| |  23Likes 24mg Methadone to suboxone -
 24mg Methadone to suboxone Ok Firstly I would like to say that this website is amazing for someone that trying to help be there for someone getting off of Methadone.
My boyfriend has been on methadone for about 2 years due to an Oxy addiction. The highest he has been at was 65mg and he has been tapering for the last several months and has gotten himself down to 24. We all think that switching to suboxone is the best option now because he wants completely off and methadone withdrawals is obviously horrible. Now at his low does he has been struggling but is ready to get off and the clinic has suggested he try suboxone. This Saturday will be his last dose of Methadone and on Monday at 8am he will go to the clinic and get his first dose of suboxone and has been instructed to go back at 12 to make sure everything is going well for him.
He is very worried about the symptons, what should he expect? Any information? Any advice and information on the switch would be great. Also did I mention he will be working as he cant take the time off so this will probably be very hard
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I suggest you talk to Robert 325. He helps ppl all the time with this and will get your boyfriend to take the suboxone correctly at a low dose and for a shorter period of time compared to a doctor. Let me know if I can help. We CAN and WILL do this!!!!!  Have faith and stay strong
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Thank you for your response, I was trying to contact him but for some reason it wont let me write him. * i am new to this site* I am just abit concerned on how everything will come around for this weekend coming.....
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i take suboxone and if anything, it helped me. Its a great drug if used correctly and not abused So if you talk to robert he will give you the correct way to do it, introduction phase, maintenance then tapering which will give the smallest amount of Withdrawals We CAN and WILL do this!!!!! Have faith and stay strong
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Thank you so much for that...
I will see if i can contact him all other comments appreciated if anyone comes across the post coming from methadone to suboxone
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Ok well usually he reads the posts on here and will comment. But the way I did it was POST A NEW THREAD, AND ASK FOR HIS HELP REGARDING SUBOXONE this should get his attention hahaha. Thats one way to do it or just wait till he reads your thread. He is really helpful and will guide you the proper way. Best of luck We CAN and WILL do this!!!!! Have faith and stay strong
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http://www.drugs.com/forum/featured-...tml#post220161
make sure he reads this thoroughly..... sounds like he is at a good dose to switch... he will get thru the weekend no problem. in fact i did the same, and actually still had enough methadone in me to go into precipitated withdrawls once i took the subs... so he needs to be real honest in scoring himself on the COWS chart. which is clinical opiod withdrawl sheet.
hopefully his doctor starts him slow and doesnt give him 8mg of sub all at once, read carefully, and definately dont take anything at all in the weekend...
it is a lot easier to taper of subs, ive used both, been on drugs for years, but used subs to successfully get clean, and still am a year later...
go for it... and good luck..
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The clinic is telling him to take his last dose of methadone on saturday morning and will start on Monday the suboxone.... you think he shouldnt take the drink on Saturday am at all??? making his last dose on Friday??
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i would definately NOT TAKE IT ON SATURDAY...
i know it seems like he might suffer over the weekend, but thats nothing compared to how he would suffer if he took the subs too early...
i would advise to not take his saturday dose...
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see when i switched. i took methadone on the thursday, and thought i could be smart and take short acting morphine on the friday saturday.... but i still had methadone in me... its real long acting so it sticks...
i also know someone else on this forum that switched, and she went all weekend without and switched with no worries...
if he gets it right, once he takes those subs, he will feel a whole lot better, and it will all have been worthwhile.
i know robert would say the same about the saturday dose... its not actually about time, (well coz methadone is so long acting yes) but its more to do with him scoring a 26 on that COWS chart. thats the really important bit....
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I'm the one cheeky is probably talking about.; After 30 years on methadone, I took my last dose on a friday morning, took nothing all weekend and did sub on Monday morning and it worked like a miracle. I'm not saying 48 hours def. isn't long enough. The only way to know for sure is the COWS worksheet. 72 hours is more the given time period though for methadone which sticks to you for a long time. It is so important to wait because you won't want to go through the precipitated w/ds which are FULL w/d's like cheeky did. The other thing I would look out for is not letting the doc start you on too high a dose. Most people don't need to start on more than 4 mgs. though most doctors will start you at ridiculous doses of 12, 16 and even higher. NOT NECESSARY.You will get better info here, from Robert, cheeky, others too, than you will from 99% of sub doctors who don't know much and/or do it strictly for the money.
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Sorry i'm pretty new to this.. COWS worksheet???
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My boyfriend is pretty worried about this weekend if he skips the saturday dose.. He has withdrawn badly off methadone before and is pretty scared about how he will feel.The clinic has told him to stop his drink on Saturday morning but several people have suggested that he take his last drink on Friday morning instead. If he does that and he is suffering does that mean he cant take anything such as a anxiety pill to help with and have to just bare with it??
Also if he does this Friday when he switches to the suboxone and it is successful due to the 72 hours should he feel mild withdrawal symptons or will he still feel icky.
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google the COWS worksheet... im sure you will find it...
also, if he rides out the whole weekend, i guarantee once he starts subs, he will feel fine. NO WITHDRAWLS.... OK.
they work well, so he will feel fine about 20min after taking his first dose...
but check out that COWS chart, and be accurate with his score....
YUP GOOGLE IT AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD A COPY.... CLINICAL OPIOD WITHDRAWL SCALE... my bad on the sheet. its scale... but you get it...
Last edited by Anonymous; 02-23-2012 at 08:24 PM.
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I will google that thanks..
So what about the anxiety pills this weekend should he stay away as well?
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also, we all know how hard it is to withdraw... ive done it plenty of times, but if he keeps his eye on the prize he will be fine.... its only two days out of his life to reclaim it again..... so worth it...
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most advice is to avoid EVERYTHING that way you actually hit a 26 on the cows earlier.... i know robert would say that too....
i do however know people who have taken something to help them sleep....
just giving you all the information..
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Thanks Cheeky!!
You have been VERY helpful and i appreciate it very much!
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no worries.... hope it all goes well...
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Just so you know, 72 hours sounds worse then it really is. Think about it. You dose on Friday so of course, you feel fine all day friday and sleep well friday night. You miss Sat. but what you took on Friday should hold you most of Sat. since methadone has such a long half life. You feel pretty yucky on Sunday but the next day is Monday and the sub which will take away 100% of the w/d, guaranteed. I took my last dose on Friday at 9 a.m., felt fine all day Sat, didn't even need sleep med sat. night, just fell asleep naturally (again meth has longgggg half life)... Sunday midday I started to feel kinda bad but not terrible -- fell asleep sunday night but woke up at 3 a.m. in full blown all out w/d.... Good news was my appt. was for 9 a.m. so it was really only 6 hours I felt like total junk.... This after being on methadone 30 years straight.... So don't stress and worry. We can (and have) all go through a bit of w/d.
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Ok. so he took his last dose on Friday and felt ok, just a bit of anxiousness but he was ok. Saturday he slept most of the day and during the night saturday he was feeling alot of aches and pains and unfortunetly took a small sip of the methadone he had (not a lot- literally a tiny sip- not thats it makes it any better.. He is feeling alot of it today but i'm quite surprised that he is not withdrawing as much as I thought he would be. Just not sleeping to well and moving quite alot. No anxiety but has aches and pains... doing pretty well but just really under and doesnt want to get out of bed. Will he still be ok for tomorrow even though he took a tiny sip of it.. He is still feeling quite a bit of the w/d I just dont want him suffering tomorrow if it wasnt enough time
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it depends on how much he had... not really a good idea to have taken any at all..... basically i thought i could take more than 'they' the clinic said, but it came back to bite my ass not theirs....
he needs to be on a 26 before he can start. and i would be honest with the clinic.... mind you they said to take his saturday dose,
score a 26 would be the aim.... and then get rid of that methadone so he doesnt do it again....
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Yea i got rid of the methadone as soon as he told me he went into it and did poor it out .... he probably drank 6 miligrams. He is starting to really feel the withdrawing but hes not sweating, or has upset stomach.
He just feels his body aching and really restless but he has been in bed since Friday. I hope he goes into more w/d before he goes to the clinic tomorrow morning.... i know it sounds cruel but Its been so hard on him already and again coming from someone that doesnt really understand the withdrawals i dont know what i can do for him
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good luck for tomorrow... make sure he knows that he WILL NOT NEED TO TAKE MORE THAN 8MG...
so many sub doctors just whack you on a high amount and send you out the door. if you read that link i posted originally, you will see how its done here, gradually so you are on the LOWEST EFFECTIVE DOSE. this gets you a good start..
when i switched they had me on 12mg and it was too high.....
good on ya for flushing the rest. i know if i had some, i would take it.... its just so hard knowing its there....
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Yea i know what you mean! i was just so pissed off that the clinic gave him an "extra" bottle for sunday just incase he couldnt do it... ARE YOU SERIOUS????? when he told me that i was telling him the are all in it for the money and dont care about your well being. I have told hiim to stay at the lowest possible and he has agreed!!!!
Thank you so much everyone for your help... you cant imagine how much speaking to people that know makes me feel better.
I will let you know how today goes!
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I am happy to say that so far the switch was successful..They gave him 4mg at 8am and they want him to go back at 12 so see how he goes with it. if they try to push more on him should he take it?/ or just try to say at 4... i'm not to aware of suboxone or how long it lasts.. ANY INFORMATION anyone can give me within the next 2 hours would be great..
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ROBERT would better know that answer but usually when they induce someone they start very low and see how they handle the drug. How does he feel right now?
I know that most DRs unless they are really good doctors and looking out for their patients prescribe WAY too much sub.
Let me know how he feels ....ill keep checking this forum We CAN and WILL do this!!!!! Have faith and stay strong
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He is surprisingly feeling good... all his withdrawals symptons are gone and is just tired from the lack of sleep over the weekend. Last night was really rough on him.
They gave him 4mg this morning and he hasnt needed to take anymore more. they gave him 2mg incase he needs to take it afterwards should he start to feel anything more.
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 Originally Posted by lilnadz  He is surprisingly feeling good... all his withdrawals symptons are gone and is just tired from the lack of sleep over the weekend. Last night was really rough on him.
They gave him 4mg this morning and he hasnt needed to take anymore more. they gave him 2mg incase he needs to take it afterwards should he start to feel anything more.
That isn't EXACTLY the way I would have inducted him but he's on a relatively reasonable dose, that is what counts. I am scattered so thin around this forum it's tough to get to all the posts I need to. But if you want me to help you just post to me here as I have subscribed to this thread and I'll see your posts if you make any.
The way I do inductions they are actually a four day process of adjusting doses, getting and keeping him stable, and getting everything down to the lowest effective dose by day four. I'll be happy to guide you guys through this if you want me to. Just let me know how I can help. God bless.
Last edited by Robert_325; 02-27-2012 at 12:47 PM.
I am not a dr. My statements are based on years of experience and related education. Consult with the professional of your choice regarding matters of concern.
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