I know this is an old thread, but reading these words: "when quitting an addiction, every time we take a step in the direction opposite of using, such as posting, skipping a dose, taking a decreased dose, calling a friend, journaling...even waiting an extra 10 minutes before taking the next scheduled dose, we weaken the addiction" i just can't avoid THANKING YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, HOPING THAT YOU'LL READ MY ANSWER. The words you posted few years ago are so motivating. I don't know how i'll do with my ever delayed tapering in these days full of (non-drugs-related) troubles for me, i'm starting to think that if i taper now that i'm in trouble, even just 10 mgs, it could be a way to empower myself in problem solving under any and every point of view. My doctor, knowing the hard times i'm going thru, and having me said that i'm at risk of relapsing in heroin (and booze) advised me against starting the tapering plan right now. And i want to listen to him, he's very nice, he works with inmates and knows his facts. Today i'm also going to my psychiatrist, and tell her something about my current non-drus-related issues and of course about the ways to taper pk's. ANYWAY, LONG STORY SHORT, HAVING FOUND YOUR PRECIOUS QUOTE NOW, IN THIS TROUBLED MOMENT, I FELT ENCOURAGED AND MORE QUIET. I'm not only suffering from fybro SINCE CHILDHOOD, BEFORE I'VE EVER TOUCHED AN OPIOID OF COURSE ('xcept for the cough syrup at two years old lol), i also suffer from depression and insomnia, borderline personality, colitis and whatnot. I've been an on and off heroin addict for years, BELIVE IT OR NOT I'VE NEVER STOLEN, AS WHEN I WAS WITHDRAWING I JUST REPEATED MYSELF:"'XCEPT FOR THE CHILLS, I ALREADY KNOW ALL THESE PAINFUL SYMPTOMS, I'VE EXPERIENCED THEM, TIME BY TIME, SINCE MY CHILDHOOD, and so i used to "tough it out", at bed or even going out, ery often without comfort meds, sometimes drinking. Then i was put under low dosage bupe, as my level of addiction didn't justify not even a daily 2 mgs pills (here in Europe we've got this low dosage bupe called Temgesic, or the generic, each pill being.2 or .4, i.e. 1/10th or 1/5th of a small Sub - my therapy were.6). I relapsed to H almost evry time i had money and conncetions (in my town heroin is very expensive, and it was even more expensive in the early years of my on/off addiction). Then a violent earthquake happened, and i moved from town to another place, where i could score more easily, and was put on normal Subs, 1 to 3 mgs. When i returned to my hometown, there were no longer Subutex, and for two years i had Suboxone, and too bad i discovered that i was one of those patients that can have side effects from naloxone even orally (i have a natural disorder in endorphins level, that's the problem, and daily naloxone became hell for me). So i had to change to methadone for months, just 20 mgs, and i admittedly told my addiction psychiatrist that any time i had money to score i skipped dogfood and bought a bag or two. I don't care if someone says that i'm making up excuses in the "junky way": daily methadone weren't as hellish as daily naloxone-tainted bupe, but it made me feel weird and uncomfortable. Nowadays if i risk running out of my meds, i can drink two or three days liquid handcuffs with little to no problem, it's even pleasant, and so sometimes it was pleasant Subxone as well, for two or thrre days. But the longer i take 'em, the longer i feel discomfort, a discomfort that eventually leads me to suffer and to fybro/other issues worsenings. It's me that i had to suffer, not the doctors or the fuckin' judgemental folks, or the mafioso politicians and banksters!!! So, begging decent, respectful doctors for a more dignified life i was finally put on pain meds in order to avoid me seeking relief in the streets, and by time my dosage titrated to a point where i'd reduce relapsing a lot, heroin does not get me by the balls now, but pain pills do. But i once risked something worse: as they seen that i needed more and more therapy, they tried to make me taper in the psychward, but i can't, i have an explicit medical hystory showing that 99% antupsychotics give me horrendous extrapyramidal effects (and were i live if you undergo psychiatry it's almost impossible avoidng antipsychotics, if you have certain issues: thank God i found an anticonvulsivant mood stabilizer that keeps me well at low dosages and seems to reduce pk's side effects as well). I'm from a part of Europe where pain killers, EVEN THOUGH STILL BEING SUBJECTED TO A BRICKTON OF GODDAMN STIGMAS (people judge and scorns others' troubles and then when they're in the same troubles they demand the compassion they denied in the first place, that's old news, but still always detestable!!!...) are not socially widespread for the moment and PART of the public opinion tends to consider, say, oxycodone or other opies more like meds than like drugs - if they know their names at all. Anyway, back to the main point: ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR THE VERY SUPPORTIVE WORDS THAT YOU SHARED WITH THIS ON-LINE COMMUNITY YEARS AGO. THEY'RE STILL USEFUL TO SOME, AS YOU CAN SEE, AND I WANT YOU TO RECEIVE MY GRATITUDE. Be well, mate.