Suboxone Subutex Step down method from Florida Detox

Day before yesterday was my last day at my local mithadone treatment clinic. They actually suggest once you detox to 25 mgs of methdone that you switch to suboxon to finish your taper. They tell us, the patient, that it is a easier experienceto detox from the suboxon than methadone. I have a total of 480 mg scrip of the suboxon and am detoxing myself. I will never pay that amount of money for a drug again! It will take me about 3 months and I will be done. I am starting at 16mgs a day. Does this sound like a good idea. This was my first time in any program. I have been a heroin addict since highschool and I am 30 now.
Please respond

24 mgs is not a rediculous dose!!! It depends on your initial habit. Like you said "everyone is different". I know people who had to go up to 32 mgs because of a very high heroin habit and I was on 24 mgs myself. So don't bash him for being at 24 mgs especially if that was the dose his doctor put him on. I went to detox and they had me on 24 mgs then my private doctor also stabilized me at 24 mgs...because I was still experiencing withdrawals. I am now at 8 mgs and doing great! Key here is to go SLOW! Everyone is different and we all metabolize at different rates and had different addictions. You can't expect a patient taking a few vicodin a day to react to the same dose as a 3 gram a day heroin habit. There are many factors that determine how we feel and at what dose we are comfortable. In fact I was still in withdrawal on 24 mgs and didn't feel good for about 7 or 8 days. Fortunetly I feel good now and plan to continue my tapering down to 2 mgs. My fear is going down to nothing because I know I will experience withdrawals and I need to plan two weeks that I can take off work to get thru it. Anyway, I just wanted to comment on the dosing issue and that diff people may need diff dosages.

I'm on subutex for the last 6 years and I'm finally coming down off of it. I'm at 4mg aday so I'm hoping it won't be too bad for me. I was on 16mg a day about 1 year ago. I want to finally wake up one morning without relaying on some pill to make me feel good.

Best of luck to you all :-)
sheila

Good for you, I couldn't agree with you anymore. Subutex did the same for me. All the side affect it gives you is so true. I'm just getting off subutex after 10 years of this. I can't wait to finally have this drug out of my system for good.



Good luck to you all

Our son has been abusing opiates on and off for years. 4 months ago he started taking suboxone and now takes 2 mg twice a day. He started taking xanax at some point because he couldn't sleep. He became addicted to xanax and quit taking it entirely and had a tremendous psychotic withdrawal reaction. This was actually when we learned he was taking xanax. He still takes xanax to help get to sleep, but a lot less. Does this sound reasonable to anyone? I am very unfamiliar with all of this, and I don't know what to believe.

To the guy who said suboxone is a mild opiate? it is stronger than both Morphine and Methadone! In addition, 8 mil is not a low dose. I got withdrawals jumping from 1 mg and even from 1/2 mg! I am glad for your experience that it was easy for you but you are most definitely in the minority. In addition, your sex life? TMI

best advice i've heard yet. i agree with everything you said. ppl listen to this man he knows what he is talking about!

Suboxone works like methadone ... yes it has a longer half life... but taken short term... like 5 days tops won't bind to your opiate receptors... it wont have time to! So... it masks your actual withdrawl from the opiate itself and helps you to go through it more comfotably... only take like 2 mg 5 times the first day... 4 times the second... and so on untill you reach the 5th day you step off with one single dose of 2 mg and that will take care of the majority of your w/d. I also suggest takeing trazadone, seroquel, or remron for sleep as well as imodium if you need it. your probablly going to want to take your sleep aids for a week or two after but don't prolong that or you'll be dependant on them... you'll have to learn to sleep normally again on your own. This is how I did it at a medical facility and I was home within a week with very mild symptoms. Your still going to want someone to "babysit" you so you don't go out to use for like a week... but if meetings help...go.... if seeing a therapist helps.... go... try to put mind over matter and tell that voice in your head to F**k Off!

Here in France, 80% of addict people receive subutex.

It's a really hard very hard thing ( 30 times stronger than morphine, synthetic molecule pure, very long duration of action) ... I just stop I still have symptoms after 40 days and I went on methadone low dose that I can drop quite effectively.

The Subutex is a horror and AC really takes weeks to stop.

I've been taking presciption meds (Oxys, Perc & Vicoden) on and off for the past year and everyday that past 3 mos. I tapered off on the presecriptions then started taking subs when my withdrawl symptoms started with the hopes I can have a easy detox with no withdraw symptoms. I started with 1/3 of a 2mg, then 12hrs later a little less than that. So far I've felt fine. It's been 24hrs. since my last dose and no problems. I figure I would have felt my worst today and tomorrow if I wasn't taking anything. If I take an even smaller dose today and let it run out of my system will I bypass the withdraw symptoms or will I feel like c**p when the suboxone wears off? I expect to feel sluggish and anxious but will I escape the chills and body pain.

OK, my story quickly! I was a 40 - 10mg Hydrocodone a day user for over 2 years. This was over 5 years ago, I got put on Subutex at about 16mg / day and I felt great for a long time (Years), then the BIG side effects started hitting me in the head. I ended up with almost NO Testosterone, I was 37 When tested due to lack of energy and my levels were below 20 (normal male should have between 300-850). Then I got sleep apnea, severe, meaning I stopped breathing over 225 times a night so I got put on a C-Pap Machine (hell to get used too) and I have to take Testosterone shots weekly. Now after 5 years of Sub., I decided it was time to quit so I started a taper without teling my doctor, I love him to death but he just was Nieve. He said I should feel good after a few days if I just stopped. I tried that many times. I talked to my Good friend and Pharmacist (she is about 60 and very smart). She told me it takes 2 weeks for the brain to adjust, so cut down dosses every 14-16 days untill I get to 1 mg / Day. I then tried to stop, well after 2 weeks I was still feeling the SEVERE Withdrawl of this TERIBLE drug, I have been using drugs of ALL kinds since I was 12 and I am now 40 so I am no amature to withdrawls but this stuff is nothing like I have ever felt before. My doctor and Pharmacist talked (without me knowing) and she told him how to taper someone and she could compound a 1/2 mg Trouch that melts under the toung like the pill but this taste like carmel. Anyway, I have been tappering from 16mg down to 1mg for over 8 months when this started, so I have felt like c**p for a long time. Anyway, I am stuck at taking this c**p 1/4 mg 2 times a day (total 1/2 mg per day). This is, I am not working, my wife is, so I am taking care of our 2 children and now it is summer so I feel like I am shorting them of a fun summer already and its only been 1 week. So today I cut down too 1/8mg this morning and I will try that tonight. OK, the big thumper, I started taking Valium (30mg daily) to help with withdrawls but I am addicted to that as well now. I went through an almost death experienece from withdrawls off of Xanax a few years ago, and yes, you can DIE from withdrawls from Xanax. Valium sucks as well. It takes a couple weeks to hit you hard then blood preasure shots through the moon. OK, moral of the story, THIS sh*t (SUBUTEX) IS NOT FOR LONG TERM USE, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOUR DOCTOR SAYS, THEY DO NOT KNOW LONG TERM EFFECTS AS I DO NOW. I WAS ONE OF MY DOCS ORIGINAL PATIENTS. So I am a Guinipig and he is learning from me. I have always been honest with him about the Xanax and he always threatend me that I could die and he would stop my treatment, and he knows I am taking Valium now but he also thinks I am done. I have a doctor who will give me more Hydrocodone (120/month) and Valium (90/month) and I tried that this past month to see what the effects were, well I think I messed up, It does help alot but I think I just strectched out my withdrawls. SUBUTEX CAN DAMAGE YOU BRAIN RECEPTORS, PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM LONG TERM USE, I learned the hard way. My doctor now says I could have NO ENDORPHINE PRODUCTION (MEANING NO DOPAMINE EITHER) FOR A YEAR NOW. This sh*t after quiting takes away all energy, all wishes to live, all desires to move, and makes you twitch around like a jumping bean all at teh same time day after day after day after day. GET IT YET, I HATE THIS STUFF, IT IS NO SAVIOR DRUG, IT IS A HUGE MONEY MAKER AND CHEMIST KNOW IT STICKS TO YOUR BRAIN RECEPTORS FOR WEEKS, THEN AFTER LONG TERM USE, IT BUILDS UP TO MONTHS AND EVEN YEARS OF SLOWLEY COMING OFF CAUSEING PAWS (Post Accute Withdrawl Syndrom). I was about to kill myself with the Hydro's (40 / day = alot of tylonol). My liver was being damaged and swelling so it did save my life but I do wish my doctor would of done a short term plan and not kept me coming back every month for 5 years before I had to say no more. PLEASE HELP ME, and he actually really started listening to me. He is a Psyc. Doc. and thinks he knows all but untill you have walk in someones shoes, you cannot tell them how to walk better. BIG LESSON FOR ANY DOCTOR OUT THERE. I am a testiment to how bad this stuff is. Not to down play any opiate, but this is the worst as far as withdrawl I have EVER experienced. I feel like going back to my regular dose and dieing on this stuff, its that bad. I am also now listed as a DRUG addict because of the Subutex, and If I get hurt and really need somthing, I get the Drug Seeker Look. Another note, I was in a BAD car accident 7 years ago which is where I was introduced to a bottle of 500 10/325 Hydos with 5 refills which sent me out of control and a doctor who kept writing my scipts as fast as I could take them, and I trusted him to take care of me. Before this, I really never liked pills. I have smaked pot since I was 12 - 30 years old, did so much acid and mushrooms to kill 100 people, Got really hooked on Crack & Cocaine. I would do 1/2 once of cocaine straight without stopping. But pills were never my thing untill the accident and I guess you could say I was nieve to think I did all that, I could always stop pills sripted by a doc, WRONG!!!!!!



SUBUTEX SHOULD BE BANNED FOR LONG TERM USE, IT DOES HARM YOU BODY, IT SHUTS DOWN YOUR PUTUITARY GLAD THAT MAKES YOUR BODY PRODUCE tESTOSTERONE, IT CAUSES BRAIN DAMAGE, IT CAUSE SLEEP APNEA WHICH HAS ITS OWN DEATH THREATS, AND ON AND ON AND ON!!!!!!!!



Sorry for the story but I am angry, and still withdrawing. Stop the sub. asap and I do still sugest the long 2 week at a time taper. hardest part going unter 2mg per day. Now stopping it all together is another hurtle I am trying to cross. I pray every day!



Long term Sub. User!

I'm not really into message boards and what not, but I thought that my experience might make a good point of reference for someone out there. Anyway. I never spent much time hunting down prescription pain medications, I went straight for the demon itself, the big H. My affair with Mr. Brown lasted roughly six years, from the ages of 21 up until right after my 27th birthday. I was doing about a gram or more a day depending on how many lies I could come up with or how much I could steal. So....Basically I just wanted to say that eventhough I'm prescribed 24mg a day (of Subutex, which is Buprenorphine, or generic Suboxone). I only take 8mg in the morning when I wake up...it's like methadone in the way that the higher you go in your dose the farther you have to fall to get off of it. I feel bad for those who notice the difference between 1mg here or there, I don't start to notice any w/d until the second day of not taking anything. Then I'm just short tempered and the world feels like it's falling down all around me, but I don't feel ill. It's such a miraculous thing how body chemistry differs from one idividual to another. I think that Suboxone is a wonder drug, and I wish it would have been available sooner, and I wouldn't have to go to sleep to hang out with friends in my dreams. Just start out at 8mg, and if you don't feel better take more in increments of 2 and wait between each one to see if you feel better. Don't get F'd up. Feel better! Yeah I could shoot it but looking back on all that nonsense, it's a gross waste of time. There's really too much to too. Oh.......and That Whole OCD thing that the One guy on here felt..I get that too...My house has never been more organized...The only thing I don't like is the weight gain...I have too much time and money to spend eating good food. HA ha

Hi im a female from Australia, i started off using speed (amphetamines) for about 5yrs from the age of 12 then got introduced to oxy's which i started slowly a few 40mg's a week then it started too kick off too the point were i was hammering about 4 80mg tabs per day which is a fair bit considering i was only 17 and weighing only 50kgs i was using them for only about 1yr & 1/2 -2 yrs then fell pregnant so had to get off so went on the methadone program which helped i became clean off the oxy's within a few weeks of going on the program, i stayed on that and started to reduce till the baby was about 6 months old and jumped over too suboxone being told that would be easier to get off in the long run i stayed on the subi's for about 6months reducing when i felt comfortable by 2mg's then got told it would be easier to go onto subutex so i did that but didnt reduce anymore than 2mg's and it was hard feelin like s**t ya kno then i got admitted into a detox unit 8 days ago and just got pumped full of valium, temazapam & clonidine i was that f****ed up i only lasted 2 days and 1 night i hated it so im now doing an at home detox and im feeling so tired, energy-less and fu**ing sick off it ive asked about 4 or 5 doc's on there opinion on when i will start to be able to get up and start moving around and become normal again cos i literally feel like a zombie!! and ive got different answers "after 5 days youll feel better" - "takes about 8 weeks to become yourself and active again" blah blah blah there all talking out of text books i need to know the answer from someone who has gone thru this the same way or similar please help me cos all im thinking of everyday is "if i just go get my dose of subis ill feel better and it'll stop the withdrawal process" i know thats a load of bulls**t but is there anything ANYTHING that can help with this withdrawl process i dont have the aches and pains much now its just the drained and tired,sleepy, energy-less feeling ???????????????????? im in desperate need of advice please someone

Your experience with subutex sounds a lot like mine, i was a heavy opiate user with about 15 years in when a doctor approached me and told me she was going to save my life and after a year my brain would be fixed and i would no longer be addicted to opiates. Two years in, I met a guy at the doctors office who told me that i could shoot the subutex, i came home and immediatly tried it, and loved it. For the next two years i spent most of my time in my bathroom, hiding so i could shoot the drug. It stripped me of any emotions that i had ever had in my life, and had my mind warped. I hated my partner whom i adore on a normal basis but all i needed was my subs. I am twenty three days in to cold turkey, not by choice, by drug court force, but am so thankful. You mentioned music, wow, before subutex, music was my life, it carried me through so much but for the last two years, i didnt even hear the words of a song, because i had my subs and didnt care about a song, today i keep my ipod in almost all day, just glad to have the feeling back. I would of never stopped because all i had to do was go to the doctor and get the script, wow, it was love, but it almost killed me in every way. The doctors were gonna save my life but what about my soul, it was gone and i was a dummy. So thankful to be on the way out, my advice to anyone who wants to quit, just do it. Dont try to taper off for the next six months, thats retarted. You are just delaying it. The withdrawl symptoms are much like those of opiate withdrawls. It sucks but yes it gets easier by the day. I am starting to actually feel good again and i thought i would never be back to that point without medication. Just throw the pills away or they will rob you too. Good luck

R u still taking it??The thing is ur not sober if ur still on subs not by a long shot!!!! Trust it is not ez to kick that habit!!! I am trying right now. I am bashing subs cuz they r way longer and harder to get off of than any other pain pill I have had thus far. The only part I can't take is the anxiety it nearly kills me. The fatigue isn't any fun either especially with 3 kids. Am I ever gonna be able to kick these orange things?? AAAGHH the misery.... :( But I think I can do it I have had many bouts with depression and I think that was most of the reason y I couldn't stop. The depression is finally gone and I feel I am finally ready to get back to myself. Anything??