Suboxone Subutex Step down method from Florida Detox

I posted on here earlier and left something out.... I have no desire to even touch any kind of a drug now all I want is to just be free from all of this sh*t. That is truly all I want. Life is too precious to waste on this NIGHTMARE!!!!!!! What was I ever thinking in the first place I ask myself all the time. HA Now I regret it more than anything I have ever done. Tho the subs seem evil they did steer me away from other drugs to the point of where I don't even want them anymore but, stopping the subs is posing yet another obstacle in my way. Sometimes I think everyone overdoes the thought of the withdrawal being worse than pain pills.... They just can't remeber how awful it was either. I remeber it being very very HORRIBLE!!! I just wonder if the subs withdrawal r as bad as what peeps think or if their just tripping cuz they felt so good for so long and haven't withdrawaled for a long time??? Cuz with me I withdrawaled all the damn time like the next day after I ran out and couldn't find anything and it was BAD. I'm open to anyone's experiences bad or good. I just wanna know and get rid of this demon forever. thxxx Best Wishes for everyone. I think we can all do this. Just don't let the beast control u. U control it!! ! ! ! ! ! !

xsubuser is naive at best and promoting dangerous behavior at worst. I'm not going to go into detail about the merits of quitting Suboxone cold turkey vs. tapering. How you get off is inconsequential. The two things I have a major problem with are A) this person is not a doctor and is acting like he is qualified to give medical advice and B) that 12 Step Programs do more harm than good.

I had been on and off heroin and painkillers four separate times from age 19 to 23. At 23 I got on methadone, was on for two years, and have been on Suboxone for nearly four years since. I used on top of the maintenance drugs almost constantly. I could stay clean for periods of time on my own, once I stayed clean for 18 months, but every time, I would forget how miserable using made me and start again. Eight months ago I had a relapse in which I lost my job, my marriage and spent over $10,000. I went to an outpatient rehab but was not able to stop using until I started going to NA meetings.

Since being in NA, I've heard countless stories of people who believed exactly what xsubuser said--that NA is just a constant tie to drug using and, basically, that an "out of sight, out of mind" approach is better. It's been my experience that it's more "those that don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it." In my 6 months in NA, I've known 3 people that decided they would DIY their recovery and went out, OD'd and died. Dozens more started using again only to come back to the program and attest that they were unable to succeed on their own. 12 Step Programs are the only proven method for keeping people clean long-term. Also, and even more importantly than staying off drugs, NA and other 12 Step Programs offer a better way of life. They offer freedom from the wreckage of our pasts, a way to make amends with people we've harmed in our addictions, and ways to fix our character defects.

This is only my experience. I would urge anyone to try going to meetings and see for themselves what recovery offers.

xsubuser... I thank you so much for your post. I think I needed to hear what you had to say rather that a lot of people on here saying how hard it is to stop and they had to go back on it. I have been on it for 5 yrs ( 16mg a day )and an addict for 26yrs. So I think I have a right to speak on here. The side effects over a long period of time are devastating. No sex drive, loosing an erection in the middle of sex with a beautiful lady. Not good and she feels worse that you do. Isolating from everyone even family. Not enjoying things you have loved all your life. Constipation is wicked. I am drinking down a bottle of Miralax ( with is the only thing that works by the way ) every month. That's another $20 a month right there. There are so many I could go on and on.I have tapered from an 8mg in the morn. to 8mg in the evening . I did that over a 2 week period. I then went to 4mg am to 4mg pm for 2 weeks. Today I went to 2mg am to 2mg pm. I can see that it is going to feel like c**p from here on out. xsubuser, I have read over 200 posts on this site and others like it. I would say over 90% of the posts are cry me a river posts and I had to go back on it posts and I can't do this posts. I think you hit it on the head my friend. There comes a time when you just have to say, enough is enough. Take some time off work ( which I put into play last week ) I told my bosses I would be taking 2 weeks off in the near future. Take some time off, stock up on soup,drinks, Imodium and Kattie-bar-the-door. Lay in the bed for a few days and rock. I know I am going to feel like c**p way longer that 2 weeks. But I can't do this any longer. It's time to move on with my life. I have lost 2 marriages, family trust, friends, money, my dignity and lots lots more. Thank you xsubuser, I needed that...

PS.. No I am not a Dr so please don't send me the evil posts you did for xsubuser.But I have a degree in addiction.... from the streets. 31 yrs. worth. That's more than most of you have been alive. Please, show some respect for the living in your counter posts...

I started taking subutex about 1.5 yrs ago to get off of heavy IV stuff. I have tried 2 cold turkey bouts. Both times, I was able to make it through the physical withdrawals (which are, let's say, "underrated") and stay clean for over 1 month each time. Yeah, fanf***ingtastic, right... See, I totally agree - in theory, anyway - with xsubuser. It sounds great. The problem with this theory, though, is that everyone does not have the willpower to pull this off. We are only ourselves. Yeah, a week or two of chills, shakes, sweating, vomiting, sleeplesness, irritability, suicidal thoughts, liquid stools, and random crying are no fun. But those go away - and when they're gone, they stay gone. It was the psychological withdrawals that kicked my a** and made me crash and burn. Granted, I am an IV user, and I believe that my addiction to the subs is increased exponentially by my needle use. I love the entire process: finding a vein, sticking it in, the blood telling me when to plunge.... But each time, I lose a little piece of my soul. I justify it by simply not giving a sh** about anything. And in my experience, that is subutex in a nutshell: I DON'T CARE. Music was my life, for instance. I've been a multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter since I was 16 (I'm 28). I have done a little touring and even recorded a decent EP, but I haven't so much as strummed a chord in over a year. I have virtually no contact with friends, little with family, and zero sex drive, which has cost me 2 wonderful girls during this time on subs. I have a bachelor's in English, but am unemployed. See, the things I used to love, things that made me who I am as a person - now they mean nothing to me. Narcotics (mainly H and oxy since I was 21) and subs have ruined my life. I thought the subs were turning things around, but it's truly just the same sh** over and over. I know my Dr is a quack and his office is just a drug McDonald's, but I continue to go every month. So 2 weeks ago, I decided to cold turkey (because, of course, I can do this all by myself!!) for the 3rd time, but this time I've been using ativan and xanax for the wd's. I can tell already that once again, it's not going to work, and now I'm becoming addicted the benzos, too. The one thing I've NEVER done is exactly what I was supposed to be taking the subs for in the first place - PUTTING DOWN THE NEEDLE & TAPERING OFF. I've been in and out of various n/a meetings in my city, and I've NEVER heard a successful cold turkey subutex story. However, plenty of people have told me about kicking it by slowly tapering. So I'm gonna try it. I just want to give myself a real chance. I need my n/a group, my church, my friends, my family. I need to try tapering. I need these things because I am too weak to do this by myself, see. So god bless your superhuman willpower, xsubuser, but i just don't have it. I was taking 16mg daily. I took 4mg of sub about 2 hrs ago, officially ending my 3rd "clean" period. I just want to save my life. I want to be able to give, make, and receive love again. I am dead right now. So, yes, even though I agree with xsubuser about many things, I'm going to try to taper, going from 16mg/day for the first month, 12 the next, then 8, 4, then switch to the 2mg pills, then split those in 1/2, and if I need 1/2 or even a f***ing 1/4mg, then that's what I'll do. Looking @ about 5-6 months, I guess. If you can do it xsubuser's way, do it. That's undoubtedly the best method. For the rest of us, though, tapering seems to be the way to go - it's the only way i've actually heard of anyone having any success. Thanks for everyone's posts. I read all of them, btw. And any feedback, comments, suggestions, etc would be much appreciated. I wish everyone who's still struggling the best of luck on their journey. For me, this is the single hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but I know it'll be worth it. I know there's life out there for all of us, and I pray that we all get to experience it - the sooner the better. Love....

Hello guest, I wanted to let you know I was on 16mg about 1 mth ago. Been on that dose for 3 yrs. Like you I said enough is enough. I started my taper. I cut in in half for 1 week. 4 in the morn. and 4 in the evening. Did that for 1 week. Cut that in half. 2 and 2. Did that for 1 week. Now I am on 1 and 1mg. This is my last week and on Friday I took a vacation for next week. Planning on staying at home a rockin it out I guess. You don't need to wait 6 mths to do this. Yes when you cut your dose in half you feel a little bad for the 1st few days. But then you get regulated at that dose. I can now go 24hours at 1mg b4 I start to feel a little bad. Next week will be the proverbial s#%& hits the fan .We will see. My point being is you don't need to wait 6 mths. to get your life back. At some point even tapering no mater how long you make the taper at some point you will have to rock it out the last little bit. I will let you know how it goes for me. Keep your head up and may the Lord be with you....

                            For all out their, especially those who hate on buprenorphine (subutex/suboxone), I was on an opiate equivalent to heroin for a little over 2 years which caused me to go 15,000 in debt finally forcing me to go to a rehab doc who put me on a series of buprenorphine medications..... Now having been on hard core narcotics I can honestly tell everyone that buprenorphine literally saved my life, I know a lot of people say that but due to emotional imbalances from withdrawal I had tried suicide multiple times, subs in the most literal sense saved my life, I did buprenorphine for the next 2 years for my situation is a bit different than some well most, see I have tourettes which causes me to grind my back heavily which in turn causes very bad chronic pain that is never ending due to the fact that their is no cure for tourettes.  Anyway I stayed on subs for the next 2 maybe 2.5 years and I will tell you this, the step down is not that hard, its definitely not as hard as what some of you on here are making it out to be, well OK sorry it may be different for each individual person so for me it wasn't all that bad, if you don't trust yourself to step down out of fear of cheating, then get someone to help you by administering them to you, I mean if some of you are saying to have someone with you the first week of withdrawal then you can have someone administer it to you, it shouldn't be that hard to get someone, anyone close to you friend/family/both will absolutely no doubt be willing to help save your life, I can say this, stepping down was a lot easier than going through withdrawal.  I'm really not trying to cause any problems and I'm not trying to stir the pot, I just wanted to give my input and let everyone know that for some subs can be the best decision you will ever make, and I can admit it, for others it may not be the best decision you just have to make that choice on your own, thanks hope this helped.

                                     -A

Hi I went to a methadone clinic for 3 years & lost my insurance. Which was a good thing cuz I'd probably still be there. I was tapering probably 2out of the3years I was there.Anyways I detoxed myself from the methadone&felt deathly sick.So now I am taking suboxone&I'm hoping to god this will work. Today i prob took about 1mg. I have Gaba that helps alot with anxiety&relaxing. can get it from any health food store. Thats the #1 pill that helped me get throgh my methadone withdrawls.   hh

Thank you sooo much for this information. I am "weening" off Suboxone now, only took 8 mg to start and have stayed on that or about 2 months now, I hate them.....I use to take oxys 30 mg and my doctor told me to take up to 10 a day!!!! Wow, some doctors just want your addiction to stay with you in my opinion. I am a Christian and know Jesus does not want to depend of this medication, I am also disabled, however, I am seeing a pain doctor who does not believe in opiates, and I do get epidural steriod injections, which I can handle, I can live with the physical pain, it is the mental pain these pills put me through and I know I can get off them with the help of my Savior....I am going to take your advise.....thankyou again and God Bless You.

I dont understand how people can take subs for a year or even months. i went threw a professional rehab facilities which dont allow any patient to use subs for any longer then 12 days. and thats the extreme cases, like the people who have been on H for 10 years.  I was using roxys for a year avg around 10-15 a day(i know compared to some this isnt much). i was off subutex in 5 days and was sleeping like a baby no restless leg ect.  My point is if u go to a sub doctor dont use all 30 or 60 of them or whatever script they write you, set up a high(16mg) dosage the first day or 2 and step down from there over a period of 10 days and u will have zero to very little withdrawal from the subs, this rehab cost me 32k but luckily i had full health insurance,

jib3721 wrote:

hwebb54 wrote:

This is the plan I used when I got out of Florida Detox. I paid 12,000 dollars for this so someone get your moneys worth from this. I started at 32mg so Im going from that.

16mg Morning 16 Night for 6 days
16mg Morning 14 Night for 6 days
16mg Morning 12 Night for 6 days
16mg Morning 10 night for 6 days
16mg Morning 8 night for 6 days
16mg Morning 6 night for 6 days
16mg Morning 4 night for 6 days
16mg Morning 2 night for 6 days
16mg Morning 0 night for 6 days
14mg Morning for 6 days
12mg Morning for 6 days
10mg Morning for 6 days
8mg Morning for 6 days
6mg Morning for 6 days
4mg Morning for 6 days
2mg Morning for 6 days
1mg Morning for 6 days

This is some other advice. I still had withdrawals from the 1mg after I stopped taking it. So I would recommend maybe taking 1/2mg for 6 days then 1/4mg for 6 days. I know its hard to break the pills into 1/4 evenly but try. Also if still felling withdrawals just lick the pill for a second. worked for me

I have never posted before so I am not sure if I am doing this right. I am replying to the above post. Fist I want to say THANK YOU!! I also want to know how long you have been off of the suboxone and how you feel now. Also wondering what you were coming off of when you went on suboxone and how long you were using that. Are you doing anything else like counseling, meetings, church.......anything? Thanks again. I will keep checking back to see your reply.

On 4 mg per day now. How long did wd last after last dose and what were your symptoms?

Hi Xsubuser,
pain in testicles and urination problems and back pain! and feeling like i have cancer , i am of sailing around the world in Feb with a friend, i am now on 2 mls a day from 14 in 5 months when will this end and is it common to have all these nasty side effects.I hate this drug its a nightmare its made me really ill and I am questioning my health any help would be appreciated.
Nick

its the tex for sure!

Im sorry but taking buprenirphine to stop withdrawal is only temporary..... buprenorphine (subutex./suboxones active OPIOD that is 10 times stronger than morphine) will take away withdrawal because it is another opiod and you will have to withdrawal off of that...... Its half lief is 3 times longer than a full agonist and instead of 7-10 days acute withdrawal your looking at double....tripple the detox time..... sure it might be a 1/4 less painful but it will last longer and just make it worse. the only thing its good for is maintnance and the easy ability to sell them to get high. and when your out of your drug..... they stave off withdrawal until you can get another fix...... the worst is when a medical detox uses them cause once you leave bam you will have to withdawal off of them making the process a waste of time.... id rather a detox pump me full of tranquilzers and be done with it in a week..... Ive been on subs 3 diff times.... all the same outcome. They are great for maintenance and getting money to get high, but id rather take methadone cause its basically the same pr even 3 bundles of ecp dope where i was once... Now i cant find a detox to take me cause of mh Huuugee Fentanyl smoking habbit. 35 MGs a day(not mcgs thats enough to kill 35-40 people) ita scary to even contemplate trying to go on methadone or subs cause ill still be sick.. If anyone knows of a detox thay will take me let me know cause i havent found one that knows how to deal with my situation...  Anyways unless you want to be on a maintenance drug stay away from subs and dont take longer than a couple days so iits 20-73(with a mean 37 hour half life will keep you addicted longer than you were... 

i don't know if it this was the original post or not but all I want to say is "Thank You for saving my life".  it would be my honor to travel anywhere to tell how pople to get off this BS that was supposed to help us. They lied.

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 = 12mgs /day for 3+years. This sh*t IS EVIL!!!!!! But U CAN do it!!!!! PS the withdrawals last way longer than they tell you... PS-i can only help you with suboxone 

Xsubuser thank you. It's so nice to know someone else has been through EXACTLY what I am going through . I am not off it yet, but I know now that my antisocial behavior, nodding off all the time, my weird depressed isolating personality traits are because of my drug. Don't get me wrong I love this drug it literally saved my life but it's like a breathing machine for someone in a coma or something, it's only delaying the inevitable. I recently have a job now and for the first 3 years of subs I did not. I didn't do anything in those three years except sit alone and go to NA meetings where I didn't make friends. I am a 26 year old female and a complete addict. I just can't see life without a substance to me it's just misery. In that way Suboxone worked for me, I didn't use dope and went to meetings like I said... Now I work at my dream job , but it all doesn't feel deserved , I would never have come this far without suboxone. Suboxone is nowworking against me , my doc is tapering me and I keep abusing it so I end up with 2 days each month of not having it, it drains my whole paycheck when if I wasn't on it I could get a car..apartment , have a life. I used to have friends ... I was in love. But I always used and drugs eventually took all that from me and suboxone kept my life lonely. I have no desire to talk to people at all. I still live with my parents and they are the only people I social with. I don't talk at work... When I come home I just play chess online. 3 years ago I was 120 pounds now I'm 155. I haven't been out socially since October , it's April. I know this is not who I am supposed to be, but I've tried living with out suboxone, this 3 years was the second time I've been on it. I was on it 18 months before that and as soon as I started tapering I went back to opiates. I've been to 5 rehabs, NA all of it. Suboxone is the only thing that keeps me off of it. I know I can't live clean , I don't want to either , it's my whole identity. I worry about my body I smoke a pack a day two rockstar energy drinks and 12 mg of subs a day. (1 1/2 8 mg strips) I started on 32 mg. it's my poisonous cocktail daily and on weekends my ideal day is alone playing chess and taking that mix, it's pathetic but I feel happy in that moment. I don't know what I am doing here except to thank xsubuser for his story and to tell mine. I can't tell people not to go on this drug because it's better than banging herion or roxis or snorting it. But if u r the type that can get the dope then do that because suboxone isn't a miracle drug, it works but it will take ur life in a different way. You won't be out there hustling or hurting ur friends and family. You will just become a depressed anti social hermit with weird thoughts. Maybe some of u this won't happen too, but some side affect will, there is no miracle drug. There is no perfect anything because everything has consequences, especially things that seem like an easy out or solution to a huge life threading addiction. A pill or strip won't solve ur pill problem, you will have to deal with it someday. Look at me I used to be the most vibrant and social person in life, I was so excited for life and I was confident and now at 26 years old fat and alone and I think that person is gone, I hope I can't get back to that one day. I literally thought drugs were cool and now I wish I never tried them. I am just thankful for my job at least I have that.