I know that everyone is different. I just feel I should share my experience as it may help someone else starting, getting ready to start or wanting to know how to take
Suboxone successfully and then stop. Let me say that for those of you that have been on Suboxone for an extended period of time, like many months, this probably won't help you and I would recommend a slow taper as most everyone else does. But if you are like me, I did not want to stay on any drug for a long time, and Suboxone is a drug. Not wanting to do another drug is why I went into rehab to start with.
I detoxed from OC and other drugs years ago ... was taking 25 30mg Roxicodone a day plus
Somas,Xanax,
Remeron, a bunch of garbage drugs .. just like so many of us. I relapsed due to ongoing pain from serious injuries and health problems. This time around I was taking 40 Lorcets a day,(400mg of
hydrocodone daily) plus probably 25 Somas and loads of
Xanax and
Klonopin. I was a zombie. I was in ambulances 4 times the last week alone before admitting myself into detox again. I was on the verge of death no doubt. This had gone on for several years. I have had my heart stop and nearly died numerous times. I only share this to make the following point.
I logged on to this site and saw nearly everyone taking 12, 16, 24mg and more of Suboxone a day. After all the drugs I had taken for so many years, going back almost 40 years ago in high school, I started on only 12mg the first few days and then dropped to 8mg with no problem. I don't understand why everyone needs so much Suboxone. Surely everyone is not taking that many more RX pills than I was taking. I would recommend that you do not take more than 12mg a day if possible to start, but reduce it as quickly as possible if you want to get off.
I am convinced the key to using Suboxone successfully is to realize it should be used to stop the W/Ds from opiates... whatever opiates we are on. That is what I understood it to be for. My psychiatrist wants me to stay on it indefinitely, but I think he doesn't want to lose a patient. Drs are like any other business, they need customers. My receptors were just as fried as anyone elses. I did not have to do Suboxone for a year so I could heal from the damage I had done to myself. Maybe others were doing 100 Lorcets a day and I was a wimp. I don't think so.
I knew I would suffer W/Ds for probably close to a month as many RX drugs that I was taking. I took my Sub faithfully for about 3 weeks and decided it was time to change. I did not have to do a slow taper, no horrendous night sweats, no puking, no nothing. I had an upset stomach one day. I went for about one week skipping doses, then skipping days. Last Thursday I took only 4mg, Friday had a stomach ache and took maybe 2mg at the most, and have taken nothing since. I have had no W/Ds whatsoever. Nothing. I am convinced that the people who have quit Suboxone successfully have not stuck around to share their experiences, but have gone on with their lives. Not everyone has a difficult time with Suboxone. We only hear from the people who are struggling.
I was actually upset when I realized what my dr had given me in rehab, that I was still going to have to go through W/Ds according to all that I read here. Well it just isn't so. I have had 5 knee operations (played competitive racquetball and ran cross country for over 20 years), have degenerative disc disease, congenital scoliosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Raynaud's Phenomenon. I am always in some pain. But the whole key to using Suboxone is to realize what it is actually for. It is not going to replace OC or hydros or other pain meds. It is designed to help us get off of those drugs. Why try to replace our habits with another drug? Granted, Suboxone is better than OC or heroin. I have no doubt of that. But we don't have to continue to use it indefinitely. It is mind over matter.
There are exceptions to every rule. I am sure there are people who for whatever reason have to take Suboxone for an extended period of time ... like maybe for getting off heroin or
methadone or something. I don't know. I just know for a fact that if you are an RX junkie like me, it isn't necessary. Don't listen to the garbage that is put on you that you have to take Suboxone for many many months and then taper off after you have spent thousands of dollars on scripts and you are still addicted to something. I think Suboxone is great. I am not against it at all. It saved me from another miserable time in rehab. It just needs to be used as it was intended. Then you can stop with relatively no problems whatsoever.
Good luck and I hope this helps someone. You can see daily posts of what was happening with me and some others during the time on Suboxone under the thread titled Suboxin started by Allyopp in Featured Conditions.
Suboxone....starting on it and stopping successfully 
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