SUBOXONE WITHDRAWLS SO SO BAD!!

Wow, is all I can say. I can truly say that after being addicted to Oxycontin for 7 yrs. I am glad I found the Dr. I did. First a little background. It has been a long journey and when I look back at it all it's like it was another person. I'm a R.N. who got hurt at work and had to have a surgery for a hernia. No big deal right? Fast forward 3 mo. after the 1st surgery now have had a 2nd one and am left with femoral and saphenous nerve damage. I walk with a walker or am in a WC> WTF was all I could think. I had 2 kids,husband, dogs, house...I didn't want to take narcs but at month 6 post 2nd surgery couldn't take it anymore. I was in so much pain and tired of not being able to do everything I needed to for my family. So my next flare up I was admitted to the hospital and at the end of a 5 day stint I was taking 6 80mg Oxycontins daily. I wasn't doped up, I wasn't even tired. My pain was gone and I was so happy because I just felt ...normal. I continued on this dose until mid-2009. I had been working the entire time as a Director of Care Delivery on a post surgical physical rehab unit. My husband was in a severe MVA, hitting a pole at 60mph. Completely toast. He never fully recovered and started taking OC and Xanax. He very quickly began having addiction issues and was stealing my meds. My whole world was falling apart. I was started to have to get early scripts, see multiple dr.'s, to maintain my doseage and keep him where he felt he needed to be. He felt he should be on the same dose as me and was pissed when the dr's refused. I had my meds in a safe and came home from work to find him drilling into it! He began abusing me physically when I refused to give him any more. I was trying to maintain my job which was our only source of income but it finally exploded when I stopped at the pharmacy one day after work to get my script only to find he had already picked it up!!! When I walked in the house he was already halfway through his xanax script and God only knows how many of my OC's he had taken. It was a scary night that exposed my secret life to the world. My children had only been slightly aware of the issues in our home as I had shielded them fiercely. It ended with 2 busted down doors me having my arms drug through a glass window as he tried to get in. Cuts were deep and blood was everywhere. My daughter attacked him from behind when she saw me hurt and my youngest had tried to stab him with a knife to get him off me. Thank God neither were hurt. He was arrested and a couple days later I was released from the hospital. But the damage was done. My Dr. booted me from his pain program as everything I had done to help him came out. I started to go through withdraw and started hallucinating. I had put my kids with their dad so at least they weren't there to witness any more. I had called a couple of friends before I got real bad and I guess at some point they loaded me in some guys van that we had gone to school with and took me to the city. I woke up to feeling great and when I looked down I had a needle in my arm. They had given me heroin. I was scared but at the same time relieved to not be in withdrawal. From that moment on my life was forever changed. I did heroin for a couple wks until I found another Dr. to prescribe my OC, but at that point I only wanted heroin. I went back and forth between the 2 until November 2010. My current boyfriend despised it. About 6 mo after I started I handed my kids over to their dad. I couldn't have them see me like that. I wasn't going to destroy them. But I didn't know what to do to get off of them. I knew a traditional detox wasn't for me due to my health issues. I quit my job because I was afraid of what would happen if I got caught with a dirty urine. My addiction was getting worse and I had no one to turn to. My whole family was on the Gulph Coast in Florida while I was in PA. I only had my boyfriend and I was ready to leave him so I couldn't hurt him further. He's one of those types that if he couldn't fix me he had failed. Well one day I broke down and called my parents crying. They knew about the OC but nothing of heroin. They partially knew what was going on, but I gave them quite an education when I called that day. Within a wk my parents had come to PA and whisked me away to Clearwater, Fl and the day after I arrived I had a meeting with Dr. Sponagle with Florida Detox. He does a rapid detox for every drug you can think of and after that begins work on finding out what led you to become addicted. He ran multiple tests, scans, you name it. Turns out my dopamine as well as serotonin were low, while other brain chemistries were high, my female hormones were completely deficient (i had had irregular periods my whole life and the Dr's never really paid attention to that). I tested positive for black mold and Lyme disease, both of which made my nerve damage worse. I went to the hospital on a Wed. morning and was released Fri. Because of the amount of OC I was taking I had to do a step down suboxone for 2 wks. as he wasn't able to remove all the opiates from my opiate receptor. I had no issues with coming off the suboxone because he had already removed all but 5% of the opiates. Going through his program I have not 1 time had the kicks, the sweats, chills, nothing. I have never felt so good in my life. I take natural meds to bring my estrogen and progesterone into balance (he only prescribes hormones that are bioequivalent). I take Serene to bring my serotonin levels up, and the only thing that can bring up Dopamine is ADD/ADHD meds so he either prescribes Adderall or Vivance(?). He doesn't just diagnose you with different things, he brings your levels to where they need to be, and now he's getting rid of the black mold and Lyme disease that have been destroying my body. I am never going to touch opiates or any type of opiate again. I don't want to. When I took H or OC I felt good/"normal". After Florida Detox I feel not just"normal" but the best I have ever felt. I have energy when I get up, sexually I guess this is how turned on I should have been when I was 25...LOL. I just want everyone to know the old way of detoxing is gone and there's a new way out without suffering. Not one time have I ever felt uncomfortable with the staff there. A lot of them have had addiction issues themselves or related to someone who has. They know no one wants to be an addict. And they also know that once they fix things you will never be one again. I am now at my 3 month mark since detoxing and I am getting ready to start counseling/therapy to deal with what happened during my addiction and also some things that happened earlier. Once your hormone and brain chemistries become stable is when they recommend you start. Prior to that you're not going to be able to fully participate with that junk being off. If you can make it to Florida Detox get there. If you can't try and find a holistic dr. that is willing to help. A lot of people are looking at Dr. Sponagle's model of addiction recovery (DEA, different health commissions and groups) to become the future of recovery. He also has a Wellness program where he works with people that have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue from all the so called "best medical facilities" only to find they really had heavy metal poisoning, mold issues, lyme disease, and a host of other things that they never test for. I believe the rest of the countries rehabs have a 85-95% relapse rate compared to Dr. Sponagle's I believe less than 5% relapse rate. I know I have a long road to get back my life and make amends for the things I did. But at least I now have a real chance at doing that. Go to Florida ***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed if you want to check it out. I believe he has live webinars on Tues. nights where you can talk to him about your issues or whoever it may be that you're worried about. I think you might have to call the facility to get a sign on code for that. They don't bite and are always glad to try and help people through this. :D

1i have been taking suboxen for a month now.   my son and i always trade out but he went to jail.I went into withdrawls so i had no choice but to take hydros to make it not as bad.I am cramping and hurting i feel like i am on fire.I go to the dr. tomorrow and i am terrified of them drug testing me and kicking me out.I have had a broke back and neck and i havea pain pump of dauladid inside and the suboxen clears my mind I have been on opioits for 23 years.Will i get kicked out?

i cant believe so many people are on such high doses of suboxone. i went from a pure black tar H addiction (PURE) and also an 100mg methadone addiction. i would take no more than one 8mg suboxone and feel fine!! i was using H and METHADONE for 7 years and i realized that you dont need more than 8mg of suboxone or you are asking for PROBLEMS. my only advice is to calm down and try and curb your mental anxiety, i know it is hard but it will pass after time! it took me 30 days to sleep when i went to jail cold turkey. it will not happen over night. ween yourself down to 1mg of suboxone and stay there DAILY as long as you have to and then strat crumbing it to ween off but for us opiate addicts there is NO SILVER BULLET and we must experience some discomfort until our body regains normalcy. this will not happen overnight or days and maybe not weeks but it will happen one day. be strong and look to god for strength! i myself am still struggling but only on 1-mg a day of suboxone. pray to stay strong and get away from all your old haunts and habits. god help us all

i have been doing oxys for 3 yrs 6-7 pills a day. i got 2 8 mg suboxen films, cut them into fours and then again into 14. still giving me wd. on that small amount. its no sleep, restless leg, i can't work because i have no energy, very depressed, headaches, and it feels terrible. i know it could be alot worse, but my mind tell me i do not want to feel any more pain and sadness. i am so ready to get off of everything and feel like myself again. i have to support myself, but i havent been able to work feeling like this. i did a very small piece of the film today and felt okay for a awhile. i am hungry and try to eat, take hot baths, but i want to have some hope this is going to get better. i do not even want to get out of bed. it sucks but i am detrmined to stay off the pain meds. i have been going back and forth, clean a few days then do a pain med, then off again. bbut i do not want this life anymore. i jsut want to find some hope and not all the horror stories

this drug is a pure mess!!! i cant beleive docs put us on this sh*t i had a doctor who didnt no sh*t she would just give me a month script of 3 a day who the f**k needs 24 milligrams of this sh*t a day like straight up wild how retarted and miss leading these docs can be im going to tell everyone dont take them kick ur dope addiction dont jump to these pills i was on roxycodone for a whole year before i started taken subz i thought they were a miracle drug like yess no withdrawls no more buying roxys but hell i was wrong i was on subz for one 1 year and a half until i decided on my own free will to stop let me tell u something im on day 23 and still feel this sh*t its horrible i jumped from 16mg beleive me there is no dif in wat dose u jump ur brain still thinks the same way first 2 weeks u better have a bath tub in ur house or u ant getting threw it , no will in the world will help also stuck up on benzos ativan helps alot the anxiety doesnt end and fatigue is pure hell i cant stop sneezing and yawning and i have crazy rage fits im waiting to the day i get back to normal but i no i got a long way to go , ur best friend will be very hot water take 10-15 baths a day if u have to it helps believe me i still take baths but not as much , also get support from anyone go to pill anonymous u need plp who know wat ur going threw because they did it and if they did it why cant u , believe in god because u will go insane if u dont , insanity is the worst part of all this because u dont no if ur going insane or ur just imagining things . believe me theres a light at the end of the tunnel u just got to wait it will take at least a full month before the painfull withdrawls stop then ur looking at PAWS im in paws now i have a fast matabalisim and i did ivy drip 10 times so i pushed the suboxan out fast which is a blessing and a sin , PAWS is hard as the initail withdrawls thats when most plp relapse because ur like wtf im done with the physical part now comes the emotional part , i advice to stay on benzos for at least 2 months but be advised that u will have withdrawls from the benzo as welll its tuff emotionally , and if u think ur going crazy then u are im a pure nut because of this sh*t  i flip out at least twice a day , just let it out u cant do much about it

day 1 - no real withdrawls subz still in my system
day 2 - some withdrawls kicked in rls back pain sweating nothing i couldnt manage
day 3 - hell doors open and u jump right into it , god dam it was this day bad but nothing u have instore
day 4 - worse no sleep bones and muscles hurt anxiety threw the roof whollyy sh*t was the anxitey bad
day 5-8- these are the worst days i recomend just taken mad xanax and sleeping this threw its possible with xanax sh*t will knock a elephant on the floor great drug but also a nightmare cant remeber sh*t days feel blurred in but if u have no xanax baths/shower every hour walk even if u cant do something these days r very hard and will be the hardest to overcome .
day 9- ur a new person most withdrawls are gone but u still have no energy and ur looking at paws
day 10 - day 90- PAWS , PAWS , PAWS , PAWS
 
PAWS- post acute withdrawl syndrome, suboxan has a huge half life 36 hours and it doesnt float around in ur blood like other opiods it stays in ur recptors for mad long , and not even naloxone can knock it out , paws is a huge factor because of how this drug is made naloxone is made to kick all the opiods from ur brain but since ur taken this sh*t everyday ur body gets used to it and when u need the naloxone ur body rejects it . be prepared for no sleep no energey and incrediable bad anxiety pain goes in and out at this point every day is dif, ur on a rolla coaster so be prepared to go up and down

Where did you get your info from about Naloxone? Your body rejects it? Your whole post in your PAWS rant about naloxone is false.

I need help SOOOOO bad!! I lost my job in Feb of this yr. and my husband had a major heart attack last week. I CANT afford to go to the Dr....much less to buy the Subutax (sp) I am TOTALLY freaking out right now! Ive been on Suboxone for 2 yrs. 3 1/2 tabs a day to nothing...PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!

Im guessing this sh*t has a different effect on different people. Im 55 yr.s old and have used heroin for27 yr.s... I have been on suboxone for 6 months. I experienced the usual good feeling along with side effects for a month or so then the hot flashes began with insatiable itching. I was told this would all eventually subside... It hadn't. Im worried about the kick. Ive attempted to cut back, I've even tried taking my dose a few hours later but my body lets me know with crazy anxiety that I am late. You say to remeber what it's like to kick stuff and that will make kicking subs easier. I say you have no idea what you're talking about. In my 27 yr.s pf heroin, methadone and opiate pills, I have NEVER known anything to be as crazy as this sh*t. The hotflashes make me feel like Im going to lose it let alone the itch that cannot be satisfied. True heroin makes people itch but when a person scratches the itch of heroin, satisfaction/relief is experienced. I think you should re evaluate or think several times before you make bogus claims comparing heroin with suboxone detox. EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT.... REMEMBER THAT YOUNG MAN !!!!!!

Suboxone is just a money making tool for the doctors and the pharm. companies. There is no profit in getting you off of it quick. Use your common sense and use it to get away from your street dealers and out of the loop. You have to work your therapy! For those of you thinking I don't know, I have been an addict for 22 years and am now at the end of 2 years of suboxone treatment. I am sick as hell and have no one to call for help. Everyday I get stronger and you can too! F_ _ _ having someone or something run my life by using my addiction against me. When you are ready you will get sick and tired of being sick and tired. For those who think once a junkie always a junkie, I am attending UNC @ Chapel Hill next Fall and I got in by hard work and not one lie about my past. We can do anything!!!   ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** private e-mails not allowed*** Please read our Terms of Use

Stay strong!

Thank you for your story.

It helps me understand my boyfriend.

I want to save him but he has to WANT help like you do.

You actually wanted out.



Bless your soul and your future children.

For all the people who have come to this site and read the most depressing blogs from all the people on here: Simple as this. DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. IT WILL BRING NOTHING BUT DEPRESSION AND A HORRIBLE STATE OF MIND WHICH WILL EFFECT WITHDRAWALS. Instead, let me shed some bright light on this subject.

There is no way to escape the withdrawals, simple as that. But I can easily say it's not "hell on earth" like most people claim and is in NO WAY worse than opiate withdrawals. I am currently on my 10th day and there is light at the end of my tunnel, and I say that with the upmost confidence. I have some very simple methods to get through these withdrawals with only minor irritation...the biggest irritaion being that, it is true what people say, it is hard to get a good nights sleep... and yes HIGHLY frustrating (it beats the hell out of puking every night and in agony while not sleeping from opiate withdrawals though). I know everyone is different, but here are my methods for getting through withdrawals anyways:

Before I get to my list let me start of first by saying: Definitely taper down to as low as you can for as long as you can. I started out taking 16 mg for a year, then went down to 8mg then 4mg for the next 2 years. The nexy year I decided I wanted to get off these things for good because I felt they were affecting my body and moods regardless what anyone says. To make my taper story short, I eventually went down to 1mg a day for 30 weeks. Tapering helps enormously.

When you do make the jump, here are some way to make withdrawal easier:

 

1. Laying in bed all day does not help one bit. It's horrrrrrible. DON'T DO IT! All you do is lay there and think about the constant pain you are in thinking why you did this to yourself, and the hard fact is, it happened. Over and done with. Now move on and think about how much stronger you are then this temporary shitty feeling.

2. Eat as much as you can. You need some energy because I gaurentee you have none at the moment. Not eating will only make it worse. If you can't eat, buy a huge thing of weight gainer (a protein type shake that has all the ingrediants you need: lots of protein, carbs, calories, potassium, etc.) No, you will not get fat because your not eating on top of that. Take it 3 times a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner and its like eating 3 good square meals a day.

3. Take your multi-vitamins every morning. Also, a friend put me on to those cleansing detox pills, don't know if its helping but its definitely not hurting anything!

4. I can't stress how important this one is: FORCE YOURSELF TO EXCERSICE. No, I don't mean to go to the gym and measure penis sizes (or for chicks ass ratio) with all the gym rats. I simply mean go out for a walk and also stretch...like alot. A few pushups here and there will help get the blood flowing. Yes it will suck and it will feel like you ran a marathon after a half a mile walk but it will help, especially adding in the next step.

5. After your excersice take one or two ibuprofen. You will feel much better after doing this. Do step 3 and 4 twice a day with around 6 hours in-between. Again though, the more excersice the better. Something to help motivate: throw on your iPod or music player and put on your favorite song and jam out to it while walking. You might look foolish, but f**k it I guarentee you could give two sh**s at the moment.

6. Take a nice long hot bath. This will relax your muscles and make you feel like a million dollars (compared to what your currently feeling, of course). On the real though, the more baths the better. I know for damn sure I ran up my landlords water bill by a few thousand dollars (not really, but...yeah you get it).

7. Ask your doctor to prescribe you some sleep aids, because sleep WILL be a problem. My doctor prescribed me clonodine for sleeping which also happens to be "good for withdrawals" (so they say, I dont notice it tho. To each his own I guess). In no way, shape or form does it givs me a good nights sleep, but it does slightly help...albeit verrryyyy slightly.

8. Find some sort of low activity hobby. Such as playing chess, or campaign mode on MW3, or any type of game that can get your mind off the "horrible" withdrawals your mind is telling you that you have. You'll be amazed at how you forget your in pain when your really in to something like that. As a matter of fact, as I have been writing this blog I have totally disregarded my withdrawal symptoms in favor of full concentration for this awesome blog =p.

9. Stop staring at the clock. You know you are. It will only make you feel worse because time is moving at more than 1/2 the normal speed. Believe me I know.

10. Be around people who care about you a.k.a a good support system. The love and acceptance you will get from these people will help you get through your withdrawals much easier.

11. I read from another post that someones says to have sexual stimulation...or as he so delicately put it "wank your wrists off" (I know..I died of laughter too.) Maybe it will help, maybe it won't.

 

Again, you cannot escape suboxone withdrawals. I know you thought there wouldn't be any as your doctor inevitably assured you as he shrugged his shoulders, but there are...simple as that. Just know they aren't as bad as all these people on here are saying if you taper down and do as many of the things you can from the list I just gave you. I really hope I helped put some of you back in the right frame of mind. Really look for these positive attitude blogs and avoid the ones from the debbie downers. I wish the best of luck to all of you.

 

- DG

 

*Not a medical professional, just someone who has been through this sh*t once or twice".

Thanks for the advice! I am on my 11th day and the tips you gave in your blog really helped. Got to get a new game MW 3 with no sleep didn't last long. Thanks and good luck. Stay up and keep winnng.

I'm glad I helped! Yeah I hear you the no sleeping suckssss. We'll get through it though... its only temporary. Thanks for your support also!

Hello everyone.  I think this is a great topic for me as i am 89 days off of suboxone, i dont want to go into a life story but i am 28 years old, i started with pills... graduated to herion when i was 17 and stayed there for about 5 years ... i worked construction right out of high school, and did tattoos at night.  Money was never a problem for me until it got really bad, shooting, just acting like a fool.  once i was over a bundle a day, i started to lose everything, cars, houses, went to rehab for 7 days about god knows how many times, until i was 22, got arrested, burglary second, a year in jail minimum mandatory, and directly to treatment when i came out.   went to treatment upon release, stayed 9 months there. got back with my high school girlfriend, went straight to a suboxone doctor, and have been maintained on suboxone since, so for 4 years ive been on suboxone.............

now that that is over(thank god, i hate hashing that up)i can try and give someone out there a glimpse of hope.......

when i first went to the suboxone doc....he started me at 8 mils and god knows how long that was.....i had 2 wonderful boys with my now wife, i bought my first house and sincerely have gotten my life together....at the start of 2012 i started telling my doc i wanted to be off suboxone for good and just live my life, clean, happy, and healthy.....he told me that he thought i was ready and whenever i gave the word, he would start to taper me. i do feel sort of like an ass because i was lying to him a little, and had already came to 4mg before that... i got a few months more of 8 mil strips. then he kept writing 8 mils but told me to cut them and if i didnt feel good to just give him a call....

 

sorry if this is all over the place but i kept a journal of my last 6 months in a journal but this is exactly what i did......

 

to make a long story short. i came from 8mg to .33mg in about 4 months, each time coming down giving it at least a week to settle before dropping some more.....my drops were from 8,6,4,2,.50 and .33 which is a 2mg strip cut into 6 pieces......all of them were at a week of holding... exacept for the .33 which i stayed on for about a month and a half...

before i jumped completely, i worried myself sick about the withdrawls from everything i read.  "its horrific" "it lasts so long" "half life" and you get my drift and i swear the life of my children this is how it went...

the day before the jump-  went to the store, stocked up on multi-vits.  imodium AD, zquil, motrin, and captain morgans spiced rum........

(the immodium is said to stop almost every withdrawl from opiates, more in a sec..)

 

jump day....woke up feeling bad ( i think it was mental) took 10mg of immodium AD, motrin, a b12 and a multi vit.  felt a little shitty , but not bad at alllittle cold sweats. came home,   didnt feel like doing anything layed down for a few hours with my t.v took a double dose of zquil and feel asleep......slept fine for more then 10 hours...

 

day 2 no suboxone....same this, first thing in the morning felt awfule for maybe 20 minutes until i woke up.....my stomach hurt like it was in knots.. not any feeling like a withdrawl pain but just bad...no immodium same b12, same multi vit, went to work... same feeling just not yourself, drowsy , few feelings of cold sweats but worked all day never felt a "withdrawl" type feeling like i remember from H.. came home double dose of zquil slept fine....

 

day 3 no suboxone.. stomach was killing me again, i took a stool softener and craped my brains out, the immodium did nothing except stop me up horribly.....after i went number 2 i was fine all day, i swear it. i dont know know if i am just lucky or if everyone is different from that day on i felt like a new man......i have done more stuff with my family in just short of 90 days then i have since ive had my family. im happy. i think i concentrate more.....and i would rate my suboxone withdrawls to be a 1 out of 10 when it comes to withdrawls....and i know people are gonna say well its in your system longer then that and whatever, thats fine....im telling you exactly to a T how it went down for me.....

 

im sure me tapering down to a fraction of a milligram had alot to do with it but i will say this.......if your drive to be "off" of suboxone, outweighs your drive to be on it.. you will succeed. for me it was nothing more then just feeling icky for 3 days, not bad mind you, just an icky feeling, its hard to explain, its almost like i had a very small cold for 3 days...i wouldnt recommend immodium ad because it did nothing for me, unless it helped slightly the day i took it, i didnt notice anything except for a clogged stomach..

 

i do give suboxone more credit then it is due because it saved me life.  and i will end saying this. if your not ready mentally, dont even try it.. if you are ready mentally, taper down to below 1 milligram and go for it, i promise you will get through it from that low of a dose ... i wish everyone good luck with suboxone and getting off of it when your ready and i hope someone that is sitting where i was sitting 3 months ago will ready this and say to themselves, im gonna be fine.....

 

thanks for reading 

 

K

personaaly i have been through hell with withdrawals from opiates, and dont have wd's any worse coming off of sub., and yes everyone is different, but for me toughening up, and sucking it up have been the most helpful for me in recovery!!