Hi,
I have been posting for a while and if I am being redundant it's just b/c some people may not know my reason for being on Subutex.
I was Rx'ed Bupe in Spain at 0.2 g for hip pain. When I returned to the U.S, my psychiatrist scripted me Bupe 2 mg which I cut into quarters as best as I could--Subutex is quite crumbly.
When the pain subsided around April I tried to quit Subutex twice. I slowly tapered down to where I was taking a crumb of Bupe sublingually ever other day until I finally stopped taking Subutex, which was on a Tuesday morning.
On day 3, Thursday,the withdrawals started: nausea, diarrea, increased sensitivity to pain (even my shirt touching my skin hurt) and above all, depression and anxiety. Most of the w/d symptoms got better around the second day of withdrawal, which was a Friday. But the depression continued until by day 9 I couldn't stand the mental anguish anymore and started the Subutex again.
I still want to stop Subutex, and so I had an appointment with my psychiatrist last Tuesday. I looked through this forum for information about less painful withdrawals and told him that I wanted to get off.
Of course he told me the old "Reckitt Benckiser corporate line" that Buprenorphine has mild to no withdrawals, which I countered and disproved thoroughly using examples from this thread and other Bluelight threads.
I finally had my doctor's attention, and he asked me what I would like to do if I'm not able to come off the Subutex by titrating to miniscule amounts and then "touching my way through" withdrawal.
This is what I had tried to do with my other unsuccessful detoxes. I tried to treat each w/d symptom separately with Xanax, Chloral Hydrate (for sleep) and other medicines. I knew that was not going to work.
Instead, I told him about and showed him
a treatment in the U.K which has been found to be as effective, cheaper and God knows much safer than Methadone treatment. It is a treatment which replaces people's drug of choice with Dihydrocodeine.
And here is the DHC taper schedule
It seemed as though he was going to acquiesce, saying that it was a "unconventional" idea, but that it made sense. The DHC would see me through the Bupe w/d's, and then I could titrate off of DHC once the Bupe w/d's are gone--and since I didn't start Buprenorphine for opioid addiction or detox, I know that my doctor trusts me to not abuse DHC.
Now, considering that the DHC treatment has been reported since AT LEAST 2006, it is sad that an addiction specialist has never heard of this method; a medical doctor who is certified to prescribe an incredibly powerful drug, Subutex, did not know about a much safer and potentially groundbreaking alternative to Bupe and Methadone detox which has been published in a peer reviewed journal.
While my doctor looked on his computer for DHC's brandname in the U.S.A, I finally thought that I was going to get some help to stop Subutex once and for all. But of course it wasn't that simple.
Unfortunately my doctor told me that, in fact, the only opioids which the FDA allows for detox are Buprenorphine and Methadone--even if the frug I am detoxing from IS Buprenorphine!!! Since Dihydrocodeine cannot be prescribed for detox, he wouldn't Rx it for me.
Now I can understand why my doc wouldn't Rx me DHC. It is against the law for him to prescribe it for detox. But it is MADDENING and BEYOND BELIEF AND REASON that he can and does gladly prescribe me Subutex (he even mentioned the idea of Methadone. Never!). Buprenorphine and Methadone are ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE stronger and more difficult to detox from than DHC, a relatively weak opioid which is OTC in some countries and has a great chance of helping me off of Subutex.
I feel like I'm in a Kafka novel. I mean it's absolutely CRAZY that my doc can Rx me powerful opioides, but his arms are supposedly tied with DHC.
I'm now 4 days off of Subutex, but I have been using Poppy Pod Tea since Wednesday to get me through the beginning. But right now I just don't know what to do.
Thanks for listening, and I would appreciate any advice.