I got off opiates and suboxone after 3 years, here's how...

[Thekid31]

Sorry I'm not a regular member but I wanted to share my story so it can help someone or give hope.

I was a heroin addict for 1 year and a suboxone addict for almost 2 years. My doctor had no tapering schedule and basically had me on maintenence so I could keep paying him every couple months. I had no support but did a lot of reading. I generally would take 8-16mg of Suboxone a day and 1-2 mg of xanax when needed (not daily). Occasionally I would take 24mg of subs w/xanax for that little high. Everytime I tapered then quit it didn't matter, the withdrawals would hit me HELLISHLY HARD and by day 5 I would be back at the pharmacy. Well, now I am clean and I had nearly no withdrawals so I will share my own personalized routine that worked for me.

The key is to be at 8mg per day, which should be very easy to get down to without any noticable side effects. It should take a week to go from 16 to 8. Then during a 2 week period go from 8mg to 4mg. Still you shouldn't feel withdrawal but if you do, it will be very minor. When you are at 4mg, stay there for 30-40 days. DO NOT UP YOUR DOSE, THIS WILL RUIN EVERYTHING AND YOU WILL HAVE TO START OVER. Then over a 1-2 week period go to 2mg (1/4 of a pill). Stay at 2mg for 30-40 days. Now here's what I did different this time that finally worked. I tapered from 2mg to 1/2 mg in a 2 week period before quitting. The tapering schedule was as follows:

8mg+ - inconsequential
8mg - inconsequential
4mg - 40 days
2mg - 40 days
1.5mg- 6 days
1mg - 6 days
.5mg - 2 days
then stop.

My worst withdrawal symptoms were on day 3,4 and 5. There are some easy ways to alleviate most of them. Xanax will knock the anxiety to about half, but it won't completely knock it out so don't pop a bunch of them expecting that, you might be setting yourself up for some even worse problems. Just take what your tolerance allows, for me it was 1mg twice a day. Direct sunlight and activity is HUGE in your recovery. Get as much as you can. It raises your seratonin levels. I can't stress enough how much being active and getting a lot of sunshine made me not even feel my withdrawals. When my leg was twitching, I took a walk or played basketball (even though I'm not in shape.) Take Mylanta and citrucel to make you more regular. I also took 5mg melatonin every night 2 hrs before I wanted to sleep, as well as a hot shower. At night try to keep the house cool (68 or so) as this also promotes sleep. If you have a muscle relaxant, this also can help at night with the restless leg. If you have muscle pain which is common, take 500mg of Advil, it is a pain reliever AND an anti-inflammatory. When you get to day seven, the worst is over and if you do it right, the worse is not bad at all. You'll feel great by day 8, and by day 30 you'll feel twice as nice. I barely noticed any withdrawals except days 3,4 and 5, and now I feel great. For 3 years I was on that stuff. Let me tell you, suboxone is a very strong drug and effects you in many ways that you do not notice until your are clean of it.

One more thing. My experience was that I was a heavy heroin user and a long term suboxone user. If you are just starting suboxne or thinking about it, maybe you should have a much shorter tapering schedule. I don;t know, but if you have been on suboxone maintenence, this is what worked for me.

Ok, Thats it.
By the way I am not a doctor so of course consult a professional, but I did it this way after many failed attempts and it was practically pain free. Peace.

[Thekid31]

Stop using it after 1-2 weeks. Benzo withdrawal is worse then opiate withdrawal and you could have a grand mal seizure. If you use it sparingly for just a couple weeks you should have no problems.

[bvaljalo]

Your tapering schedule looks damn good my friend. I heartily endorse that part. Same with the activity and sunshine.

The benzo plan ... not so much.

Seeing my doctor and getting prescribed some clonidine, neurontin, and ambien worked a charm for me, though.

Congrats on getting clean finally. Feels good, don't it? Welcome to SR.com, and keep posting!

[Thekid31]

Yes it feels damn good. I feel like telling the whole world but I cant because nobody knew I was even addicted! I am learning now that addiction, depression, insomnia, and anxiety are all really the same thing and should be treated as one. They are finding they all come from the same gene I think. you're right about the xanax, I reccomend it only for those who will not overuse it. But I never had xanax withdrawal because I took the reccommended dose and got off it asap with a quick taper. Thanks for welcoming me

[ByHisBlood2]

Hey Kid,

Great job!! I myself never did suboxone I was a cold turkey jerky which sucked! I still remember how bad it was(thank God). Dude tell the whole world what you went through you should be proud, I don't even know you and I'm proud of you. Your experience (no one knowing you were addicted) is a huge testimony to those who hide or try to hide their addiction. You experience may be the difference is someone elses life!!

Congrats!!

[peaceteach]

Kid,

I copied and pasted your "procedure" into a word document to show my son, who is in the initial stages of long-term suboxone treatment. He has a doctor, but being such a new program, I agree that the docs are finding out new stuff all the time. Thanks and wow! You did great