Suboxone Withdrawal - Second Time Around
Hello! I was on a new Fentanyl patch every day for about a year due to severe endometriosis and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was constantly tired and unintrested in everything. Also, I began to throw up a couple of times every single day with unreal constipation (I'm talking BM's every 2 weeks). I decided to come off cold turkey and within 24 hours I was... there are literally no words to describe it. The most hell I could ever imagine and then some. I lasted about 3 days before I literally felt like I had lost my mind. I know that you can't die from opiate withdrawal but believe me, YOU WILL WISH YOU WERE DEAD!! It's almost a form of posession.. or so it feels like. I found a pain management doctor who promptly started me on 8mg of suboxone 2x a day (16mg total). Within 20 minutes my withdrawal symptoms improved by 80%. I was amazed. In the beginning I did experience a "high" from the suboxone and an overall heavy feeling throughout my body. My nausea and vomiting persisted and actually increased the more I came off of suboxone. I did a taper of 1mg every 5-7 days and eventually got off completely. By that time my digestive system had completely shut down and I was diagnosed with idiopathic-gastroparesis and a delayed bowel. 5 days after coming off of suboxone entirely I had to have a GJ tube placed in my stomach/intestines since they had stopped working. Due to my opiate/suboxone dependence I was extremely hypersensitive to pain and I was put on a dilaudid pca that delivered the narcotics every 8 minutes for 4 days!! 12 hours after the last dose I was in complete withdrawal and had to start suboxone all over again. When I got down to 1mg I thought that the jump to zero wouldn't be fun, but deinitely possible - WRONG. It was pretty horrible.. definitely not as bad as cold turkey w/d but still horrible. I went back on 1/2mg thinking "why put myself through this?" which made a considerable difference for about a week and then back to zero. Im on day 4 of zero now and I'm still really, really struggling. I have an intense burning, tingling sensation all over my neck and arms, non-stop nausea, vomiting, obnoxious sneezing, congestion, muscle/joint pain, the worst insomnia possible, and AWFUL restlessness. I have done a lot of reading and people say this can last for months! Now I have a picc line which is how I get my nutrition, hydration, vitamins, medications, etc. and GJ tube to vent the acid out of my stomach and it is very very likely that ALL of that is due to the Fentanyl/Suboxone use. GET OFF OF THIS STUFF NOW!! I know it is scary but it's one of those things that you HAVE to go THROUGH.. going around is NOT an option. If you have experienced any of the same things PLEASE let me know!! Feeling extremely alone in this. :-/ God bless.