How To Get Off Suboxone Successfully - Step By Step (Page 2)
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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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I hope after 4 years you're still off the suboxone. I have been taking it for 5 years. I started on it after years and years of pain pill addiction. I was going through bucket loads of hydro 10s. I was taking 10 to 12 hydro 10s at a time three or four times a day. I was able to do this mainly I think because I have what the doc told me was a reverse reaction. They never made me tired, quite the opposite. It was like speed. After some time they switched me to 30 mg of methadone 3 times a day. I failed a random U/A and was completely cut off, cold turkey. I thought I was going to die. I happened to come across someone who introduced me to suboxone. I was saved. So I thought. I was taking 3 of the 8 mg dissolving pills a day but that cost me between $60 and $100 daily. Too expensive. I then discovered that by insufflating them I could cut that down to one pill a day. Two years ago I said enough. I have tried several times but failed. The last year I have gotten down to 1/8 of an 8 mg pill every 24 to 48 hours. Anything less is torture. I've been on them for 3 years and my withdrawals include severe headaches, sinus pain, running nose that is literally like a faucet, gagging and my nose swelling almost shut. I have never told my doctor. I'm afraid of what damage I have done from insufflating them.

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Re: AAJACK (# 345)
Meant to say be sure and get the GREEN Nyquils, not the orange.

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Re: AAJACK (# 345)

I'm glad you made it through it can be tough I just hit one year clean so stick with it soon you will feel like your actually living again go dance in the streets you beat the devil think about that

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Re: AAJACK (# 345)
It sounds like the "fast taper" is what caused you such a horrible detox, not jumping off at a quarter of a milligram. Going too fast, especially w. Suboxone and Methadone, can SERIOUSLY catch up with you. Your body never fully adjusted from all those other drops before you went down further. Very stressful on your system. I sincerely hope you are able to stick with it, but if not and you ever going through this again, go a lot slower if possible. I am currently titrating down from Methadone, 5 mgs at a time, and giving it 4 to 6 weeks in between AT LEAST. It has taken me almost a year to go from 90 mgs to 65. (I will be going down another 5 mgs in a week) I make sure I fully adjust physically to each decrease before going further. But I understand that circumstances are different for each of us, I'm just glad I have the luxury of going as slowly as I am comfortable with.

Good luck to you, and hang in there. If you are committed to non-prescription remedies, things like Benedryl and Nyquil Liquid gels can help w. the skin crawly stuff, runny nose/sneezes and with sleep. (Be sure to get the GREEN ones) Valerian root capsules or Valerian tea for sleep/anti-anxiety as well. You can find this at health food stores/Whole Foods. Good luck you and stay strong. I know how horrible withdrawal is, and you sound very brave and detetmined.

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I want to talk about my withdrawal process with Suboxone to help those going through it now or in the near future. I tapered down to .25 mg before I stopped. It was a fast taper. Mentally it was bringing me down to keep putting this drug in my body. Days 1-8 were bearable but still very painful and I was always lethargic. Diarrhea, constant headache, brain zaps, insomnia and lack of appetite. After day 8, I no longer was able to journal my experience. This is where it took a turn for the absolute worse. Intense anxiety set in. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I would pace back and forth like a mad woman. I would ride my bicycle out at 2 am just to help with the RLS. I was constantly crying. I was low down. I'm not trying to scare anyone, I'm just being real and letting others know that this process will have you doubting your willpower and inner strength. My husband would have to pull my whole body weight up off the couch just to use the bathroom or force me to walk outside for a bit. I wanted to just slam my head into a wall just to be able to sleep. I also took like 5-7 hot baths a day to ease the RLS and my arms were also restless. (I never did for the record but these are examples of the thoughts you will have during this difficult time.) These withdrawals were new to me. I never had anxiety and it hit me like a freight train. Anything I took for sleep had an adverse effect on me because the Sub was still in my system.

Now at Day 33, the worst is definitely over BUT I am not 100% yet. The energy is still lacking, but where I am now from 2 weeks ago is a huge improvement. I can now take Tylenol PM and it helps me sleep. I still haven't made it up to 8 hours but I am grateful for the 4-6 hours I get. I still have diarrhea, which is annoying but least of the evils. The constant headache is still there and I'm using Excedrin for that.

My conclusion is this: This can be done. This is my 3rd attempt and I made it. I'm still healing and that's ok. But please don't take this lightly. You can't read other people's negative stories and compare it to yours. Everyone is different. Please have a support team in place. You WILL need them. Ride out the storm and do yourself a favor and don't take any narcotics to ease the withdrawals. It may ease it for a few hours but this I believe prolongs the withdrawals. This experience will mess with you mentally! Stay strong. I know it gets old when people tell you "It will get better" and "One day at a time" but truly it will. It is just a slow and painful process. Force yourself to get up and get out of the house. Walk around for a bit. For me, watching Joel Osteen has been so good for me. Praying helped me. God bless!

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KRIS: Sorry, I just saw your question to me. As I said, my first experience with opioids was as a child. But I first tried heroin at the age of 15. I am now 48. I have been on tablet Methadone for 3 years, and was on Subutex for 5 years before that. And I certainly haven't been completely clean the whole time. So I have used opioids, off and on (mostly "on"), for 30 years.

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DEW: Actually, in the case of opioids (painkillers) you are "flooding your brain" with artificial ENDORPHINES, not Seratonin. So yes, it takes a while for your brain to start making it's own again. Endorphines are our natural painkillers, our "feel good" chemical. So this is why opioid withdrawal is so painful. And researchers say that for some long term addicts, your brain may NEVER get back to "normal", and those people may do better on a lifelong ORT.

Same principle, different chemical.

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Wow I really enjoyed ehat you had to say and that is a great method but I also have one that may work for some people too! I only took suboxone for 3 to 4 DAYS YES ITS HARD NOT TO GO BACK TO THE DRUGS BUT THEN YOUR NOT ADDICTED TO SUBOXONE I AGREE WITH YOU ABOUT PRAYING AND STAYING CLOSE TO GOD AND KEEPING YOURSELF BUSY YES ITS HARD TO SLEEP IF IN FACT YOU REALLY WANT TO BE DRUG FREE YOU WILL MAKE IT!! And I have to say it tiik me about a month before I felt good again but everyday it did get better keep in mind iam bi_polar SO THAT WAS VERY HARD YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR YOUR BODY TO START MAKING ITS OWN SERATONIN AGAIN BECAUSE WHEN YOUR ON DRUGS YOUR FLOODING YOUR BODY WITH SERATONIN SO YOUR BRAIN STOPS MAKING IT SO OF COURSE IT TAKES TIME FOR YOUR BRAIN TO START MAKING IT AGAIN WHAT EVER YOU DO DONT GIVE UP YOUR ALMOST ALL THE WAY THERE GOD BLESS

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Best article of thus subject ive ever read! God bless you brother. Im so happy for you

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I wholeheartedly applaud your achievement and it's good to hear another true believer, with a personal testimony. I am about to begin my detox. I will tell you a little personal history. I was (on methadone & subs for 7 years) reading your post and it occurred to me man, you remember every detail of your jump! How is that possible, did you journal digitally or write on the walls? Just kidding. I have unfortunately used more than half the time I've been alive. I took opiates for years. I figured the best way to always have the best was to be the provider, looking back thing was I was really good at my "job". So I was contacted and relocated...close to a certain desert. Long to short 17 years later I decided to get out from war death. Three near fatal overdoses, and all the lies, the living deception. That was me. No more fancy cars. I kicked the needle 3 times. Any drug that is pure has about 2 or 3 horrendous, insane filled days where you lock yourself up or the police will. Luckily I had people to watch me. (i'm rambling) I tapered off liquid methadone, I say liquid because it was always from a proper supplier anyway, that was hell and I stuck it out ninety days of hell. Now all I am hearing is Bu/Na is even harder because the molecular structure binds even harder to mu receptors! I avoided being informed and was sort of lied to by a recently approved DATA neuro-psych doc. Well we all have stories, long or short it matters not. We are lucky ones or the chosen. Appreciated your candidness and may the Father bless your new life.

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Wow KKH you've really done your homework. I asked my therapist about this and she said she has mixed feelings. I in no way meant to insult. I'm going to look into that myself. How long have you used? I mean prior to the methadone...

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KRIS: Addiction, ESPECIALLY opioid addiction, is most certainly a "disease". The A1D2 gene is called the "addiction gene". Scientists estimate that around 20-25% of humans have this gene. It is the reason that thousands of people can try opioids a few times and then put it down, while only about 20% of those that try it become full-blown addicts. Just like some people are pre-disposed to certain things, like diabetes, those with the A1D2 gene are pre-disposed to addiction. So yes, it definitely is a disease.

Now of course, many diseases can be successfully treated, even cured. But with something like opioids, it becomes a MEDICAL situation, not a matter of "will power". So that's more evidence that it is a disease. If you can get off of ORTs successfully, as I said, more power to ya. But for some of us it isn't that simple. I was given Promethazine cough syrup with Codeine from the time I was NINE YEARS OLD. I would sneak in when I was nine, ten years old and take an "extra swig" of the stuff. So in effect, I have LITERALLY been an opioid addict since that time. That opioid fit into my brain like a missing puzzle piece.

One can only feel horrible for so long before they crack. MENTALLY, I'm already clean. But it's the PHYSICAL that always gets me. Days, weeks, months, even a YEAR of feeling horrible and knowing you can make it "go away" with one shot? Yeah, that starts to wear on you. Maybe people say that the "mental" part is the hardest part of it. That certainly hasn't been the case for me, not in any way. I don't know who all these horrible doctors are, but I know FOR A FACT that the doctors I work with want what is best for me, and if they thought I would do well by being completely clean, that's what they would recommend. I do realize that there are unscrupulous physicians out there, but I have been fortunate to have top quality docs.

You hear many people say that ORTs are just "substituting" one drug for another. Well, yes and no. This is where a thing like Narcotics Anonymous gets it completely wrong. Physical dependence and addiction aren't necessarily the same thing. My doctors say I am, of course, physically dependent on the Methadone. But that isn't addiction. I take my medication like I am supposed to. I lead a productive life. I don't sell or share my meds. I work with a therapist and am in recovery. I don't use needles to dose my meds, so I am no longer exhibiting "addict behavior", even though I am PHYSICALLY dependent on the meds. The only reason for taking them is withdrawal avoidance. So that is the main difference between "addiction" and "dependence". I may have to take Methadone the rest of my life. And if so, I will look at it like a diabetic with insulin; it would be best for my health to take the Methadone, just like it is best for the diabetic to take their insulin. But I am at least lowering my dose, so if I CAN'T completely come off of it, I will only be on a small dose. Others have to do what is best for THEMSELVES. Good luck to all.

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You know what keeps me clean...reading these articles about fentanyl overdoses and now carfentanyl... so no matter how bad I might want to use years later... I want to be here for my kids and my family ... it's a struggle everyday but I go for a walk or lift some weights that has become my drug. YES it's initially VERY hard to become clean but it's possible ...I think the doctors prescribe this stuff and it's a substitute for the drug we really want and yes a money maker for them....but I think we should fight harder and be clean the way we really want to be. Life is so much better on this side you just have to decide which side you want to be on. It's not a disease! And yes through Christ anything is possible

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KKH: Gotcha, yeah thanks for all the info. I am learning as much as I can so my Sons conversations and I can be on the same level or at least as close to as possible. I think I am doing pretty good. Perhaps a bit harsh on the Doctor, lol... I just do not believe in pharmaceuticals. Thats a big business. But I am also seeing the side of this that makes sense too... Thanks again for all the education and feedback. Cheers!

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LEONARD: And I am not the one who wrote the original post. I am only replying to your comment about what the doctor told you. See if you can get a doctor to prescribe Clonidine and Soma, as they will both help greatly with the withdrawal symptoms. Clonidine is a blood pressure medication (helps with the skin-crawling feeling and with sleep) and Soma is a muscle relaxer.

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LEONARD: In no way am I saying that he can't do this. What I'm saying is that a doctor suggesting that he may need to be Subs the rest of his life isn't something unheard of. And that for some of us, that is indeed the case. My point was that for some addicts, being on an ORT for life is just reality. Long term opioid addiction changes your brain chemistry. The brain stops making it's natural "feel good" chemicals because the addict is putting artificial ones in there (opioids). So when people get clean, those natural chemicals in the brain don't just reappear instantly. And sometimes, they don't come back at all. That's why opioid addiction has the highest relapse rate of all drugs. People can only take "feeling bad" for so long, before they can't take it anymore, and go back to the drugs. Whether your son will "bounce back" quickly and easily or not, I have no idea. Like I said, every case is different.

Google "post accute withdrawal syndrome", also known as PAWS for info on this.

Give the detox a try. Maybe he will indeed be able to get off of all of it. I truly hope so. But if not, don't be afraid to go back to the Suboxone. It's better than being strung out on drugs. Just remember to go as slowly as possible for a better chance at success.

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KRIS: Of course it does, which is why I said "every case is different".

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Leonard, don't get discouraged. I'm {edited for privacy} and I quit without any prescriptions and no long term aids of any kind. Look through and you will find my posts on here and I'm still clean and feeling good over 7 months later.

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Hey buddy, thanks for your response. It's just after reading your testimony, I was under the assumption you kicked this whole thing and along with the strength of God, you made it through. By no means do I believe pain and suffering wont be part of that process, yes we all go through that before we are clear from it... You're testimony inspired me and I am trying to inspire my Son as I feel he can beat this by doing the steps right and with the Lords good graces. Now I am worried again with your latest response, lol... So basically, his addiction has destroyed any chance of getting past this and will need a form of medication for the rest of his life? I know every situation is different, but I do believe God is the answer to any issue in life. From the mustard seed to the Mountain. All things are possible with God. Amen :)

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Kkh
Doesn't it also depends on how long he has been using his drug of choice and the subs?

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I tried to switch from methadone to suboxone but failed. I have been on methadone for 5 years...I am at 30mg. I took wha...

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I'm going through it, 29yrs old. Tried it one time since 2011. I'm tired and want to do it. Thanks ## It depends...

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Hello Everyone, I have posted in other forums, not knowing where to post my story, to get answers and suggestions. I hav...

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Hello everyone, I have been on Suboxone 8/2, twice a day for over 5 years. I want to get off it but I have major health ...

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I'm on 16 mg of Suboxone a day. How long does it take to step down. I don't go see my doctor for 2 more weeks an...

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I've been on Norcos 10 mg on and off for the last three years. I take any where from 4 to 8 a day and I'm only 2...

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My wife decided to change our health care plan to save me a few bucks and apparently they fast talked her or she didn...

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Hello all. I am a 22 year old mama to a 10 month old baby. I desperately need to get off opiates.. I mean, my situation ...

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Before I fully switched to Suboxone and I ran out of my other meds, I'd be able to take a half of an 8mg Suboxone. I...

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I got addicted to Roxy's for 2 1/2 yrs when my dad died and took suboxone to get off them. Then started feeling the ...

1 REPLY