How To Get Off Suboxone Successfully - Step By Step (Page 6)
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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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LIZ: It's possible. But I don't know....the "stop being a baby" part makes me think it is just someone talking S***, you know? I mean, any real opioid addict knows how difficult it is to come off of this stuff, so they wouldn't be on here calling other suffering addicts "babies". My guess? Just the MedsChat version of a YouTube-type TROLL.

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Kkh, I've been thinking about that girl that said she had no withdrawals except for a runny nose and watering eyes. She said she went a week without subs, then had surgery. Do you think when she had her surgery she was given pain meds. and that helped her cause if she went back on pain meds. that's like having the subs in your system. I don't know if you understand what I'm saying, but subs have some of the same stuff that pain meds do, maybe she just got on pain meds and she didn't go threw withdrawal. Well, that's my theory, I know it took about 2-5 days for the really bad stuff to start and she said it was a week, so maybe she didn't get into the bad stuff. I'm just glad I'm done, and anyone that says they didn't have withdrawals is dreaming, seriously.

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I got down to like 0.5mg after being on subs for 5 years. I mean like slivers and my withdrawl lasted a good 12 days for the real bad physical part. And up to 3 months to get sleep and runny nose and sneezing gone. But after a month music and company of others felt amazing! It's like I thought I was laughing before but now it's amazing how much I feel! So this August I'll be off subs one year! I'm so proud of myself! Hope others can stay strong and find support in friends and family as well as these doctors who put us on subs need to help us get off! I'm lucky had 2 doctors at my clinic that gave nothing but support! The one doctor just wanted money. But I was glad for the two doctors to help me get off and prescribed that right meds to help get off. Apparently I was 1 out maybe 5 people who have gotten off subs from their clinic. So I've been in touch to this day telling them my side effects and how long it took. Everyone's body is different! But at least it may help someone else.

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KRISTO: Yes, yes it is. Except of course for this JEN person, who apparently just STOPPED! No PROBLEM! First opioid addict in history to just say "ok I'm done" and go through NO WITHDRAWAL!! Hahahaha, I flippin WISH!

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Oh my bad. Yea that's far fetched as they come. Well I hope we all stay clean!! It's tough .

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KRISTO: No, I wasn't saying you were talking smack, not at all. I was saying the person with this "32mgs to zero with no withdrawal" was talking smack.

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I wasnt talking smack, just giving her the benefit of the doubt. But yea i was only on 4mgs a day, and my withdrawal was the worse thing I've ever been through...took 30 days to feel anything resembling normal.

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KRISTO: Yeah, like a couple of days? Sorry, still calling BS on that one. I have been an opioid addict for more than 30 years. I have been on Subutex and Methadone. I went through AGONY trying to get off of those Subs, and ended up back on tablet Methadone. So jumping from 32 mgs, the highest dose you can get, to zero with no real withdrawal symptoms? Nope. Didn't happen. People on here just to talk smack should GO AWAY.

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kkh, I have to agree with you on that post, there is no way she could of done that.
I tapered down from 2 strips a day to 1/8 of a strip a day, then jumped. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I told my son I'd rather give birth to 3 more children than go through that again. She could not have just had a runny nose and watery eyes. Impossible. It's a hard journey, but totally worth it. God Bless You.

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Maybe if she wasn't on them too long.

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JENSALGADO: Sorry, but I'm calling complete and total BS on that. You were on 32 mgs. of suboxone, which is the absolute highest dose, and you just quit cold turkey with no real withdrawal symptoms. BS. Sorry. NO YOU DIDN'T. Please take your lies and your condescension somewhere else. It is NOT needed here.

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I quit taking Suboxone 1 week before surgery without any withdrawal symptoms besides a running nose and runny eyes so stop being a baby and try it.

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I've stopped suboxone for several surgeries successfully. From 32mg. A day to nothing for one week prior to surgery. Without any problems besides watering eyes and a runny nose. So stop being a baby and just try it....

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SUCCESS STORY: My only critique of your post is the "god" stuff. You are making it sound as if the only way a person can truly recover is to become a "Christian". This is WRONG. It is absolutely, positively, 100% possible for people to get off of drugs without having to become "religious". I do appreciate your post, but we are currently having problems on another thread with someone who keeps "preaching". This is a forum about DRUGS, not JESUS. I mean, the last half of your post is basically a sermon. If that is what worked for you, great. But the "whether you believe in God or not, you will face him someday" stuff.....SERIOUSLY? Those that do not believe in "creation" or "higher powers" are going to find that to be a complete turn-off. Telling someone who doesn't believe in "god" that they are damned is completely and totally ridiculous. I loved what you had to say, until I got to the preaching. UGH. I mean, you are basically telling those of us that DON'T believe in a "god" that we will never get clean without one. That is completely and totally WRONG. This is a forum about drugs: there are plenty of "Christian" chats and forums out there. It really isn't appropriate here.

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Thank you for sharing your experience with Suboxone. The only thing I have to say is to go as slowly as you possibly can. With ANY opioid, you need to go down on your dose in little tiny baby steps if possible. Titrating your dose down to quickly is only going to make you either relapse or have to go back up to your previous dose. I am currently on 80 mgs of tablet methadone a day, coming down from 90 mgs. The only way I have been able to stay on the lower dose is to go VERY slowly. We are talking a 5 mg decrease every 4 to 6 weeks. I just lowered my dose down to 80 mgs about a week ago, and I am feeling it. Not bad, but it's there. I normally take 50 mgs in the am, and then the remaining 30 around 6:30 in the evening. Now I am noticing that I start yawning around 5:30 or so, getting a bit of a runny nose or watery eyes. So my body is wanting that evening dose about an hour sooner than normal. BUT....I have clonidine to help with the 'heeby jeebies', and Soma for aches and pains or if I have trouble getting to sleep. I will wait until these symptoms COMPLETELY PASS before lowering my dose further. In about 2, 3 weeks, I will look at how I am feeling, and then if I feel ok, I will STILL wait another week before going down again. Good luck to everyone out there who struggles with this, and remember....SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE!

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I was on suboxene for about a year, but ran out of money. I was searching for a way to taper down and get off of them. I saw the above post and how that person tapered down, and how he explained how you would feel each day and I tried it. I've been completely off of them for almost 8 months. It's not an easy ride, I'll tell you that, but you will feel like a completely different person. I hope his comment helps you.
God Bless You and take care of yourself.

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God Bless you for sharing this. I am at a cross road with the suboxone and I know God has been calling me to be sober. Completely sober. I have searched for answers and insight for almost a year as I have a pregnant fiancée and a son and am petrified to get off them. I don't know who I will be once off and am afraid of the stress I will put on my pregnant woman. I am so lucky as she is very supportive with me however. Anyways though, please now that I feel this post is an answer from God and the words you have written will be read many more times by myself and I'm sure many others. Thank you for being positive and not trying to scare people about it. You are truly a blessing to myself and without a doubt many others. I can say for sure your words are going to help me become a sober person here again soon. Thank you so so much!!!!

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I know this post is old, but I am hoping someone will still see it. I have been on Sub films 1.5 of the 8mg daily. I have just lost my health insurance thru my job so I am curious- if I can stretch the 5-6 films I have left, how successful do you think my coming off these would be? I just feel like I could do it if I weaned done for 1more month but I am at the end of my rope.
Christy

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I needed to read your entire post. Thank you for taking the time. I have been on subs for about 6 yrs. I am only down to 1/2. I will start the herbal meds you suggested. I also believe in Jesus Christ. I want some stretching info and more about exercising. I wish that I could talk to you a little more.

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I am so happy for you that you were able to taper and come off suboxone successfully, and hope you stayed the course afterwards. I would like to say that I myself have tried to taper many times from 2 16mg strips a day, and actually got down to 2 mg and just found it impossible. I myself and a Christian and did a lot of praying and happened to come across a youtube video of a young lady that was using kratom to detox.. And saying that I started doing all the research I could on the coffee plant cousin. As well as starting to get 5HTP, Valerian Root and Kava for help with those awful RLS symptoms that plague us all coming off suboxone. Immediately I started taking the ground up plant (once I found a vendor) while on 2 mg. and once stopping suboxone completely, it took away almost 90% off all my withdrawals.. No upset tummy, no vomiting, no feeling really bad, no shakes, no sweats... This is a plant that is not approved by the FDA yet, and progress has been held up by big pharma companies. I will say that it can too be addictive, but I quit taking it for 3 days and no problems with withdrawal, just old pain coming back... Just wanted to share my story, and maybe it will help someone else..

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