a limited supply so I want to get the dose down to around 2 mg within 2 weeks from starting and hopefully 1 mg in the next 2 weeks.

Edit: Saw the new post. Wouldn't NA be better. I never attended any meetings, but I believe NA is less cultish. Probably more people like you there. I couldn't do the religious thing, I don't believe, not sure if NA is as oriented towards religion, though.

I never had to go to meetings either but that is because of my background and nothing else. Meetings are awesome for some people and they truly benefit from the connection and the routine, if this is for you then simply find one you feel comfortable in. You can try NA or AA, at the clinic I went to they said AA has less glamorizing the memory but I never attended.

Being clean is a very personal thing and the fact you are taking it seriously speaks well of your effort. Dont give up and you can attend as many groups one time as you need to find the one you feel is best.