SUBOXONE DETOX OVER... NO ENERGY

Hey guys. I just found this forum- and I'm both greatful and scarred to death. I am reading all these posts- and I'm wondering if anyone out there has taken 24-32mgs a day......Cuz thats where I'm at- and I want off. I have been told to jump down to 16mgs a day- and I think I'm going to try to deal with it. I get 2 or 3 days in and go right back to my normal dose. I have been dealing with this addiction for 15 years, and subs took me off the street, but I'm still so dependent on an opiate and I'm really starting to doubt that there will ever be a day in my life where I dont take something. I need help, advice, something guys...I'm terrified. Everyone keeps telling me its impossible to get off of. And take such a high dose.....Is there ANYONE out there who has been on this dose and successfully tappered completely off????????? :-(

OK Guys......If you wanna REALLY know keep reading.....THIS B*L*O*W*S! BUT Im clean and sober and dont need anything but some EXCERCISE, Vitamins( Magnesium,Potassium, Zinc, and Valerian), and I know this sounds WEIRD but MUSIC! It heals my soul.....I swear! I have leg cramps, insomnia, bad stomach, and anxiety. Thats the bad news, but all the stuff Im doing cuts about 40% of it out and I feel that much better. I jumped off at 1mg per day....It is definately NOT FUN! Oh and I found a good meeting where they dont sell you the drug you are trying to quit this time :-D So like it has been said..If I can-----U Can! Im a 6 time loser and Im at the best place I have been in years.....AND IM BROKE! but happpy! God Bless all of you and GOOD LUCK!

thanks to whoever out there wrote me back.......And I agree. Something in me has definately clicked as well. I am done with this. And if there is a human out there that went from 32mgs a day to 2mgs a day- than I can too. After all the hell and sickness I have already been through- I know once more isn't gonna kill me- even if I feel like it will. Did you guys know that there is a medicine out that is JUST a blocker- it has NO opiate in it and IS NOT addictive??? Helps cravings and stuff. WHY arent the docs telling us bout this?? Anyways. It is what it is. Nothing worth having comes easily. And hearing all the statistics makes me sick. There was a point in time where I got very hopeless and scarred. I have realized that if what I want is to be opiate free-then it's going to take work. Suboxone was my last stop on this ride. And for awhile- I thought it was my saving grace. There isn't an easy way out of this. Meetings and not using in between, and more than likely being very sick for a number of days is the only thing that will get me back to my true, real, sober self. At 28 years old, I don't want this anymore. So. I'm going to hold on for dear life, grab my theoretical nuts and hang on to the knowledge that as long as I do this now- I don't ever have to again. I never have to feel like this or be addicted to a pill again. All I have to do is be sick for a few days- and not use. Anything. Right now I am at 16mgs and in 3 days I will go down to 8, and so on. Its just starting to hit me, so I'll let you guys know how this goes......Pray for me please. Thats all anyone can do to help me anymore. The rest is up to me......

This is a great forum. I was addicted to anxiety/pain medication since 2001. I had a Dr who told me I would never be able to get off them. I found another Dr who prescibed Suboxone. I started taking 4-8mgs a day in Jan 2008. This went on for a while ( Yes it helped get me off the other junk ). In March 2009, I was cut to part time and lost my medical. This stuff was to expensive out of pocket. I found a site called "Needy Meds" that would send the medication to a prescribing Dr at no cost to the patient. My Dr said he would help me with this. It was great for a while until he decided that since I had no insurance, he was going to drop me as of August. This was in June 2009. I then cut my dosge in 1/2 - 2 8mgs a day. It was a little rough for abot 3 days, but then I levelded out. In July I went to 1 1/2 a day. In August I recieved my last supply from "Needy Meds". This was 120 pills. In October I dropped to 1 mg a day. I took 1/2 in the a.m and 1/2 in the p.m. In November I found another Dr at a clinic that could write for Suboxone. She prescribed 2mg tablets. I took 4 a day until December then I went down to 3 a day till Jan 2010 then down to 2 a day.At the end of Jan I went down to 1 2mg a day. In Feb I went down to 1/2 a day. On March 19-2010, I stopped taking my meds. Its not easy, the first 5 days were hell. After two weeks I started feeling better. I could sleep, eat, no more leg cramps and started getting my energy back. I still sneezed a lot and had loose bowel movements. I started taking Imodian AD and a lot of b12. Its now 30 days and I feel so much better. Hang in there, there will be days when you feel you can't go on, but, you can. Its worth it. Reading these other posts really helped. You can do it. By the way, I'm in my late 50s.

I totally understand. Am going through the same thing right now... Honestly, this may not be the most healthy advice, but I'm on day 4 of being totally off Suboxone & almost ready to re-join my hectic life... (I've been incredibly blessed to have been given a place where I can die in the basement, exercise, hot tub & swim, so if you know anyone with any of these things--ASK FOR A FAVOR!!!)



TAPER SCHEDULE (I came off 2 mgs in 2 weeks)

1) 1/2 your dose every 3-5 days. Listen to your body. The first days of the taper were the worst for me: blurry vision, couldn't concentrate, really emotional, etc...

2) I ate crumbs for 2 days... [back pain, muscle cramps]

3) Stop completely. [skin hurt, whole person hurt for 1-2 days--then slowly feelin better]



At the same time, IF YOU CAN:

1) EXERCISE: 1-2 hours of cardio 1-2x daily

2) SHOWER: 2-3x per day if you have to [in the morning, if you're sweating, & after every time you exercise]

3) BE ACTIVE. Don't stay home at all. Have people take shifts "baby-sitting" you if possible. [mid-day-evening]

4) HOT TUBS & HAND HELD MASSAGERS SAVED MY LIFE!!! [every 5 mins! Lol]

5) BE CREATIVE. Do whatever you have to do to vomit all that sh*t out & know that going back is not possible..Writing/art/music have helped me.



LISTEN TO "SATURDAY MORNING SOUNDTRACK"/SELF TITLED: I don't know who these guys are from Minnesota, but I swear this album saved my sanity! It's underground hip-hop, and these guys KNOW what we are going through....



AS FAR AS MEDICATIONS GO...

I used:

.5 mg xanax--for sleep

20-30mg adderal--for energy

flexerol & tramadol during the end of taper-day 2 of being off.

.2 mg clonidine patches--crazy cold sweats...



I'm still not feeling the best--can't really sleep more than a few hours a night, and the sweats & sh**s are outta control... but at least I can run & socialize & write my advice to you...



I know that I've been extraordinarily blessed in this process to have the support, medications, place to detox. I wish you all the very best!!



THE RX COMPANY & DOCTORS DON'T OWN MY BODY ANYMORE!!!!!!!! It's really liberating!

If you have a doctor who is willing to prescribe lyrica, your withdrawals will be minimized considerably. First, wean yourself down to a sub dose that is at most 2mg (or 2000 micrograms). Most suboxone experts will tell you that this dose is equivalent to 30mg meth, or 60mg oxy. So 2mg is still a very strong dose!! Anyway, take lyrica two or three times a day, using at least 200mg per dose, for about 5 days, then taper the lyrica down to nothing over the next 2-3 days. You will avoid almost all of the leg cramping, restless legs, anxiety, stomach upset, insomnia, and desire to use. It's very very important to start to taper the lyrica after 5 days, otherwise you run the risk of becoming addicted to it. Lyrica withdrawal is known to be just as bad as opiate withdrawal! Once you are drug free, you will still have to deal with PAWS, including extreme tiredness and depression. At this point it's best to turn to natural remedies. High fish oil doses up to 3-5 grams, the B vitamins, massage, acupuncture, exercise, colon cleansing, meditation, are going to become the mainstay or your recovery. Love to all.

Talking to a trained detox or medical professional is the right first step in choosing the appropriate program. Call the Rapid Drug Detox Center at 1-888-825-1020 or contact us if you'd like to learn more.

My brother was on Suboxone for 3 years and started on 8mg all the way down to 1mg when he stopped. My cousin was also on Suboxone for about 2 years and one day just decided to stop. He jumped off at 8mg. Both of them were on/off, on/off until they just got sick of the whole ordeal. Till this day the both of them has not even once and I mean it, not even once gone back to subs or opiates. They are much happier and LIVING life as jpw it should be. They describe and experienced all the symptoms that everyone has posted and I saw what they went through. You see in the end it all boils down to you, and how bad you want to be free. Keep up the fight, you've got to and eventually there's light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah it takes time but wouldn't you rather wake up everyday feeling good than to think about your next dose??

I dont see that anyone hs posted on here in quite sometime however im on day 4 no sub its not that bad and ya def nothing like withdrawal from opiates. the second night i was a little achy third day felt better then I have in 4 yrs since my hell started much clearer mind and day for I had some spasms this morning which doesnt surprise me most say day 4 is when its bad but really if youve ever came down after 8 months of 20 to 30 pills a day or whatever your drug was this withdrawal should be cake its really not that bad at least so far...opiate withdrawal is soo soo soo much worse if it feels likethis i cn hang no problem I think we all just become wimps from taking opiates so long we cant bare any amount of discomfort. I know thats how it is for me my pain receptors are all funky now the slightest thing is just agonizing so i think thats what it is go tattoo your side or the back of your neck pierce your lip or some other form pain itll make u realize how not bad what you feeling right now really is

I went to the methadone clinic for almost three years, and it almost caused loosing my family. I finally detoxed from 115mgs of methadone a day down to 25mgs. I got off the clinic and went seven days without before switching to saboxone. I have been on saboxone for almost two years, to be honest there have been times where I have just felt like c**p on the saboxone, no energy and terrable back pain at night, I could never sleep for more then 5-6 hours without hurting badly, I am sure there are ppl who know exactly what I am talking about. I was on two sab a day, and went down to one and a half, and detoxed my self from there, now I am only taking half of a half, Its been like two weeks, the first few days werent every fun, but I am sleeping with less back pain now, I think the higher dose you are on the more back pain you will have, thats just my experience. Tommorrow I plan on taking nothing, I dont think this is going to be bad at all, so far it hasnt been, I havent cleansed anything or taken any vitimins or any sleeping pills, I am tired of having to take a pill for everything, that is what caused this problem in the first place! I am sure if you dotox too quickly and dont do it slowly enought you will hurt, but its really not that bad, even when I took the highest dose of saboxone, I had much worse days even then, Not That Bad!

Here goes I have had a life long struggle with just about every pain pill known to man. Finally I was talked into going to see a suboxon doc.... WORST mistake I have made! When I first came off of them about 5 months ago I thought I would never be able to be the same person again, I had every symptom named above but, the worst for me was the back pain. I crushed my L1 vertabra back in 03' so I'm already dealing with that pain and as the days went by an was released from the hospital (that's where I started coming off) and got home it seemed to only get worse for me. I couldn't move off of the couch. I didn't sleep at night b/c of my back I would wake up screaming. I then knew this drug is way worse than any street or prescribed opiate. So I gave up and went back to the pain killers hoping they would help me fet through the withdrawls. Well as we all know that just started the cycle all over. I would take one pill roxy, oxy, anything that made the pain go away. I didn't know how or what to do I was spending all my money on drugs again and still scared, probably more than ever. So I started taking the subs again. My siatic nerve in my back got strained and I was in the er 3 days ago and they perscribed tab 7.5's so now what I'm trying to do is taper off of the suboxone and onto the tabs for the relentless pain in my back. In which the doctors told me I would have to "deal" b/c there's nothing they can do to help my already broken but "healed" back. I have a 3 year old who needs his mother I can't keep going around and around with this god forsaken pill. I just want off of it and I want to be normal again. I have went thro hell with detoxing off of many things so its not like I'm new to it. But the withdrawl symptoms of subs are on another level of pain for me. If someone can please reach out and tell me what I can take to ease all these symptoms long enough for me to get over and through these terrible w/d's I would greatly appreciate it. I feel as though I'm trapped and there's no way out of this! Suboxone is the devil and no doctor in this world should perscribe something sooo much harder to get off of than what u were on initally! The post about how crapy these doctors are is so totally correct they are money hungry and its sad to know that they are there to help us yet give us something that tears us down to nothing! This is so wrong! Doctors need to realize this is NOT something for everyone and could potentially hurt us more than when it started! Any advice will be amazingly appreciated!!

Here goes I have had a life long struggle with just about every pain pill known to man. Finally I was talked into going to see a suboxon doc.... WORST mistake I have made! When I first came off of them about 5 months ago I thought I would never be able to be the same person again, I had every symptom named above but, the worst for me was the back pain. I crushed my L1 vertabra back in 03' so I'm already dealing with that pain and as the days went by an was released from the hospital (that's where I started coming off) and got home it seemed to only get worse for me. I couldn't move off of the couch. I didn't sleep at night b/c of my back I would wake up screaming. I then knew this drug is way worse than any street or prescribed opiate. So I gave up and went back to the pain killers hoping they would help me fet through the withdrawls. Well as we all know that just started the cycle all over. I would take one pill roxy, oxy, anything that made the pain go away. I didn't know how or what to do I was spending all my money on drugs again and still scared, probably more than ever. So I started taking the subs again. My siatic nerve in my back got strained and I was in the er 3 days ago and they perscribed tab 7.5's so now what I'm trying to do is taper off of the suboxone and onto the tabs for the relentless pain in my back. In which the doctors told me I would have to "deal" b/c there's nothing they can do to help my already broken but "healed" back. I have a 3 year old who needs his mother I can't keep going around and around with this god forsaken pill. I just want off of it and I want to be normal again. I have went thro hell with detoxing off of many things so its not like I'm new to it. But the withdrawl symptoms of subs are on another level of pain for me. If someone can please reach out and tell me what I can take to ease all these symptoms long enough for me to get over and through these terrible w/d's I would greatly appreciate it. I feel as though I'm trapped and there's no way out of this! Suboxone is the devil and no doctor in this world should perscribe something sooo much harder to get off of than what u were on initally! The post about how crapy these doctors are is so totally correct they are money hungry and its sad to know that they are there to help us yet give us something that tears us down to nothing! This is so wrong! Doctors need to realize this is NOT something for everyone and could potentially hurt us more than when it started! Any advice will be amazingly appreciated!!

There is light at the end of the tunnel. I've been off the suboxone for 16 days and everyday seems a little better than the day b4. The first 3 days were hell!!! Bed-Hot Bath for 48 hrs. the cramps, pains, chills, and fatigue became better everday and pretty much ended after the first week. The fatigue is still lingering but seems to get better everyday. My doc explained that I've jacked my neuro-receptors up through my opiate and subox use and prescribed me zoloft 50mg, and propranolol. The Zoloft seems to be helping on the mental side, the propranolol is a beta blocker that has an off lable use for"stage fright" or anxiety. I use the propranolol (10mg) in the evening to help me sleep. The fatigue seems to be getting better. Hang in there!!!

Hi and Good Luck,

I have been taking Suboxone for over 10 years. Different names same ingredients: Buprenex, Subutex, it's all the same. Taking 8mg 3x a day. My sweetheart of a doctor decided to retire without telling me and my insurance decided to stop paying for my Suboxone. Fast detox!!!! I drink allot of Gatorade helps the leg cramps. I also take Withdrawal Ease (check out their website) which has been helping. I have crying fits, and allot of anger. Today is my third day without Suboxone and I slept well last night. I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. My doctor also had me on Adderall 30mg along with Suboxone double whammy. Getting off both at first my energy was nil. The Withdrawal Ease really helps!!

Ok so i have read alot of the stories on here and im very glad to hear what i am going through is some what normal, if you can actually consider it just that! I have been on Subs for two years now and i decided it was time to get off i went from taking 8mg twice a day and tapered my self down to a quarter of one a day until i ran out, which took me a few months. It has been a total of 15 days now that i have been off them and i hate it! I have no energy,sex drive or desire to get out of bed, but cant really sleep thanks to constant muscle spasms, i also went through every other phase of the detox but it seems to be gone for the most part just a few chills here and there. I am takeing valerian root which i dont think is helping one bit and i really dont know what to do, i dread the thought of having to go back on Subs but i want my FReaKIng life back! My boyfriend, family and friends are so supportive and proud that i have gotten this far and i am trying so hard not to disapoint anyone but in all honesty i am so fed up with this process and with the way i feel, and i am waying my sobriety against there opinions.I know what danger this puts me at in my recovery by not doing what i feel is best and I guess i just really need some advice on where to go from here and i am really wondering if i will ever feel the same again?