methadone to Suboxone detox

Actually...don't listen to the above when it comes to 'paying' the piper. Yes ...WE HAVE paid the piper doublefold. I ha e done it painless and so CAN YOU. its called taking your time wheening. Period. Us addicts want it quilt. This time its slow....take your time....AMD NO PAIN. listen to your body. You don't ever have to wd again. Take your time....that's key.

no man you cant do that you have to wait untill the methadone is completely off your receptors before taking the subs or your screwed you will have too suffer to get any relief from the subs. im in the same spot and i feel for you but just remeber the pain from the withdrwal is the pain you put on your family and friends comming back on you good luck

i know this is an old post but this is for people jumping in the present. this is my recomendation from switching from methadone from suboxone and i know i did it and have done it all, while in the clininc ween down to as low as possible but make sure its 30 mg or under i left clinic at 20 mg the same way i started the clinic, now i dont care what anyone says if your body has been on methadone for 6 months or longer(6 years in my case) you need to a short half life opiod for 2 weeks, since i was on so long i went a month, anyhing like perks or even dope if you have to you will only do this for couple of weeks so its not as bad as it seems, point is you need to replace the long halflife of methadone with a short halflife one , this way your body has time to get the methadone completely out of your system then now switching from the short life opiate to suboxone is much easier, as you could take a suboxone 8 -10 hours after your last fix, the point is you are buying time for your body to not only get rid of methadone off all receptors(youd be surprised how long traces of methadone can stay in the body) you want to put as much space between the methadone and the suboxone both of which are long half life opiates, it sounds crazy to go on another opiate for a couple of weeks but your body will thank you for it

Hello. I am in a horrible situation, too. Im afraid I am going to lose everything.... I switched frpm Suboxone to methadone 3 moths ago. I did this due to necessity rather than choice, I have no insurance. My husband is disabled, and in horrible pain from his spine disease. I have been on methadone for@3months, and have run out. I have felt like I am dying, the worst being the horrible anxiety (makes me feel like an elephant is on my chest, and diahrea, cant breasthe.... not been having the cramps yet, hubby gave me some of his tabs to help but we are out now... anyway, I got a hold of 6 dones (lower dose ones) and have been stretching them out until I can go to doc Friday on payday when I can get suboxone. Have 3 of the little dones left. Questions? Are there any clinice who will help me for FREE>? We are BROKE. Also, had to miss work yesterday am trying to go today... but I am terrified of the PAIN> How should I best take the dones? Take them now and hope they will stay in my system a few days? Or stretch them out and be somewhat ill? I am a WIMP, I am struggling so bad... horrible feelings of failure to my family... I mean my hubby has to go without any meds cause he gave me some of his, and he NEEDS them..... Please answer me, I could use ANY advice, thank you

I know a doctor who will get you off methadone or suboxone with no withdrawls , no cravings. PM me for more info

NIDA states addiction a mental illness.
Try to get state help, insurance, etc. The VA pays for methadone too.

I would try to not do either. If you are able to post a blog, and not on suboxone yet, don't look back. It's another thing to detox from eventually. That detox from either drug is a trip sent from the depts. of Hell.

I wanted to comment that what she said is true for me at the clinic I go to. The clinic suggests how you should decrease your dosage but ultimately my clinic leaves it up to the patient to decrease any way they wish.

Actually, all doctors are different. My Methadone doctor let me go down as much as i liked. I was on 100 mg. I went down 5 mg a week until i hit 40. Then i decided to go down 5 every 2 weeks. When i got to 30mg, i went down 1 mg a week. Now i'm on 25 mg, and am switching to Suboxone. Every clinic is different down where i am from. That's for sure.

My name i Dan , I live in Sweden. I began using opioids when I was 20 years old, now I'm 32. During a very dark time in my life It just so happened that mother had OxyContin and fentanyl prescribed due to severe, chronic pain pain. I had red on the internet that opioids could cause euphoria so I crushed a 40 mg OxyContin and snorted it. The sensation was incredible - I had found my calling. I continued to take Oxy from my mom until I got caught.

Needless to say I was desperate, I had been on the stuff for months. I turned to the street but it was very hard and expensive to score Oxy, Ketogan or morphine pills, so I bought my first gram of heroin for $100. I knew how to inject, and when I took my first fix of dope my withdrawal was gone in seconds. I loved it, the rush, the high. I was already hooked because of the Oxy's of course, so it was nothing new besides the heroin being somewhat stronger. And so began my 8 year long heroin addiction (I always bought morphine if my dealers didn't have really good heroin, or diacetylmorphine, if you will).

I was obviously in a very bad shape after 8 years of daily use; I did atleast 1 gram of high quality heroin a day. Sure, there were hard days when I had to settle for 0,2 grams or some methadone, but I usually got the money I needed. One day I was so tired of my life so I took a 5 cc syringe, dissolved 5 grams of white heroin and injected it fast into a large vein and fell asleep waking up confused in a hospital bed. The doctors said I needed help and my mom was a mess. She had tried to help me so much over the years. My road to recovery began with high doses of methadone. After a few weeks I landed on 150 mg/day. It helped with my withdrawal symptoms and it surpressed my cravings for heroin/morphine to a moderate degree.

A year later my doctor asked if I wanted to give buprenorphine a chance. Some of my friends had switched,I was hesitant, but I agreed to do so. It was excruciatingly painful to drop from 150 mg down to 30 mg. Then I had to wait 48 hours before my first dose of Subutex (Suboxone without the darn naloxone). I was very sick when my doctor gave me 4 mg Subutex. It was a weird feeling, since it's only a partial μ-opioid agonist. Sure, I felt somewhat better but I didn't experiance the typical opioid feeling.

Today I'm still on Subutex - 28 mg daily. I don't respond very well to buprenorphine, and truth be told is that if you don't feel well at and still have cravings on a dose somewhere between 12-18 mg, Subutex/Suboxone is not for you, due to the ceiling effect because of its antagonist properties. I have such a high dose so the effect will last longer, that's all. It's hard to detox from methadone, with or without Subutex/Suboxone. The last milligrams are pure agony, but I wish you good luck.

You are actually wrong different clinics do different things!! I was on 105 mgs 3 years decided wanted to be off of it and detoxed 5mgs a wk until down to 10mg and switched to two mg a wk. Im on 4mg as of today and feeling pretty crappy im wondering if anyone knows how bad detox can get even at this point??

I am currently on a methadone taper, have been going down 2mg/week from 125 now at 28. I was on a maintenance dose for over a year and have been tapering for over 6months now. In the past I was on methadone 180mg taper to 25mg in one month to switch to suboxone. Stayed on Suboxone maintenance for 3 yrs and had hell detoxing off that. Right now I'm looking at another 2-3 months to continue the taper, then will likely have to check into inpatient detox for a week. But I'm considering making the jump over to suboxone (not for maintenance) just for a shorter detox (usually 5-7 days depending). If anyone has any knowledge or suggestions I am open to hearing them. I've been very stable, going to groups, individual, psychiatry, meetings etc, plus am about to graduate my masters program. Should I endure the hell of 2-3months of continued tapering or do a sub detox? Let me know your opinions. Thanks SP

Old posts I know but can't believe all the wrong information here. Fact: methadone is hard to detox from but not impossible, standard procedure is usually a 10% dose reduction at times when either doctor or client deem suitable. Fact: tramadol is harmful and high doses can cause seizures, it also isn't a good choice for opiate withdrawal (google it). Fact: subutex/suboxone are also hard to detox from once you become habituated so don't think they're some miracle cure, ideally you will be on 30 mg or less before being induced onto subs (methadone) and then you should try to wait as long as you can before taking first pill, less is best with subs, start with 2mg and see how you feel after an hour, if you not well another 2mg and repeat until you feel better but the idea is to keep your dose as low as possible in order to make the sub detox easier, there are many ways to taper from sub so again google is your friend here, research it and put the effort in and you will do it. heroin or other short acting opiates you only need to wait until you start going into withdrawal before taking sub, ideally 12 hour minimum but as long as you can last before taking the sub will give you most relief from it. Fact: don't listen to half the sh*t you hear from people on these boards and don't believe that doctors are your friend as in reality this is often not the case. Use your search engine wisely and read posts from people who have knowledge on this subject, you will soon distinguish which posters are speaking sh*t. Good luck to all who struggle with opiates/opioids its hardest battle you will fade but you can win. Never give up giving up

My clinic also will decrease you even at 50% of the dose. I know bc I did that.