First, what a jerk of a doctor you have! He's supposed to help you with this, not send you off with a bunch of pills. I'm so sorry. Good for you for researching on your own. This shows your strength.
There's no reason you can't taper yourself slowly. You don't need to be in agony. If you are on nothing now, you can take 1/2 a mg. if that helps you to function. Do so three times a week until you cut it down to two times, etc. Figure out what is doable. Tapering is the key, I think. I don't know how sick you are - just be safe!
If you're set on staying off, just make sure you have someone there for support. Don't get dehydrated! The symptoms should last for a week or two. Some people (on these posts) have said they can last longer -maybe a month, but my MD says that's rare. You should slowly feel yourself get better. Did your doctor give you Clonidine with the suboxone? That helps a lot with some symptoms.
I understand what you mean about your friends. I, too, have "lost" some friends because of this whole ordeal. Like you, though, I will try and reform those bonds. When I feel better it's the first thing on my list. I know that if this were my friend, I'd understand and accept unconditionally; through all of this, I've learned not to judge anyone - ever.
I'm here - keep me updated. You're not alone.
Lise
There's no reason you can't taper yourself slowly. You don't need to be in agony. If you are on nothing now, you can take 1/2 a mg. if that helps you to function. Do so three times a week until you cut it down to two times, etc. Figure out what is doable. Tapering is the key, I think. I don't know how sick you are - just be safe!
If you're set on staying off, just make sure you have someone there for support. Don't get dehydrated! The symptoms should last for a week or two. Some people (on these posts) have said they can last longer -maybe a month, but my MD says that's rare. You should slowly feel yourself get better. Did your doctor give you Clonidine with the suboxone? That helps a lot with some symptoms.
I understand what you mean about your friends. I, too, have "lost" some friends because of this whole ordeal. Like you, though, I will try and reform those bonds. When I feel better it's the first thing on my list. I know that if this were my friend, I'd understand and accept unconditionally; through all of this, I've learned not to judge anyone - ever.
I'm here - keep me updated. You're not alone.
Lise
Thanks once again...
Unfortunately, my doctor wanted to prescribe me clonodine before my suboxone intake to get all the heroin toxins out of my body first.
Instead i decided to suffer for a day or two and then just take it.
It is really weird because im halfway through day 4 and at some moments i'll feel totally fine and then when i lay down or rest and get back up i'll be so restless AND exhausted. My body temperature is playing a roller coaster and i have my mind set to quitting no matter what, but you are totally right; having mental support does help.
Unfortunately, once again... a lot of people don't know about my condition and i have a really tight schedule with work and school. I've taken a month off of everything (my life) to get better... I have around 6 days left of rest and wanting to get better.
THANK YOU SO MUCH~
i'll keep posting since it helps me cope with everything.
Thanks thanks thanks~
Unfortunately, my doctor wanted to prescribe me clonodine before my suboxone intake to get all the heroin toxins out of my body first.
Instead i decided to suffer for a day or two and then just take it.
It is really weird because im halfway through day 4 and at some moments i'll feel totally fine and then when i lay down or rest and get back up i'll be so restless AND exhausted. My body temperature is playing a roller coaster and i have my mind set to quitting no matter what, but you are totally right; having mental support does help.
Unfortunately, once again... a lot of people don't know about my condition and i have a really tight schedule with work and school. I've taken a month off of everything (my life) to get better... I have around 6 days left of rest and wanting to get better.
THANK YOU SO MUCH~
i'll keep posting since it helps me cope with everything.
Thanks thanks thanks~
How's it going?
I know what you mean about the body temp. roller coaster. I think that's the most annoying part of this for me. I'm hot, then cold - sweaty - you name it.
How are you feeling?
I know what you mean about the body temp. roller coaster. I think that's the most annoying part of this for me. I'm hot, then cold - sweaty - you name it.
How are you feeling?
it is currently 2am and i can't sleep. i got through day 4 like a breeze. in the morning i had trouble with the heart racing / exhaustion combo. after eating and drinking a lot of liquids i felt 100x better. got through the day and night feeling fine until i tried to sleep... the heart racing caught back up. i HATE this feeling. i can't sleep... with doxy sleeping aid help this? (otc sleep aid)??? im going onto day 5 and most of my symptoms are already gone except my heart POUNDING!!! UGH!!! hate it hate it hate it...
btw... are you a recovering addict as well? you seem to know all this really well. i appreciate the help once again.
fatigue and fell like i'm sick... why did this effect come in so late ... *tears from eye* ughhh going onto day 6 and hoping for the day to come where i wake up and feel like mowing the lawn or something.
Yes! I know that feeling. Withdrawals are like roller coasters...you did yours fast, so, though there IS an end, it might go up and down for awhile. Keep drinking and eating what you can - that seems to help. I'm right there with you right now. Yes, though not and addict by choice, I fell into the cycle by prescription pain meds after a surgery. A year later, I was told I was "in trouble" and sent to rehab, which didn't work. I was still in complete withdrawal when out, and then found a suboxone prescriber who I've been seeing for the last year. I'm down to my last mg., and have decreased from 4 mg. to 1 mg. in about two months, and just went from 2mg. to 1 mg. 7 days ago - so I, too am exhausted, sweaty/cold, and all the other symptoms. Today seems harder - yesterday was easier. I know it can't last, so I'm trying to look toward next week. My doctor assures me it has to end. Your body adjusts. Your will, too.
I'm concerned though about your lack of time - you are on some sort of time schedule. Any way to increase that so you don't feel under so much pressure? This is the time to ask others for what you need.
Hang in there!
I'm concerned though about your lack of time - you are on some sort of time schedule. Any way to increase that so you don't feel under so much pressure? This is the time to ask others for what you need.
Hang in there!
hi once again,
i currently am in the last hours of day 6...
it's weird b/c when i wake up i feel like i'm feeling better and then an hour later i'll feel more tired and feel like i'm about to die.
i hate this roller coaster!
anyways i just ate like 3 plates of meat and i feel like i'm on top of the world... only until i try to sleep and insomnia hits me again.
i'm kind of confused to what you're saying about rapid detox having a worse withdrawal time, b/c from what i've heard and read i came to believe that the shorter you are on suboxone the quicker withdrawals go away? was i misinformed? i am not sure... i could maybe agree that relapsing could be easier due to the rapid detox but i have my mind set to where i won't go back for sure! never going through this hell again...
i'm gonna try to get some sleep tonight and hope that day 7 will be the day i feel somewhat normal... FOR THE WHOLE DAY.
that would be nice... so i could go out and enjoy the weather or something for once. and yes, i made my resting time period a bit longer. it seems that i am fortunate enough to have another week to slack off and enjoy heart pounding panic moments and sipping tea... ha
how are things going for you???
i currently am in the last hours of day 6...
it's weird b/c when i wake up i feel like i'm feeling better and then an hour later i'll feel more tired and feel like i'm about to die.
i hate this roller coaster!
anyways i just ate like 3 plates of meat and i feel like i'm on top of the world... only until i try to sleep and insomnia hits me again.
i'm kind of confused to what you're saying about rapid detox having a worse withdrawal time, b/c from what i've heard and read i came to believe that the shorter you are on suboxone the quicker withdrawals go away? was i misinformed? i am not sure... i could maybe agree that relapsing could be easier due to the rapid detox but i have my mind set to where i won't go back for sure! never going through this hell again...
i'm gonna try to get some sleep tonight and hope that day 7 will be the day i feel somewhat normal... FOR THE WHOLE DAY.
that would be nice... so i could go out and enjoy the weather or something for once. and yes, i made my resting time period a bit longer. it seems that i am fortunate enough to have another week to slack off and enjoy heart pounding panic moments and sipping tea... ha
how are things going for you???
You sound better. I read somewhere that protein helps a lot. Maybe you should eat more meat! I can't believe you weren't given anything for sleep while going through this. That's one thing I don't have to deal with. My doctor has made sure I have a good (and he's said), "non" addictive med for sleep.
I feel a bit better today. I am forcing myself up and out of the house today. I can't stand staying inside this many days. I am bored out of my mind. I still have the temperature shifts (which I can't stand), but I don't feel so tired. Perhaps I'm through the worst.
About the withdrawal comments: My doctor just warned me (awhile back) when I asked if I could use suboxone for a month (versus long term) that I would be very sick for a long period versus not as sick for shorter periods (and able to work through the withdrawals). I did work all this last year while cutting down. Now, he may have just wanted to keep me as a client - I don't know...whatever the case, it scared me enough to go slowly. In the end, it's probably an individual thing. Don't let it concern you - it sounds like you're a bit better.
Yes?
I feel a bit better today. I am forcing myself up and out of the house today. I can't stand staying inside this many days. I am bored out of my mind. I still have the temperature shifts (which I can't stand), but I don't feel so tired. Perhaps I'm through the worst.
About the withdrawal comments: My doctor just warned me (awhile back) when I asked if I could use suboxone for a month (versus long term) that I would be very sick for a long period versus not as sick for shorter periods (and able to work through the withdrawals). I did work all this last year while cutting down. Now, he may have just wanted to keep me as a client - I don't know...whatever the case, it scared me enough to go slowly. In the end, it's probably an individual thing. Don't let it concern you - it sounds like you're a bit better.
Yes?
After a year of being addicted to oxys and a year of being addicted to shooting a gram into my veins a day... i went onto suboxone... for 21 days. couldn't even last 30 hours without a fix or suboxone. now i am 7 days off of suboxone as well and i am starting to feel like a normal human being. i am tired at times, and still a little restless but when im occupied i feel fine. the key is to stay occupied even if you play games with ur mind. that's how it always was anyways right? "need another fix"... u gotta keep telling urself the pain will end. i think i am lucky that withdrawals subsided after just a week. i still have some problems with temperature but that is all fixed with meat.
for everybody working hard at sobriety... during suboxone withdrawals i found it REALLLLLLYYYYYY helpful eating tons of meat and proteins... each night i would eat about a pound of just cooked meat... for 7 days and each time i ate i would feel good afterwards....
i think exercising and eating meat helped the most.
eat meat, drink gatorade and water, and walk a LOT. u might feel restless afterwards but a hot shower will do the trick.
the natural way to go is the best way.
and it is true that the pain eventually ends.
i am feeling like im at 70% already.
mindset is great, and feeling more like mowing the lawn..
Not quite yet though.
but i can tell i am 10x better than day 2-5...
best of luck to everybody out there and im praying for u Stormme.
thanks for being there for me,
i will be here for you too!
much love and thanks,
K
for everybody working hard at sobriety... during suboxone withdrawals i found it REALLLLLLYYYYYY helpful eating tons of meat and proteins... each night i would eat about a pound of just cooked meat... for 7 days and each time i ate i would feel good afterwards....
i think exercising and eating meat helped the most.
eat meat, drink gatorade and water, and walk a LOT. u might feel restless afterwards but a hot shower will do the trick.
the natural way to go is the best way.
and it is true that the pain eventually ends.
i am feeling like im at 70% already.
mindset is great, and feeling more like mowing the lawn..
Not quite yet though.
but i can tell i am 10x better than day 2-5...
best of luck to everybody out there and im praying for u Stormme.
thanks for being there for me,
i will be here for you too!
much love and thanks,
K
well it must be different for everyone. I was on 24mg for three months 16 mg for 6 months and within 1 week tapered down to nothing. It has been five days or so and i am ok. i mean i dont feel great, but it was way easier than the tar. I had one day where it was really bad (day 2) but other than that i am just normally irritated. i went surfing today, and was a little tired, but i had fun. I am a bit emotionaly beaten, but hey THESE ARE STILL DRUGS... take from this what you will, but i would pick yourself up from your bootstraps and deal... (note, i stoped taking the suboxone as well as lexapro, and another ssri i cant think of right at the moment.)
Good luck, Jason
Good luck, Jason
Wow, Jason, good for you. It is individual, and has a lot to do with many variables (med/drug you were on, duration, etc). The bottom line is you did it. Congratulations - enjoy life!
L
L
I'm on day 7 too, this is bullcrap. I was taking 5-6 lortab ( had been taking more) 160mg of morphine timed release and wore no less than 125 mg of fentayl patches every 3 days and my doc said this was my cure-all....bull freaking c**p, i feel worse than I ever did taking other c**p, then I hear i'll have to be weened down from suboxone and the withdrawals from sub or worse than any other c**p....oh no.. I'm calling my doc monday and telling her off, she better make me feel better or Im going to lose it. I am ashamed that I ever got started on anything in the first place ( i have a 3 yr old daughter, i cant be sick all the time from suboxone. I hate this. I hope anyone out there reading this and the posting I quoted, NEVER TAKE SUBOXONE unless you and your doctor know 100% it will work for you. Make your docotor do a whole once over of you, from top to bottom, thats my docs prob, she has no clue.Good luck everybody.
Suboxone is not the wonder drug it's being sold as. I've been addicted to pain killers half my life. I've been thru withdrawals from them no less than a hundred times. It sucks. But - I know what to expect and I know the wd's will only last about 5 or 6 days - and each day gets better.
This is not the case with suboxone. Buprenorphine enters your body and quickly binds very strongly to the mu opioid receptors in the brain. It stays in your body for a long time having a half-life of 17 hours because it's not floating around freely in the bloodstream - it stays superglued to your receptors - so strongly that not even naloxone can knock it off - and very slowly releases from the receptors and is eliminated. It has a very mild action on the receptor while it's there.
What this means is that Suboxone leaves the receptors quite fully charged with electrical energy and as it slowly leaves these receptors send out very strong distress signals. Over 3 to 5 days the Suboxone will slowly get out of your body and as every little bit of it leaves it leaves behind a receptor sending out a powerful distress signal.
Ordinary agonists such as morphine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, hydrocodone will agonize the receptor - producing a buzz - and when it leaves the receptor there's not a lot of energy there - so the receptor sends out a mild distress signal. But - these agonists have half-lives of anywhere from 35 minutes for Fentanyl to 2 1/2 hours for oxycodone up to about 4 hours or so for morphine. That means they leave the receptors quickly.
So what we're used to is having a lot of receptors being left by our drug of choice quickly and those receptors sending out weak distress signals. It doesn't take more than a day for full withdrawals to hit.
But with Suboxone we get a small number of receptors being left and those receptors sending out strong distress signals and it takes 3 to 5 days for all of it to go away.
I've found Suboxone withdrawals to be much worse than opiates. It takes 2 or 3 days for the full withdrawals to hit and they last over a week - almost 2. It's like withdrawals in slow motion. I hate it.
The way I get off Suboxone: I stop it and wait a day or two - as much as I can for the withdrawals to build up to the point I can't take it anymore. Then I start my usual dose of my opiates of choice - which for me is either Fentanyl, Dilaudid, or usually Heroine or Oxy's. They do give me a buzz and they do take away the withdrawals. After a few days of those I taper off of them and stop. What I get in the end is typical opiate withdrawals that last 4 to 6 days.
Please note that if you try this with the weaker stuff like hydrocodone or anything weaker like codeine or propoxyphene you may not get high when you first start taking it. It should take away most of your wd's though. If it doesn't take away the wd's you need to move up to something stronger because the Suboxone has raised your tolerance. I know heroine, dilaudid, oxycodone and fentanyl all work like a charm and will get you a full buzz. I can't get high on hydrocodone or anything weaker so I don't know how those work from personal experience - but the science is the same - they bind to receptors. If you are feeling withdrawals then there are receptors in your brain that do NOT have suboxone attached to them and they are sending out strong distress signals. Any opiate you take will bind to them and stop them. There may not be enough open receptors to get you a good buzz but you will at least stop the wd's by binding opiates to them. As time moves on you will start getting a buzz as more and more of the Suboxone leaves.
This is not the case with suboxone. Buprenorphine enters your body and quickly binds very strongly to the mu opioid receptors in the brain. It stays in your body for a long time having a half-life of 17 hours because it's not floating around freely in the bloodstream - it stays superglued to your receptors - so strongly that not even naloxone can knock it off - and very slowly releases from the receptors and is eliminated. It has a very mild action on the receptor while it's there.
What this means is that Suboxone leaves the receptors quite fully charged with electrical energy and as it slowly leaves these receptors send out very strong distress signals. Over 3 to 5 days the Suboxone will slowly get out of your body and as every little bit of it leaves it leaves behind a receptor sending out a powerful distress signal.
Ordinary agonists such as morphine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, hydrocodone will agonize the receptor - producing a buzz - and when it leaves the receptor there's not a lot of energy there - so the receptor sends out a mild distress signal. But - these agonists have half-lives of anywhere from 35 minutes for Fentanyl to 2 1/2 hours for oxycodone up to about 4 hours or so for morphine. That means they leave the receptors quickly.
So what we're used to is having a lot of receptors being left by our drug of choice quickly and those receptors sending out weak distress signals. It doesn't take more than a day for full withdrawals to hit.
But with Suboxone we get a small number of receptors being left and those receptors sending out strong distress signals and it takes 3 to 5 days for all of it to go away.
I've found Suboxone withdrawals to be much worse than opiates. It takes 2 or 3 days for the full withdrawals to hit and they last over a week - almost 2. It's like withdrawals in slow motion. I hate it.
The way I get off Suboxone: I stop it and wait a day or two - as much as I can for the withdrawals to build up to the point I can't take it anymore. Then I start my usual dose of my opiates of choice - which for me is either Fentanyl, Dilaudid, or usually Heroine or Oxy's. They do give me a buzz and they do take away the withdrawals. After a few days of those I taper off of them and stop. What I get in the end is typical opiate withdrawals that last 4 to 6 days.
Please note that if you try this with the weaker stuff like hydrocodone or anything weaker like codeine or propoxyphene you may not get high when you first start taking it. It should take away most of your wd's though. If it doesn't take away the wd's you need to move up to something stronger because the Suboxone has raised your tolerance. I know heroine, dilaudid, oxycodone and fentanyl all work like a charm and will get you a full buzz. I can't get high on hydrocodone or anything weaker so I don't know how those work from personal experience - but the science is the same - they bind to receptors. If you are feeling withdrawals then there are receptors in your brain that do NOT have suboxone attached to them and they are sending out strong distress signals. Any opiate you take will bind to them and stop them. There may not be enough open receptors to get you a good buzz but you will at least stop the wd's by binding opiates to them. As time moves on you will start getting a buzz as more and more of the Suboxone leaves.
I was on 8mg a day of suboxone for over a year and at times took 24mg a day but never for long. I then cut down to 4mg for about 2 weeks, then 2mg, then 1mg all without any problems. When I went down to 1mg I was ok but .5 mg was the hurdle I could not seem to cross. I finally took .50 one day, .25 the next day and then stopped. I went thru withdrawl very similar to a perc withdrawl but never got the skincrawls or the nightsweats. It was a challenge, but it was doable. The beauty of it all was that I had no obsession to use after day one. I used to use heroin, oxycontin, percocets, vicodin, you name it, I loved it. I used them everyday too, not on occasion. I was also on Methadone for 7 years as well. Getting off Suboxone can be done. I have now been off for 9 days and was able to start a brand new job in an office on day 5. I won't say it's been easy, my back is the biggest problem I have left along with some mild anxiety. I have been taking ambien to help me sleep, and I think that could be the anxiety culprit. Anyone who wants off suboxone can do it, it's just some mild dope sickness. My detox from Methadone 1 mg every other week was actually easier than the suboxone drop, but think about the time involved in doing that. With Suboxone I controlled my own schedule. Good Luck everyone this is doable.