How To Get Off Suboxone Successfully - Step By Step (Page 5)

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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God didn't get you addicted to opiates, you did. And You are the only one who is going to change that, if praying to God, Zoltan the Great, Zeus or whoever you choose and it helps fine. But you and you alone are responsible for your actions and behaviors. You hold the power

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I'm very sorry that you feel that way. :( Makes me sad for you. I know that my sin nature and my poor choices to run away from God got me addicted. But it is Jesus whom pulled me out!! Understand that there is a God and He came in the form of Jesus Christ. If you cannot accept that then I'm sorry to say that you are heading the wrong direction and whether you like it or not you will be judged at the end of this life. I do feel for whatever has mislead you, but God is a Holy God and Heaven does not consist of people whom rejected His offer. You choose which way you will follow. PS. there is no second choice once you leave this life. I hate to fire and brim stone but you obviously are rebelling against the truth. If you got on this site because you are addicted to anything then the proof is in the pudding. I still have not gone back to that old nasty life that I once lived. And I attribute that to God!!! And no there is not other God that helped me, nor could have.

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Thanks for your post. It really motivated me .I'm going to start tomorrow we ining. Hope you post back to keep checking on me and keep me going. God bless brother

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You go for it. I'll be praying for you over the next couple weeks. Please keep me posted on your progress and remember that there is another side and it is way way better. God Bless you too brother.

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Hey humbled how's everything going? Baby come yet?

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Funny you should ask. Sunday we had a 7 lb. 2 oz baby girl. Cute as a button. Still sober and loving life on the other side. God has been good. How is yourself? Hope you are doing good Kris.
:)

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Congrats that's great news, you'll love it...the next 2 years are the funniest. I'm doing real good made some big changes in my life some of which cause many of me past problems, still staying strong and loving life.

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This was a very nice post. Very well written and almost perfect punctuation, speaking and grammar. I appreciate that kinda stuff. I'll read on and on if the post seems educated. I recorded some help and insight from you. Thank you. I really like the Romans post you wrote. I believe it was 12:2. Even though I am not a religious person that scripture really hit me like a rock and made me think about God seriously for the first time in a long time.

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Hi Shane, I'm glad that my post could help you. I'm very happy that your heart was open enough to get the message from the Scripture in Romans 12:2. I pray that the renewing of both our minds will continue on and that long term change will take place in our lives. It seems to be a constant work going on inside of us. Some parts are touch and some are victorious. May God be with us through the good and the tough times. Thanks for the reply.

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I have decided from these posts to finally take the jump. My biggest fears are the sleeplessness because I am hyperactive and never been able to sleep. They have me on Xanax and that does not help either but I'm tired of feeling lost in my own body . I no longer know who I am and feel like I'm pushing it off out of my fears! It is time and this forum helped me see that! Thank you all for sharing your stories

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Hello Kris11, how are you doing? Have you made the jump yet? What mg are you jumping from? I'm currently on day 46 sober since I made the jump from subs after 3 years so if you need any insight, support or have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. It's a great decision to break free from the chains of meds! I hope you're doing well and wish you luck! It's a scary/sucky thing to go through but you sound like you have the right attitude and though it seems impossible at times it can be done!

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Hi!
A couple years back I had to have an unexpected surgery. I was given a prescription on perc's after my surgery for pain. I never felt so good and I remember saying to my brother when he came to visit and see how I was doing, that I never felt so good after having surgery! He explained to me it was the pills. After my medicine was done, I found myself wanting a pill, no big deal, or so I thought. before I knew it, I was planning everyday how to get ahold of pills, and feel "normal" because I got to the point I was no sick (withdrawing) if I didn't have the pills in y system. After almost 2 years I realized I had a problem, Admitting everything to my husband of now 11years, I have 3 small boys and I knew I couldn't keep living this way because of them. I got help. BUT I never knew how dangerous Sub was! I never knew How getting off of these would be a whole nother battle in itself! I am seeking help now. But I am afraid. I talked to a doc who will take me as a paitent and help me to get off of the medicine. But it does require a lot of my spare time with meetings and cousiling! Sounds silly to not take this opportunity right? My husband supports me, but he doesn't understand how this works, and he thinks I can do this myself and he doesn't agree to the meetings and the cousiling! So I am afraid it will separate us. I don't know what to do, I know I canot afford my visits anymore, $260.00 a month! and its killing us! any advice??

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I have been reading everyones responses on here and I have to say I have never been more encouraged! :) I have never seen so many people willing and admitting that they are turning to the Lord for help! I agree 100% We need God to help us, we need to swallow our pride and ask him to lend his hand through this detox stage we all have found ourselves in. I was planning on going through my Doc for my detox. I still am unsure what I am to do. On my own or the 20 week detox program? The doc I am currently seeing who prescribed me the Sub Strips wont even talk to me about detox. He wants me on 3 a day still! I do not do 3 a day and I haven't in months. I have a lot of extra, so if I did decide to wean myself off I would have more than enough! I am scared out of my mind though, I have 3 boys that need me, I cant lay in bed, or have days that I am extremely tired. I cant take a break from my life to do this, I have heard success stories and I pray that someday soon I will be able to write all of you about my success! I cried this morning, and broke down to God. I cant keep living this way. When I went for help from pain killers, I thought this was a blessing, I thought this was the help, I didn't realize the biggest battle was yet to come, I didn't realize this would be even harder than the pills, I never seen this coming I thought this was my recovery and it was not! I think the doctors should tell you this before giving you the meds! My doc is not nice, at all, and he is very racist! He always tells me to suck it up, be happy that I am white because he is black man with no privileges! I am not racist and I do not see color of skin that makes a person, and I don't like that he sees me this way. He wants me on the subs longer, and literally yells at me when I bring it up about weaning me off. Which is why I am choosing to leave this doc. Prayers for me and my family as I begin this journey to freedom from drugs.

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I'm praying for you Bran. Hang in there... it gets better . I know that you did the right thing in turning to God. Keep us posted as He orchestrates the carrying out of your desire to get off opiates. God Bless you,

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Bran,
I think it is so ridiculous docs putting you on that much....it's all about money. Good luck with your detox....its tough but so worth it...you will cry at how normal you feel and be able to enjoy life with your boss like you've never imagined...God bless you, you'll be in our prayers!!!!

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I so wish I was where you are, I;m on a 2/8 piece and having so many problems. I'm so afraid to jump off. My doctor gave me clonodine but I don't think it's helping much. I have next week on the 1/8 piece, then I'm going to jump. I'm really scared. I just pray God will be there with me, I don't want to be alone.
I will let you know what's going on.
Thanks for all that hellpful information.
God Bless You.

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You can do it!!

Sorry Bran that was supposed to be boys not boss lol

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Suboxone is a walk in the park in terms of withdrawal. Try coming off of over a 100mg of methadone and you'll see that suboxone wothdrawal is a piece of cake. I was taking 16mg/day, immediately dropped to 4mg without feeling any withdrawal and now i havent taken any in 3-4 days and feel fine. Its all mental, your brain makes you feel the majority of withdrawals cause you freak out about not taking anything. Be thankful you didnt have to go thru real withdrawal from methdone with last for 3-5months. Like one of the people said, work out, keep yourself busy and active and stay positive. Its far easier getting off subs than most of you think, in fact its a walk in the park compared to other alternatives. Heres to healthy, sober living, and good luck to all of you staying clean.

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Kris, at first I was like boss? I thought maybe I mistyped in mine! haha its all good. Thank you so much for your kind words, all of you really, I wasn't expecting anyone to really read my post and care, :) but yall did :) I want to tell you, I have been doing only a piece of my strip in the morning, I did find myself needing another lil piece in the evening. I do believe a lot is in your head, when I got on here and started to research all this, that day I literally felt sick, I was still on the subs! finally it hit me, Why am I sick? I went up stairs to awake the boys for school, as they were getting around and I was cooking breakfast I started to pray. I told God the worse is in my head and I see that now and I asked him to please take the fears away, and the thoughts. Before I knew it was time for the boys to get home from school, and I was fine!! Now I know it sounds silly because I am still on sub, but my point is, I see what my own mind can do to me, and I also see how God is and will be there for me when the time comes. I will be completely off sub in the next 3 weeks. A lot of people say its to fast, but I don't have a choice. this is all I have left, and I will not resort to buying them or going back to my doc. This has to be it for me. Thank you everyone you guys are great to talk to. :)

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Hello Bran, how are you doing? I've read your post and can't agree more about how important a positive mind frame is. I stopped using subs in September and I can say without a doubt that the WDs seemed to be at their worst when I was sitting at home dwelling on the fact that I was in withdrawal, but on the days that I was busy with my kids or running errands and staying active they were actually tolerable. Be prepared for the bad days because they do come, but so do the good days and expecting to feel bad will make it worse than it actually is. I think we all tend to exaggerate how bad WDs are to ourselves when going through them. Staying positive and active is a HUGE difference. I actually quit subs cold turkey once a few years ago and didnt have any withdrawal because I didn't think it was even a drug that I could withdrawal from. I just stopped taking them and went about my life as normal. The next time I quit was after reading all of the horrifying stories about it and I felt terrible until I changed my thought process. It can be done! Good luck and I hope all goes well! It takes time but its soooo worth it in the end!

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