what helps suboxone withdrawal?

Its really depressing to read all of these posts. I'm trying to evaluate how I really feel, since reading this 5 year string didn't help. My story is similar to most; abused rx opiates in my 20s, full blown addict from 30-34 (180-210 mgs a day); methadone user from 34-36, and just spent 6 mos on subs, in which I tapered down from 8mg to .5 mg. I'm on day 4 and feeling very lowsy and depressed. I'm at work but obviously not working :) just moved to a new city, new job, no friends, no doctor, just me and my 6 year old son. However, I want everybody to think of the positives and why you're going to be successful. Don't we deserve happiness and normalcy? That's why I am sticking it out. I am 37 and have nothing and nobody except my baby boy. I want a 2nd chance, and I want to feel proud of myself and not condemn my son to learning from me. Exercise helps. Its 92 degrees in OR today and it helps the chills when I get out and walk. Hang in there, I am.

Heroin....was my drug of choice for 7 years. Kicking was a walk in the park compared to what I am going through currently in trying to kick suboxone. I'm glad your friends had such an easy go of it but I on the other hand am miserable. Do you friends have any advice other that the slowly lowering your dose???? I am open to literally almost anything short of jumping back on the dope train. I have been completely off of suboxone now for 2 weeks. I started taking (2) 8mg Strips over a year and a half ago and have slowly worked my way down .5 at a time to nothing. But these last 2 weeks have been among the worst days I have ever experienced in my entire life and I served 4 years in the Marines over seas so thats saying something. I am desperately in need of advice / help, so if you or anyone you know can offer up some that would be an amazing thing.

 

-Horse

There's no definitive answer to what's worse - opiate vs. sub detox. There are too many factors to give a clear answer. I've been through both and they both sucked.

I took SloMag (magnesium), Vistaril (anxiety), and Clonidine (blood pressure). All helped quite a bit and maybe the days a little more manageable.

My advice is to go talk to your therapist or PCP and explain your situation. There are good doctors out there that are willing to help. If you can afford it (or your insurance will cover it) why not consider rehab? I was lucky enough to be in a job where I could take two weeks and get back on my feet after 15 years of abuse.

What about restless leg syndrome Iv been of subs for seven day only use it for a month and six days clean frm subs but I can sleep cause of RLS help me out pls

My boyfriend of 6yrs was taken into the hospital 3yrs ago with a clot in his leg that led to the amputation of several of his toes. During his stay and the years following he formed an addiction to opiates. I myself have never done them but i see what he goes thru and want this to end. He has been getting subs for over 6months now and has tapered himself down to 2mg a day. He has tried to stop the subs twice now to no avail. He goes to his parents house so myself and our two children don't have to see him like that. His parents (somehow) are clueless as to what's going on so r needless to say not of much use in this situation. I have finally convinced him to just stay home with me so that i can care for him properly. I could really use some advice on ANYTHING that i can do to help ease him thru this difficult time.

 

Please contact me, I have some personal questions I'd like to ask. 

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Sorry but you are GOING TO SUFFER for 6 months at the LEAST. Then comes the mental deprivation i.e depression. Which will go on for years. But people cannot make it that long, this is why they relapse, lose their jobs, relationships, even kill themselves. Rates of suicide from coming off subutex or suboxone are increasing, more so then coming off antidepressants.

Sweet baby Jesus you people are depressing. Yeah - it'll be a battle but not one that you can't overcome. It gets easier and it gets BETTER. I'm 1 year off of subs after 4 years of 16-20mg a day. I feel great. Don't listen to nonsense like this.

I've read post and post.. on several boards. This is the first time I've ever said anything. I'm a prior service member I was given tons of percocet.. and when I say tons I mean TONS. Anyhow I eventually no longer needed it but couldn't handle the withdraw so I jumped on the Suboxone horse... Not cool I eventually thought about it a lot of us run from withdrawls but yet Subonxe was hell for me... I used vicodin ( I dont condone anyone to do it ) but I never like vics they sucked so I used 4-5 a day for 10 days and stopped. now I'll admit I laid in bed on that 11th day but after that I got up and now im good. Anyone that goes through addiction, withdraw I wish you all the best please dont forget we are all human not perfect but in the end perservance will carry you through. Much love to everyone in the fight to get their life.

I have a friend that needs help getting off suboxone strips. Would you be willing to email me & then talk to him? I know this is a very old post, but if this is still your email, I would really appreciate it if you email me back. I appreciate the help. Thanks.

Thank You thank you! I have been off subs for 6 days and don't feel half as bad as these people on this forum do. I had been on them for a lil over a year after relapsing after 5 years sober after a nasty hysterectomy. I have no choice but to keep moving with life I have two very active teenagers and my son is on two hockey teams. I feel bad don't get me wrong but its like a flu . Can u tell me anything to ease the w/d even though I know that when I had them with opiates it was a death sentence and this is not.

Ok first i would like to clear a few misconceptions up. Withdrawal from suboxone is just as hard as any other full agonist if the person has been on it for more than a month and at high doses. The reason withdrawal is so bad is because of the long half life, the extremely high receptor binding affinity, and the fact that it is a partial agonist/antagonist. The opiate receptors in our brains are not wired for partial agonists. Suboxone is covering receptors and turning them on half way. This mechanism of action is completely foreign to our brains and our receptors dont know how to deal with it. Full agonists such as heroin, hydromorphone, oxycodone/morphone etc fully agonize our receptors, so the mechanism of action is not foreign to the opiate receptors. The problem arises when we use this drug which essentially is producing an unnatural action in our brains. The opiate receptors are not wired for partial agonists. It would be easier to detox from a full agonist than a partial agonist because of the reasons mentioned above. I had a detox doctor tell me to only use suboxone for 3 weeks tops, or i would be dealing with a whole other problem. Suboxone is best when used for short detoxes only aka 3, 5, 7 or max two week detoxes. We dont have enough long term clinical studies on suboxone so in reality we dont know what exactly suboxone is doing to our receptors long term. Another issue besides the extremely long half life is the high binding affinity. Suboxone is king of the hill concerning opiates. It will displace every other opiate known to man with the exception of high dose fentanyl. The drug binds so tightly to opiate receptors that it might actually do damage if used long term ( no evidence this statement but it is a thesis of mine) If your going to go the maintance option, go with methadone, yes i said it. It has been around for centuries and there is a plethora of medical studies concerning its mu receptor agonism, blood plasma levels etc Methadone is well understood in the medical community, suboxone is not. Credentials... Second year med student. Had a 6 year heroin habit, maintained on methadone for 4 years and used suboxone for one week to aid my detox from methadone. I have now been clean from all opiates for almost three years. Knowledge is power. Fight the demon and remember no matter who you are and how old you are, you can beat the demon of opiate addiction. Half of the struggle is in your head. PS : cardio workouts aka running, jogging will cut detox time in half. Also look into the supplement DL phenylalaline. This amino acid works on enkephlens which break down endorphins. Basically it stops the body from breaking down our natural painkillers (endorphins) which greatly helps during detox and especially helps with the dreaded PAWS-post acute withdrawal symptoms.

you seem to know what you are talking about.I am a grandma 62 I was on pain killers for 5 years after a car wreck I went on suboxzone I am now off of everything day18 bit Im still not sleeping andso depressed. doyou thing the stuff calledwithdrawal ease would help

Hello, I am on day 14 without any suboxone. I just went "cold turkey" after taking 2 strips of 8 for a year... before that I was on 3 strips of 8 for three years, quit for a month then asked the doctor to put me back on because I was so tired all the time... Day 4 was the hardest, but wasn't like anything I hadn't been through before especially with real opiate withdrawl... 

It's actually really not that hard... i didn't taper off or nothing, even though that seems like a smart idea... It just a slow process to feel normal, whatever that is... they say the biggest obstacle is the anxiety, but I have been practicing cognitive thinking or positive self talk... In your head, you will think "I am so sick" or "this is so awful." or other negative thoughts and you have to stop yourself & say to yourself " everything is alright, this is only temporary & think of the awesome freedom & rewards once this junk is finally out of my system & my body starts working regularly again."... Treat yourself like a child that is sick & crying & contstantly encourage yourself that everything is fine... as soon as negative thoughts come in your mind, recognize them & counter-act them with thoughts of positive encouragement... seriously... this time around quitting has been so much easier than the first time I tried to quit because I have been praciticing positive self talk & refusing to believe or give in to the negative thoughts....

Here are some other tips I used... For the the first week I took 2 ibuprofens every four hours & then I took imodium for my digestive system & i take Vitaman B12 for energy... Then listen to my favorite music as loud as I can & it makes me feel great... I sikes me up to excercise, work & clean around the house... I also eat as much as i can... I try to eat healthy, but i also eat candy & whats ever available...

I feel I have a ways to go, but i feel so much more confident that i can do it... for the most part things are better... i'm sleeping 6 hours a day, which is good for me... I'll slip into a funk, but by being positive, It only lasts maybe 10 minutes at the most then I redirect any discomfort in a positive way & feel better again...

I've read these nightmare stories about withdrawl online & those people are being tricked by the "devil".... the first week is the worst for physical stuff then slowly, but surely its a mental game of staying positive overcoming stupid little discomforts that are just more annoying then "hell-like"... 

I like reading everyone's testimonies though... some are so encouraging, others scared me only to find that those people must really be weak, possesed by demonic thoughts & just not believe in the one true real God of Love, Hope, Heaven & a Future...

i was the same way and I would like to add me and my wife are having to both come of suboxone and subutex and im not lying its very hard and everything that he said/ she was right and best thing u can do is find u a few nerve pills and just take them and ween down keep on taking the nerve very very small amount like 0.05 three times first day three times second third two times it'll help with anxiety and ensure is expensive go to Wal-Mart get u some wheigh proteitn shake two pounds fifteen dollars and then have plenty Tylenol and other small pain meds and take more than usual b-12 it will help with anxiety the best thing is go to your local earb store and get you some things for sleep with detox like withdrawal ease IF you can find it. if not try some sleep aids that are stronger than normal or call your doctor. weening down quick is sucks and its hard but you can do it and remember the horrible detox........ and if your religious pray. God is there I think addicts are closer to God because we feel what he felt lonliness people hate us for what we are even though we cant help it I have my second child on the way please pray for my wife we are detoxing and its hard..... lifes hard DRUGS don't help trust me second one on the way you do what u don't wanna do no pain no gain and people your family slowly it will ALL come together God will take care of you we are detoxing now and I still wanna help people that will help you stay clean find a good sponsor you don't neccesarily gotta work steps just talk and don't use find good hobby guns or golf anything video games story one whatever. but in the worst days better will come. I PROMISE!!! to all addicts mine turned me into something horrible my wife and kids deserve better.