How Late Into Pregnancy Is It Safe To Stop Taking Suboxone? (Page 5) (Top voted first)

I am almost 14 weeks pregnant. I want to stop taking my Suboxone completely, but have heard it can cause premature labor if stopped too far into pregnancy. My doctor also said that withdrawals can not cause miscarriage or hurt the unborn baby in any lasting ways. I have been taking 2mg of subutex (now Suboxone) for the past week. Am I okay to cease all Suboxone use, or should I wait another week or so?

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This is my second child taking suboxone I am 22 weeks and trying to Come down I just been taking a half the hole time but I worry this one might withdraw for some reason my 2 year old done great he never withdrawal ed at all but I don't know really what to do I do anything to keep him from withdrawal but I don't know if I am ready to come off the suboxone......what should I do

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Half a mg or half an 8mg strip? It's a big difference. If you're taking half a strip, the baby probably will have withdrawals. If you're taking .5mg, then you can actually stop taking it altogether (I had withdrawal symptoms at .5mg so it wasn't really worth it to keep taking so little). Anything around 2mg and under, I've heard the baby won't have withdrawals. But I have no experience, I quit before the 3rd trimester and I was under the care of a doctor. You should tell your doctor.

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I am 5 wks pregnant and have been tampering off suboxone. I have been taking a 1/4 strip 3x a day for the past 4 days. Today I am trying 1/4 strip 2x a day. I plan to do that for 3 or 4 days and go down again. I just worry because I hear you should switch to subutex. Since I am so early and have been tampering, I don't see why I should change prescriptions. I am presribed. To subs so its all legal. Any advice would be great. I'm just so scared since I had a miscarriage Feb 2014 while I wad taking pain killers. After that tragic event I started subs and in Aug 2014 I went to Dr and started taking them to right way under a drs care. I am prescribed 2 strips a day but I was only taking 1 a day until I discovered I was pregnant this past Monday and since I went down even more.

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Sounds like you're off to a good start! You have to taper slow or you can lose the baby. Maybe continue 3x a day but cut one dose in half. Set a schedule and stick to it. Good luck!

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Debra, I hope you can advice me. Im currently 13 weeks pregnant with a miracle baby. I've been on suboxone for almost 9 months now and I take 8 milligrams a day. I did tell my doctor and I have been going to a high-risk clinic they both advised me that I should just continue on the medication and not wean off of it, they say it's more dangerous than staying on but honestly I need to get off and so I'm wondering if you can advise me on a taper schedule? the main reason is because my husband has no idea I'm on this medication he has very strong ideas and opinions on people that abused pills and so he would be disgusted with me especially allowing our child to be born addicted to something it would probably destroy our marriage... so my plan is to be off completely by the third trimester I figure I have 3 months to slowly wean down and do it the right way. I also canceled my last suboxone doctors appointment last month so I just have whatever is left over because I'm prescribed 16 but only use 8 so I have enough leftover if I start weaning down asap.

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Let mr know what happens im in the same boat lets talk I want ur email ir number ir ill guve y mine it off everyone I read ur related the most

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Baby girl - u took the words out of my mouth. I need to know what u did and what happened? Please im so scared. We have an addiction n it sucks. We would never hurt our babies. I would love to talk to u please.

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Debra, Thank you so much! this is extremely helpful and I am going to start today dropping to 7 and I'll let you know how I feel as I continue lowering my dose. I'm currently taking 4 milligrams twice a day. I was actually doing three times a day because it felt like it wasn't lasting? but that could just be all in my head so I've cut it down to twice a day. Ill update in a week! I'm extremely determined and I want to do this I'm going to do this. Ladies, mind over matter right? whatever we set our minds to we can essentially do . and don't cry and don't feel bad because you are in recovery with the suboxone and you are not intentionally trying to harm your baby its better than being in active addiction. Good luck!

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I was taking suboxone during the first 4 months of this pregnancy and 4 years prior. I am now 6 months pregnant and was switched to subutex about 2 months ago. This is my second child, by the way. With my first child, I didn't take anything. She came out beautiful. Anyway, as for this pregnancy, I was ashamed to tell anyone about taking suboxone and, when it was finally figured out that I was taking it, my husband was furious. That is when I made the choice to go to a doctor and get subutex. I also informed my OB about what I was doing and she advised me to keep taking it. I am an addict and we all know that there are many things that come along with addiction other than the just using our drug of choice (lying, stealing, etc). I had been stealing the sub from my husband all the while telling him I was not. He finally gave me a surprise drug panel and I failed. Everyone in the family now knows about this and all I hear from my husband is how awful I am, how no one respects me, how I'm killing our child, that I'm selfish, etc. I am really trying to taper down (not going as planned especially when I hear all the time how awful I am) to nothing because I don't want to risk having baby born with withdrawal and CPS being called then I risk losing both my kids and I definitely don't want that. I don't care if the withdrawal makes me uncomfortable but I don't want it hurting the baby as well. I realize that if I'm feeling uncomfortable then so is the baby.

What I'm wondering is what is the safest way to stop taking this? I have no more subutex left and my script can't get refilled for another 2 weeks!! I have some tramadol on hand that I may take when I start feeling super awful and hopefully that holds me over till then with me not taking anything for a few days at a time (I'm sure this subutex is still in my system). I also have some clonapin and vitamin B-12 sublingual tablets to help with the energy part of it. have read the stories on here and I am so grateful that there are other women in the same boat as I am. This post is more to everyone out there but I responded to the post about a woman's baby being taken by CPS and my heart just aches for you. That feeling must have been awful and I can't even imagine what you're going through. My thoughts are with you and I hope that you're doing better now. I just want to quit not just for me but for the baby most importantly and would like to know the safest way--is 6 months ok to stop taking it altogether because that's what I'm looking at now. If I can't get a script refilled for 2 weeks then i may as well consider this as me stopping since I feel as though I have no other option. All I want is for my baby to be ok--I know that whatever damage has been caused was already done early on in the pregnancy. I know that if the baby if the born without any "firsthand symptoms" anything that happens to him whether psychological or emotional issues--will be blamed on me as my husband has made that very clear. I know he's upset so he's saying a lot of things he may not necessarily mean. To end my rant, I really want the baby to be ok since I will not be having subutex for the next 2 weeks--I know it would be good for me but I'm worried for the baby. Any advice until i can get the refill or should I just take my tramadol when needed and the clonapin for the anxiety?

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Just wanted ton update. I didn't start weaning process when I said I would because I was feeling so terrible and stress on my body or my baby but I did start yesterday and I took 6 milligrams instead of my usual 8 I have to say I woke up today feeling withdrawals...bbut I only have a certain amount of strips left and I have to do this now or else call my doctor and make a new appointment which she would probably charge me a bunch of money to be seen again and I just can't afford that right now so I really have no choice in the matter.I'm now almost 19 weeks pregnant and hoping that means my risk of a miscarriage is pretty slim at this point?I'm just so scared about everything and it's sad because this is a miracle pregnancy that technically never should have happened and I can't even enjoy it because I'm just full of worries and scared about everything.I'm trying not to stress but I figure if I can at least get down as low as possible maybe my baby won't be born with withdrawals and I really do not want to deal with CPS because it would probably kill my marriage .but I hope everyone is doing ok and keep your head up

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Janna, what have you done to help you wean off and keep the baby ok? I'm in need of any advice I can get about this issue. I am so thankful that I'm not the only woman who is going through this type of situation. I don't want CPS getting involved because i don't want to risk being without my child and my marriage would probably end if that were to happen.

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Sherri,
Thank you for posting about your situation. It makes me feel better to read your post but, I am so scared that my baby may have to stay at the hospital. My OB knows about the subutex I've been on which is 4-6 mgs/day. I would like to be off it in the next month so that the risk of withdrawal once he's born is diminished a little. However, I am also worried about baby going through withdrawal in the womb which, I've read, is much worse than just staying on it. I suppose that a big reason why I am wanting to quit is because my husband is very angry that I'm taking it at all but he also gets upset if I tell him I'd like to be off by 36/37 weeks--says, either way, I am killing our baby. I just had a 3D ultrasound and, at 7 months, he is perfect. Has anyone had a problem with their husband or significant other like I have?

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What u just said I am going thru!! It's very hard but same situation! I'm only on .2-.5 mg of sub and whenever I stop I get the restless legs along w the symptoms of withdrawing! It sux seeing as it's my first baby-- I still haven't told my doc about it and am 7 months and 3 weeks now, but I'm in the same boat and have NOONE to talk to about this all I know is that if u stop taking it , it can lead to hurting the baby or even killing the baby and that's HORRIBLE so I'm doing research on this and whatever I can find out I'll keep u posted Hun- hang in their because YOUR NOT ALONE

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If you're only taking 2mg, is recommend tapering down to nothing. Make a plan and stick to it! It's harder if you're taking more. But you can do this!

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Try to get on subutex because your baby is depending on whatever u take. I was on 16mg a day throughout my whole pregnancy and my lil boy was born perfect, no withdrawals and even breastfed him for four months while on subutex. The amount that passes thru the breast milk is tiny because it's sublingual not swallowed. As long as its prescribed to u then there won't be any problems. Just thought I would give u some good advice and you are doing what's best for your child so don't worry what others think. God bless and good luck. If u have any other questions feel free to contact me {edited for privacy}.

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I've worked at a subutex clinic for years & I want you to know we see more patients confess they don't have their own script than patients who do have a script. You're not going to be treated badly. That's what these doctors do. It's better to be monitored by a doctor than do it alone. You can do this! I'm right here with ya! Best of luck!

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You guys are all adults and can make your own decisions about how to do things, but I will say from experience, when I was pregnant, before Suboxone got so mainstream and I lived in Alabama, where all you have is the methadone clinic, that the first time I told my OB/GYN that I was on a rx, she automatically assumed that it was methadone, and said so. It wasn't, it was benzos, but I learned through that interaction that doctors are so used to seeing people on maintenance drugs, that they're all prepared for it and know how to deal with it. For you, sweetheart, who haven't told your doc yet, you must do this. It is horribly dangerous for you to be on this, and your baby is on this drug too, without the doctor knowing. I say this because once you deliver, the baby must be de-toxed and how will the hospital know if you don't tell them? Also, some states are super strict on drug panels once you deliver and you don't want to have to explain all that then. You are risking a lot. Tell your doc asap, so you'll have time to get ready for this. He/she may be a little PO'd bc you waited so long, but the stigma you are fighting is not as bad as you imagine. Please let your doc know. I can't believe they're not having you take a drug panel when you go. Do it for your baby because you know you would never forgive yourself if something happened and all you had to do was speak up. Good luck!! It will be okay!!

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I am in the same boat. I just found out I am a month in and have been taking 8mg a day for four plus years. I want to tapper down to none for birth but my bf doesn't know I am even on them. It I tell my doctor cps will be involved and he will find out. I live a clean and sober life just subs are the only thing im still on. I am scared and was going to just stop them until I read how dangerous that is. I need answers also and am so scared.

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I totally agree, all of you need to tell your OB about the Suboxone. They need to be aware for delivery. It will also affect any medication given to you during delivery. Tell your doctor!!! It'll be OK.

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Newmomandscared,
I can relate to your post, as I do with most of these posts I read. I know it sounds frightening but I feel that if you are just downright honest with both your doctor and your boyfriend, then eventually quitting will be much more of a reasonable goal. I am an addict and know, from personal experience, that not being honest about what you are doing can be more detrimental not just for you and your relationship, but for your baby ultimately because it only gives you more of a reason to keep taking the drug. I am married and tried keeping my sub use a secret for the first few months of pregnancy. That is a decision i regret--it caused so many unnecessary issues than if I had just come clean about it all from the beginning, not just with my husband but with my whole family. My husband ended up finding out and was very upset, angry, and disappointed--which I don't blame him. After he found out, he encouraged me to let my doctor know so she could at least be aware. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting after I told her. She didnt know much about subutex but has gathered more information since I told her and has actually thanked me for letting her know because she is able to help other women who are taking it. I just want you to know that keeping this a secret for too much longer may not be the best idea. I totally understand that it's a scary thought for your boyfriend to find out but think about your unborn baby--if you two are committed to one another and he really loves you, he will do what he can to help you out but he can't help you if he doesn't know. Just be honest with him--especially if you're wanting to taper down and eventually quit; carrying the guilt with you will make it more difficult to quit as the sub does affect you psychologically as well. I know that when I have felt guilty or ashamed because of all the lying that has come along with the addiction to the sub, that I want to take more--it's like, the more upset I feel whether due to bringing myself down or others tearing me down emotionally, the more I want to use. That's why I'm saying just be honest so that, at the very least, you don't have to live with the secrecy and keep beating yourself up. It's important to try to move forward so that you can, eventually, stop taking it. As for your baby, from what my OB has told me, it would be best to make sure you find a doctor--not necessarily your OB because they can't prescribe subs I don't think-- in your area who deals with pregnancy and addiction. Try to find one that will prescribe you Subutex because that is better for the baby than the suboxone. Suboxone has the extra drug in it--naloxone--so it can be more harmful for the baby. If you do find a doctor who does prescribe Subutex to pregnant women, make sure you tell them how much Suboxone you were taking and be totally honest so that they can prescribe you the right dosage; tell him/her what your goal is as far as wanting to stop and make sure that the goal is something both you and the doctor know you can achieve. Setting a goal that is too unreasonable will only bring you down more thus causing more usage. Try, throughout the pregnancy, to get to as low of a dose as you can. Because you're not very far along, you can slowly taper your dose down--I've read that you can do a 10 day taper which means you decrease the dose by no more than 1 mg every 10 days so if you're taking 16 now then, in 10 days, go to 15, then in another 10 days down to 14; 10 days later go to 13 mgs, etc. I hope that some of what I've said is encouraging to you. I wish you the best with your pregnancy and I know you will do what you can to keep you and your baby safe--keep your head up. Don't beat yourself up over this. Addiction is a real problem but as long as you're committed to the recovery process then you can do the taper so that your baby is born on the least amount possible.

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