Suboxone Withdrawal / Taper 101
My Suboxone Taper...
I have detoxed or gone through the hell-ish withdrawal off of "Pain Killers / Opiates" 3 times. My last and final time (which was my 4th) was off the suboxone after being on it for 2 yrs and about 9 months... Just some background so you know I'm not some novice putting my 2 cents in... Now, straight to what you are here for; some info on what an experience might be like for you coming off the sub / (suboxone).
My 6 Month Suboxone Taper:
1) During 2 yrs and about 9 months on suboxone I went from 16 mg (being at 16mg daily for that time) to 8 mg pretty quick with really no problems, really zero problems. This was not planned exactly. I just didn't need that much...I felt... and I had no physical / sick feeling during this quick drop. Stayed at 8 mg for about 1 1/2 years and then went from 8 mg to 4 mg in a couple months. NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.... BUT AGAIN I TOOK "MY" time.
2) In a 6 month period I went from 4 mg to 3 mg.. I then tapered to 2 mg in a few months. I did this and adjusted from 2 mg to 3 mg down to 1 mg....back and forth till I felt right at 2 mg...I did the taper, I went at my pace... I didn't let anyone else "push me" or tell me what the fuck to do. The final month or so I went from 2 mg to 1 mg then to .50..... I only felt a little shady when I dropped big amounts; like when I would drop from 3 mg to 1 mg to see how it would feel. I suggest you don't do this. You don't feel it right away, you feel it 3 days later... It's not bad though...you can adjust and do a 25 minute quick fix with a chip off your suboxone pill to make you feel better. It's funny how the "quick fix" is...; it is though a pain in the ass when it comes time to the ultimate repair work...ie. when you have to take the jump and get off the opiates or suboxone.
*Quick note* 90% of what I have written below regarding my taper process and what I went through while coming off the sub was from my notes / journal during my taper / withdrawal from the sub... I have edited only a little bit because I now have a clearer head and some of the thoughts I had when writing this were blurred. The following is what I went thru... Your taper and withdrawal process might go smoother or worse. Talk with your doctor first, if you can. If you have a stubborn or ignorant doctor, get a new Doctor before you taper or even if you just want to continue on suboxone.
One BIG point, just from my opinion. There is nothing wrong with long term suboxone treatment or even lifelong treatment with suboxone; again that's just my opinion... I just suggest that you should only quit if you feel like you have changed YOUR life SO much that, the person you were, is no longer alive.....or what I mean, your old self that was using is gone mentally.
SO....
3) Ok, D-Day minus 7: I went from .50 mg to .25 mg and actually less, the rest went in the toilet and I had alot of suboxone left. I suggest getting a $1.99 7 day pill box for your taper (that's what my girlfriend did for me). Sounds fucking lame but it helps you keep track of the dosage / suboxone taper process so you don't cheat (you'll only be fucking yourself if you cheat and it'll just take longer). It's just human nature to make yourself "feel better" and subconsciously you'll take "just a tiny bit more" and that will F**K things up. I am not a pro at the taper thing, I f***ed up a bunch of times; went up down, back and forth etc. Will power helped but my girlfriend (at the time) helped me alot by breaking the sub up and putting them in the daily pill reminder. Support is great but ultimately it's all the decision that you make for yourself in the end. I did feel a little "different" but not uncomfortable at .25 mg but I was ok. I think it was more mental than anything at this point.
4) Last .25mg at 8am on a Sunday morning. Went all day with NO PROBLEMS, slept fine and even had a steak that night for dinner.
5) (First +24hours) Monday Day: Morning...woke up fine, nervous though like I thought literally I would wake up with Death standing in the corner. Went about Monday ok. By the afternoon I was feeling pretty good, Cocky even.."Yeah F*** everything I read online, this is f**cking easy, my taper worked"!!!... Monday Night, actually slept ok.... Nervous still but ambien works great (I had written on my original site that Ambien CR "could or probably" would work better, NOPE, my bad....Bull Shit advice on my part!. Regular ambien kicks your ass right away and puts you right to sleep and doesn't "slowly" release like Ambien CR does; I suggest regular ambien). An additional piece of advice and you can take it or leave it. I would put the regular ambien in my mouth, but then bite it in two. For me it seemed to work faster and when you feel bad...every minute seems to count. Sleep is important but, you have to get up during the day and walk, jog, stay active so as you can get this shit out of your system. Staying active stimulates the natural chemicals that our brains use to produce natural opiates in our system...and with the substitute opiates being gone...it's best to give this process a kick in the ass. When you feel like shit, ...the worst of the worst... get up and walk even if it's just around the room. Next step, walk outside, then jog, then get pissed and fight this fucking nightmare off. Trust me, it helps.... it will hurt though both physically / mentally... it's your best option and speeds up the process.
6) (Day 2) Tuesday: Morning...Uh...Thought I was ok, I was very optimistic. Lost some speed and felt a little slow. Tuesday mid afternoon felt like I was weighted down. Uh oh... This is where I am suppose to write about how day 3 was all out Thermo Nuclear War, The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited and or then the 7th Seal of The Bible was opened and GOD said unto me "I shall let loose many apocalyptic pigeons and they shall shit all over your custom chopper...." and God smiled and it was ALL GOOD.... Well... Let's talk about day 3.
7) (Day 3 early am) Wednesday: Day 3 is where I should now be telling you that the 72 hour half life, once it's up is not that bad. Ok, sorry, just telling you the truth. The missiles launched...Castro, Khrushchev, Kennedy never worked things out and the pigeons did shit on my chopper. I woke up Wednesday morning around 3am or so and my girlfriend was talking to me, I freaked out I guess. I was crying, shaking, sweating...legs were all jumping crazy style... I was in pretty bad shape. Killed the situation though and went into negotiations with another ambien and broke out the xanax or the big guns to suppress the living nightmare. (suggestion: If you got xanax (from a Doctor), take them (not to much or don't take them if you have had some addiction issues with xanax / benzos), don't take them forever also, just during this whole withdrawal process; so don't stress about the f***ing posts on how you can get hooked on them; I mean come on (as long as you have not had issues with xanax), we're talking about a 2-3 week time frame here). 35 minutes later I was asleep and slept ok. Jumping off of regular opiates, this would have never happened, being able to sleep so quickly even with the help of ambien and xanax would have been impossible.
8) (Day 3 continued) Wednesday continued: Morning, woke up like I had the flu and just the flu. No flu X's 100, no crawly crazy feeling...surprisingly and thinking about it now; the cold sweats were not that bad either but I did get them. I did have restless legs so I just went with it. It wasn't out of control, it just bugged. . Another thing, I was and had been eating even though I was forcing it.
(Day 3 continued) Wednesday Mid-Day: Not good, same feeling, energy now going bankrupt. Split town Wednesday night to a small place outside of town and was there from then on out, or thru the somewhat ruff-stuff.
(Day 3 continued) Wednesday night: Slept ok, took 1 ambien and 1 (one) 2 mg xanax before bed.
9) (Day 4) Thursday: Energy was gone, did ZERO except watch "suspenseful" movies to keep my mind occupied during just miserable, but bare-able conditions, bare-able to a degree I would say, still f-ing sucked. Went for a quick walk that night and felt ok during that time. No major stomach problems though, so laying around was not a major hassle. Let me add, the stomach issues were not a "zero issue" but they were not horrible like coming off of oxy, vics or a full agonist.
10) (Day 5) Friday: Felt ok actually when I woke up..., still shitty but "ok" for most of the day. Went for like 5 walks and mixed it up with very short jogs (like 100 yards) throughout the whole day. I was able to do this due to positive thinking though along with being angry about having to go thru this whole deal...now looking back on it.
Walking or just doing anything physical; this made the feeling or withdrawal symptoms go away fast for a short period of time though. Even when you feel like you have zero energy to do anything; you just have to do it! Trust me, it'll help when it comes night time / sleeping. Any tiny bit of help is better than nothing, hu? You also have to force yourself to eat. I did eat and the problems that usually follow with full blown opiates were mild but still not good. The stomach issues I had with full opiate agonist withdrawals is what I really hated, everything just going thru you and in turn this makes you so weak. The Suboxone, even after almost 3 years on it, didn't give me the hardcore stomach issues I have had before with pills.
This condition of diarrhea dehydrates you and makes the "healing" process take longer cause you are weekend by hunger and basically malnutrition. This is just common f-ing sense...but as we all know; when you have no appetite it's just f-ing tough to think about food. I ate pasta, lots of scrambled eggs, cheese and toast...I know, sounds stupid. Eating this shit would have killed me and gone thru me while detoxing off of full opiate agonists (like pain meds, full opiates etc...). Since I have been thru the real thing 3 other times and knowing how bad it could be; I thought "What can make it any worse so might as well eat as much high protein and high fiber stuff as I can".
I was getting cocky again and stayed this way. If I felt I wasn't hungry... I ate, if I didn't want to walk..., I walked (I sound like Forest Gump?)....and when I thought I felt ok I had a drink (not a good idea and I don't suggest it at all). I drank (alcohol) Friday night and woke up Saturday feeling like I was back to how I felt on Thursday...ok, my bad on my part. Keep in mind you are fighting to keep your body a float a long with trying to keep your mind together and on coarse... so, again....don't mess with anything that can trip you up or that puts you back.
11) (Day 6) Saturday: Relaxed all day, went on my walks, ate, walked...ate... laid around and so on. Energy level still low, confusion, loss of creativity and in addition my anxiety level was running pretty high. Where I was taking my time for my taper / detox to do this was up in the mountains, so there was snow there...it was very cold... I actually was punching snow, like the hard packed shit. I did this cause I thought it would help my brain release some kind of endorphins... Not sure if it really worked, cut my knuckles up pretty good though, but it did get my mind off of how I was feeling (which was like shit) even if it was just for a few minutes. The stupid things we do out of desperation...
12) (Day 7) Sunday: Felt.....nothing. Not good, not bad....just nothing. That is better than feeling like shit I guess. Maybe I did feel like shit but I literally felt like I was in a fog. This part is hard to explain... I was just brain dead it felt like. It did concern me at the time.
13) (Day 8) Monday: woke up 3am wired. Wide awake. Monday was foggy and I was so tired from lack of sleep. Still felt shady like Sunday but now I couldn't sleep at night or during the day. My energy levels were still low. This is what I didn't get. I would be so tired during the day and the previous week I could sleep. Now I was tired all day and come 10:00pm when I wanted to go to bed I couldn't sleep at all, even with ambien.
14) (Day 9) Tuesday: Though I did sleep or had slept kind of, it had been so light that I remember even being in a slight dream state at like 1am and thinking "I am not getting any REM (rapid eye movement) sleep". I am no expert but I do read enough to know that getting a deep good night sleep and being in that REM state is when your body really does the repairing of itself and this is important, obviously. Being at day 9 and with night 7, day 8 and night 8 being the same, I felt like I was leveling out and that I would have to put up with this unfortunate now barely bare-able state for a while.
I could function but I was very jittery, confused, dizzy and when I walked up a flight of stairs, I would get a bouncing motion in my brain. This had not happened before coming off of hard opiates ie. being jittery, wired, fog like confusion and not able to sleep. Keep in mind, hard opiate withdrawals, sleep is questionable....it's like you are so out of it your body shuts down and makes you sleep or when you want to sleep that is when the shear nightmare hits and you are kicking like a mule and paranoia / anxiety is at its peak.
Also, I kept thinking that I was at like day 14 (when I was really at day 9). Keep in mind that the half life of suboxone / buprenorphine is 72 hours and you don't feel "like shit" till day 3 or so. Even though I consciously knew what day I was really at I couldn't break this feeling or thought. Any other opiate / pain med withdrawal lasts a minimum of 11 bad days, or it had for me. Off regular oxy, vics, etc... When you stop regular opiates let's say in the morning, you feel like shit that afternoon... You knew that the w/d's started and that the clock was ticking till you'd relapse or if you hung in there, you could be in the clear in 11 or so days. Off of full blown opiates I would feel shady for 11 or 12 days and bounce back fast after that (with 3 days of feeling a little off my rocker after day 11 or 12)... Don't get me wrong though, suboxone is still the best way to go cause it gives you time to break that "habit" and get your life back to normal. Plus as I'll write about this in another post; the sub detox is more of a pillow effect even though it feels like it lags due to the first 3 days of being in the clear, then it hits you, then it lags or drags on. I would take the suboxone route every time though...much safer.
(Day 9 continued) Tuesday afternoon and evening: After eating good, keeping myself force-ably hydrated and being overly stressed about real life situations; I was getting worn down mentally. I was at this point questioning was this going to go on for weeks? I wondered... "Am I going to be one of those people that I had read about in the "OH SO optimistic forums who took suboxone and that SOMEONE FRIENDS' COUSINS' DOG WHO SPEAKS ONLY ANCIENT LATIN had gone thru 4-8 WEEKS of w/d's before they started feeling even close to ok again due to the LONG half life"? Then you get the following line at the end of these idiots overly negative post..."Oh and by the way....everyone is different though so you might be ok". Wow! Supportive, negative, stupid and totally contradicting. These kind of comments really F**K you up; cause you now are wondering "Shit, am I going to be ok or am I going to go thru hell?...Is there any middle or gray area"? Bottom line for me... I felt like shit, but not like I was in the literal sense of hell like regular opiates... The suboxone w/d's, it just f**king bugged... I felt just so numb and brain dead. I guess I would say at this point I was really wondering "Did I maybe do some damage to my brain"? (This didn't happen though, just telling you what I was thinking and feeling at that time).
15) (Day 10) Wednesday: Woke up Wednesday and am feeling "normal" again, kind of, or so I thought. Feeling numb, no thoughts, zero creativity, didn't want to do anything and if I did I couldn't think of something to do. I was also still dizzy or had this bouncing motion. I want to add this also, not only did I feel my brain bouncing, but I would also visually see a bouncing motion, very bizarre and it did make me nervous.
At this point, I thought I was or should be in the second stage (whatever that means) of coming out of this. Cause of the lack of good sleep, I think or I now know I was suffering from sleep deprivation. Wednesday did not improve, got more tired, edgy, jittery and felt like I was wired on a coffee IV drip nonstop. What the F**K, am I going backwards? It's this back and forth feeling... One day you feel like shit, the next day for a few hours you feel ok... Then it's back to the same shit, of feeling, just that... like shit. Then new things start to show up, confusion...muscle aches. Hey, I want to clear something up. I would not classify them as "muscle aches" it was more like the cross section of my shoulders, my neck and the base of my skull were soar and cold? It was just f-ing annoying.
(Day 10 continued) Wednesday afternoon and night: This was getting ridiculous, almost getting worse. Stomach was somewhat ok though, I felt soar across the top of my shoulders and looking back I had during this whole time. I guess this was the crawly soar feeling from the suboxones' point of view, which I was cool with compared to a full agonist effect / w/d's. At this point of time (Day 10) I just had shit I had to do, that I had to get done and I had to get back to normal, not only physically but also mentally and work wise.
Venting time for Day 10: At this point or day 10 of being in the withdrawal process, this is what I was thinking.
"Since I had tapered so much and for so long, I expected or felt like I WAS OWED a very easy way out. Hey, I have been off all opiates for almost 3 years, I changed my life, I f*****g did my time, my taper and I changed my WHOLE F***ING LIFE! I DID THIS ON MY OWN, I DECIDED TO GET CLEAN WITH OUT FORCE, WITH OUT SOME LINGERING CONSEQUENCE that if I didn't get clean something would happen. I changed my life cause I WANTED TO! I don't owe anyone or have to pay up for anything, I have done my time...I DESERVE a free ride...." I wasn't talking to God, the Easter bunny or some fat clay pot dude... I was yelling at my past, the person I was, the choices I made. That person is still a part of me and either way, both of us co-signed on this "36 month loan" willingly.... Got to pay up sometime hu? My time was up. It's either "Pay up or keep charging", I opted to pay up.
Keep in mind the effects that suboxone (an antagonist) and agonist opiates themselves have on the brain when it comes time to face the problem. It's like the IRS and worse...They don't seem to care about time, excuses or circumstances; one way or another you're going to have to pay up. New phrase: Death, Taxes and then there are Opiates.
(Day 10 night time) Sleep was the same. Light sleep but what was pissing me off now is that I had felt like REALLY ok a couple times for maybe 30 minutes here or 45 minutes there. It was now just a tease. Regular opiates, from my experience don't do this as I have said. When you jump out of the plane with straight opiates you don't have a parachute and you're gonna hit the rocks hard. When you jump with suboxone you have a few positive options.
#1: You get to pull the cord at 25′ off the deck
#2: You have time at least to think about what you are going to do...
#3: That you get to pull a cord at all.
Still, I am not taking anything back I have said, it was still, in retrospect 90 Xs easier or let me put it this way....smoother than the hard crash off regular opiates where Hell feels like a resort. I'm just bitching and explaining what "I" went through...
16) Day 11: Thursday: The day was chaotic, things had to get done, I still felt the same though, confused, dizzy, anxiety, mentally and physically tired but unfortunately "tough shit" things had to get handled. So with an overstressed day, the lack of sleep, something was going to break and at Day 11, sure as hell isn't gonna be me. I thought at this point "Worse case scenario, Day 15 or 16 would be better, so only a few more days".
Thursday evening: Going thru my e-mails while my 4yr old son was in the hospital and while I had been at the hospital for 2 whole days (while feeling like shit and feeling confused). I had taken a small break from at least 3 of the 5 w/d feelings by staying busy and having to handle at the least 7 out of 10 things I had to do work wise to to keep my house; it was now 7pm at night. I was though still working at 110mph cause I had to... and the stress level I was at was still way high when...something came to my attention in a very subtle way.
About 30 minutes had passed while in this unusual work mode and I just realized something, the gun (w/d feelings) was NOT at my forehead anymore; I couldn't see it or feel it. I didn't have the anxiety or that threat in my face or feeling that any minute I would start feeling really shitty again. Being in a crowded environment at the time, with family and staff around (I was working on my laptop so it was pretty mellow) I literally looked left... and then right... and I mean this literally. I was thinking any second the gun is going to go off or the situation of 3 bullets and hearing "MEOW, MEOW" like from the movie the Deer Hunter was going to be the threat and anxiety that had been there the past 11-12+ days. I let myself relax, I let my muscles relax and I "figuratively" pulled the trigger and thought about what withdrawal symptoms I should be feeling... Just thinking that I felt like I had a 50/50 chance of the gun going off.... I heard a click. They seemed to be gone... (I was still not out of the woods or in the clear... I was still foggy but not really feeling that hard crappy feeling).
Thursday night: I was burnt out. Holy s**t I actually felt wiped out without feeling drained out. There was actually conversations going on between two old friends in my head, Officer Neuron and Lt. Receptor were talking and seemed to be having a beer. It's like 2 old friends that hadn't seen each other due to a falling out and now were shooting the shit and patching things up. I went home, and fell asleep EASY. This was the first heavy sleep I had in a week or more. Keep in mind I was always drained, but sleep at night was just impossible.
17) (Day 12) Friday: Woke up early that morning and I woke up tired. That was a big deal cause feeling tired from waking up was a big difference from being tired from lack of sleep. It's then that I realized I might be in the clear. By about 11am or so I realized I got a Green light on day 12 (not 100% but enough that I could start to move on). Mentally / physically I was at 90%, I still had a slight sourness in my shoulders but nothing that I cared about or that bugged me to the point that I couldn't concentrate on things.
I still felt around 90% but it's a hell of alot better than having felt at like 80%-85% and overall mentally feeling like I was regressing or deteriorating by 5% everyday. So Day 12 was for me the end of this s**tty ordeal (to a certain degree). I can say now of course that looking back on it, I don't think it was that bad. Again, most of all the stuff I posted up here was from my notes / journal I kept. It kind of helps to keep one and check it to see your progress day to day.....I didn't go over mine though or check my progress... I just kept notes. I was just thinking common sense wise especially if you have to go thru w/d's on your own (either way even if you have support, you really are going at it alone); it' just s a good idea to see your progress so you have some kind of support even if it's your own.
I didn't feel 100% till day 25... Listen, what I mean by this is that at day 25, I felt back to normal...Kind of.... To elaborate on this; it's hard to feel 100% after years of opiate dependence even if suboxone is an antagonist instead of an agonist. You can use these terms but these words don't mean shit to your f-ing brain...all your brain knows is that "the opiate bliss was there and now it's gone"....and big terms, definitions and so on are.....just words to us...but they don't mean shit to our minds... Our brains function on what it feels is normal or how our choices that WE have made have influenced how it thinks it should be working.
Suboxone can be a great tool so you can take a break from your drug of choice, from the PIECE OF SHIT PEOPLE that may have influenced your life...from the DOCTORS that push the oxy's, vics, percs, fentanyl etc for just stupid reasons "You got a headache, here is an 80mg Oxy, you'll feel much better and so will my wallet"...from the personal CHOICES you made if you got on this rollercoaster willingly or not.... Maybe something happened though where if you had to take them cause of a real medical issue, they (the doctors) either keep you on them, which is a majority of the cases due to commission, misinformation and or they yank you off them after the cow has been milked cause they don't want their DOPE sales license cancelled.... Suboxone can get you back on track ...
The above paragraph sounds like a f***ing commercial BUT, just so you know, I don't represent the manufactures of suboxone. I lose money on this site, but since I get so many incredible emails and "thank you's"... I keep stepping this site up and will continue to do so. I only hope that this site gives you just that..."hope".
Brian
info@suboxonetaper.com
Comments (333)
day 12 sorry
brian, its day and i am starting to feel alot better!! thanks again for the site man it really helped pull me through. not saying im in the clear yet. im just doing the one day at a time.
thanks bro!
corey
Hahahahahahaha I’m so hurt,I’ll keep posting just to keep annoying people, cus it’s fun being an idiot (which I am).all you dope pheens get so god damn emotional.cry me a river
Wow, oxyman, so much love in the air with you! Will you be my hero! I want to be just like you when I get off suboxone! All bitchy and trying to start fights. You are the poster boy for recovered suboxone addicts!! Man, you are so cool! (Actually you are an idiot and have no business posting on this site)
Paul you really are so corny. Before I go on with my 3rd grade education of a bash, I do have to say that I love to smoke pole. I hope you relapse just cus your so corny, and like I said I’d slap the shit outta you if I seen you in queens, you sound just like all the dirty white boy dope pheens out in queens. Hopefully your zoloft kills you or something.ill be praying for it. your jus like every other lil bitch out there that needs a pill for everything.you know how corny you sound thanking some dude who put his highly exaggerated story of quitting subs on the internet.I’m happy you found a friend though, sounds like your depressed from getting no ass and having no friends cus of your dirty little habit.does mommy still tuck you in at night.I’m sure she does. Anyway like I said before you were dumb enuff to let a doc tell you that u needed sub for that long so you deserve the wd pain ,cus of ur stupidity. I shot 3 bundys a day and did sub for a month and never went back to dope. So any1 wit half a brain out there know this, you will wind up jus like homo Paul if you let a doc keep you on a drug he’s making a fortune off of for a year or two.it’s all about money to the sub docs. Take it from a former heroin addict, short term suboxone use leads to minimul or even no wd pains. And everyone reading this Paul is my BITCH and I guarentee he replies to this by trying to sound all smart by typin his words out completely.o and he probably gonna say something like , I feel bad for you oxyman or sum homo ass shyt he’ll come up with. Just die already Paul
Oxyman/Adds….whatever your homoerotic obsessed name is…I think what would scare ppl the most is winding up like you. You really are as dumb as it gets. Your words typify the new yorker “telephone toughguy” behavior I mentioned previously. I pity you.
Thanks Brian! I am feeling the plateau the last few days. I even did a little kung fu in the bed last night. But I know it just comes back in waves here and there and I just need to wait it out. Still feeling confident after 3+ weeks and have come too far to ever consider turning back now. I am feeling lethargic and foggy today but I just keep trying to push myself. Despite the plateau still very pleased to feel opiate-free. It kinda gives me a sense of freedom. I travel alot for work to countries where its banned so its good to not have that liability anymore as well.
Paul u r so gay man, why dnt you meet up with Brian and blow back his short hairs ,if u idiots just took suboxone for a month or two instead of a year or two u wldnt be goin through such bad withdrawals. You morons are scaring the shit out of people with your stories of horrible withdrawals from sub. And you were both dumb enough to let a doctor who is basically a legal drug dealer tell you that you needed to be on sub so long. For all you people out there tryin to come off sub , dnt let these morons scare you, it really ain’t that bad. You just gotta man up and not be a lil dick ridin bitch like Paul.and Paul anytime you wanna be called a bitch to your face just head to suphtin st. And 119th ave. In queens,NYC and I’ll be waitin to let u know what’s really good
Paul,
What can I say, you’re kicking ass. Don’t get discouraged though if you feel a…like plateau effect for like 10 days. Paul, I mean…you’ll physically not be shitting yourself and will be able to get from one place to another but you (might) feel kind of foggy….mentally blank…etc.. That will pass quick and you’ll be in the clear before you know it. Keep it rollin and hope all works out dude.
Brian
SuboxoneTaper.com
Corey,
You’re welcome bro…. Hang in there… It’ll get better I swear. It’ll fucking suck but it is what it is…and It will pass… Best of luck to you and….how can I say this… I’m glad you’re on day five (or was, cause I lagged on checking my site) PLUS…. Again, hang in there, all the “normalness” will come back. After that, just stay clear of any pills or opiates.
Brian
SuboxoneTaper.com
Corey-hang in there man! I think the fidgety leg thing was the worst part of it for me! Pretty damn annoying when you are trying to fall asleep and have to move your legs every 5 minutes. grrrr! Be strong man! We are all supporting you! You can do it!
Your discription and time line was pretty much word for word what I went through while quiting Suboxone. On day 13 and feel about 90%. Thanks so much for posting your daily logs.
ok man, m at day 5. i didnt sleep to well last night and just f-ing fidgetted all night with a short period of mild cramps.
thank you so much for this sight. it really helps me keep focused and gets me thru the day
brian, man thank you so much for this report on what the w/d was like for you. i am on day 4 now and this diary just brings me alot of hope!! I relate to every word you said till now so far. thank you so much!
sincerely,
corey
Hi Brian. I really appreciate you keeping this site up and running. I have been off only for roughly 3 weeks. I actually feel good enough that i stopped counting the days!
The first time i came off it was a living hell. And when i thought about coming off this time i was terrified that it would be the same as before. But with the long taper and getting down to 0.5mg for a month I have to say it was waaay easier this time. Nowhere near as bad as the first time. Im not saying I skip down the road singing everyday but there are good days and bad days and it is definately liveable and bareable. Last time I almost knew I wouldnt be able to make it because i never felt much improvement but this time I am full of confidence because I can feel the difference and am seeing improvement as days go by. A big key was finding the right doctor who worked with me and also tried to help me with the underlying cause of my addiction which is for me depression.
Paul, good deal bro… Never really get good news like this on here… You still off and good? Also, how long? Im wondering personally cause dude, I haven’t heard of anyone, well, not really…of being in the “green” and staying clear after being off suboxone for more than a couple months. I have been good for a almost a couple years now; just good to hear someone else made it out.
Brian
SuboxoneTaper.com
Daniel…. You are focused, pissed, educated and on a mission… Great post! Stay on this course and you’ll be just fine, this is how I was.
Thanks Daniel and good for you. I know how bad sub WD can be. But I have been off now for a couple of weeks. Some days are better than others but I am actually able to feel happy at times. It is uncomfortable getting down to 0.5mg a day but soooo worth it at the end. You can do this!
Keep posting and let us know how ur doing….
Adds- That was about the most ignorant comment on a drug sit (which goes to show you how bottom barrel you are) that I have ever read.
I have been on zoloft for years for depression. There is no effect from it. I had a normal life until I went on sub 3.5 yrs ago. I tried jumping at 4mg lasted for 2months went back on. This post and and Pauls comment give me hope.
Oh- and clonidine is a blood pressue med. If you are going to post, know the difference between SSRIs, benzos, benzo-molecular similar substances (Ambian), bood pressure etc. It is very basic pharmacological stuff.
I eventually want to stop SSRIs but they do not have the horrible side effects that Sub has.
SUBOXONE TAPER/And PAUL- Thank you for giving me hope. I am going to do a slow taper from about 6mg presently. Thank you so much- because there is a lot of gloom and doom out there to the point that I was wondering if I would have to stay on the rest of my life.
Clonidine not Klonopin a-hole. Neither of which are opiates.
Zoloft treats my depression which is the reason i began abusing opiates in the first place. Would love you to call me a bitch to my face you internet tough guy.
Paul u may be opiate free but u still on pills , stop bein a weak lil bitch! Taking klonopins and zoloft , yeah ur a real success story. People come to this site for help and dnt always have access to klonz and zoloft so ur pathetic sub story is useless for peeps who are actualy gonna deal with wds, cclown ass nugga
I have been on Suboxone twice. The first time I was on it for about a year and jumped off at 8mg a day. The WD was horrible. It lasted like a month and then I had PAWS for about 4 months and eventually got back on vitamin O.
Second time I was on Suboxone for 2 years. This time I tapered down very slowly to 0.5mg which I maintained for about a month then I walked off and had two or 3 bad days and was almost normal by day 4. Its amazing this time around. I have been off for about 10 days now and feeling very normal except some anxiety. I began zoloft a month before coming off and I had clonidine and ambien ready. Still using the ambien to sleep and taking clonidine during the day as needed. But wow, I was expecting this one to be bad and it was pretty damn easy. I love being opiate-free! Such a sense of freedom…
I found arthritis pain reliever (Tylenol or generic) helps with the leg cramps and headaches. Make sure it says arthritis on the bottle. It really helps!!
24 mg is riculously high amount of sub to be taking daily for two years. Sounds like your doc was trying to make more money off you, I was bad with shooting Dope and was only on 16mg a day which I cut dwn to 4 mg a day within a month , Im sorry but I dnt think you have enough sub left for a successful taper because your trying to come down from soo much, if you can cut It down again to 2mg u may have hope, I did 4 mg for two weeks daily then 1 mg in mrnin and 1 mg at nite for two weeks and then did as little as possibly daily til the Wds were bearable, good luck but again you are comin down from so much so fast you may still exp horrible wds
I have been on Suboxone for two years, 24mg per day. I have rotator cuff surgery scheduled for 4/22. My surgeon and anesthesiologist were ready to do a special protocol for pain management after the surgery. This was neceesary because of my not being able to follow their normal Vicodin protocol. Suddenly, my Suboxone clinic goes belly up. They are not answering their phone or responding to fax requests for my Suboxone refill. I can’t postpone the surgery while I hunt for a new Suboxone doctor. My last search to 2 months on the phone trying to find someone who would take new patients. I have begun tapering and I’m miserable with both pain and withdrawal. I have been down to 4mg per day for 3 days now. If I hadn’t done a rapid taper, I would be out of Suboxone. I have about 15 8mg tablets left. If anybody has a tested successful taper schedule that will allow me to start using standard surgery protocols including sedation and pain relief beginning at 530am on the 22nd, I am all ears.
Try just licking a piece of sub when in final days of tapering, sounds funny but licking the sub gave me that minimul dose I was looking for, I did this whenever I couldn’t sleep and it worked wonders, hang in there addicts, I know it sucks but being free of opiates and sub are the best thing that ever happened to me
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement, TCS. I’ll post how it goes when the time comes.
Jkr, I did a pretty fast taper from being on subs for 11 months. I’m at day 8 and I’m fine. Pretty much back to myself. I went from 3/4 for 5 days 1/2 for 5 days and then 1/4 for 5 days. Days 3&4 were pretty bad but everyday after that got better. ‘specially when I got good deep sleep on nite 5 (I think it was). If your already down to 3mg, just keep weaning yourself. I’m a big baby when it comes to anything unpleasant, so if I could do it and still work while going thru wd, anybody can. It’s not that bad, as long as you stay busy to keep your mind off of how your body is feeling. This site really helped me get thru my bad days. Cuz all I wanted to do was lie around and throw myself a “pity party”. But after I read how Brian got up and moved around, when he felt like doing nothing, & eating even when he didn’t want to, it worked. Just be strong and you can get thru it. You didn’t wanna be dependant on an opiate before, so why would you wanna be dependant on any other chemical? I’m not downing suboxone by any means. But our whole goal is to be free from the confines of any chemical. Right?
Tcs
It’s great to have a site that’s active and up to date. I posted this question in a different article but this one seems to be the most recent, so i’ll repeat it here.
I’ve been on suboxone since september 2007 after about a year of using various opiates, starting with vicodin and ending on about 3-4 oc 40s a day. i’m now taking about 3 mg a day suboxone.
i have 5 8mg suboxone left, and no current income or funds for my next appt and rx. i’ve been out of work a few months, looking for work, hoping i’d have an income before running out of funds to continue my treatment. but it looks like i’m gonna run out before getting work or recieving any pay, even if i land a job before running out, i’ll just run out before my first check.
i’m vexed about what to do. the suboxone works, physically, but i feel like i’m on a treadmill, stuck going nowhere, and feel i’ll always be dependent on it. so i lack motivation to do anything, since the more i do, the more i depend on suboxone. it’s very depressing. i’m leaning toward the option of taking this time off to go through the w/d rather than re-starting the cycle of having a job, needing suboxone, and working just to afford it and avoid w/d. i feel like i’m frozen in time and will just go on for years, getting nowhere, lacking motivation, lacking freedom, but working to pay for suboxone and avoid withdrawal, which i fear.
any advice would be appreciated, especially regarding how to ration my remaining 5, 8mg suboxone, if indeed i have to face the inevitable and jump off.
should i stop immediately, allowing the w/d to take effect, thereby lowering my needed dose, in order to manage the w/d. or should i continue taking my normal dosage until i flat run out and jump without a parachute?
or do i have enough to do an effective taper?
thanks for your site and advice,
jkr
I broke down and took a quarter ambien last night just so I could actually sleep since everyone around me has been calling me raccoon eyes. Today is day 6 for me and I actually don’t feel that bad. ‘specially cuz I actually got some deep sleep last night. My suboxone detox has been backwards from yours tho. I started getting sick right away and havnt been sleeping nor had energy since day 2. But things r lookin up today. I just hope I don’t “teeter totter” like you did. Thanks again for this site.
Oh and I wanted to say, it’s hard to explain to others how you are feeling coming off suboxone but you hit the nail on the head.
I’m currently on day 4 of coming off suboxone so forgive me if my words aren’t clear. Your post was great! All I kept reading about was ” you won’t feel better for 3-4 months” and I was like what?!?! I am so glad to finally read a journal version of someones experience. Your writing about punching the snow made me actually laugh! I havnt even smiled in 4 days. I got rid of the old people in my “oxy” life & don’t have anyway to get anything for the sleep. I tried benadryl and it worked one night but 4 hours later I woke up. Then next night I stayed awake thru the benadryl so I stoppped taking it. I am a waitress and I have been working everyday thru this! It does suck! ‘specially when i gotta carry the big trays with food (which I used to carry easily) but now they feel like a 1,000 lbs! Anyway just wanted to thank u for your site! People like you, help people like me! Thanks!!!! :)
im Jim,in the uk.I have tried 2 cum of suboxone b4r,but have put the dose back up as the wds r pretty bad…but no where near as bad as methadone.Im on 8mg n was gona half the dose to 4mg 4r a while but it means i will feel terrible 4r weeks.Now im thinking i will take an 8mg suboxone every 2nd day as that way i will get a “normal” every 2nd day.I have never read about anyone trying this route n would appreciate a bit of feedback.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I feel like crap, so I’m not in any condition to write something meaningful, but finally I found sometihng about sub and tapering that speaks to me. Thank you for your honesty. I’m counting the days and now see a little, tiny light at the end of the tunnel.
My daughter has been on 16mg suboxone for 9 months, she is now considering switching to metedone because sub. is too expensive what are your thoughts on both of these drugs
Brian,
Thank you forwriting this. I have been on suboxone for almost a year now. It has saved my life. Like you, I have heard the horror stoires of people telling me that they didn’t feel normal until 60 days off. I have had a few friends that have made it to 45 and then got back on because they couldn’t take it anymore. I don’t want to go through that at all, so hopefully my eventual detox goes more like yours.
Hi people am from the UK and we have 0.4 and 0.2 subutex here. I was on subutex for 4 years and now am 5 weeks off it and honestly its not been bad at all. I think you guys in the States dont have the lower doses as we do as they make a hell of a difference weaning down. I had some sleep issues but valium and zopiclone took care of that. I also agree on the excercise, that is a must. Makes for better day and better sleep. You just need to wean slow and properly and no spiking and no doing big decreased. Stready is the way to go. Some people jump from a high dose, some wean too fast, some just dont change their addictive mind thats why they suffer. You really need to go slow. Also i used britlofex which is lofexidine, simmilar to clonidine in the U.S i believe. So that helped a lot. Also codeine i used, i used these meds for 2 weeks tops, thats all. Now months off i feel great. If you got worries about something then its best to rectify them before you wean down and stop. Hope everyone has a reasobale detox as i did.
Awesome info here Brian. This is my second time on Suboxone. I’ve been on 24mg a day since March 2008. I started tapering a few weeks ago and I’m now on 12mg/day. My first go-round with suboxone was in 2004. I was on 24mg/day for about 8 months. On June 10, 2004 I just decided that I was done, no tapering, I just threw a whole rx of them in the toilet. I don’t remember feeling bad physically at all. But all kinds of weird things happened. At 30 hours off, my dog and all the neighborhood dogs were talking to me which was kinda cute and all. By the time another 24 hours went by, I thought I had made a deal with the devil and I could send people to hell by sheer will. And I am person with ZERO mental health history, just substance abuse. By the 80th hour off suboxone, my ex husband was signing mental health commitment papers for me, I presented that off my rocker. And I was–believe me, I remember every weird thought, belief, and idea that I had…it was all so real, so bizarre….I was released from the mental ward after 4 or 5 days with a clear head. Physically I didn’t go thru anything. I’ve detoxed a few times from oxycontin, heroin, and 5 yrs of methadone treatment–I know how bad it sucks…..Not sure what to expect this time. I’m thinking that it might not be too bad but I will be watching for my dogs to talk to me. As crazy as it was, it was almost easier than physical-type withdrawl but I have to admit it was really scary….Some of the things that I thought and believe were just so…..I dunno…I really felt like I had tapped into something that I shouldn’t have been messing with; the dark side, evil. Everything was heaven vs. hell, God vs. the devil…and I kept going with the wrong choices. My ex did the right thing by calling the police and 911 and having my ass hauled off. I was certified nuts. It was weird as hell.
Forgive me Brian and everyone, but i just gotta post this-
To: “Jamie” who posted on 1/6/10…you are a sad and misinformed individual…
Put your pipe down, you are on the wrong website..try one for crackheads…
And dont tell me or anyone what to do as you are a negative person who is most certainly lost….
you asked for it!!
LMAO
well i’ve been to hell and back, 11 days off sub, take your time if you can, taper slowly, i have some pressing issues finances, etc…. but if i can do it anybody can, and im a big wimp. the first 4 days were in the bed and then all the symptoms grad get alittle better everyday……dont give up.
I’ve been off sub now for 10 days and still fell like total shit……..i was expecting after the 5-7days in bed i would be a new person BULLSHIT! (my opinion) I tapered slowly over a month and when i jumped off i was “out of IT” for several days, mainly wanted to sleep thru it, but when my week off word was up, i could barley move my legs, they HURT so bad, and i mean it took everything in me to get my children to school, went to work then left bc it was way too much pain for work. How long is this going to last?i mean damn i did a (by my standards) a 4 wk horrifiic taper with acute panic attacks…..now im taking xanax to keep that at bay, never had one until now, just hoping im not screwing up taking this xanax for the acute (not exaggerating) panic attacks…..this sucks but i gues it is my cross to bear.
Thanks Michael… Just thought, why not put what I truly thought out there. I have a shit load of sites that are totally un-related to this issue and I have moved on after this horrific ride…the thing is though, I spend alot of time reading on a daily basis what people are writing on this site. To me, this site is still very personal to me and that is why I keep it up. I don’t post much anymore cause I feel that I have ranted enough and the I hope that this site helps others like yourself relize there is a way out. Thanks again. By the way, there is a post I am writing currently I think you’ll get a kick out of…. I’ll have it up soon.
I am currently on day 7 of my Sub detox. Dude I read your post 2-3 time a day. This is the first time I have ever came anywhere freaking close to someone literally explaining the emotions and feelings and pains and emptiness and hopelesness and all the nasty BullS##T that the human body can do to a person. I really thank you for everything you wrote
Nevermind, just found them. Must have been this slow ass computer. Thank You very much!!!!
Yeah, I still want to see my previous post…. Your not off the hook yet there buddy! lol No, but seriously I would love to read what I wrote 4or5months ago if you still have it around somewhere?
I LOVE the picture of your “taper”!!! I find that pretty freaking funny. Well, this is the same Matt that has written before but my comments weren’t posted. I ended up putting myself inpatient because I was taking around 100mg’s of suboxin daily. Ahhh, now I’m down to 3mg’s and have been at 6mg and lower since I did go inpatient in Oct. ’09. Today is Jan. 31st ’10 and I feel very, very, very fortunate that I have most of my life back. I was very uneducated about addiction and suboxin even though I thought I was. Now, I’m going to college to become a social worker and help the people that were just like me (all of you that is). Of course I want to be totally off of suboxin before I help people but I figure I have about 3years of schooling ahead of me still and there’s NO RUSH! This is a great website, but I am pretty dissapointed my previous comment didn’t make it up? Oh well, not worth fussin about. I think this is a great website and I’m going to start my own suboxin website soon letting people talk to each other about this CRAZY drug, medication!!!!
great website! background – i was taking about 140mg of oxycodone per day for the last couple of years. i was on various pk’s only intermittently the preceding 10 years (cluster headaches). i have 3 children and my husband hasn’t a clue about what i’m going through. i understand the importance of honesty in this process, but i’m unable/unwilling to let my husband know anything just yet.
i’ve just started a 49 day taper which i’ve pretty much designed (with a dr’s input). i plan to go from 16mg per day down to 2mg per day, skipping every other day the last 10 days or so. i’m on the 4th 16mg day as i write this. my question is, will i set myself completely back if i take 1/2 or 1 vicodin (5/500mg) a day during the immediate post suboxone period (days 50-60)? the answer may be obvious perhaps. i just have to “take my medicine” and be opiate free and the 12-15 days of hellishness are unavoidable and the vicodin will only drag it out if not completely sabotage me…
let me know if anyone has any thoughts.
TG
Very Nice Writing Brian.
Pat, its not that hard at all! I think the purpose of this website, and I hope Bryan the creator will agree with me, is to give people hope that suboxone works for treating addiction. Read the website and not the comments from all the wackos.
I have been taking Lortab for 2yrs. I started out taking one every 4 hours for pain from cancer. Up until 2 weeks ago I was taking 8-10 per day 7.5/500 mgs. I ran out and couldn’t get a refill so after about 3 days without I didn’t sleep all night and had terrible leg aches, jitters and felt terrible. I went to a drug treatment center and was told I could either admit myself (which I didn’t want to do) or be treated by a counselor and be given suboxone. I chose the later and have an appt this week to start treatment. In the meantime I called my dr and was given 30 Lortab to get me through until my appt. I am now taking 4-5 tabs per day and doing ok. I have been reading all these posts and am now terrified I won’t be able to get off the suboxone. Is it really that hard?