Thanks for sharing your experiences. Please give us updates as you stay off it because I'd like to hear how your recovery goes. Thanks!
Well after reading the debate on subs, ive decide to tell a little of my story. I've been on percs for about two years ,about 60 mg a day. Well there was a point that i realized things need to change. So what I did was stop percs until i started to withdrawal then start with 1 8mg sub for 4 days. yeah I didn't feel 100% but I wasnt withdrawaling so I droped down to 4mg for the next 5 days. At that point I was feeling pretty good mentally about it! So on the tenth day I drop to 2mg and did that for 6 days. The last time I took a sub was 9/17, it is now 9/22 About the 3rd day with out subs i started to go threw withdrawals, BUT this time the withdrawals were very very mild compared to opiate withdrawal. the worst thing Ive gone threw so far is anxiety and even that isnt that bad! I think the trick is not to take the subs for to long and i read that weening process should take about a month . Something that takes off the edge and can help sleep is a little weed! Just like they say nature opiates arent nearly addictive as all these damn pill!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope my story can help someone out there
Here's where you are going wrong, Vicodin is a full agonist opiate. Suboxone is a partial agonist opiate which is much easier to come off of than vicodin or any other full agonistic opiate. I think the problem is your state of mind and your recovery. if you are not in a 12 step program you should be.
it will help you immensely.
Suboxone is used to get OFF opiate, not go back on them.
it will help you immensely.
Suboxone is used to get OFF opiate, not go back on them.
Here's where YOU'RE going wrong: if you think that 10 days of insomnia, chills, diarhea, RLS, nausea, sweating, body-ache are just a "state of mind", then you obviously have not jumped off of subbies after long term use. I would take Vicodin w/d any day over this nonsense. I would strongly advise that you to do some research before you start promoting NA to relieve acute withdrawal symptoms. 12 step is a great program, don't turn people off to it by downplaying their struggles and telling them that it's basically all in their head. The last time I checked, that was highly frowned upon.
Hi there, I agree totally with you that you are totally correct there. I think that anyone who tells you that it's all in your head doesn't understand how the body works. Thanks for sharing that. Have you gone off suboxone before?
No here is why you are wrong. Ok just had to say that.
I took Sub for a year and a half after getting addicted to Vicodin, a crazy amount a day, like 80-100mg 3 times a day. I started the sub at 24 mgs a day and it, at the time, was a miracle for me and my life. A year and a half later now taking 1 to 2mg a day, all I had done was replaced an opiate addiction for an opiate dependency. The suboxone is the hardest drug to ever come off of even just 1mg once a day. Don't care that it is a partial agonist it is much a much harder (physical and emotional) withdrawal than Vicodin. No I don't recomend a cold turkey Vicodin withdrawal, at my use of 80mg three times a day at least not, but if you are taking a minimal amount of vicodin, get support and taper slowly for however long you can and quit with out suboxone. So back to answering the big question of does vicodin help or ease suboxone withdrawal. YES IT DOES, if this medically doesnt make sense for all the people leaving the misguided medical opinions, back off. After one and a half year on sub again working down from 24 mg a day to basically 1 mg a day I used Vicodin again and I had success! I took a higher dose of Vicodin the first 3 days then I backed down to 1 to 1 1/2 vicodin twice a day for 8 more days and then cut down to a half a vicodin once a day for 5 days made the jump and felt great compared to making the jump off 1mg of suboxone. It worked quite well and if you can discipline yourself with the vicodin, do it! It's a heck of a lot easier than trying to quit the sub. Even quiting sub with clonidine and ambien for sleep was painful at 1mg, very painful but the vicodin program worked for me. After my last half a vicodin, which was 27 days ago, I had trouble sleeping at times but nothing else. I did not have vicodin withdrawal nor did I feel pain from suboxone withdrawal. I am trying to reach out to those who scincerely want off suboxone and not you people judging and saying it wont work. Use discipline with the vicodin and even though it's a full agonist it does not bind to your receptors the same way as suboxone. I could not have done it without the vicodin, I tried twice then tried the vicodin.
I took Sub for a year and a half after getting addicted to Vicodin, a crazy amount a day, like 80-100mg 3 times a day. I started the sub at 24 mgs a day and it, at the time, was a miracle for me and my life. A year and a half later now taking 1 to 2mg a day, all I had done was replaced an opiate addiction for an opiate dependency. The suboxone is the hardest drug to ever come off of even just 1mg once a day. Don't care that it is a partial agonist it is much a much harder (physical and emotional) withdrawal than Vicodin. No I don't recomend a cold turkey Vicodin withdrawal, at my use of 80mg three times a day at least not, but if you are taking a minimal amount of vicodin, get support and taper slowly for however long you can and quit with out suboxone. So back to answering the big question of does vicodin help or ease suboxone withdrawal. YES IT DOES, if this medically doesnt make sense for all the people leaving the misguided medical opinions, back off. After one and a half year on sub again working down from 24 mg a day to basically 1 mg a day I used Vicodin again and I had success! I took a higher dose of Vicodin the first 3 days then I backed down to 1 to 1 1/2 vicodin twice a day for 8 more days and then cut down to a half a vicodin once a day for 5 days made the jump and felt great compared to making the jump off 1mg of suboxone. It worked quite well and if you can discipline yourself with the vicodin, do it! It's a heck of a lot easier than trying to quit the sub. Even quiting sub with clonidine and ambien for sleep was painful at 1mg, very painful but the vicodin program worked for me. After my last half a vicodin, which was 27 days ago, I had trouble sleeping at times but nothing else. I did not have vicodin withdrawal nor did I feel pain from suboxone withdrawal. I am trying to reach out to those who scincerely want off suboxone and not you people judging and saying it wont work. Use discipline with the vicodin and even though it's a full agonist it does not bind to your receptors the same way as suboxone. I could not have done it without the vicodin, I tried twice then tried the vicodin.
so how long does it last?
Guest wrote:
That is something I would like to have confirmation on, although my understanding is that it takes roughly three months. Can anyone back that up?
so how long does it last?
That is something I would like to have confirmation on, although my understanding is that it takes roughly three months. Can anyone back that up?
I can tell you this, I've been on 24mg of Suboxone for 2 years, and I'm finally down to 12mg. Let me put it to you like this. SuBOXONE WIThdRAWAL SUCK@!!!!!! BELEIVE ME!!! If I wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweats and already feeling the withdraws from only 8 hours of sleep. This stuff is only gonna get worse! I'm telling you this from experience. These doctors don't know c**p!!!!!! I'm thinking about going on something else just so I don't have to feel this c**p. What ever you do, don't get on a high dose of this c**p. Or just stay away from suboxone. If I could explain what my withdraws are staring to feel like, I would say it's something like Methadone withdraws :0(!!!! If you don't believe go out and find out for your self. Yea Suboxone has got my life back together, but here I am about to deal with the only thing I run from and that's the WITHDRAW!! STAY AWAY FROM IT/ Or you'll be typing a message like me one day. good luck to all y'all. and Pray for me PLEASE!!!
Hello all...I dont know how helpful this will be for you all, but ill share with you all about my suboxone experience. Ive been narcotic free for 2years 2months and 5days. I was addicted to oxycontin and then decided to go to methadone maintenance....what a mistake!!!! After about 3years on methadone i decided I wanted to sober up and heard of the medical miracle drug for withdrawal...aka suboxone. (At least thats what the doctors told me) I was on suboxone for 9 months. It was absolute hell!!!! The doctors told me that I had to taper my dose from 16mg down to .5mg a day which was absolute murder. It took me 8months to taper somewhat comfortarbly.(even tho there's nothing comfortable about tapering) But I stuck to the plan and got down to .5mg of suboxone a day. Going to a support group like NA really helps with this whole process. One of the things that really helped me totally get off the soboxone was clonodine. Once you take your last dose of soboxone, you will go into withdrawal. My doctor prescribed clonodine for me to get off of the soboxone. Clonodine is a hypertension medication, but the awsome thing about clonodine is that it stops the CRAWLING. Unfortunatly when you take clonodine when you dont have high blood pressure, it will make you extremely weak bc it lowers your blood pressure. I was bed ridden for 5days after I stopped taking soboxone and started taking clonodine. Some of the other side effects that I had from taking clonodine was extremely blurred vision and a horribly dry mouth, and the stuff will also leave a terrible taste in your mouth. But even with the side effects that I had it was still alot easier than just going thru withdrawal. For the person that was asking about taking vicodin to ease the withdrawal from soboxone, I wouldnt recommend it. Vicodin is still an opiate so your just feeding your own beast. My advice to anyone getting off of suboxone is to see your doctor and get some clonodine. It works!!!! One of the things that noone told me about is once you go thru withdrawal and your off the medications and drugs you will feel like sh*t for months after that!!!! You will have NO ENERGY!!! This process is refered to by doctors as post acute withdrawal. Google it and read up on it! So I say again this is were a support group like NA really helps. So to everyone getting off of suboxone I wish you all the best of luck. It is very difficult, but it can be done! Good luck All God Bless.
"Do opiate pain pills help with sub w/d?"
Does wine help with alcohol w/d? Does a BJ help with a sex w/d? Does playing slot machines help with gambling w/d?
Seriously people, why such a dumb question? Of course vicodin or whatever opiate pain pill helps with an opiate (suboxone)((partial agonist or not))
I took oxy's for 3 years and suboxone for 1 1/2 years. Started sub at 8 mg's, 3 months later 4 mg's, 2 months later 2 mg's, and obviously wasnt ready to kick because i took 2 mg's for another 12 months. After my 4 years of zero emotions, loss of luster for life, and basically having to pretend I was "happy" around friends and family, I finally hit that wall everyone talks about. And if you ask me, there is NO WAY anyone will be able to kick opiates until they hit that wall. You have to get to a point where you are so fed up and F*****G P****D OFF at what the drug has stolen from you, that you quit. I didn't "plan" the day I quit. I prayed to God for months leading up to it as well. I prayed God would somehow allow me to "want" to stop, even though I didn't really know what that meant, at the time. Then the day came, Dec. 27 2009. I went into my bottle for my daily dose and said, "you know what, I am F****NG S**K OF THIS S**T!!! Every thing that it had stolen from me, which is basically the REAL me, the guy who like's to love, hate, lust, laugh, cry, anticipate, and every thousand other emotions human beings feel. The next 6 days were full of CRAZY EMOTIONS! I listened to music and felt it in my soul, I cried and screamed spitting mad several times and directed my anger at satan, pharma companies, drug dealers and the drug itself. Yelling and getting that anger out honestly felt better than the first day I introduced opiates to my system. As far as the actual negative w/d symptoms I would describe them as mild/moderate flu symptoms, and the worst part is day 4, 5, and 6. And even during the worst of it, I was up and out doing things. I wasn't SOOOOOO miserable I had to stay home on the couch. As long as you are mad enough and really want to be normal again, its not bad at all!! What's 1 week of mild flu symptoms, when you will get the old you back?? That's the real question you guys should be asking.
Good luck hitting that wall!
Feel free to ask question if you really want to get the old you back.
God loves you!
-Tad
Does wine help with alcohol w/d? Does a BJ help with a sex w/d? Does playing slot machines help with gambling w/d?
Seriously people, why such a dumb question? Of course vicodin or whatever opiate pain pill helps with an opiate (suboxone)((partial agonist or not))
I took oxy's for 3 years and suboxone for 1 1/2 years. Started sub at 8 mg's, 3 months later 4 mg's, 2 months later 2 mg's, and obviously wasnt ready to kick because i took 2 mg's for another 12 months. After my 4 years of zero emotions, loss of luster for life, and basically having to pretend I was "happy" around friends and family, I finally hit that wall everyone talks about. And if you ask me, there is NO WAY anyone will be able to kick opiates until they hit that wall. You have to get to a point where you are so fed up and F*****G P****D OFF at what the drug has stolen from you, that you quit. I didn't "plan" the day I quit. I prayed to God for months leading up to it as well. I prayed God would somehow allow me to "want" to stop, even though I didn't really know what that meant, at the time. Then the day came, Dec. 27 2009. I went into my bottle for my daily dose and said, "you know what, I am F****NG S**K OF THIS S**T!!! Every thing that it had stolen from me, which is basically the REAL me, the guy who like's to love, hate, lust, laugh, cry, anticipate, and every thousand other emotions human beings feel. The next 6 days were full of CRAZY EMOTIONS! I listened to music and felt it in my soul, I cried and screamed spitting mad several times and directed my anger at satan, pharma companies, drug dealers and the drug itself. Yelling and getting that anger out honestly felt better than the first day I introduced opiates to my system. As far as the actual negative w/d symptoms I would describe them as mild/moderate flu symptoms, and the worst part is day 4, 5, and 6. And even during the worst of it, I was up and out doing things. I wasn't SOOOOOO miserable I had to stay home on the couch. As long as you are mad enough and really want to be normal again, its not bad at all!! What's 1 week of mild flu symptoms, when you will get the old you back?? That's the real question you guys should be asking.
Good luck hitting that wall!
Feel free to ask question if you really want to get the old you back.
God loves you!
-Tad
I'm glad the whole God thing worked for you, but not everyone's withdrawal experience is the same. People need to do whatever works for them. I was down to a milligram when I had a few days off work after Christmas and decided to quit taking suboxone. I had been on it for a year at that point and had tapered from 16 mg. to 1 mg. on my own rather painlessly over time. When I stopped taking that 1 mg. cold turkey though I felt HORRIBLE. Yeah, strong emetions are great, but the terrible anxiety and unrelenting restless body syndrome I felt were intolerable for me. And that's on top of the exhaustion, depression, achiness, and hot and cold flashes. After 10 days I didn't feel ANY BETTER and I tried to have lunch with my mother but was having a horrible panic attack the whole time and was so edgy and kicky I couldn't even stay seated in the booth of the mexican restaurant. She felt so bad for me she suggested I call my doctor for a refill. And thank god I did! If I can't sit through lunch how the hell am I supposed to sit through work? And for the first few days I was like "yeah! I can do this!", but after 10 days I was over that bs. I just couldn't do it any more because I felt zero percent better. Now I'm about to try again, but with some items from the "Thomas Recipe" (look it up), and a few loritab. I've been through heart surgery, osteomilitis, and lots of other very hard physical and emotional things in my relatively short life, so I'm no wimp. But having a constant terrible anxiety and kicking all day and night every day and night and not sleeping hardly at all is ridiculous. Arm yourself with as many helpful tools as possible to get through it. Your chances of success are obviously much higher if you you aren't nearly praying for death every minute of every day...after day...after day. And by the way, that clonodine patch I tried a few weeks later did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It made me see stars when I stood up and maybe made me slightly calmer, but was otherwise pretty worthless and left a red patch on my arm that's still there.
so ive been off the subs for 2 weeks now. i feel ok but still not great. If i take 20mg of oxycontin ONE TIME will i lose any progress with my detox. I moved to another state to stay away from the drugs, and i will back just this one time so there is ZERO chance of getting back into a OC habit. I just wanna know if i do it once will it ruin my progress with getting off subs
It works!
Hey! Thank you SO much for posting! I have been going back and forth within my head over whether or not I should take an opiate to help ease the suboxone withdrawals! It just MAKES sense (depending on your situation). For me, it definitely makes sense!
I detoxed off of Methadone (used for chronic pain) about 5 weeks ago. Although, I haven't been on the subs very long I am already stressfully anticipating the withdrawals. Methadone is a b***h to come off of. I have never been so ill in my life. Even ON suboxone! I was on 40mg of methadone for 4 years... So, I do believe that I am still going through methadone withdrawals because like suboxone, it has a long half life and stays within the tissue, bones, etc.
Naturally, I now fear becoming dependent on anything else (subs), yet I am in no way ready to be off the subs. The anxiety has been the worst part of it for me. So, I figure that if I take a break from the subs and go on percs or vics... and alternate back to the subs if I have to... well, I figure I'd be better off than staying on subs for too long.
Now, I am not saying that I am going to stay on any opiate for long intervals, but rather go to percs for a week... & then back on subs for a week if need be. If I don't need to go back on subs-great!
I understand that many people will say, "you CAN'T go back on a short acting opiate or you will get yourself right back on them"-etc. It is my opinion that the reason most people relapse is not because they wanted to, but rather they could no longer take the agony of withdrawals. If I can minimize the pain of the process, for me, I am giving myself a better chance of making it. I already know I want it-to be clean... or I wouldn't have gone through this whole process in the first place.
Thanks for the info. everyone! I will definitely let you know how this works for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I detoxed off of Methadone (used for chronic pain) about 5 weeks ago. Although, I haven't been on the subs very long I am already stressfully anticipating the withdrawals. Methadone is a b***h to come off of. I have never been so ill in my life. Even ON suboxone! I was on 40mg of methadone for 4 years... So, I do believe that I am still going through methadone withdrawals because like suboxone, it has a long half life and stays within the tissue, bones, etc.
Naturally, I now fear becoming dependent on anything else (subs), yet I am in no way ready to be off the subs. The anxiety has been the worst part of it for me. So, I figure that if I take a break from the subs and go on percs or vics... and alternate back to the subs if I have to... well, I figure I'd be better off than staying on subs for too long.
Now, I am not saying that I am going to stay on any opiate for long intervals, but rather go to percs for a week... & then back on subs for a week if need be. If I don't need to go back on subs-great!
I understand that many people will say, "you CAN'T go back on a short acting opiate or you will get yourself right back on them"-etc. It is my opinion that the reason most people relapse is not because they wanted to, but rather they could no longer take the agony of withdrawals. If I can minimize the pain of the process, for me, I am giving myself a better chance of making it. I already know I want it-to be clean... or I wouldn't have gone through this whole process in the first place.
Thanks for the info. everyone! I will definitely let you know how this works for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!