How To Get Off Suboxone Successfully - Step By Step (Page 19)
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If you are struggling with getting off Suboxone successfully, you may want to take the time to read this. I have read a ton of hype about Suboxone being impossible to get off. How the withdrawal symptoms carry on for days, even months. Below, I would like to encourage you and let you know that it can be done. I AM LIVING PROOF YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH THIS FEAT!!! I have been free of Suboxone and all other drugs and alcohol for 3 months and I have never felt better in my life!!!

THE WAY THAT SUCCESS HAPPENED FOR ME AND CAN HAPPEN FOR YOU:

For months I read Suboxone blog sites in the effort to gather some element of hope that would encourage me to make the “jump” to get off my final 1/8 tab (1mg) of Suboxone. At the point I started reading these blog sites, I had come down from 2.5- 8 mg (total 20 mg) tablets of Suboxone. It was fairly easy to get down to 1/8 tab (1 mg). Don't get me wrong, I had moments of mood swings and depression that would fool me because of the way that the mood swings would creep up on me. I felt bipolar during the final ½ tablet to ¼ tablet and finally to 1/8th tablet before I “Jumped off”: The good news is that earlier dose decreases do not affect you as much as you would think. I went from 2.5 tablets to 2.0 tables per day in one week. I didn't even notice any withdrawal. Then, in just two weeks I had the courage to go down to 1.5 tablets per day…. Still, only slight mood swings. Then, I went down to 1 tablet per day a week later. Then 3 weeks later I went down to ½ tablet per day. Again, at this point only mild mood swings that I could deal with because I was expecting much worse. NOTE: I ALWAYS DIVIDED THE DOSES TO AM / PM DOSES.. IT HELPED.

THE BEGINNING OF THE CHALLENGING PART:

Going from ½ to ¼ tablet per day it started to get a little tougher for the first week in terms of mood swings and a tricky onset of depression. Expect bipolar behavior. Tell your family and whoever is in your life if you can. Let them know that they can pray for you if you or they are believers in God. If you don't believe in God, don't stop reading this posting.. I will get to the Spiritual side of things later in this posting. For now, it is my heart and hope that you will read this method of getting off Suboxone. No punches held though, I will be up front with you, I am personally a believer in the one true God- Jesus Christ. He is the One who encouraged me to get on this website and help you with encouragement, hope and truth about what to expect on this tough, but wonderful journey of getting off Suboxone. The choice to believe in God is yours, but I will say that the prayers of my dad and wife were powerful and effective. There was times when I simply could not pray for myself because I didn't feel sane enough to even pray at times, though I still gave it my best. I brought up the prayers right now for you because the bible tells us in Psalm 145:18-19 "The Lord is near to all who call on Him; all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him. He hears their cry and He saves them". That said, let's begin the final jump shall we.

THE FINAL JUMP FROM 1/8 TABLET:

NOTE REGARDING SUPPLEMENTS: I wish that BEFORE I jumped off at 1/8 tablet, I would have used these endorphin boosting supplements. They can be found at just about any health food store. DLPA 1000 mg twice per day, GABA 500 Mg twice per day, Reloria two capsules twice per day, and 5HTP two capsules per day. I would have been better off to have started these supplements a couple of weeks prior to my final jump, but I strongly believe that they helped the process probably more that I could imagine. I am still on these supplements, now some 3 months off Suboxone. (I am not a doctor, nor am I acting in the role of a doctor, so as always please consult a physician prior to starting these supplements)

When I was on 1/8 tablet for 2 weeks I tried to completely stop taking Suboxone and had such a bad first night that it scared me into staying on 1/8 tablet per day, taken in the morning, for 2 months. The problem now lay in the fact that I was going through withdrawal in the middle of the day and a few times I even chose to drink alcohol in the afternoon. I didn't connect that the withdrawal was actually causing my fiending for drugs and alcohol. Those two months were not good times for me. When I finally came to the conclusion that I might be better off just getting off Suboxone completely, it was time to plan. I work for myself and I could hardly afford to take the time off work for fear that I might lose all my clients. I wasn't sure how long it would take to get off Suboxone and get back to a working state of mind? Drum roll please…. Here is how long it takes to start feeling better….

IT TAKES 6 DAYS BEFORE YOU START FEELING BETTER THAN YOU EVER IMAGINED!!! DO NOT LISTEN TO ANY LIE!!!

What You Can Expect:

Day 1: This morning skipped my morning, and only dose of Suboxone. I worked out pretty hard lifting stretching and lifting light, high repetition weights. Don't forget to push yourself to work out even if you don't feel like it. It is hugely important! That night I took two Benedryl and it didn't work like I hoped it would. I was so miserable, achy body, cramping in my calves, a "drive a person crazy" kind of feeling. At this point I had gotten 2 mg tablets from the Dr. because I told her I needed to be able to cut them down while I weaned myself off of them. So I cut a 2 mg film tablet into ¼ which is .5 mg of Suboxone. In summary, I chickened out the first night. I did sleep after that for about 5 hours. For those of you who still have the 8 mg. tablets, this means that you would have to split one up into 1/16 which is pretty hard to do, but possible if you have good eyes and you don't cheat and take the bigger portion. :)

Day 2: The .5 mg from the night prior made this morning like a fairly normal morning. So I stretch for a long time and then worked out hard. After work out, I felt even better, but by afternoon the withdrawal set in again. Felt like I drank all kinds of coffee but I didn't . I was agitated and twitchy, making my mind and physical body feel terrible. To combat it, I stayed very busy all day with cleaning and yard work in the effort to keep my mind and body occupied. I couldn't focus on God yet…. My mind was too messed up. Yes, a person's mind can be too messed up to “feel” God, but trust me He was there with me. Hind sight I see that He was with me every step of the way. I just couldn't believe that He would let me go through such agony, but He is a God who loved me enough to let me feel the pain enough so that I would remember it. This way I would not go back!! Night came and I became scared that I would give in again, but instead about two hours before bed I took another couple Benedryl and this time it worked a little I slept about 4 hours and was miserable the rest. I recommend taking lots of warm baths or showers when you can't sleep, instead of just lying there.

Day 3: Day 3 and Day 4 are the worst. The greatest advantage you have though is that you are starting to get used to the twitchy, feeling like you are crawling out of your skin feeling. Go ahead and stretch your calves as frequently as you can. Flex them as often as possible. I heard from one doctor that it helps work the withdrawal out of your body. I did manage to get out in the yard and work on Day 3. I waited until I felt my best, then took advantage of the moment and went out and "spazzed out" on yard work as much as I could handle it. I even broke a sweat which lifted me up considerably. I took a couple of Benadryl before I went to bed, but only slept a total of about 2 hours the whole night. I couldn't focus enough to read, nor pray, nor watch a movie. None of that was going to happen, so I would either jump in the bath or shower or even find something to do I could tell that sleep was not an option. The first part of the morning on Day 4 is among the greatest challenges I have ever faced. Glad I did not have much planned, because Day 4 morning was the worst of the whole experience.

Day 4: Morning was awful because I was up the night before almost the whole night. That lack of sleep will mess with your head and try to get you to go back. On this day the middle of the day gave me a few very small ½ glimpses of hope. I felt my first surge of my own endorphins come back. Only a couple ½ hour spurts, but hey it gave me hope to NOT turn back. I figured I went this far, I might as well finish this.!! I thought I was going to sleep well this night, but it didn't happen…. Only 4 hours combined , but hey that was progress from the night before. Remember, baby steps. Celebrate the small victories. Relish them! Stay tuned and hang in there because the reward came to me in Day 5!!

Day 5: I worked out first thing in the morning. I pushed myself to do it. I started with a stretch routine. Then I felt like working out. So, try stretching first, then consider working out. I have in my notes 50/50 written down. This means that half the day I felt bad and half the day actually felt good. Did you hear that?…. I felt good. …. That is right … you can get past this. For half of Day 5 I felt better than I ever felt on Suboxone. It was natural and it was the way that God designed me to feel. My own endorphins made their first appearance and they showed up in fine fashion. The bad parts of this day caused me to want to take a nap, so if you have the liberty to do so, then by all means, indulge in that nap. Nap , nap , nap. Because if you answer the call to the mid day naps you will wake up feeling better each time. Don't worry about the extreme tiredness on day 5 and 6, just become a temporary nap person. Listen to you body and what it wants. God is trying to let you know what you need.

Day 6: Congratulations!! You have made it to the other side. I may have had 2 hours of bad feelings today , but the rest was AWESOME. I was productive, back to work, working out hard etc.

Day 7 and 8:

I am putting day 7 and 8 on here because I did hit some tired spells and down times but only a couple hours each day total. I encourage you to nap when you feel like napping. Also be encourage that it only gets better and better from here on out.

Why I Got Off Suboxone:

Everyone will have their reasons for getting off Suboxone. I can only share with you what my reasons were. If you have read this far then you must be pretty determined for your own reasons.

I started feeling like I was feinding for other drugs when I was on two " 8 mg tablets per day, so I asked my Dr. to increase the dose to 2.5 tablets per day. Two months later I started feinding for other drugs or alcohol again. So I asked my Dr. to up the dose to 3.0 tablets per day. Two months later I started feinding for other drugs, chew, alcohol etc. Are you starting to get the picture? This may not be the case for everyone, but it seemed to be the case for me. The whole purpose of Suboxone in the first place was to decrease these cravings and for a time, Suboxone was effective. It gave me enough time to get it through my head that I didn't want to be a heroin or pill addict anymore and that I wanted to get my life together.

Another reason that I decided to get off Suboxone was that I was also curious if it would feel better to just be on nothing? (Except the supplements that I mentioned above) The outcome that I came to is that I feel way better than I ever have in terms of physical, mental, and Spiritual well being.

THE TESTIMONY:

If you have read this far you may as well keep reading because the best part is yet to come. Remember, I am of the opinion that it was my faith in God that led me down this long and intricate road that I just described above called, "How To Get Off Suboxone " Successfully". God worked in ways that I never would have dreamed. I could have strategized all month long and never came up with the plan, method, or the outcome that God came up with. The Bible says in the book of Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways my ways", says the Lord.

You may not believe in God, or maybe you do, or maybe you know God, but stopped believing. If you are one who is running away or does not believe in God, know this, drugs and alcohol can certainly fog your view of God. It is my opinion that first you must get clean and sober then you have a better chance of making an informed decision as to God's authenticity.

Whether you believe in God or not, you will one day face Him. Either he will be welcoming, or judging you. I have chosen to give Him my life and submit to everything that is written in the Bible. I accept it as truth. The bible says that the Word of God is Living and Active. It also says that every word within it is inspired NOT by man, but by God. I have chosen to believe this and it has changed the way I think. Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

If this part of my testimony and experience sounds too Churchy to you, then at least do yourself a favor, … Ask God to help this "Christian talk" make sense to you. Seriously, have you even told Him that the "Churchy Stuff" makes NO sense to you? Have you even told Him that? Have you bothered to share that with Him? Do you know that He cares and wants to hear that come from your mouth? He wants to hear you humbly express to God that you don't know. Have you opened yourself up to the fact that if you open yourself up to Him that He will begin to show you the "mysteries" of His Word like you never imagined possible? 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land."

If you have read this far then, then I believe that the Spirit of God is calling you…. Listen to it!!! Jesus states that "My sheep hear my voice"

The place where you are if you are reading this is not a comfortable place. I have been right where you are. With all sincerity, I want you to get to where I am. True Joy is in my heart every day that I awake. There is a peace that surpasses all understanding that guides me now. I strongly encourage you to seek God first, because I want to see the peace of God enter your heart and mind.

RELAPSE PREVENTION:

For me, I have found that devoting myself to praying and studying my Bible and reflecting on what God has done and what He promises has been life changing. The Bible says, "Who is going harm you if you are eager to do good" 1 Peter 3:13, It also says, "a prudent man foresees evil and hides himself" Proverbs 27:12

I have a half hour to 45 minutes carved out each morning to spend reading my bible, praying much thanks and reflecting on what the bible is saying. I also listen to J. Vernon McGee on Through The Bible .org the web address is ttb.org. You can't claim to not understand the Bible, because this website WITH AUDIO walks you through the Bible verse by verse in an exciting way. And it is FREE!! If you don't believe the Bible at this point, try listening to the Dr. J. Vernon McGee's audios. There is a new one posted every day. Or check out the archives.

CONCLUSION:

I do hope that you put some thought into all of this. If you can't think straight right now because you have already started your final descent off Suboxone, then wait until you feel good enough to really absorb what I just shared with you through the "Testimony" section of this posting. I am not trying to sell you on anything… I simply care for you because that is what God has put on my heart. I have been through what you are going through and I want to encourage you. I would like to leave you with this scripture:

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

May God Richly Bless Your Life.

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Hi humbled
How long has it been for you? Day 17 & still going strong, sleep is the hardest part still but other than that things are getting better. God bless!

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Hello Chief and all you who are in the act of bravery. Good for you all. Chief I hope that this still finds you Suboxone and Opiate Free. I have continued to remain Suboxone Free and Opiate Free. It can be done, ,.... it is being done and life is still good. God continues to work in my life in areas I would have never opened up to Him, had I been tied down with drugs. I'm still a work in progress and will be my whole earthly life, but praise God that I have not had the nerve to go back down the Opiate Road. May God Richly bless you all in your battle. I'll be praying for you all. Thanks, for the responses and support.

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@succses story - your post made me cry. Praise God! I'm going thru what you went thru and you lifted me up with your message. Thank you!

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Day 3 going on day 4 tonight....I feel shaky but not too bad trying to sleep at night is the hardest part, thanks Chief I will keep you updated.

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U have enspired me I have read your story several times for insperation unforanaly I found your story too late I came down very rapidly from 4mg a day four 4 months then all I could find was three 8 milligram strips4 days 2.5 milligrams 8 days 1 mg a day its been 10 days thought itll do im strong been very hard I am a Christian an a firm belever but I have been away on a 16 year opeite addiction a sercher iv had two serious injuries in my lifebut the addiction is the worst I no it is a disease I've been trying for years to quitbut have never succeeded suboxone has workedbut it has left me depressed and bipolar and very angrybut I think its getting betterand better everyday but its going to be a long oneI've tried the horrible things you have mentioned before they didn't work for mebut I might try just the GABA and DLPA thank the Lord for friends who understand but have never dealt with it they don't know what to do can't afford to go to the doctors thay just whant to lock u up here where I liveI am very determined to do thisI'm not going to fail this time do you have any advice please let me know I do not have an email address I have a phone number you can text me if you like thank you for the inspiration {edited for privacy}

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Kris, I wish you the best of luck and really hope to hear a successful story from you. I was on 3 strips (24mg) per day for 1.5 years and after I read this detailed account of the day to day process of getting off of Suboxone, I was really inspired to finally do what I've been wishing I could do for months. I am currently 4 weeks Suboxone free and I can say that it is one of the best feelings I've felt since I started Suboxone, the excitement, adrenaline and endorphins flowing through you is a high that you could never, ever imagine to get from Suboxone. It seriously feels like I'm on pills that make me happy everyday, wake up refreshed, positive outlook on everything, and making my body feel like it's on ecstasy or something, but it's crazy that that's how our body naturally feels. You will feel 100% better off of Suboxone than you could with any amount of those horrible strips. I can say that the day by day breakdown of how you will probably feel is pretty much 100% correct. The only difference is I started feeling more energetic about 2 days sooner than he did, I'm not sure if it was from the supplements that he recommended but I started the supplements a few weeks before I actually stopped and he didn't start them until he had already stopped. THEY DO HELP YOU FEEL BETTER A LOT SOONER! I've gone through Suboxone withdrawals a few times and I wouldn't of been able to do it without the supplements, you can find them at a health food store, GNC, and some large chain retail pharmacies. Also, I tried stopping from half a strip but the WD's were still to much for me, I went to my doctor and had him write me a script for a few of the Suboxone 2mg's and If I absolutely needed to relieve the anxiety and sleeplessness I would cut the strip in to 6 small pieces and just take one tiny piece which was about 0.3mg per tiny piece and I did that for a week and a half, but only taking the tiny piece if I absolutely needed it and after that 1.5 week my body's dependence was lowered to only 0.3mg every other day rather than 4mg's daily, so it was A LOT easier to become completely clean by lowering down to the 2mg's and cutting the strip into smaller pieces. Again, I truly wish you the best of luck and hope you can make the transition successfully, I highly recommend following the advice that he posted for everyone as it was very helpful and crucial, also the supplements are a big factor, you'd never believe that supplements could make you feel a lot better by easing the withdrawals but they honestly help like you'd never imagine. Good luck Kris, you have 2 people here who have done it so it's possible to feel normal again, it may feel like a year has passed but when you feel your own body produce it's natural endorphins you'll have an epiphany and your out-look on the world will change for the better. You can positively do it, it may get hard at times but it's so totally worth the outcome. Good luck man, keep us updated on your progress or success if you feel like it, I would love to hear another success story.

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This has truly given me strength to do what I have to do to get off of subs. I haven't taken anything since weds night so not sure if this is day2 or day3 for me but last night was really hard to sleep. I have never been a heavy user of them taking only at most in a day a half of a strip so i'm hoping things get easier faster rather then longer. I have been on then for 2 years though. I'm sick of the dependency....I want to be normal again. I read your whole testimony however and will turn to God for help. Thanks again

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I want to thank you for you reply to my post. It is my hope and now my prayers that you will be successful at getting back to your own endorphins and your own frame of mind. I cannot tell you just how worth the battle it has been. Life has been great for me STILL.
I wanted to let you know one more tip that I thought of. You feet might get cold alot after that final descent. My recommendation is to use a heating pad for your feet. I have heard that it warms your blood also which for me seems to combat the isolated chills that can be annoying during, and shortly after you are free.
The heating pad somehow took away some of the withdrawel effects. Also, put a jacket on when you are cold and take your jacket off when you are hot. Sounds so simple it almost seems stupid saying that, but temperature control will be your friend in this process!!! To keep you body temperature at a comfortable level helped me alleviate some of the withdrawel symptoms. You will be putting up with enough withdrawels let alone have to deal with body temperature issue. So pamper yourself in terms of temperature control. I found it very helpful.
I will keep giving you additional keys to my success as I think of them. Feel free to ask me any questions or voice any concerns you may have along the way.
As I said in my last post, I don't want anyone to go through this process only to fail. I want you to get to the other side. It is so much better here. Keep up the good work and don't be afraid. It ended up great for me and I am under the belief that it can also end up great for you. May God be with you ,

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Congratulations on your sobriety and thank you for posting this highly detailed account of your successful story. I started out on 3 strips (24mg) per day about a year and a half ago and recently decided to get off these because like yourself, I wanted to know how it felt to be normal again and not have to depend on a chemical to be able to get out of bed. When I was taking the 3 strips a day there were multiple occasions when I ran out of them 4-5 days early and had to go through the withdrawals of 24mg. Withdrawing from 24mg is the most horrific and terrifying feeling I have ever felt in my entire life, I would not wish that misery on my worst enemy and I feel extremely bad for anyone else who has to go through that. After this happening multiple times I decided it was time to get off Suboxone, but I was scared of what was to come and from what I had read online. I've heard people say it takes months for the withdrawals to subside even if you taper down slowly and a lot of other horror stories. I started by cutting down to 2.5 strips/day for 10 days with no problem, I then cut down to 2 strips/day for 14 days with no problem, 7 days ago I cut down to 1.5 strips/day and plan to cut down to 1 strip/day in 7 more days. I am not feeling any withdrawals on 1.5/day, I take 1 in the morning and a half in the evening. I work out as hard as I can each day and take vitamins daily, but I was still getting nervous/anxious about what was coming up when I got to the end of the road. I am not a religious person or a believer of any God, but I am extremely thankful that I found this post as it gave me a huge shot of inspiration, hope and eagerness to fight for my life and take these final steps to freedom. Your post has really given me an extremely positive outlook on the next few weeks, your story has freed my mind of fear and anxiety about what's to come and replaced it with excitement and a will to win this battle without looking back. It's good to know what supplements really do help and I will start the supplements before I taper down again next week. Again, I thank you for posting your story in such detail as it will serve as an extremely useful tool in the lives of a lot of people who are also struggling to win their battle with Suboxone. Your post has changed my outlook on the next few weeks. I can't wait to be free and feel normal again, I am very excited to feel my own endorphins and my own feelings in general. Thank you for your post and congratulations with your success, I hope you stay successful and I wish you the best of luck in life as you have made a positive change in mine.

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