[rockboy]

Hi, I think you are all great people helping on this site. I hope one of you can offer me some advise. I was taking norco about 6-10 a day for a couple of years. I really wanted off of it bad. I had tried cold turkey a year ago but relapsed on day 10. So this time I went to my doctor and told him about my problem and that I wanted off of the norco. (I had a severe knee injury and a screwed up sergury.) So I asked if he would suggest a tapering plan or what? He told me tapering doesnt work, that I would just relapse and he is probably right. So he prescribed me Suboxone which I had never heard of. He basically said that I was going to have withdrawls from the norco but that it wouldnt be so bad with the suboxone. He put me on 8mg twice a day. The first pill I took I felt fine. I didn't feel depressed like I did on norco all the time. I have not felt a withdrawl one time since starting the sub. I also got constipated badly for a few days. So I started doing research and I really feel like I shouldnt of been put on this drug. I have been on it for three weeks. After one week I dropped from 16mg a day to 12mg a day. Did that for a week and have been now taking 8mg a day for about a week. I have not felt any withdrawls or any bad feelings. I just want to be off of all these stupid pills and I am prepared to do whatever it takes. WHATEVER it takes. My questions are these. Was my Dr. wrong by putting me on suboxone? Did he esentially put me on a stronger drug than I was taking? (Norco) And how should I go about getting off this completely. Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated. I'm sorry this is so long to read. Thank you

[Robert_325]

Congratulations being clean for three weeks. I used buprenorphine/suboxone and then stopped it as well with no problems. Lots of people have. I can make some very specific tapering suggestions for you if you like. You are taking about a perfect amount of suboxone to begin a taper. Your body has had sufficient time to detox from the opiates after three weeks so this is a good time to do it.

I don't think your dr did anything bad at all with the suboxone. I usually suggest a cold turkey to get it over with, but its difficult. Doing it with suboxone you will be able to detox and transition back to "normal" with no w/d symptoms to speak of. Thats pretty cool. Its important not to drag this on any longer...seems you are ready to get off everything. You shouldn't have any major problems doing this taper. Its not that difficult if you do it the right way. Main thing is to allow enough time when you reduce the dose to allow for the long half-life. Good luck and God bless.

[rockboy]

Yes I would love if you could give me some tapering suggestions. Thank you so much

[movado2008]

That is great that you are getting off of the opiates. I have been on suboxone for over 2 years. This is my fault since I decided t use suboxone to help me maintain my opiate addiction. However I have begun to get my self somme help by going to AA meetings and getting involved so that I may get off of the suboxone. I have gotten off of suboxone by tapering once before.

This is what I did and felt no withdrawls. I was on 8 mgs for two weeks - then moved down to 6mg for a week - then to 4 mgs for a week taking 2mg in the morning and 2 mg at night. After that I moved to 2 mg for a week splitting the pill in half so that it was 1mg in the morning and 1 mg at night - Then for 6 days I went to taking 2 mg every other day again splitting them for a morning and evening dose then skipping a day - then I went to 1 mg every other day for another 6 days with morning and evening doses again( I had to quarter the pill with a razor knife and dit it with quick slices so as not to crumble the pill) - then I got down to .05mg by taking a quarter of a pill every other day for 6 days ( I could not split them anymore).

The reason for the spliting was to prolong the drug by spreading it out since I would wake up feeling slightly yucky and it worked.

This is just how I did it and not a recommendation. You should discuss with your doctor about how to do it first.

My Taper

8mg - two weeks

6mg - 1 week

4mg - 1 week (split into 2mg morning and evening)

2 mg - 1 week (split into 1mg morning and evening)

2mg - 6 days - every other day (split into 1mg for morning and evening)

1 mg - 6 days - every other day (split into 0.5mg for morning and evening)

0.5mg - 6 days - every other day (could not split anymore)

Jump off

Once I jumped off I was ok but had a tinge of irritableness for 4 days. I would shake my legs when sitting down and was just ever so slightly irritable but very bearable and I was able to work. Good luck getting off!

[Robert_325]

That taper sounds pretty much like what I would suggest. Only thing I would add is that I was able to get away with doing four day intervals when I reduced my dose. I had used buprenorphine a short time like rockboy has. Some need a week as they taper, either way is fine. Main thing is to do it. Having only used suboxone for 3 weeks, you should be able to drop from 8mg to 4mg at once with no trouble. At the end when we get to .5mg doses every other day, I also suggest to skip three days at once to make sure the long half-life doesn't affect you before you quit entirely. This could be done after the week at .5mg IF you are having problems stopping, if not just stop. At the end of three days you could take .5mg again and then do another three days. Either way the end result will be the same. Good luck.

[rockboy]

Thank you both so much. I think I will follow the taper doses but do it in shorter intervals like Robert did. I just don't have the desire to be on these things for another six weeks. Tomorrow I think I will go from 8 to 4mg. If this really works out as good as it has so far then Suboxone was a miracle for me honestly. I was terrified of the withdrawls of Norco and to not have any at all is a blessing for sure. Again, thank you both I will keep you posted. God bless you

[Robert_325]

Originally Posted by rockboy

Thank you both so much. I think I will follow the taper doses but do it in shorter intervals like Robert did. I just don't have the desire to be on these things for another six weeks. Tomorrow I think I will go from 8 to 4mg. If this really works out as good as it has so far then Suboxone was a miracle for me honestly. I was terrified of the withdrawls of Norco and to not have any at all is a blessing for sure. Again, thank you both I will keep you posted. God bless you

rockboy ... I think you will do just fine doing four day intervals. You can always add a day if needed. Just don't do a big reduction again after you get to 4mg. At that point slow it down like it shows in the taper that movado suggested. It's a good taper for the amounts to reduce by being very small. This allows for the half life of the suboxone, very important when titrating down. I also agree with the splitting of the doses. The split dose makes it easier tapering down. If you had used the suboxone for a longer time then I would say the longer intervals and slower taper might make more sense. But no reason to extend this out too long when you have not used suboxone for a long time or in very high doses. Stay in touch. Good luck and God bless.

[movado2008]

Why not just continue with weaning off of the suboxone and be free! Weaning from suboxone can be done fairly quickly.