Avoid Suboxone Withdrawal; Only Two are Needed!

the naloxone is there to deter users from abusing (shooting) the drug. and it doesnt matter if they are strips or pills...you can still dissolve them correctly and abuse them. it doesnt "stop the withdrawls" at all. I don't know why you think that or where you get your information from, but you are WRONG.

Ya know screw all this arguing sh*t. I didn't think of this option in the beginning until I received my email but In reference to the original person seeking advice, JHamilton, you don't have to worry about all the back and forth BS here. Just go to this website. www.heretohelp.org. This is a 24/7 website and call center for anyone having any questions on suboxone and detoxing. They send out weekly inspirational email on advice for the topic and they have a 1-800 number you can call anytime like I said sorry about forgetting about this the original post. Hope it helps

Thank you Guest. Finally got the answer I was looking for. 5 days on suboxone will put you into withdrawals, give or take depending on your body

Damn you don't know sh*t! Naloxone in Suboxone does not do ANYTHING AT ALL! IT is actually only a deterrent (a useless one at that) to shooting it up. It is just in Suboxone to scare people from abusing it. The Buprenorphine is what blocks other opiates from working. It has a stronger binding affinity to the opiate receptors than any other opiate...it also binds stronger than Naloxone, making the Naloxone completely useless. The only reason so many more people take Suboxone instead of Subutex or generic Subutex, is because DRUG REPS for SUBOXONE sell the sh*t out of it with their BS marketing! Someday...no day soon unfortunately...the truth will be brought to light. So what I am trying to say is, TIFF, SHUT THE f**k UP! DON'T ACT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKIGN ABOUT WHEN EVERYONE ELSE KNOWS THE TRUTH! 4 people to 1 person...hmm....wonder who is right?

Suboxone and subutex have been around for years (Temgesic, Buprenex), it was only semi recently that they were used for drug maintenance at much higher doses, at least officially. The naloxone component is only there to deter abuse, with the theory being that if IV'd, it would block the Buprenorphine actions. Naxalone has no effect when ingested orally, only via IV or IM. The truth is that the Buprenorphine binds very tightly to the opioid receptors, nearly or equally as strongly as the Naloxone, so in reality it doesn't block the drug nearly as much as it would a full opioid agonist (Oxy, Heroin, Hydro). Buprenorphine, which is the ingredient in Subutex, has been around for decades and used for pain relief initially, although in much lower doses. Because Buprenorphine is only a partial agonist, there is a ceiling to their ability to ability to induce euphoria, so you can get buzzed from it but not much more.
  The downside to this stuff is the long half life and action. Remember the golden rule...the shorter the half life of an opiate, the shorter the withdrawal. Both Methadone and Buprenorphine have long half lives so their withdrawal period is longer than Oxy and the like. The dose used for pain relief is in the order of 70 MICROgrams, which is about 25 times less than a 2mg Suboxone...the difference of taking one 5 mg Percoset VS 25 Percosets. So even if you decrease your dosage down to 1MG a day, it is still at least 10X the amount used for pain relief (in non opiate tolerant patients). When most people think they can wean down to 1mg a day then quit, there is still a long way to go before you are free of the drugs effects. It is the difference between quitting a 10 bag/day heroin habit cold turkey and quitting a 1 bag/day habit, only the withdrawal is a lot longer.
   If you are coming off of Suboxone, your best bet, to avoid serious withdrawal issues, is to dissolve the stuff in a measured amount of water, then continue tapering. If you dissolve a 2mg sub into a cup of water (8oz), 1/2 of the water/sub mix would be the same as 1 mg suboxone, 1/4 would be the same as .5mg suboxone, 1/8 would be .25mg suboxone, etc. By tapering down this way, instead of going to 1mg and going cold turkey, the withdrawals are much, much easier. This method takes a lot of time, but gradual tapering is the only way you are going to avoid nasty withdrawals. If you stick with it, you will be surprised how effective this method works...Buprenorphine is very potent and a very small amount still has active effects.
   For those who think I'm full of sh!t and don't know anything, I'm in my mid 50s and have been using since my early 20s, in one form or another. I have had monster habits several times, but now I'm happy with lower doses simply because I hate being sick when on the high dose merry-go-round. If you want to get clean, I applaud your decision as it isn't an easy task! Tapering is the only way that your body and brain can adjust to the sudden lack of their receptors being full, without being miserable.

Jimster is absolutely correct. Naloxone is ONLY bio-available when injected, as opposed to orally available opiate blockers like naltrexone. Buprenorphin, on the other hand, is actually what does the opiate blocking when you take EITHER suboxone or subutex. You see buprenorphine has such a high bonding affinity (the tendancy to bond very tightly) for the opioid receptors in your brain and throughout the rest of your body that it is very hard, almost impossible in fact, for other opiates to bond to those receptors. Hence the blocking effect. Here is a fun sub fact: because of this extremely high bonding affinity people on sub (either form) maintenance are in trouble if they get injured because it is VERY hard to get any kind of strong analgesic (pain killer) to override the buprenorphine. In this case the sub user generally has to be injected with a healthy dose of fentanyl to, in simple terms, kick the buprenorphine off of the receptors, as fentanyl is really one of the only opiates strong enough to.

So point being there is a lot of misinformation out there about subs, and if I had a nickle for everytime someone has told me "You can abuse subutex because it doesn't have the blocker," I'd be rich. These kinds of statements are only true in so far as you cannot IV suboxone (but I've even heard of people doing that to no ill effect), nothing more.

Anyway, because of the high bonding affinity of both types of sub it is best to get on and get right off. Start with the lowest dose possible and try and wrap things up quickly, always titrating your dose lower each day. The jumps don't need to be massive, and shouldn't be if you have been on subs a while, but work towards sub-free a bit more everyday. When I tapered off subs I got down to a 32'nd a day (in about ten days, started at a half) and then spread doses out an additional six hours each time after that until I hit three days between 32'nds and I had ZERO withdrawals. Oh and if you want to do it this way I suggest strips because they are much easier to measure as you can just cut them to the appropriate size. The pills tend to crush if you try and go lower than an eighth.

Other good things to have on hand:
Immodium - if you get the runs, problem solved. Actually is a very weak opiate (not strong enough to cross the blood-brain barrier and get you high) and will take away most if not all gastro-intestinal problems. They are annoying.

Clonadine and maybe Propranolol - these are both blood pressure meds but help an incredible amount with the anxiety, teeth grinding, raw nerves, restless legs, etc. If these cannot be found you COULD take a benzo, klonapin is best, but keep in mind these are VERY addictive, so if you go this route no more than 3-5 days, alright?

Welbutrin - this was originally created as an anti-depressant, but is now generally prescribed to smokers and other addicts. Will give you a little boost to your well-being and somewhat help take the cravings away. Very, very helpful.

Trazadone or an over-the-counter sleep-aid - you will not be doing much sleeping and every bit of help in that department counts.

Thera-flu - helps some people that get the really cold flashes.

Advil, Tylenol, Alieve - for the aches and pain. I never take these as over-the-counter analgesics just don't do it for me anymore. But they do help some people.

If you are SUPER lethargic L-Tyrosine and B vitamins do help. They can be found at any supplement shop.

A doctor should prescribe you any of these if you tell him/her what is going on. Always see a doctor in fact as they will always understand and try and help. Though, I do agree with earlier posters stating that some doctors will want to put you on long-term sub maintenance - avoid this by telling them you are interested ONLY in quitting in a timely manner, not switching one habit for another.

Good luck everyone! Quitting sucks but you'll be so glad you did! Cheers.

I'm am really glad to see a thread on this topic. I am currently takins 1 mg of Suboxone off the street a day. I was clean for almost a year before recently relapsing. And I am in such a precarious situation right now because I really don't want to go to a doctor and get put back on Suboxone because it that happens and I get put on 8 or 16 mg a day it is over with. I do agree with the people who said that Suboxone was great and it made them feel as if they did before ever taking opiods because I was once there and with a docs prescription little monatary consequences u may actually forget u even have a problem. Around 2 years ago I had been on Suboxone approx 2 years and was on 6 mg a day. I had got engaged and decided to quit taking Suboxone and bought 1000$ worth of opanas. Long story short I got arrested with them. The first time being arrested in my life. Before being prescribed Suboxone when I was 18 I inherited around 80000$ and was using around 5 80s a day or whatever opiods I could find. The money eventually ran out and by this time I was having major problems maintaining a job or staying in college. FYI I never was an iv user but I'm not sure what difference that makes I was going through extreme withdraws if I did not have anything so I got on Suboxone and I remember at that time no one knew much about it. At that time I attributed my life being changed for the better because of this drug. I know that it was my fault for getting arrested but I went to jail for a few days and had to attend a court ordered rehab which I came off the Suboxone. Omg the wds were so much worse an intense than when I had came off oxy in the past and the worst of all it lasted for 2 months not seing any improvement but actually getting worse everyday for around a month. When I wd the most intense part is the skin crawling and feeling like it is being ripped apart not sleeping for a week being so physically weak that I could barley speak. It was so much worse than comming off dope. I have never withdrawed from methadone but this is hell. After I got clean I enrolled back in the university got a 4.0 back on the deans list did some international traveling and my life has been going great accept for the occasional what if but I started occasionally using and the money was going quick even just for two days I was binging and had to quit so I began jUst taking half a strip of Suboxone a day and quickly got down to either 2 mg or 1 mg a day and idk what it is about my body but even when I try to just come off the small dose I have the same terrible withdraws. I feel hopeless again and I got accepted into a student exchange program and I am disposed to go to Alaska next semester. I really need to come off this sh*t an I know if I don't I will never get on that plane but please if u are thinking about taking Suboxone it is good while it lasts and no u don't get high u even stop wanting to get high but the withdraws are so intense almost unbearable.

ok, this is nancy. i have been on suboxone for 2-3 years.  my phys can no longer write the script, even though it was for chronic pain. so until i can obtain another physician , i am going to have to withdraw, on  my own. so any good advice????

Everyone has their own ways of doing stuff. Its nice to know I'm not alone in the fact that people are dealing with addiction. One thing I do have to add is you can't just go off of what other people are saying. Just Bc someone does a certain thing and it works doesn't mean it will for you. The bottom line is to get SOBER and learn how to not have to take ANYTHING just to go through your day. Your mind is a powerful thing and is definitely your own worst enemy. You have to set goals for yourself and work on reaching them. I was addicted to pain killers for a little over 4 years. On agood day I would take about 15 loratab 10s. My main poison was tabs only Bc they were easy to get ahold of. Like I said before I would take anything though just so I didn't have to WD. I tried quitting cold turkey a few times. I even packed up and moved to a new city where I didn't know anyone ( so I couldn't get pills). The longest I went was a month of being sober. And then fell right back into hell. I let pills control my life entirely. Then I was told by my tattoo artist about suboxen. The first time I took half of an 8 mg strip it knocked me on my a**. I couldn't believe I was prescribed to take a whole one. Ive been on sub for about 7 months. I never took the dose I was told to. I literally take a little tiny piece in the morning and that's it. I just found out I was pregnant a few months ago and want to be a normal person who can wake up feeling "great" with out having to swallow something to get that good feeling. The other day I decided to not take anything and I did have some withdrawal (nothing compared to when I was on pills). It's just more annoying than anything Bc I literally traded one drug for another to feel dependent on. I find myself stressing about " I have to get my suboxin before work otherwise I'll feel shitty". Hey that's what I did when I was on pain killers! UGH!!! Anyway I do think drs and pharmacys are the devil. They don't give a f**k about us. Were just dollar signs that walk through their doors, but I do think everyone has a fighting chance with getting clean and they CAN do it with suboxin. It's called suck it up and stop being a Fu***ng addict. We all know you can abuse anything and everything (that's why were all here, we found our poison). Honestly have a conversation with yourself. Do you want to quit? Do you want to live sober? If you do then do it. I think you could take a little bit of suboxin for 2 1/2 weeks TOPS! then go with out anything. Even if you "detox" it's nothing compared to what the pills feel like I gaurentee you. Get all the sh** out of your system at once. I do honestly believe you should do some sort of counseling. Now I haven't taken that exact advise myself, but I do plan on enrolling in some sort of support group or theoropy. Drugs are more mental than physical. I know for a damn FACT that if you have it in your head you can't quit with out taking something then that's exactly what will happen, or if you already "know" you'll detox with out a certain substance....then guess what. I think we forget just how powerful our minds are. Anyway I did it so can you. Giving up is not an option. We were all once sober, felt good, and lived a complete sober life so you know it is possible. Just is it worth it to you? You do have to put in hard work, but you deserve it.

THE NALOXONE KEEPS U FROM OVER DOING IT NALOXONE HAS NOTHING AT ALL TO WITH WITHDRAWS!

OMG you guys- 

I just started my suboxone, yesterday I took my first today i took my last of 2 a day. (I went to a Dr that was on the list from suboxone,com he treats opium and heroin , I had to be starting W/D before he wold see me and i was lucky all the rest were completely stupid. ever talk to a nurse on the phone during W/D. anyway i had to take a pee test and then he sat with me for over an hr to find out were i was and how much i was taking. he put me on a 15 day treatment, with a calender of the dosage ( 8 x2 for for days, 4 halves for 4 days. half for 4 days. right now no its good im on 2 8mg pills. they are strong makes me dizzy and then it goes away. i will let you all know how its going. i have read all kinds of things enough to discourage you . well im in a hotel all alone my wife sent me a test telling me she cant stand me and your gone. hr later i lost my 130,000 a year job and all i have is some cloths in a bag and a empty hotel room. I lost my wife she is what can say something that you see once in a while walking down the street that turns your hard beautiful. I was luck to have gotten her. and my job. i lost 35 pounds in the last 3 months. so you see im in a situation right now that i must turn it around now. im so sick of them. i new i was hooked so long ago. 10/325 from pain management. I'm a disabled vet a navy diver. and i feel like i was tossed out in to the trash. will not call me or answer me and nothing. as if i was not there. one part of me was looking the rest of the pills you know what i mean the other side of me said fight fight for your life. i never dreamed i would be sitting addicted to pain killers. they change you badly. destroy relationship and life. I know I have just lived it. i could not stop because of the god awful pain and W/D first time a ran out a couple years ago oh my god i had no idea what the hell was happening. so i understand i may not get out of this with out hurting from he sub. look what i did to get here... i cried for help from her but was completely ignored, got a chance to tell her about this suboxone i read about . oh i dont care about those pills . i dodn't want to here it its more then that. its all the pills guys. please some tell me if im crazy, she takes them too. for a disk i the neck. i have seen her go from 1. 5mg a day to i suspect 30 35 a day. she said they dont bother me in anyway. so thats an excuse from you. she is protecting them isn't she at all cost . sorry for the rant im feeling sick so i have to go. not eating much. someone tell me they can see it. or she is fine? she not right.

i cant stop..tried it all... cold turkey, subs, ups, downs....dont work for me. i'm a goner.

Please don't is completely right. Actually little of the narcan gets absorbed sublingally. Its to stop people from shooting up. When you shoot it it can cause withdraw because you are getting the full amount.

So basically yourer saying go back to drug of choice which is to relapse then take a.couple if suboxen and the withdrawals will be less server