My Suboxone Experience
First thing, keep in mind that the following post / notes of mine was written before I did my suboxone taper and final jump off suboxone. Been off the sub for a year and 4 months now so this was written a long while back. Shows my thought process before I decided to take the next step. You can read how I went about my taper day to day in the post Suboxone Taper 101. My Suboxone Experience cont'd: (written about a year and half ago) If you are an addict, recovering addict or are just stuck and trying to get help; you understand when searching forums that useless posts that don't answer your questions regarding how to go about a suboxone taper and or how the withdrawal process is...it's f***ing frustrating. I just want to find the answers or discussions about what it feels like coming off the sub, can it be done, should it be done, is it as bad as coming off all other opiates cold turkey and so on. To date I have really only found one good site that gives some great info from both sides of the coin (suboxonetalkzone.com). There ARE alot of good forums out there and to everyone that visits these forums, I appreciate you taking the time to post. Just sometimes the direct question which is most important gets lost in just "talk". I have found a site and I'll list a couple more, but if you want to get some good info on what suboxone can do for you, what steps you should take overall, suboxone info, withdrawal info and straight to the point relevant stuff that you'll want to know...check out the following Here's the thing; we all read on the suboxone forums the posts / opinions that people put up. There are (on most) sites 2 categories that dominate the suboxone taper subject; the ways it can help you or the way it has helped others or maybe even yourself. Then on the other hand you get the real space cadets that think it is a clandestine project by the New World Order called Operation Octogon Mallard Duck. It seems on this side of the subject "THEY" (the NWO) are trying to get you to switch from your OLD brand of coffee to THEIRS. This theory goes on to state how once you have tasted that NWO Suboxone Java, you'll just never want to stop! The side effects associated with this myth is...that your brain will be picking up and receiving ELF, AM, FM and XM radio for the rest of your life.
My Suboxone Experience
What are the Suboxone Taper / Withdrawal forums giving us? Good info? Or just BS!
Comments (13)
i just started suboxone. The last being fenthal 75mcg. My question is does suboxone take the pain away. I have had 8 back surgeries and i am getting no relief for pain. will it take care of pain or is it just for withdraw?
22 days of zero suboxone after four years of use with two year morphine sulfate/tar heroin precursor. My message will be one of hope as I only experienced two weeks of physical withdrawal and tapered with the above mentioned 15 2mg sublingual films.
I believe the most important factors in this success have been a habitual work out routine coupled with the final decision to want a substance free lifestyle. Also, I cannot deny the sex drive debilitating effects and last, my decision to stop abusing suboxone by dosing it in unorthodox ways.
The quick version of my taper is as follows. I began with two weeks of .5mg. Following this was two weeks of .25mg. I made attempts to jump off at .125mg but kept dosing twice a day and so made my jump at .25mg. My method was placing a ruler against each end of the 2mg strip, using a pen I would place a mark every 1/16 inch, crating 8 equal thin strips that I would cut with scissors.
For the duration I held back from the temptation of using in ways other than how prescribed. I had always used it in either of these three methods: insufflate, plug, and or sublingual. Maybe it’s user habit but I found that when placing under tongue, I would think about re-dosing through the day far less or not at all. I would place an alarm an hour before wake up time, giving it this time to absorb as I slept.
The year leading to my taper, I became accustomed to 1-2mg a day. This in itself perhaps could be considered tapering, but it never was an organized decision. If I obtained more or simply wanted to get high I would spike my levels and insufflate or plug as much as I wanted.
It’s strange to think back on myself and recall how I never noticed the gradual change in my person. The almost complete lack of sex drive being the primary culprit. I began suboxone use at age 23 and by 27 felt as if I had erectile dysfunction. I also see more clearly how much of every moment I would dedicate to suboxone. As any junky will tell, with it too I had rituals. I would have to dose before interacting with people, as an artist before any creative venture or participation in almost anything.
For all who may also have sex issues similar to what I noted above, there is good news. No more than two weeks after use ended an immediate change was felt. Its hard to describe so I will just say this, when I see someone I find appealing I can now feel it in my chest. Heart rate increase a almost tingling sensation in chest is felt and the obvious intense erection.
I am at a loss as to what else to mention. It may be too early to note on PAWS or my emotional state, but I sleep well now and feel a natural happy high through the day.
Having medicated myself for the last six years, I find joy in getting to know my real self again.
82 days off today, as for PAWS I deal with acid reflux and what feels like gall bladder pain but isn’t I got that checked out. Some anxiety, stress, worry and laziness but not weakness. I do work now and I went from what seemed like a severe case of trance-like brain fog. I became all spiritual but now I am just me again. I currently noticed I am irritable but I regained my narcissitic attitude back. (Bad combo) I don’t really feel bad for the most part things seem good. I chair Heroin Anonymous in my area, even though to me the 12 step meetings seem sort of cult like since I’ve regained my mentality. However since I’ve become what I know as me again the cravings and urges have become nasty as I find myself hitting those mental blank spots ready to seek opiates again. Fortunately I stop myself or if I didn’t none of those people are home. At 82 days when do the cravings subside?
NP Go to the no withdrawals from suboxne page ,,, there are alot of comment on tapering down that I think will hep you alot. Sonds like yr trying to jump too soon and yr getting wds..Hope that helps,,,just remember this is a long SLOW proscless ,,but you wont feel like crao when you do jump Good Luck sorry for bad spelling
This is my second go round with subs- decided to quit aftre 12 days this time, first go round was over 100 days and the withdrawals were beyond ridiculous, this time i started with much smaller dosing– today is day 6 with no subs and i feel TERRRRRRRRRIBLE—i have to assume that my body is sub free at this point and im in regulard withdrawal– my first quitting try was cold turkey and this feels similar—just wondering if anyone had tips or a maybe a timeline before my body can reset it self, i tried taking some xanax to help y sleep and calm my anxiety but that def didnt work. Im still getting the leg kicks, hot and cold flashes, sweats, and runny eyes with yawns. This sucks but its been little over 6 days now without subs and 18 days clean, starting to go kinda nuts—body hurts and i am not sleeping at all.
Just wanted to add to all others condidering starting subs.A VERY GOOD Dr. is the most important thing to get.The quack i had wanted me to start on 16mgs a day!?!?Thank God i didnt take them all . I just took 8mgs a day for about a month.tryed to jump HA HA!! suprise?!?!?!? Started at 8mgs in Aug. now down to 3mgs and soon to 2.5… The whole trick to kick is slow slow slow!!!! I can go slow because Dr. gave me soooo many dont have to hurry!!??
I have been on sub ox for 4 years 8 mgs per day I was told i would be off in 6 months but Im think I am beyond tapering because of PAWS according to my doc Im on it for life NA basically threw me out as i wasn’t clean which i “thought I was” but then realized i was still taking opiates. Here is the deal 4 years later i am experiencing about 8 of the severe side effects all at once that says call your doctor immediately which i did and am waiting for a call back I have NOT increased my dose or decreased it just hit me all at one Ive had tremendous stress in my life loss of 2 family members in last 3 months Maybe that had something to do it or the addition of some benzos to the mix to help me calm down above what i was taking 2 mgs a day to 3 mgs
Anyone experience these side effects so late ??
I’m surprised and sad as I read thru these post of how long ya’ll have been on subs. You traded one addiction for another. I feel your pain as I have gone thru it myself. I was diagnosed with lupus and fibromyalgia when I was 23. I graduated fr college @ 29. So between school a not so great marriage and a young child my pain was out of hand. I stared out taking 2 lortab 7.5 2-3 times a day. It helped at first then I went to tens the two tens and at my worst 25-30 a day. To think about all the money, time, energy wasted on lortab. A yr ago to the day I managed to just take the 12 a day my dr prescripted. However I took them like clock em couldn’t tell when I had pain and when I didn’t. A friend told me about the subs and so I read all I could. I decided that I would take them for a week( at ten a pill I didn’t want to take them forever) so day 1:2-8′s day2:2-8′s day3:1-1/2 day4: 1-1/2 day5:1 day6:1/2 day7:1/2 then I was done. I was scared but surprised that I really didn’t feel bad at all. For me coming off tabs before was impossible! Sick as a dog would do anything to get more just to make that feeling go away. I started on sat and the next weekend went out of town. It was such a relief to go out of town without worrying if I had even tabs to last me!! I was finally free!!! I haven’t taken any narcotics since. I still have some sleepless nights and pain but I deal with it and know that tomorrow will be better… This might not work for everyone but maybe it will. I can’t imagine being on subs for a month let alone yrs. If u aren’t taking them but want to have a game plan I’m going to take them x amount of days then stop. It can wk I’m living proof of that.. One of the best decisions I ever made… Hope this helps.. Stay positive and look at the bigger picture..
Let me start by saying i was on subs for about 21 months now,
i have tapered early but was stuck on 0.5mg for about 5 months (i was scared to jump). Lately i got fed up and for the last 2 months tapered from .5 to about .3 (cut .5 in 3pcs.) for 2 weeks, then went down to .25 for 2 weeks, then went to half of that (0.125) for 2 weeks then i even went to 0.06.
I was nervous jumping off, but today is day 4 and i feel fine.
I had the mild stomach problems but nothing major at all.
And a tiny bit of depression. If i didnt know i was off subs i wouldnt have even noticed i was detoxing, its so mild.
But im on day 4 now and the sneezing subsized and its like nothing at all. TAPER LOW TO 0.06 AND JUMP
Thank you for clarifying that, suboxone Doctor. Suboxone is a great step in the recovery process, but not the ONLY step! It is so important to also be in recovery, otherwise you are just taking it to “get by” and not really dealing with the root of the problem.
That is so true. I have been on suboxone for 3 years xperienced much of the same. Thanks for the blog. I have also experienced many lifestyle changes. I am currently attending AA to keep me clean.
Suboxone can be a great alternative to traditional opiate addiction treatment. It is just a step in the recovery process and other lifestyle changes are required.
Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting.