SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information - View Single Post - What's the deal with Suboxone? Is it good or bad?

bvaljalo · 07-02-2008, 09:59 AM

Puddy:

I'm sorry you're suffering bud. How much dope were you on originally, how long, and how much bupe were you taking when you quit taking it?

Just as with any opiate, you really have to wean your way down to a low dose before you get off of it, otherwise, yeah, it's friggin miserable.

My experience was totally different from yours. When I stepped off (after 7 months on bupe, preceded by 3+ years of sniffing at least 240mg of oxycontin EVERY DAY) I was at 2mg/day. More than I recommend, btw, if I had a chance to do it again I'd be wanting to get down to about .5mg/day or even every other day. Anyways, I was pretty miserable for about 96 hours, and after that, I had some lingering w/d symptoms that lasted about a month, nothing I couldn't handle, esp. with the help of some basic meds from my bupe doctor (clonidine, neurontin, ambien to be precise). On day 11 off of bupe I was 40ft from the stage at a VERY loud Roger Waters concert, rocking out to Pink Floyd tunes with people toking up and drinking all around me (both of which I always *loved* to do at concerts), but I stayed sober, and LOVED the friggin show.

So frankly, the experienced you describe is atypical for people who properly wean down before stepping off this medication. And it is for SURE far less harsh than getting off of methadone, I can promise you that.

If you *did* properly wean down, the only other thing I can think of is that perhaps you have depression that you were self-medicating with opioids. You would be far from the first one to do so.

When done properly, buprenorphine isn't any more a poison than any other opioid.

07-02-2008, 09:59 AM	#14 (permalink)
bvaljalo YES WE DID!!! Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: East Bay, California Posts: 1,434	Puddy: I'm sorry you're suffering bud. How much dope were you on originally, how long, and how much bupe were you taking when you quit taking it? Just as with any opiate, you really have to wean your way down to a low dose before you get off of it, otherwise, yeah, it's friggin miserable. My experience was totally different from yours. When I stepped off (after 7 months on bupe, preceded by 3+ years of sniffing at least 240mg of oxycontin EVERY DAY) I was at 2mg/day. More than I recommend, btw, if I had a chance to do it again I'd be wanting to get down to about .5mg/day or even every other day. Anyways, I was pretty miserable for about 96 hours, and after that, I had some lingering w/d symptoms that lasted about a month, nothing I couldn't handle, esp. with the help of some basic meds from my bupe doctor (clonidine, neurontin, ambien to be precise). On day 11 off of bupe I was 40ft from the stage at a VERY loud Roger Waters concert, rocking out to Pink Floyd tunes with people toking up and drinking all around me (both of which I always loved to do at concerts), but I stayed sober, and LOVED the friggin show. So frankly, the experienced you describe is atypical for people who properly wean down before stepping off this medication. And it is for SURE far less harsh than getting off of methadone, I can promise you that. If you did properly wean down, the only other thing I can think of is that perhaps you have depression that you were self-medicating with opioids. You would be far from the first one to do so. When done properly, buprenorphine isn't any more a poison than any other opioid. __________________ well across the fields and woods i'd run like a bullet from a rabbit gun back home to my bed and when mama come in from gettysburg her an' that new beau o' hers 'boy, you look like hell' was all she said ...