what helps suboxone withdrawal?

I've been on subs for almost two years. My best friend died on Halloween. I stopped taking the things 6 or 7 days ago. Sick, tired, useless, depressed, and ashamed are the only words to describe me now. Couldn't go to work today. Thinking of going to get a half of one but hopefully won't. I only had a problem with OC's for about two months about 4 years ago and the withdrawals were just about 2 or 3 sleepless nights. I thought these orange bastards were some miracle, non addictive drug that would keep me from doing stupid things. Now I'm a thirty year old baby whining and feeling sorry for myself. I was diagnosed with anxiety related insomnia years ago so am used to not sleeping. I'm done with'em...bring on the pain.

Use a benzo to do it. Its the only way you'll sleep. I had to actually take a few sticks or 2mg ativans. It is an opiate, you feel withdrawl. Otherwise you wouldn't need the suboxone, you'd just need the opiate blocker. The buprenorphine is what keeps you from withdrawling. It just delays it by replacing it with another opiate, doesn't actually detox you. I went off methadone with suboxone and then used a bunch of xanax to come off the suboxone. That was the only way I was able to do it. Water, bananas, BS. If you don't want to feel like c**p your best bet is a benzo. Thats what my doc prescribed to get off it.

You can do it but it must be done gradually not cold turkey.Get in touch with me if you need help. Username is vermise. Good luck.

I'm glad you guys are here! It's good to hear I am not the only one on the planet going thru this hell. Thats how it feels most of the time. This is so hard, I don't want to say to myself that I can't do it, but thats how I feel. This is day 7 off them for me. 7 days ago, I thought if I could just get to this day, I would feel all better. I still feel pretty crappy. Slept for a couple hours last night, still got the runs, and can't sit still. I talk to God alot now, beg him to heal my broken brain and spirit. Going to 12 step meetings also helps alot, just to get out of my own head for an hour and be around people who understand. I just keep telling myself that if I can just get thru this day, that maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and feel better. But, then I wake up, and feel the same. I hope some of you make it out of this hell and find sobriety, but the cold hard facts are that most of us never will. This thing aint easy. Far, far from it. Biggest mistake of my life for sure.... but if we can just hold on somehow, and make it thru to the other side, we are going to know a new freedom. Hold on everybody and You can do it

My boyfriend is on Day 3 of quitting suboxone. He is in so much pain and is not sleeping at all. I read the posts above but is there anything you guys could recommend for me. I feel completely useless. What can I do to help ease the pain?

I am in day 8 of jumping off suboxone at 4mg twice daily, what an id**t!
What I want to know is a success story, anyone ever get off opiates and stay off? I was taking Vicodin 50-60 mg daily for about a year, Siboxone for about 4 months, trying to taper down cause I thought my doc just wanted money and wasnt going fast enough for me. I am down to 111 lbs from all the drugs I guess, but I cant lose anymore weight. My problem is that I cant eat, from the w/d. How long will I be so f'd up? I am cold to my bones but my hands and feet are drippin with sweat. Taking xanax 0.25 mg with a little relief from anxiety and am taking my Lexapro anti deppressant as prescribed, what else can I do? Should I go back on Sub and taper slowly or is that just delaying the inevitable. I want a timeline, missing alot of work, afraid I'll get fired. Someone pls help me, I want to die!!!

I am on my 7 day of hell from coming off of sub I got on sub to get off of methadone off the methadone almost 2 months went from 8mg of sub to 1 with in 2 months how dumb I am going though bad withdraw my doc said it would be 6 days I'm getting sicker and sicker by the day wish I could tell you things might get but for me each day is worst then the day before I just wanted to let you know you r not alone i can't eat either I wish you the best . :'(

Hello All,

I'm posting as Guest but call me Jake.

I read all 3 pages of posts and feel both good and bad about my own situation. I quit taking subs on Saturday morning, so that makes right now about 3 days and change off of them. I was taking pain killers for a few years after a back injury and became hooked, then was taking Suboxone for what ended up being longer than I was on pain pills (3 years of subs vs. only 2 years of pain pills). Needless to say, over those 3 years I weened down from 16mg of subs to 2mgs per day. I lost my job for unrelated reasons, so I don't have a prescription plan right now and am forced to quit subs. I still have 16 mg's left (two 8mg pills) but I refuse to take them. I've slept for a total of 5 hours out of the last 50. I got the shakes, dizzyness, sweaty and cold at the same time, you all know the drill. I've been taking Dayquil during the day and Nyquil plus Advil Cold & Flu (Nighttime) at night. I've also been taking 1mg of Xanax a day (.25mg every 6 hours). I've always been a light sleeper, so I was addicted to sleeping pills for several years but I quit them a few months ago. However, at least for the duration of this process of quitting subs, I need to resume them if I have any hope of sleep.

The sad part is that from what everyone has said, it seems the worst is yet to come. Fortunately I can take this time to get better before finding my next job. And for the record, I'm a normal 29 year old guy with a college degree that sadly got hurt on the job, and the injury sent me down this damaging path. But every second of every day I feel like I'm going to die. If not for my loving Fiancee', I'd have given up already. But our wedding is in 4 months and I promised to be "normal again" by then. I will post my progress each day.

Good luck to all!!!

Jake

The effects of sub WDS depends much on how long you have used and your age. The shorter time taken and a younger age make WD much easier. I have been on agent orange 4 years, taking 16 mgs and this c**p really was screwing my life to the max. No desire to get out with friends, very depressed and quit playing golf, my favorite sport i played several times a week. Sub seems like a miracle drug at first but after time the sub turns on you. The last 2 months i have gone from 16mgs to 6 mgs. Going from 16 to 8 can be done very easy in my case in 2 days. I have been on 6 mgs for 3 weeks and tomorrow i go to 4mgs because there is no life on subs unless they keep you out of jail or you think you will relaspe on opiates again. I went CT on the Fent and i can tell you that was the worse 8 months of my life. Fent is the hardest to wd from the research i have read and i hope like hell the sub wont be is hard. Sub is a strange drug, you really do feel better in low doses, 2 or 3 mgs. My quack sub dr started me on 24 mgs for 3 months. The slow taper is the best and only way to wd from the sub once you get below 8 mgs. My wife OD from a Fent and Xanax combination 4 years ago. I have seen what a high combination of opiates and benzos can do, the combination in high does will shallow breathing and cause death. We were both opiate addicts and i went to the sub after her death as the cops took her supply i was feeding off of. At the time i was thinking why i did not get all her meds before the cops came but as a addict all you care about is your high. I read many positive posts above and the slow taper is the best in my opinion. Hope all that posted here stick it out. Soon i taper to 4 mgs and hope i can handle it because there is no life on the sub...JMO

this worked for me....clonidine(hot and cold skin), flexoril(musculoskeletal pain), and a sleep med that works on the histamine receptor (doxepin,seroquel,etc...some of these are anti-depression meds which can't hurt). I have never stayed on subs more than 3-4months. I go to 1 mg per 3 days and then afte I can handle that, then Ill quit and start the above regimen. It makes it about HALF as bad.

well i've read all these posts some say its a living hell some say its not that bad and let me tell you tapering extremely slowly must be the only way. I went from 300 mgs of methadone for a little over to years tried to quit that cold turkey BAD FREAKIN IDEA!! I was in the worst withdrawals imaginable after about two months of that I broke down and went back to the methadone clinic. The doc thought it was a good idea to put me on subs which didn't even start helping for another two weeks and I was taking 24 mgs a day. Long story short I couldn't afford the ridiculous price the clinic was charging so I started getting them on the street telling myself I would taper on my own. Guess what didn't work I got down to 16 mgs and quit cold turkey 17 days ago and it's been just as intense as the methadone withdrawal but didn't last nearly as long I mean don't get me wrong I still feel terrible but those first 12 days were INTENSE constant panic attacks, gooseflesh, nausea, vomiting, and more pain than I thought a human could endure without going into freakin shock! So I guess my message is this for gods sake taper taper taper and do it slowly TRUST ME you don't wanna do it my way

I took my last suboxone 18 days ago and am just now starting to feel a bit better. I had started taking oxycodone for back problems and went from doctor to doctor until I used up about every doctor in town. Busted. Unfortunantly, I found a 'Pain Clinic' that had no trouble at all prescribiing narcotics to people who had doctor shopped. They said they were doing the community a favor because doctors are too strict. Well, the first day I went I couldn't beleive the low lives hanging around this place. It looked like a bunch of degenerates and drug dealers. Nonetheless, I went every month and was at 160mg a day of Oxycodone. The last time I went there, I looked around, enduring my usual wait of 6 or 7 hours and realized I can't come here once a month for the rest of my life, I was a 48 year old woman, I didn't belong here. Anyway, I found a doctor who prescribed Suboxone (later I found out that this same doctor also owned the pain clinic)
I was on Suboxone for five months, four a day (stupid me, I don't even know if they were 4mgs or 8mgs, (I think they were the eights> I got so disgusted with going to this place because at $200 a visit and $175 a prescription I wasn't getting reimbursed (even though I have out of network substance abuse benefits from my Federal Health Employees Benefit Plan). Never got a penny back. Anyway, since I never felt 'high' from the Suboxone, I told the doctor I wasn't coming back and made a months supply last 6 weeks. I though I was tapering down because I took my last one March 23rd and didn't feel a think until 5 days later. THEN, oh my God, I have never felt so awful in my life, nausea, vomiting, chills, sweats, sleeplessness, restless legs. I called my doctor, asked if she could give me some kind of Xanax prescription to help, she refused. b***h. She was pissed because I left her practice. I told her initially that I was very skeptical of the pharmeceutical companies motives in this new money making scheme they have come up with and it is really not in their best interest to get you off the Suboxone.

To make matters worse, my husband is disabled, amputee, ex-Marine, very intense, drinks like a fish, smokes pot. But to get any sympathy out of him! forget it. I still have to take care of the dogs, do the laundry, all the grocery shopping, fix meals, (while I feel like vomiting). All he can say, I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU you shouldn't have messed with those drugs. To make matters worse, he is a chronc pain patient from the bike accident and he is prescribed 4 percocets a day. He has been on them for 15 years and has never once abused them. He actually uses them for pain. How hard is it to know that your husband has a percocet that might ease the withdrawal and have him tell you. I TOLD YOU SO! Actually, he does give me one once in a while, he's not that bad. But he thinks I'm weak. I don't drink though. That's his thing. He doesn't think going out three nights a week with the guys and getting wasted is also self medication.

My lingering symptoms are absolutely no energy and depression. I am eating a little, sleeping better, and hope this goes away soon. Could it be weeks more? Months? My greatest worry is that when I had the oxycodine, I was happy, outgoing, not nervous around people. I was able to socialize. I've had chronic depression/anxiety my whole life and those pills were magic. If I could take two a day for the rest of my life and not abuse them (which I would) that would be great. But I can't and it makes me sad. I think the only thing that has helped me was that I have always eaten right, exercised and taken care of myself, I wasn't a junkie that didn't take care of my body (except I started smoking cigarettes again with the oxycodone and now can't stop)

So after 18 days, I still don't want to see anybody, my husbands family has a beauitful farm 45 minutes away and they're always having barbeques and they're all the strongest most confident people (military family), I feel like such a loser when I'm around them, especially since they all know about the drug abuse.

My main question is, after the physicial symptoms leave, and the energy comes back, will this depression lift? How much shoud I push myself? How much should I take it easy? Walking the dogs around the block yesterday nearly did me in. If you are thinking about getting into opoids, think again, they will get you. I dabbled for years and took them on a regular basis for two years and I know I will never go back. But I'm not happy now. What is the answer. Do the drugs take away all your seratonin forever? Has anybody ever gotten through this and just felt good? :$

there is no easy way im going through it right now and im losing my mind...i was only taking 2mg a day and this is like hell..white nuckle it and hold on i guess?

OK A FEW THINGS. NUMBER ONE DO NOT TAKE ATIVAN, IT WILL NOT HELP. THE ONLY THING IT MIGHT DO IS SEND YOU INTO RESP DISTRESS. I DOES NOT HELP WITH THE RLS. PLEASE FOLLOW THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN OFF THEM RATHER THAN PEOPLE WHO keep GOING BACK. WHATEVER DOSE YOU ARE ON DROP BY 0.5 MG YOU WILL FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE FOR AWHILE AND JUST WHEN YOU START TO FEEL GOOD REDUCE ANOTHER 0.5MG UNTILL YOU ARE DOWN TO CRUMBS. PLEASE NOTE I HAVE DONE THIS AND SLEPT THROUGH EVERY NIGHT AND STILL WENT TO WORK 12 HR SHIFTS. NEVER GO UP FEEP GOING DOWN. I TRIED NUMEROUS TIMES TO QUIT CT AND NONE OF THEM WORKED. IF YOU NEED YOU CAN ALSO TAKE IMMODIUM 12-20MG (PLEASE ASK YOUR DOCTOR:) WEAR TWO PAIRS OF SOCKS TO BED OR GET A HEATED BLANKET. YOU MAY FEEL TIRED BUT NOTHING LIKE CT. THIS MY A WHILE TO GET YOU OFF BUT TRUST ME YOU WILL NOT REG IT. LIFE IS SO MUCH BETTER ON THE OTHER SIDE, YOU JUST HAVE TO GET OVER THE HUMP

I stopped taking Suboxone cold turkey after over 2 years of taking a mixture of Oxys, Roxys,Percocet,Methdone and Suboxone. I havent touched the stuff for 6 months nor do I have the desire to. The key? I replinished my brain of the dopamine that was lost by me constantly being on the opiates. I think that alot of people fear the withdrawals but I dont think they think enough into what causes the withdrawals other than assuming the only reason that they arent feeling well is because they are outta pills. The fact of the matter is that the brain dosent know how to tell the body how to "feel good" by itself anymore after you stop taking opiates because the pills did it for it. Therefore you will feel every ache and pain, your legs cant stop shaking, you get hot and cold sweats, the list goes on... The cure??
L Tyrosine, Potassium, and Vitiaman B-6. Cost? About $40 total for a months worth. You can actually purchase the L Tyrosine Plus that already has vitiaman B-6 in it which is needed for the body to fully absorb the L Tyrosine. It also has vitaman C in it that helps the body recover. L Tyrosine floods the brain with dopamine and it is a natural herb and is non addictive and non toxic so you can pretty much take as much as you need to achieve the objective. I took like 12, 500 mg pills of L tyrosine daily.It also helps improve brain function so they say. The potasium you will need for the 1st few days to stop your legs from shaking after coming off of the opiates. You also may want to purchase some Immodium for the 1st few days to cure the possible diarrea. So to sum it up:
L Tyrosine Plus
Potassuim
Immodium
And you will be feeling better in no time. Remember once you feel better go out and get some fresh air. Get out of the house and stay out!!! It helps trust me! There is also some will power involved but with this recipe I only missed 2 days of work and I was back to 95% normal after that. I had tried to quit 4 times previously by using other methods such as guzzling down DXM etc, and everytime within 3 days I was back at the Dr getting another refill of pain meds. This worked for me and I know it will work for anyone else. By the way Wagreens,Walmart,or CVS dosen't carry L Tyrosine. Go to GNC or a local heath food store.