[barker9393]

i have been takeing suboxone for three years and i must say that i am sick of being tied to a med for so long. any suggestions for stopping quickly????
i have had it and need help!

[Dave87666]

Well how many mg/day are yu on?What have been your doses been like over these 3 years? Yuo are really going to have to sit down and talk to your suboxone Dr. to figure this all out with you.

[barker9393]

18 mgs a day/ my dr is happy to leave me on for as long as i want but i am inclined to stop on my own

[barker9393]

i have been sobber for three yrs but now find my self unable to stop the suboxone i have not been able to find many success storys in my area

[misinformed]

Ok, I've noticed all you guys are from the states...I'm from Scotland (we have the biggest heroin/drug addiction problem in Europe per capita here)

I was on Heroin on & off for 10 years...in 2003 I went onto Methadone...a drug they are throwing at people here..but it did give me stability for a while...Started back into Higher Education..which got tougher as I reduced my methadone dosage...about 6-7 months ago I got myself down to 20ml and went a few days with nothing before making the switch over to suboxone. ( after 5 yrs of methadone)

Started on 24 ml of suboxone after a few month started coming down 2ml every 2 weeks...by this time I'd moved up to the next level of higher education and once again found the low energy levels were hindering my academic potential...4 weeks ago when I was at 14ml I started coming down twice a week...14ml for 3 days,12ml for 4 days and so on until I was
down to 2ml...at which point I was waking up with withdrawals for 3,4 days until they began to kick-in during the night..

this was the night before an exam...got up took my 3rd last 2ml tablet felt ok-ish but walked out of the exam after 3 minutes...total mental block with the simplest of theories I KNOW ! Same again that night so was forced to take 1/2 a valium (5ml) of benzo's...despite the know risks..I HAD to be in college the next day !

took my last 1/2 2ml tablet on saturday (14th Feb') and have had quite severe nerve-end withdrawals and some diarrhoea..

This is all despite my Drug-Worker and also the doctor assuring me there should be NO withdrawals !! My misguided hope was that at most I'd suffer 3,4 days and be fine to go into college on Wednesday 1.... now I'm reading on hear about weeks of cold turkey...ok, it's not as bad as the real deal cold turkey from the likes of heroin ect...but it's going to be impossible for me to get to College...

I have the option of taking another week at a time prescription for 2ml daily but I DON'T want to take ANY drug...that part of my life has been over for a long time...

PLEASE HELP !!!!

btw, really feel for you guys having to PAY for meds..suboxone or anything else...unemployed, sick, students, elderly pay NOTHING in all parts of the UK...if you work it's £5 ( around $9, I think) for anything.period. Hospital Care? FREE !...like every other developed nation on earth..even Cuba has free health care !!!

Hope Obama gives you guys the same...your a great people, a mix of all the world and you deserve better !

[Robert_325]

Originally Posted by misinformed

Ok, I've noticed all you guys are from the states...I'm from Scotland (we have the biggest heroin/drug addiction problem in Europe per capita here)

I was on Heroin on & off for 10 years...in 2003 I went onto Methadone...a drug they are throwing at people here..but it did give me stability for a while...Started back into Higher Education..which got tougher as I reduced my methadone dosage...about 6-7 months ago I got myself down to 20ml and went a few days with nothing before making the switch over to suboxone. ( after 5 yrs of methadone)

Started on 24 ml of suboxone after a few month started coming down 2ml every 2 weeks...by this time I'd moved up to the next level of higher education and once again found the low energy levels were hindering my academic potential...4 weeks ago when I was at 14ml I started coming down twice a week...14ml for 3 days,12ml for 4 days and so on until I was
down to 2ml...at which point I was waking up with withdrawals for 3,4 days until they began to kick-in during the night..

this was the night before an exam...got up took my 3rd last 2ml tablet felt ok-ish but walked out of the exam after 3 minutes...total mental block with the simplest of theories I KNOW ! Same again that night so was forced to take 1/2 a valium (5ml) of benzo's...despite the know risks..I HAD to be in college the next day !

took my last 1/2 2ml tablet on saturday (14th Feb') and have had quite severe nerve-end withdrawals and some diarrhoea..

This is all despite my Drug-Worker and also the doctor assuring me there should be NO withdrawals !! My misguided hope was that at most I'd suffer 3,4 days and be fine to go into college on Wednesday 1.... now I'm reading on hear about weeks of cold turkey...ok, it's not as bad as the real deal cold turkey from the likes of heroin ect...but it's going to be impossible for me to get to College...

I have the option of taking another week at a time prescription for 2ml daily but I DON'T want to take ANY drug...that part of my life has been over for a long time...

PLEASE HELP !!!!

btw, really feel for you guys having to PAY for meds..suboxone or anything else...unemployed, sick, students, elderly pay NOTHING in all parts of the UK...if you work it's £5 ( around $9, I think) for anything.period. Hospital Care? FREE !...like every other developed nation on earth..even Cuba has free health care !!!

Hope Obama gives you guys the same...your a great people, a mix of all the world and you deserve better !

I've worked with lots of people getting them off suboxone in a relatively painless manner. Check out the following link.....

http://www.drugs.com/forum/featured-...apy-50887.html

When you get down to the dose you're at we just have to watch what happens each day a little more closely but it's not a big deal. Let me know if you want my help. God bless.

[misinformed]

Originally Posted by Robert_325

I've worked with lots of people getting them off suboxone in a relatively painless manner. Check out the following link.....

http://www.drugs.com/forum/featured-...apy-50887.html

When you get down to the dose you're at we just have to watch what happens each day a little more closely but it's not a big deal. Let me know if you want my help. God bless.

Well, for starters thank you for replying so quickly !

I followed the link and read through it carefully... it made me think I should at this point ask if I am the first person from the UK to post on this forum ? The terminology, dosage levels and dare I say it, mention of Church's and the orthodox 12 step thing all strike me as very American. IF, indeed your normally dealing with and helping folk in the States I suggest you direct some research to Australian users,clinics and medical institutions, as you said sub has not been around for long enough to give any great body of research data to look into. Australia, however has been using it longer than anywhere else and I found this out in my own quick research into suboxone/subutex.

I studied Social Care for a year and decided to branch into Social Sciences and without this even base knowledge of Research methodology I'd be totally lost when it comes to sub. I think what your doing is awesome as you guys would be reliant on profit-driven "facts" from the people who make this drug for information. Thankfully it's free over here so any misinformation is due to simple inexperience and Doctors and drug workers making the "one size fits all" mistake you quite rightly pointed out.

Perhaps because of my circumstances at the time..( I had planned to do the change over to suboxone from methadone in July('08) I should mention here that as far as I know that's the ONLY reason it's given to people here...to get them off methadone, sometimes off Heroin, but mostly at the end of a long-term Methadone maintenance) But as I was saying, in July they refused to let me switch to sub, perhaps for the same reason they were quite happy to have me using suboxone as a maintenance, in late June my Brother died.

If that was their reasoning, fair enough but they never told me this and reading your article I'm worried the length of time I stayed on 20ml has made the coming off process even harder.

Now let me explain the dosage.. here we have 8ml tabs and 2ml tabs.period. No 4ml's or .5ml's you spoke of...I explained my "tapering" as you call it...there is NO option to halve a 2ml tab.

I've been unable to reach the addiction doctor ( 1 full-time & 1 part-time doc for 1600 service users and that's only in the West of the city..there is another 7 CAT (community addiction teams) in Glasgow , a city of only 1 million people !!

I spoke to my own doctor and she knows I am studying, have weeks of important exams in the next few weeks and am DESPERATE to finally draw a line under that phase of my life and give my body a break from one drug or another...but she's pointed-out the catch-22 I'm in has to be looked at rationally and pragmatically..despite what I've been told the withdrawals WILL last longer than the 3,4 days I was hoping to squeeze into my College timetable...I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go back tomorrow and go back on the Fu%*ing things !!

As for relapsing and all that...not an issue, was never about the high or the buzz for me..just saw society and the world as ********ed-up, I didn't want no part in it, especially as it was stacked against people like me...I opted out. Now people are waking up to being treated like ******** and exploited by a rich elite, and my working class angst now has the vocabulary and insight to impassion me to join the struggle for a fairer world...perhaps it's my version of NA or Religion that help ex-addicts get a sense of purpose and belonging...I don't knock them, they are not for me but whatever helps a human FEEL human again is good with me.

So, I guess even though the 2ml was barely holding me together and I was waking-up with withdrawals, that's what dosage I'll go back on, it breaks my heart to take even that little amount !

So yes, if you can advise me on how best I can do this and keep my concentration for studying and exams I would be greatly indebted to you.

[icandoitin08]

I do not think that you are stabalized. I am thinking you should ask Robert for help. He can change you life. He will help you stop taking suboxone the right way. TRUST what I am telling you.

Thank you many times over Robert!!

[Robert_325]

Originally Posted by misinformed

Well, for starters thank you for replying so quickly !

I followed the link and read through it carefully... it made me think I should at this point ask if I am the first person from the UK to post on this forum ? The terminology, dosage levels and dare I say it, mention of Church's and the orthodox 12 step thing all strike me as very American. IF, indeed your normally dealing with and helping folk in the States I suggest you direct some research to Australian users,clinics and medical institutions, as you said sub has not been around for long enough to give any great body of research data to look into. Australia, however has been using it longer than anywhere else and I found this out in my own quick research into suboxone/subutex.

I studied Social Care for a year and decided to branch into Social Sciences and without this even base knowledge of Research methodology I'd be totally lost when it comes to sub. I think what your doing is awesome as you guys would be reliant on profit-driven "facts" from the people who make this drug for information. Thankfully it's free over here so any misinformation is due to simple inexperience and Doctors and drug workers making the "one size fits all" mistake you quite rightly pointed out.

Perhaps because of my circumstances at the time..( I had planned to do the change over to suboxone from methadone in July('08) I should mention here that as far as I know that's the ONLY reason it's given to people here...to get them off methadone, sometimes off Heroin, but mostly at the end of a long-term Methadone maintenance) But as I was saying, in July they refused to let me switch to sub, perhaps for the same reason they were quite happy to have me using suboxone as a maintenance, in late June my Brother died.

If that was their reasoning, fair enough but they never told me this and reading your article I'm worried the length of time I stayed on 20ml has made the coming off process even harder.

Now let me explain the dosage.. here we have 8ml tabs and 2ml tabs.period. No 4ml's or .5ml's you spoke of...I explained my "tapering" as you call it...there is NO option to halve a 2ml tab.

I've been unable to reach the addiction doctor ( 1 full-time & 1 part-time doc for 1600 service users and that's only in the West of the city..there is another 7 CAT (community addiction teams) in Glasgow , a city of only 1 million people !!

I spoke to my own doctor and she knows I am studying, have weeks of important exams in the next few weeks and am DESPERATE to finally draw a line under that phase of my life and give my body a break from one drug or another...but she's pointed-out the catch-22 I'm in has to be looked at rationally and pragmatically..despite what I've been told the withdrawals WILL last longer than the 3,4 days I was hoping to squeeze into my College timetable...I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go back tomorrow and go back on the Fu%*ing things !!

As for relapsing and all that...not an issue, was never about the high or the buzz for me..just saw society and the world as ********ed-up, I didn't want no part in it, especially as it was stacked against people like me...I opted out. Now people are waking up to being treated like ******** and exploited by a rich elite, and my working class angst now has the vocabulary and insight to impassion me to join the struggle for a fairer world...perhaps it's my version of NA or Religion that help ex-addicts get a sense of purpose and belonging...I don't knock them, they are not for me but whatever helps a human FEEL human again is good with me.

So, I guess even though the 2ml was barely holding me together and I was waking-up with withdrawals, that's what dosage I'll go back on, it breaks my heart to take even that little amount !

So yes, if you can advise me on how best I can do this and keep my concentration for studying and exams I would be greatly indebted to you.

It makes no difference to me where in the world you are from. I received two emails this week from people in the UK along with one from France and two from Slavic countries. Have been working with addicts for years. I have also talked in detail to people from Australia. I don't know for sure what all this has to do with you having a problem getting off suboxone.

I don't know why you refer to what I've said as "very American." If a reference to a "church or the orthodox 12 step thing" bothers you I don't know what to say. I am very busy. I have done my research on suboxone and will defer the suggestion to research Australian clinics. I don't have the time. I know how to taper off buprenorphine be it subutex or suboxone. God bless.

[misinformed]

Originally Posted by Robert_325

It makes no difference to me where in the world you are from. I received two emails this week from people in the UK along with one from France and two from Slavic countries. Have been working with addicts for years. I have also talked in detail to people from Australia. I don't know for sure what all this has to do with you having a problem getting off suboxone.

I don't know why you refer to what I've said as "very American." If a reference to a "church or the orthodox 12 step thing" bothers you I don't know what to say. I am very busy. I have done my research on suboxone and will defer the suggestion to research Australian clinics. I don't have the time. I know how to taper off buprenorphine be it subutex or suboxone. God bless.

a) As someone who seemed to have put many hours into researching sub in order to give the best advice possible it's strange you so easily dismiss Australian data...stands to reason, they've been using it longest therefore have more research evidence....no?

b) Your interest and indeed knowledge of this drug is very impressive...the context and system under which it's given out has an impact on people's experience of it and their chances of tapering off properly... I thought you'd maybe be interested in the situation over here and hoped it may enrich your knowledge and understanding of sub and how and why it's prescribed

c) I'm very sorry to have offended you and obviously wasted your time... from your reply I guess I'm not going to get that advice...fair enough.. but really don't let your pride stop you from looking at this whole issue as it should be....forget "common sense" explanations...look at it sociologically and more importantly empirically....some one suggest an area of research, then FIND the time

d) God...? that all-seeing, all-knowing entity up in the clouds with a bunch of rules who ALWAYS needs money....? not for me, thanks very much...science and evolution trump the myths, I'm afraid.

[Robert_325]

My God doesn't need my money and you obviously don't need any help from someone as narrow-minded as me. Ask Darwin what he thinks about suboxone titration.