Tapered down my Subs, about to quit!! Suggestions?

[xguntherc]

Hey guys, This is my first post. I am a long time reader though. I'll give a little info first just to catch you all up.

I started using hydro's and OC about 6 years ago or so, I quit about 4 years ago and used Sub's for a few months and then relapsed for a while.. I was doing over 150MG of OC (oxy) a day and eventually moved to heroin. I used H for about 8 months heavily, and I wasn't smoking or snorting it. Now I do none of that.

I have been clean of hard drugs or opiates for over 2 1/2 years (with subs), and my only dependence now is suboxone.


I have been taking suboxone for over 2 years. I got all the way up to 24mg a day of subs. I currently am taking a fourth of a 2mg sub-lingual film. That is basically nothing. like .5 mg & I have tapered down a quarter or so a month for months and months. I am ready to stop this stuff. My life is completely different and I have no desire to use again. Starting on friday I've been taking 1/8th of a 2mg film of suboxone in the morning, and at night. So basically still a fourth. I am planning on running out and stopping tomorrow. I don't work again til Saturday, I know it takes longer than 2-3 days to exit your body, but going so extremely slow and tapering off a extremely low dose I am hoping the WD symptoms will not be that bad.

Any suggestions, info, or advice regarding this. I have about 3 xanax, and that is all. I can call my sub doc and he said he'd prescribe me a few things to help sleep or what not, I think I'll mention klonopin and clonidine (never taken clonidine, or heard of til tonight.) I really want to have a normal life of not taking anything. I'm sick of always making sure I have my subs. Please feel free to share stories of you quitting, or how you tapered down, or what you think my WD symptoms might be like since I've been taking such an extremely low dose lately.. even though I've been on it for years.

Thanks for any reply's or discussion. I'll need the encouragement.

[xguntherc]

Robert I would love to hear any advice you have for me.. I moved to vegas almost 3 years ago. have been taking suboxone since i moved here. First doc gave me 90 at a time and he was NOT doing a good job and is the reason i got to 24mg a day. I left him and found a new one that has tapered my dose every month for the last like 8-9 months or so. That is how i am where I'm at today. I really like the current one, made me lower every month. He's much smarter then the first guy.

I have the sublingual film subs. I have 3/4ths of a 2mg one left as of right now but he will write me more if needed.

So for the last 5 days I have taken .25mg when I wake up and another 1/8th (.25mg) around 10pm at night. I feel fine when I don't think about it and I have been sleeping fine. I feel a little restless at times. My main wd symptoms seem to be feeling restless, and a slight uncomfortableness in my stomach.. I'm planning only .25mg tomorrow morning and none at night. I always dose at night so that might be hard. I wish i was on a single dose a day. Should i work for that first before starting the every other day approach?

Can't wait to hear from you amazing community members tomorrow. Ill be sure to hang around and report how things go.

[Robert_325]

Robert I would love to hear any advice you have for me.. I moved to vegas almost 3 years ago. have been taking suboxone since i moved here. First doc gave me 90 at a time and he was NOT doing a good job and is the reason i got to 24mg a day. I left him and found a new one that has tapered my dose every month for the last like 8-9 months or so. That is how i am where I'm at today. I really like the current one, made me lower every month. He's much smarter then the first guy.

I have the sublingual film subs. I have 3/4ths of a 2mg one left as of right now but he will write me more if needed.

So for the last 5 days I have taken .25mg when I wake up and another 1/8th (.25mg) around 10pm at night. I feel fine when I don't think about it and I have been sleeping fine. I feel a little restless at times. My main wd symptoms seem to be feeling restless, and a slight uncomfortableness in my stomach.. I'm planning only .25mg tomorrow morning and none at night. I always dose at night so that might be hard. I wish i was on a single dose a day. Should i work for that first before starting the every other day approach?

Can't wait to hear from you amazing community members tomorrow. Ill be sure to hang around and report how things go.

xguntherc......... Once you're down to .25mg you have a couple of workable options. Either go through the day skipping process or taper all the way down to nothing. I wouldn't jump off cold, that's just me personally.

The day skipping is pretty easy for most. You take .25mg one day, skip the next. Then dose again and then skip two days. Dose again the next day and then skip three days. Then dose again and skip four days. As subs have a half life of up to 72 hours this allows for the half life to catch up with itself and makes for a typicallly pretty simple end to all this.

Some people find it easier to continue the taper all the way to nothing. Whichever works for you is fine. Most do the day skipping though. Going slowly like this allows ample time for your brain receptors to heal and start working properly again releasing natural endorphines. Let me know how I can help you further. God bless.

[xguntherc]

Thank you sir, I very much appreciate it.

I've read it takes 3-4 days to exit your body, so the day skipping system would really lower it off your brain. On that last dose after 2-3 days how have lots of people felt?

obviously there will be wd symptoms, but doing it that way are things pretty mild? I had a few stretches where it was basically cold turkey from H, that is the last thing I ever wanna do again in my life. lol. So I'm not expecting this to be nearly as harsh.

Doing the skipping process, should I still plan to get some immoduim and all that like the Thomas or whatever recipe? Thanks again, and god bless to you also

[Robert_325]

Thank you sir, I very much appreciate it.

I've read it takes 3-4 days to exit your body, so the day skipping system would really lower it off your brain. On that last dose after 2-3 days how have lots of people felt?

obviously there will be wd symptoms, but doing it that way are things pretty mild? I had a few stretches where it was basically cold turkey from H, that is the last thing I ever wanna do again in my life. lol. So I'm not expecting this to be nearly as harsh.

Doing the skipping process, should I still plan to get some immoduim and all that like the Thomas or whatever recipe? Thanks again, and god bless to you also

xguntherc ......... It certainly doesn't hurt to have the items from the Thomas Recipe on hand while skipping days but it usually isn't necessary. Sometimes something to help sleep comes in handy, even excedrin PM is a help. But I wouldn't expect a bunch of w/d symptoms if you do the whole process to the letter just as the link to the sub therapy suggests. It's obviously not necessarily FUN, but it's not that big of a deal for most people who follow instructions properly. Hope that helps. God bless.

[xguntherc]

not necessarily fun.. lol you are right about that.

So as long as a follow those pretty closely (and I plan to) I should be ok for the most part. I don't work til Saturday. I run around a lot at work and will be sweating it out so that is good. I guess. lol.

For sleep I have 2 xanax, and my friend Jack Daniels. (both in severe moderation of course) Thanks again for the fast response. You just made me feel a lot better about my coming days Robert. Thanks!

[Robert_325]

not necessarily fun.. lol you are right about that.

So as long as a follow those pretty closely (and I plan to) I should be ok for the most part. I don't work til Saturday. I run around a lot at work and will be sweating it out so that is good. I guess. lol.

For sleep I have 2 xanax, and my friend Jack Daniels. (both in severe moderation of course) Thanks again for the fast response. You just made me feel a lot better about my coming days Robert. Thanks!

xguntherc; ........ Glad if I could help relieve your anxiety. lol Don't freak out about this. I promise you that if you do have any unforeseen problems come up down the road I've done this enough times that I have some tricks hid up my sleeve. You can relax and just stick to the program. We won't let anything happen to you.

Just a suggestion as I would not ever judge you with all the stupid things I've done in my life. Would be a little hypocritical of me doing that. But watch mixing subs, xanax and Jack Daniels. Not judging you as I've certainly done worse. But that doesn't make it okay. That can be a potentially very bad combination. All you need is for it to go badly ONCE.

You don't need that kind of problem in your life. Instead stick to asking honest questions like you're doing and let me work to help you. I know how to do this! That's a guarantee. But doing bad drug / alcohol combinations could be potentially bad where I couldn't help you nor could anyone else if things got bad enough. That could be a very bad combination worse case scenario. .

Trust me on this. I can help you and it won't be anything that you can't handle relatively easily. Like I said, it won't be fun, but don't expect problems. Let's take it one day at a time and just keep me posted as you progress. We won't abandon you on this deal. God bless.

[xguntherc]

That was more of a joke than anything, I've learned my lesson and seen many friends have issues with mixing to many things, that is for sure.

I meant it more in general, but thanks for looking out. I might have "1" drink to take the edge off on a no sub day, but surely I wont be mixing all 3, that is for sure. I have also done worse so don't feel bad. lol.

So far this morning I've taken nothing since .25mg last night. it's 2PM and i feel ok, just a little restless. Nothing else yet. As long as I'm not in cold sweats in the fetal position in the bathroom like I've in the past. I think I'll be somewhat happy.. I write for a blog online and have to do a few posts tomorrow so that will be my only real task, but hopefully it will keep my mind off things.

Thanks again sir, you're a good man!

[xguntherc]

That was more of a joke than anything, I've learned my lesson and seen many friends have issues with mixing to many things, that is for sure.

I meant it more in general, but thanks for looking out. I might have "1" drink to take the edge off on a no sub day, but surely I wont be mixing all 3, that is for sure. I have also done worse so don't feel bad. lol.

So far this morning I've taken nothing since .25mg last night. it's 2PM and i feel ok, just a little restless. Nothing else yet. As long as I'm not in cold sweats in the fetal position in the bathroom like I've in the past. I think I'll be somewhat happy.. I write for a blog online and have to do a few posts tomorrow so that will be my only real task, but hopefully it will keep my mind off things.

Thanks again sir, you're a good man!

ps I plan to get some immodium, some vitamins, and some gatorade tonight to help with the next 2 days. Sound ok. What about Alieve? I have some now I was thinking of taking.

[Robert_325]

ps I plan to get some immodium, some vitamins, and some gatorade tonight to help with the next 2 days. Sound ok. What about Alieve? I have some now I was thinking of taking.

Aleve is fine for body aches. It's actually naproxen, an NSAID like Ibuprofen which is in Advil. It's about whatever works for you as we all have our favorites. It's amazing how otc drugs like aleve and advil will help us with pain once we get the hardcore meds out of our system.

I used to think if it wasn't a narcotic I couldn't use it. I use ibuprofen myself and it helps me a lot, but I haven't been on opiates for almost nine years now. "Earth people" don't seem to need "handfuls" of lortabs or oxy to help with pain. Just plain old advil or aleve work great when we get back to normal. God bless.

[xguntherc]

Aleve most the day, and exedrin in the AM.. will do.

I bought immodium, B6, L-tyrosine and gatorade.. Today was my first full day without a dose. Will dose tomorrow then skip 2 days next. I bought MEGA MEN multi-vitamin. will it or the L-Tyrosine keep me awake? or should I just take em in the AM.

Thanks again..

[xguntherc]

OK, I went all of yesterday without one, got a little harder at night, but could also have been cuz I was thinking about it. I've got a little more restless but thats about all.

I took a dose today after skipping all of yesterday. Waited til around 1 to take it, rather than 9AM. I plan to wait longer than usual to dose, on the off days that I do for the next few days. hopefully be good by next week.

[xguntherc]

Why I can't edit posts is bugging..

Is it ok to take Klonpin during the day?

[xguntherc]

OK Robert, you've been a good dude through this. I seriously appreciate it.

Today is day 4 for me.. I have taken .25mg of suboxone TOTAL in those 4 days, and that was yesterday.. So first day nothing, second day .25mg third day nothing, and today is saturday. Nothing! To be honest, I feel pretty good right now, like surprisingly good. Here is what I did:

I got up, took 1000 mg of L-tyrosine, and a 100 mg of B6, just like I've done the last 3 days, but today I drank a 32oz glass of water and took 2 MEGA MEN Sport Multi-vitamin's and 2 Immodium AD pills.

Went to work, worked my butt off. Running all over the place (work in vegas) made some great cash (you don't wanna know), I was struggling the first hour or so, but then it started to sweat out, or I'm on autopilot. I feel a little goofy and hungry in the stomach right now. and that is all. To be honest I might go meet the friends tonight for bowling or a movie. (I never dreamed I'd do that on day 4 of no sub)

I'm debating trying to go 3 days without and not taking any tomorrow either, or if I should just stick to roberts plan and take one tomorrow after now being 2 days without.. what do you think Robert?

[xguntherc]

OK Robert, Still going strong over here. I did have a question though.

I took none, dosed .25mg, then skipped 3 days instead of 2 basically, and dosed at night on the 3rd day, I went 3 days because I felt pretty good, but that first day after dosing felt worse than the 2nd and 3rd days did. is that sort of expected, on day 3 I was feeling pretty good.

I've not dosed since then and my next one is coming up, should I dose again on day 4 and that be my last dose, or should I just not take anymore and be done, I just don't want another bad day 1 or 2 after that last dose. Or should I just stick to your proven course and dose as I should?

thanks!

[JMAlv]

Hi, xguntherc! In case you did not see this post, http://www.drugs.com/forum/featured-...nda-58244.html
someone posted that Robert is having internet issues. I just wanted to point it out so you did not think Robert had run off or anything. Even though this is my first post, I have spent the last six hours reading here. My husband starts subs Sat and then I start next weekend. Thank you so much for sharing and constantly updating your experience! I used to be scared to death of doing this but with stories like yours and help from Robert's posts, I am no longer worried, but excited!!

Best of luck! You have done such a great job and even though we don't know one another, I am proud of you and so happy for you. I cried tears of joy reading you last couple of posts. <3

[xguntherc]

Thanks JMA, I'm glad you could read what I'm doing and feel better about it. If you guys are starting subs right now. Do a quick 1 month taper just as robert has explained. That is really the best way. I've quit with suboxone many years ago like that and it wasn't so bad. I'd not recommend taking them long term like I have. There is no need to.

I hope you and your husband the best. Stay strong, talk to eachother and you will be fine. Try not to think about it. I've been riding my bike to keep myself busy. It really helps.

oh and i knew robert was having issues. I just had heard he was back somewhere. I think it's time I send him a Android Smartphone so he can "always" be online! lol I have a few lying around here somewhere.

[xguntherc]

OK, I've been doing the skipping of doses thing for the last little while, and I'm debating skipping the last dose altogether and just being done with this stuff. What does everyone think? Henry, Robert?


I skipped a day, took a dose, skipped 3 days cuz felt ok, dosed, and now today is day 4 again of nothing and I feel pretty decent. I didn't take ANY of the thomas recipe today either as that might have been adding to me being anxious.

So my question is should I dose tomorrow after having skipped 4 days like the taper plan? or should I just be done with this and keep it going and not take any? If I don't feel any worse than I am now, and I'll be good in a day or 2. then maybe I'll just do that. I understand the shelf life catching up, today is day 4 so it should be here. Maybe I'll just see how I feel tomorrow first. I really wish Robert or someone had some advice on how I should finish this last bit, or if anyone has done what I'm mentioning and on that 4th day of nothing just keeping it going.

[xguntherc]

So I went 5 days instead of 4, and I took a small small dose, my FINAL dose today before work.

That will be my LAST suboxone ever.. From here on out things should only improve! Booya's!

[melinda7.5]

YEAH !!!!
very happy for you, Robert is sick but he said he was really proud of you..
let us know how you do...
Melinda

[xguntherc]

Still doing great here.. I had a bit of anxiety last night before bed that seemed a little more than the last few weeks,but I'm sure that will go away and I'm not to worried about it.

Going strong, I'm no longer a suboxone user and plan to never take it again!
I will report back again in a few days. I'm sorry to hear that Robert is not feeling well, I owe him major for the thoughts, comments, and advice here. God Bless

Thanks!

[Robert_325]

Still doing great here.. I had a bit of anxiety last night before bed that seemed a little more than the last few weeks,but I'm sure that will go away and I'm not to worried about it.

Going strong, I'm no longer a suboxone user and plan to never take it again!
I will report back again in a few days. I'm sorry to hear that Robert is not feeling well, I owe him major for the thoughts, comments, and advice here. God Bless

Thanks!

Hey buddy! Proud of you! I knew you would do this. Stay in touch and let me know how you're doing. I'm back and feeling much better. I've been so sick with the flu I couldn't function. Been in bed sleeping for a week or so but I'm better now. Keep me posted. God bless.

[jac82981]

I hope you can help me too Robert, I had sent you a message about my situation of being put on 12mg of suboxone for 3 months for doing up to 8 vicodin a day after chemo. anyway my question is that I've dropped form 12mg and down to 1mg in the last 30 days so I don't know what I should do now I've been on 1mg for the past 3days and I'm going to be switching the the 2mg films soon. My fear is that the 1/2 life is going to catch up to me. It's just when I read about the suboxone I paniced and felt like I didn't want to keep taking that much anyway so here I am. I know some people say to go down 2mg and stay on that for a month or 2 but I feel like your just adding to it. I just want off of this as soon as possible I hope and pray that you can help me. I also should mention that I'm on celexa for the depression. I really hope you'll be my hero and help get me off of this I really don't have alot of fight left in me so I would love to to be as painless as possible. Thank you so so much for taking the time to read this may God bless you for all your help

[Robert_325]

I hope you can help me too Robert, I had sent you a message about my situation of being put on 12mg of suboxone for 3 months for doing up to 8 vicodin a day after chemo. anyway my question is that I've dropped form 12mg and down to 1mg in the last 30 days so I don't know what I should do now I've been on 1mg for the past 3days and I'm going to be switching the the 2mg films soon. My fear is that the 1/2 life is going to catch up to me. It's just when I read about the suboxone I paniced and felt like I didn't want to keep taking that much anyway so here I am. I know some people say to go down 2mg and stay on that for a month or 2 but I feel like your just adding to it. I just want off of this as soon as possible I hope and pray that you can help me. I also should mention that I'm on celexa for the depression. I really hope you'll be my hero and help get me off of this I really don't have alot of fight left in me so I would love to to be as painless as possible. Thank you so so much for taking the time to read this may God bless you for all your help

I recall your message. You've been on subs a good while, though too high of a dose at 12mg for three months. I would stay at the 1mg for several days and let's see how you feel. That's the only way to see if the half life of the subs will affect you adversely.

Give it a few more days and we'll know by then. At that time we can take you the rest of the way down slowly if all is well. You've been through a lot already with the chemo so let's go slowly the rest of the way. Keep me posted. God bess.

[xguntherc]

got my first good night of sleep last night.. loved it.

Still feel funky a bit during the day, Glad to see you feeling better robert

[xguntherc]

OK.. still going strong here, for anyone reading this I recommend following Roberts taper.. seriously.

Robert, can I expect to feel a little goofy as time goes on after my last dose. Today is day 6 since my last dose.. I took my last dose after all the skipping on Saturday, today is Friday and I feel ok, but only about 20-30% more than I have this entire process in general.. so still not great, but by no means bad or terrible..

My sleeping is an up and down story so far. Some days I've felt better than others, I feel MOST of this is mental and how much I stay busy or think about it, but i could be wrong.. I'm wondering when I will start to feel more normal all day, because night and nighttime I still am having a few issues, but I do expect that to get better with time over the next week or so.

[Robert_325]

OK.. still going strong here, for anyone reading this I recommend following Roberts taper.. seriously.

Robert, can I expect to feel a little goofy as time goes on after my last dose. Today is day 6 since my last dose.. I took my last dose after all the skipping on Saturday, today is Friday and I feel ok, but only about 20-30% more than I have this entire process in general.. so still not great, but by no means bad or terrible..

My sleeping is an up and down story so far. Some days I've felt better than others, I feel MOST of this is mental and how much I stay busy or think about it, but i could be wrong.. I'm wondering when I will start to feel more normal all day, because night and nighttime I still am having a few issues, but I do expect that to get better with time over the next week or so.

Good to hear from you! Yes everyone is a little different and right after finishing the skipping process you can usually expect a little uneasiness, maybe a little depression, and of course sleep patterns are the last thing to stabilize with any opiate detox process. Don't let any of this throw you a curve, it's going great for you as far as I can tell.

Your receptors are still trying to produce adequate natural endorphines to keep you feeling well. This is when EXERCISE is most important. Depending on your personal physical condition just try to push yourself some and you'll even out and feel better sooner. We totally trash those brain receptors while we use opiates for a good while. Exercise is the very best medication there is at this point for you. Don't have to run five miles unless you feel like it. But going for walks, a hike, swimming, anything that stretches you physically will help make you feel amazing and will also help your sleep stabilize.

You've done outstanding! It's great to see another success story, very proud of you. You've come so far now, I love this part when these little things finally disappear and suddenly one morning you wake up and realize you feel totally amazing. Then it just gets better and better each day. Hope that helps. Stay in touch. God bless.

[xguntherc]

Excellent, thanks for the advice. Yea I've got a mountain bike and I've gone out 3 times this week. I think that makes a large difference and totally helps. I'm going to try to at least do little rides at night for a while.

Sneezing? is this a common "side effect" or symptom from this. I've never sneezed this much in my entire life. It is extremely irritating. I used to abuse lots of things up my nose, but I've never really been a sneezing person like at all. Until I stopped the subs. Now they are 2 at a time, all freaking day. lol.

Still going strong, although yesterday I woke up with a pretty bad head cold and sinus issue. So today I feel totally terrible and a little flu-like.. Took some Zicam, and some dayquil and I have to go to work anyways (not excited bout that). I guess this is sort of expected, body has been getting worked so hard while quitting the last 2-3 weeks that it finally is worn down and now I'm sick. Meh, oh well.. lol

Thanks again, Happy Easter for those that celebrate it.

[Philosophist]

Best of luck....wish you well.

[xguntherc]

Thanks i appreciate it.