How To Get Off Suboxone Successfully - Step By Step (Page 5) (Top voted first)
UpdatedIf 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.
Re: AAJACK (# 345)
Meant to say be sure and get the GREEN Nyquils, not the orange.
Re: Higher power (# 350)
Are you serious?? Because prayer is a concept, and addiction, and the subsequent withdrawals are ACTUAL THINGS. Now, I'm not going to get into theological debate with you, since this is NOT the forum for it. But first, you assumed that person DIDN'T pray, which is a foolish assumption to make. Especially since this person said they are a Christian. And second,
you are assuming that simple prayer cures all ills. If there actually is a "god", don't you think he would want you to learn from your experiences? I mean, if all you had to do was "pray" and get everything you ask for, what would be the point of learning, of struggling, of ANY of it? Then we could do all the drugs we want, and when we were done, we could just pray to some supernatural being to take it all away. How would we learn to survive? To be strong? To be independent? I have Muslim friend who says he accepts the bad as well as the good that his "god" gives him. It can't just be the "good" all the time, as a result of prayer.
Sorry, but I just can't believe you actually wrote that.
Re: cheeps (# 352)
Amen to that, cheeps. I am taking my sweet time tapering off of Methadone. I make sure I am FULLY ADJUSTED to my new dose before tapering further. Heck, with Methadone and Bupe both, you don't even feel the full effects of the drop for a few days, since they are so long-acting.
This is one case where "slow and steady" definitely wins the race!
Re: kkh (# 353)
KK, we didn't get dependent overnight and it takes patience, education, and commitment to get off LAO's. I find online support in different places. I don't want to be bulls***ed....give me brutal honesty! This stuff sucks, especially if you are over 30 and have a long history of opiate use.
Sure...there are the lucky ones that don't have much in the way of prolonged wds or paws....but now that maintenance has been around for decades....more and more peeps are suffering.
It doesn't have to be extremely hard if you know what to expect and where to find help. Unfortunately, the drs don't know how to taper clients and they sure don't know where to send them on the net for help.
I've always liked your no nonsense posts...hang in there and beat methadone's ass.
Powerful Testimony. This has helped my husband a great deal. Continue to let God use you to be a blessing to many people and which may draw them closer to the Kingdom and Salvation.
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
Oh one more thing RF,, not to preach but if the smoking is making things worse maybe it's a great time to quit. I too was a smoker during my opiate addiction but find now they just don't taste as good....I will try to take a puff or 2 each day because i'm supposed to be a smoker then realize why am I putting this poison in my body but not being hard on my self about it....one vice at a time ...one day at a time :-)
Thanks Kris , will try that. I started taking a Bootcamp workout class that seems to be helping get all the crap out of my body. Try the sleep aid I mentioned above. U can get it at health food or vitamin stores.
Do u think I should cut this .25 in half and keep taking for another week before I jump or go to .25 every other day, or just jump off?
RF, I think that you should wait until your family get together is over and then Jump off , provided that you don't have any other commitments for a week. I recommend that you give yourself some time before you plan too much socially. If there is one thing that will make person relaps it is too much social events and family stuff. I would do nothing socially for a week and then ease in very slow as you feel comfortable. :) Wow, I just sounded like a doctor didn't I. How funny is that!!
Thanks for the recommendation on the sleeping medicine Kris, looking forward to checking it out. I'll let you know what I think.
RF, You said something about smoking. I hear you on that. I am a chewer by sport, did it for years. Used to like it by itself even without drug, however, I found nicotine to be a great combo drug back when I wanted to alter my mind. That said, I wanted to say this to you... THIS IS THE BEST TIME TO QUIT SMOKING, BEFORE YOU GET HOOKED ON CIGARETTES AGAIN BY THEMSELVES. BELIEVE ME YOU CAN RE-HOOK YOURSELF. I quit chewing about 1 months off Suboxone and going on now 6 months I have had one chew relaps. Praise be to God there!!
Thanks for keeping me on the right track.
God Bless and don't hesitate ask more questions. I genuinely want to help. :) Humbled
Yes I agree with humbled get through this weekend and make the jump don't prolong the inevitable...we are here routing for you and here if you need any help or advice. Even though you may not feel like it for the first few days I found reading this post and others like it a huge help, it gave me the strength to get through the worse. God bless you....ill be praying for you! Let us know how it goes.
You guys are awesome. I feel bad that I haven't replied sooner, I just didn't check back till now. Thanks for the support. I tried to jump off today and was good till midday , but I fell into guests coming over and having to buy a car so I cut the .25 in half Barely a small dot and took it. I have been good on and off and think that small sliver mentally helped more than anything . Tomorrow I will try again to jump.
Hey Scott,
You can do it! This group of people have been really helpful to me, I've been off of strips since October 23rd and feel great now, it was a tough road (not as bad as I thought though) but you have to really want it. I'm not sure if this site let's you exchange emails but if so I would gladly like to help.
Hey guys, I've been suboxone free since11/20/13 . Thanks to all the support on this site. I wanted to ask if anyone else has gone through the following:
Couple of weeks after I stopped and till now I have been feeling extreme fatigue off and on. My system gets run down real easily . A little cold, wind, whatnot and I get chills and them my system shuts down for a day or two. My question is does this have anything to do with suboxone and if so , when will this go away?? Looking forward to your inputs.
Thanks guys
I had extremely low energy for about 7 or 8 Weeks....but unable to sleep, i'm feeling fine now....although I still yawn a lot. Try exercising even if its just walking. Congrats on your jump off....I'm proud of you! Keep it up!
How Long Were You On The Soboxone ? I Have Been On For 9 Years. And I'mTrying To OFf Of It. I Am A Reborn Christian. I No God Can Do All. Thanks For Your Post. And How Long You Were On It.
Curt and Emma,
Thanks for the encouragement Curt. Great points and great reminders. !!! Things are going great over here in the area of the original poster of this article.
Emma, you can do it . If you need, please reread the original post!!! I hope that it can help you press forward. There is another side to the addiction. God Bless you both. Keep me posted on how you are doing .
Hey I am a Christian trying to get off Subs. I'm a prayer warrior and I pray even when I dont want to. But I need your help. How can we talk on the phone? I work from home also and can't afford to lose clients. I have tried with supplements to get off Subs. Many times. Thinking about a seven day detox ....but before I go I want to try one more time. I have questions about supplements etc. Can u call me at {edited for privacy}. I really need face time encouragement so forum people please allow this personal information to go through. I'm desperate
Editor's note - We apologize, but in order to protect privacy, we do not allow individuals to post their personal contact information on our discussion threads (except in some very rare cases).
I need to tell you honestly that I don't read every forum message from here that comes into my e-mail! Just recently, I felt the Spirit of God nudging me to read it today. I know that yours is listed at the bottom and it's the first time I read that far down! When I clicked, I never imagined I would find encouragement that was straight from the heart of God. And then when you said "My sheep listen to my voice", that further confirmed that God was probably telling me to try one more time, going along with your advice - all of it...the supplements, the exercise, the hot baths/showers, the stretching, and anything else I can do to take my mind off of it temporarily speaking. I'm actually going to copy and paste your posting to Word and print it out to keep it by my side the whole way through because I believe that reading it over and over again (and I've already read it twice all the way through, and skimmed it 5 more times!) will keep me encouraged. You have no idea how much this means to me as a fellow sister in Christ (not sure if you are female or male actually now that I think about it) but you write so well so I figured that you must be a female (no offense to the introverted, melancholy males who are very skilled, intelligent, and artistic!)
Thank you so much, and I"m so glad I followed my intuition and read the forum yesterday.
Amino acids ate the best way to heal your brain. Did you know that GNC has an amino acid sports mix with the best amino acids for a recovering suboxone addict? Its a watermelon or fruit punch ( best flavors) mix you add with water in one of those containers. It's called Cellucor Alpha Amino. It's $53 for members and $60 for non members. Expensive but so worth a shot. No caffeine! This is that stuff they use with NTR detox in the IVs. That route is very expensive about ten grand if you don't have the insurance they accept...and they only accept a very small few of plans. It includes the phenylalanine she talks about in original posting and l tyrosine and other great amino acids. If you have trouble eating this is also very helpful. Use glucerna or other drinks from store that have vitamins if you have trouble stomaching pill form vitamins too.
Robyn, I am so thankful to have read your response. The thing you mentioned about printing the original post out let me know that you are serious about this. I love you attitude about this and that you know that God will help you. Funny point I want to share with you.. I am a male, but I work out of my home and I rarely see my clients, in fact, only about 3% have I really ever met in person. Due to my real name, which the website won't let me share, I don't think anyways, I can't tell you, but anyways to finish the longest incorrect and runon sentence... My real name could go either way Male or Female. To make a long story a little shorter anyways, I ALWAYS have my clients think that I am a female. Must be my softer side that God have blessed me with. My wife says that I am just a kind person and not a real high testosterony guy. Lol.
Anyways, I like your heart, and I have hope for you and now I am praying for you so I will be asking for much grace, mercy and love from God who listens to me simply because I am a PEST!!!! I bug Him about some things alot.
Good news to share with you in my recovery: I just found out that my wife is pregnant after 5 years of waiting. God knows what He is doing because thank God he waited this long. I feel very ready for a child now.
Thanks for the Amino info. Other people can read it and I hope they do because it sounds like a great find.
Thank you also for following God's leading and reading the original post. I am a busy guy in life with my business and family life, but I took out some time because I care about people like you and want more than anything to hear your story and success as God leads. Brings tears to my eyes when I read your post. Keep me posted on your process. Perfection is not it, but getting back up and dusting yourself off seems to be a better expectation in this life. Amen. Have a great weekend. I know it is tough, but know that you have one in your corner going to God and pleading for favor from Him.
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