subutex withdrawal symptoms

Hiya, my name is Paula and about 5 years ago, I had a minor operation that went wrong resulting in a hole in my stomach that had to packed everyday for 5 months, plus 2 further operations. During this time, I got addicted to codeine phosphate, ended up taking about 18 a time (which the Doc at the drug clinic reckoned was equivalent to a £30 a day heroin habit). Anyway, I was put on suboxone, 16mg a day and did ok for about 2 years, reduced to 4mg but got my hands on some codeine, accidentally overdosed on it and got put back on 16mg. 

You are not suppose to stop cold turkey, imagine how ur baby feels, 10xs worse than you. Its ok to wean off, I started out taking suboxone 8mg 3xs a day, that was 17 months ago, I weaned myself down to 2xs a day after the first 3 months, then down to 2 a day n had weaned myself down to 1/2 in morning 1/2 in afternoon before I got pregnant in. april of this year, I found out I was pregnant n got switched to subutex, well I was already 5 weeks when I found out, so I ended up having a miscarriage at 6 1/2 weeks. I don't know if it was because I took suboxone for the first 5 wks but ill never know but it wasnt ment to be. I am now pregnant again granted I'm only 5 weeks but I feel so much better. I am still taking 1/2 subutex in morning n 1/2 at night, but I don't have that gut feeling that something is wrong. I think things happen for a reason there are ppl that are addicts of heroine n crack n have full term babies, they may be sick but they live. Its what's in Gods plan n out of our control. I just pray everyday, n I thank god I was able to over come this crazy addiction of pain meds. Good luck to everyone.

Well I'm here in rehab now down to 0.8mg. I came in on 10 mg after 20 years on either methadone or subbies and have had my turns of coming on and off probably 4-5times. This time will be the last I promise!! I'm 40. Half my life has been spent on this stuff that initially after only a year on heroin I thought I'd wean off it straight away. NO, it's too addictive, very hard to get off. I'm doing a rapide detox. So that means every 3 days I go down 2 mg. then once I hit 2 mgs I go to I.2 mg then (0.8mg which I'm now proud to say im on)  

my next drop in two days will be to .4 mg then zero.  YAHHHHHHHH!!!!!, I've needed lots of pharmacological support to do this including: 

-largagtil 50-100mg for agitation

-neulactil 5 mg PRN ( when i need it) for irritibity

- Valium 10mg

- magnesium 1 mg twice a day for leg cramps

- catapress used for withdrawal symptoms from narcotic drugs 

- topomax ( as Ialso have a tendency to swap one drug for the other and this apparently reduces cravings and help with my depressive symptoms). Though I've read conflicting reports about that!

- stillnox to sleep or I guarantee I wouldn't sleep at all

 

And  the rest are for my major depression which I  won't go into.

Basically I've got to this place so far. It hasn't  been comfortable to say the least but the worst issue for me is agitation. That's why I'm doing it in a hospital in Brisbane Australia. I couldn't  do it at home with 3 kids and working so I'm taking some tme off with  The depressim and diong the two at once!

 

Its been 4 and a half weeks so far and I'mexpecting to go home In a week or too- missing the kids!!! 

Hope this helps. X

I am currently taking Subutex. I have been for about 3 yrs. I would like to stop, but I get withdrawal symptoms. What is the best way to stop Subutex use?

I was taking lorcets and norco's for two years and got to the point to where i had to take 13 10/625s in the morning and the same in the evening or I would start going through withdrawl symptoms..I dont know how but I still managed to graduate college while on these pills..I moved back home and my rents knew I was on something..I came cleqn to them and got put on subutex 8mgs..I was on tem for two years..I tapered of them down to a 1/4 pill a day for two weeks then quit completly..Its been over a week and I am still in serious pain..the only things I have found that help is valium (just for sleep) and tramdol..the tramadol has been a godsend..If I start feeling bad I take two of them and the withdraws go away..I have been prescribed tramadol before for a couple of months and quit taking them and had no withdrawls whatsover so thats why I was not hesitent to take them again...

The best time to find a new hobby or healthy activity is when you're going through ball-sweating withdrawls. I sh*t you not.:)

The opiates i've done in my life amount to around 10,000mg hydrocodone, 43,200mg oxycontin, 2,000g heroin, dozens of boxes of dried poppy stalks bought online, 100s of bottles of tylenole/apap for the codeine. That's a very rough figure from the past 15 years of my life and by no means was any of that steady - quite the contrary, in fact. I never knew when i would have opiates because I never knew when I would have $. I have withdrawn from opiates (fully, not fully, hardly at all, about half-way, about 1/4 of the way, and/or about 3/4 of the way) in more ways and more times than I could possibly remember.

I know how to withdraw, and this is my way of sharing that with other people with similar dependancies... be they illicit, or not.

Setting yourself up for failure: methadone, bupenorphine, or benzos. Taking suboxone/subutex is the worst possible thing you can do to get off opiates for good. Even if you're at 2g heroin a day, although at that point you'll need bp meds. Why? These all suppress memory of the withdrawal. All people addicted to opiates have problems with substance addiction. Substance addiction means relying on a drug instead of your own willpower to make you comfortable. Do you not see the problem here? I'm certainly not going to put anyone down for deciding to use the above, your brain can make withdrawals literally the worst experience possible because it is your brain that controls them, but i will say this that if you survive through withdrawals completely without using ANY you have much better chances of being happy for the rest of your life.

If you plan on using again, use the above to reduce any unnecessary pain from withdrawals (seriously, there's no point in feeling the pain more than once). If you're quitting for good, don't use ANY meds at all minus OTC pain killers, stool hardeners, & decongestants. Once you make it all the way through, you have a new lease on life, and you will be miles ahead of where you would have been otherwise... and then and only then can you decide how important it is to you to never do opiates again. If you choose anything other than "I will never do opiates again", you a fool, and you are in good company...

The hardest thing about withdrawals for everyone, including doctors, is that they are entirely in the mind of the patient. It is largely up to the patient to tough them out. This is why it is 100% IRRELEVANT to compare the withdrawals of someone quitting a 300mg oxycontin habit cold turkey to someone quitting vicodin cold turkey; if your mind expects you to have the worst withdrawals ever then you will. It is like 2 people having nightmares and then arguing over which was scaryer when both their minds designed both their dreams to be as scary as possible. Stop picturing your withdrawal as the worst thing possible. It's a minor cold, some occasional shivers, light depression, slight difficulty sleeping. That's it. The problem isn't your withdrawal. The problem is you're thinking about it 99% of the time.

If you've read this far, then you already have almost all my best advice. Getting through withdrawals is really not about getting through your withdrawals... it is about the rest of your life. And realizing that should help you get through your withdrawals. How you handle yourself through them is EVERYTHING. My last bit is for when you're going through the nitty gritty.

Actual withdrawals: Motto of the day = Try everything, gently. Try to do new things. Try to do old things. Don't force yourself to do anything, but try to always stay busy. Remember that the more you think about opiates or withdrawals, the worse you will feel. Try to go completely without meds at first. If you can't, ibuprofin is ok. Take a nasal decongestant and stool hardener, too. Don't fight textbook shivers or feelings of withdrawl. Yes, note that they exist. Big deal. Move on, it's time to find new things you like doing, if you don't, you'll just keep on feeling shitty. Try to stay on your feet for as long as possible; this helps both keep you occupied and tires you out for sleeping later. Try to stay around people you don't know.  Go to the gym, try exercising, try walking around town, walk everywhere, walk anywhere, try playing a sport, try surfing the web for physical activities then try doing them. Don't exert all your energy trying one thing, though. Listen to your favorite songs if you're too tired to move around. Read your favorite books. You don't have to do anything at all, but if you do nothing, you will not EVER stop withdrawing. Ever. Just kidding. But I said that because humor is good and it takes exponentially longer and hurts exponentially more if you just lay in bed for a week. Day 3 is typically the worst, and Day 1 isn't over until you've gone a day feeling the tell-tale signs of withdrawal. Then, life gets progressively better. You may feel slightly depressed for anywhere from 2-8 weeks afterwards, though. That's another reason why you are trying new things during your withdrawals. The reason many people are opiate dependant is because they were either bored or depressed in the first place, and needed a new hobby or new friends. Good luck!

Hi jv25- I think I read a post of yours on another site but a just can't sit still enough to reply sometimes. Like u I'm looking for help and answers like how long do u feel like this. I've done it before too, I'm sure a couple of times but I can't remember and I didn't have 3 kids. This is the worst time. I'm in rehab in Australia and on Friday decided to take no subutex!!! So I'm about to go into day 3. I don't know what days worse or how long it lasts. They give u drugs to help with symptoms so could u see a dr to get some clonodine for RLS and Valium or serapax to settle u a bit. That's what they do here. I hate subutex. They reckoned when I was on methadone that sub was easier to get off!! That's sooo wrong! It's no different. And it's still a ball and chain around your ankle where here u have to go to the chemist 2-3 times a week. Holidays are hard to arrange, don't even think about going overseas. I hated that part of it. Plus I was addicted to injecting it which is a double addiction to beat- so many triggers.
I wish you well. Ask me anything- I've had 20 years of the stuff. I'll try and share my experiences. Take care :-)

You aren't there yet. I am going through it now on a little less than you are on 2-3 mg's and I jumped. It wasn't voluntary my doc was arrested on a witch hunt for prescribing narcs to addicts who in turn OD'd. So all the patients who abide by the contract we all signed are now shafted and there were many!
It will be like withdrawals from any other opiate unless you ween down to .5 or less if you can. Then the symptoms should be very mild or non-existent. But we're all different so it is really hard to say. One thing I can say is to take it very slowly. I had serious WD's for 3-4 days but on day 5 now I'm feeling a little better and I know it will take time. But we don't like to wait do we?

Der is a .2mg but its got a different name speak 2 ur prescriber bout it

It is day 12 now and I'm much better. Not totally there but I'd say 98%. Sleep is still the hard thing noting more than a few hours max.

Why is the subutex makeing things very bad! Painful, restless limbs! when will it kick in and make things better?

This is similar to my experience, it wasn't the coming off subutex that was the problem, it was the flat moods and depression that came after. i questioned whether this was the real me or just the effects of subutex leaving my system. its been over a month and i still feel shitty.

He should have been weened down :( , Im unfortanatly oing thu the same problem,some one truely stole 1/2 my prescription and I made a police report and everything ,but the Dr. CAN NOT REPLACE MY MEDS! I can get suboxone but am pregnant and I cant take the naloxone that in it, so I feel for him greatly.....IT SUCKS :'(

for me the worst of the w/d's lasted for 11 days. and I am getting a little better each day.

Wow, I have been reading all of these posts and I must say it all has me a bit freaked out.......I like a lot of u had been abusing any opiate I could get my hands on aside from shooting heroine, in quantities of 40+ tabs a day for a period of 10 years or more, been thru inpatient treatment=waste of time, four years later did the outpatient w/12week suboxone treatment plan! I couldn't believe it, for the first time in what seemed like forever I actually felt like myself, a normal functioning human being......no sneaking around to b sure I had enuf pills to get me thru a day, spending money so selfishly, I was actually there for my family and they knew everything I was doing!!!! NO SECRETS :)) Amazing, I have my husband and 3 beautiful daughters and we r now fostering a teenage boy!!!!!! Life is good, for the most part......I say this because, after going thru all of the battles that go along w/addiction and realizing we were going to make it thru, we now have no health insurance and my meds that are still a part of my "sobriety" are costing my family dearly!!! My husband is the sole provider, I have been a stay at home mama for 7 years and prior to that I did the books for our family business.......seems like a fairytale but honestly believe it was recipe for disaster for me, I being the addict I am took complete advantage of the freedom I had, but that is all history and I could go on more about it all, but my point is, now what was once known to me as this miracle drug (suboxone) is causing frustration and arguing on a daily basis more or less!! I have been on it for about 2-2 1/2 years now and up until 6 mos ago had insur, now paying out of pocket, I have reduced down to generic (subutex) costing half as much as the brand name, but nonetheless still expensive ($240 approx)! And I do take zoloft and wellbutrin n addition........oh and my dosage on the subs is still 16mg, I try and take less dependent on the day, but in all reality want to know from those of you that can relate, how long is too long to be on the stuff?? I know what the docs say.....however long you were abiding narcotics is roughly how long your treatment plan will be! Well sounds all peachy com in from them cuz we are filling their pockets w money w every damn office visit!!!! So seriously am I being a total id**t here or is there really some truth to this.....? I know everyone is different, and I would like to think the doctors have our best interest in mind but sadly enuf I believe all they see are $$$$$ signs with patients!!!!
I read a post earlier today and what they said hit home w me, "am I stickin w all of this cuz of the fear I have of going back to my old ways"? Idk.....I have mixed feeling!! It is a scary thought, and I know having my subs gives me a sense of comfort, but ?????? I would love some feedback !!!
~I know mentally I have grown from where I was back n my using days, I know I don't crave that "euphoric" feeling that I would get, but is so much of my strength in that regard coming from the Meds or is it really me???
*I love that there are sites out here where we can talk to others that can relate, being out of my group therapy for so long.... It feels good to hear from others that have been down the same road!!!!! Thank god for the Internet!!!!!!