How To Get Off Suboxone Successfully - Step By Step (Page 8)

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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REPORT

Kris and Karen I slept about 6 hours. Restless legs have passed but went through severe nausea last night. It seems better now but my Dr gave me zofran which helps. I have walked to the kitchen just know and I'm a little dizzy but anything is better than that restless legs I dealt with yesterday. So today is day 6...hurray! Definitely can tell I'm getting better.my goal is after tomorrow(day8) life should be fairly normal. I feel bad for all the stories that people write on this site that sub detox takes 1-3 months. That yet is not true. I think what they fail to say is they slip up and use and then have to start over. The key is DO not use once you start your detox process!!!! I will let you know how my day goes later. Going to read my bible today. Did not do that yesterday because it was a bad day but God understands. I did pray constantly though which got me through??

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Boss man Chuck, that looks like an aggressive detox. Congrats. I don't think I could have tapered that quick and skipped so many days in between. Also jumping off at .25 would have been to high for me. I was taking .125 then went down to .06 I think for awhile. III t was hard to measure because the prices was so small. Thanks for sharing your story. Have you had any rebound detox symptoms since? Sometimes the brain/body will flare up for no reason after the fact. Just curious, thanks.

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DeeDee,
What lasted a month for me was the no energy... feeling like everything was a huge task even taking a shower. I didn't slip up and use anything... well not opiates/ subs etc. After a month I felt like I could slip through the night, wake up feeling refreshed and have the energy to do things without effort. I too tapered... well hope your detox is easy.. defintely keep me/ us updated ... I would like to know if it is quicker for you.

God bless

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Kris did you taper? How much did you jump off at? My Doctor said I should feel better in a couple more days. The restless leg syndrome is gone today(day6). I'm extremely weak, hard to get out of bed. Also I have zero appetite but am forcing myself to drink fluids. I have to work on Monday which will be day 10, since I was on such a low dose when I jumped off do you think I will feel well enough to work?

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Yes I tapered, and jumped off at about .5 mg. If you read back on this post to October of 2013 you will read my detox posts. Maybe I should reread them myself...help keep me strong :-) RLS is a serious thing, read up on it.
I think you should be able to work as long as you can sleep and don't have a job where you need a lot of energy. I was very fortunate, or not depending on how you look at it to not be working at the time.. however I still had a son to attend to. That was very hard. I didn't have an appetite either and was on the toilet constantly at first. thank God for Imodium.

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Wow Kris you jumped off at what I considered a very high dose. I jumped off lower then .125 probably closer to .06. The legs are better just feel weak. Finally went to the pharmacy to pick up ativan and zofran . I also go some magnesium tablets. Compared to yesterday I am probably 75% better. I'm just obsessing over the time period. The pharmacist agreed with my doctor that most people take two weeks but mine should only take one since I tapered lower than most people. She also said that I peaked yesterday that's why I got so bad and feel much better today. Tomorrow will be a good indication where I'm at, day 7.

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Hello. I was racking my brain,so scared of this weekend. I am diving from 24 mg to cold turkey. I made it3 days in the past before i took another sub to not be sick. The most scariest thing ever is these withdrawls. I have to be strong though and u all inspire me. T..Y.

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Rissalou PLEASE PLEASE Do not jump cold turkey from such an insane high dose. The goal us to be Sub free. Your body will go into full detox around day 3. Please do the taper method. Get more Sub if your out but I belief you doing it wrong u bless you go into an inpatient detox center. I can help taper you down along with Kris and others on this site. You will need vitamins,some supplements from a health food store and a small prescription for anxiety and nausea. Let me know if you want my taper schedule. Most important you will need the help of our Savior Jesus Christ, the power of prayer will get you through that first week and beyond??

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But how did you get that little piece in your mouth DeeDee?? I had a hard enough time with the little piece I took. Let me know how you are doing tomorrow... I really would like to know if it was because I quit where I did.

Rissalouwho, 24 mg to cold turkey will be hard... can you try the tapering that we all have??

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Need to jump off at .125 or lower to really not suffer. 24 is such a high dose you might want to go to rehab for a week because that is a really high dose. I really suggest the taper method over 2 months. Then have you Dr perceive some nausea and anxiety meds at least for the first week. Good luck. We will pray for you. Let us know what you decide to do

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And dangerous also....

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Kris let me tell you it wasn't easier but it it goes. Fold 8mg into 4 pieces then get cuticle scissors and cut each quarter to four strips. Now get the smallest tweezers you can find, usually in make up section at WalMart. Grab one end if a strip and cut with the cuticle scissors 4 strips. Now this is where it gets hard. Out a white towel down and sit at a table because those little pieces are hard to keep track of. Also a small sharp razor blade will help. Now cut each quarter of the 8mg strip into 4x5 equally which will give you 20 slivers per each quarter from the 8mg film. Now times that by 4 quarters and you get 80 pieces or .1 mg dose. Ok I know that sounds hard so if it us to much than cut the 8mg film into 40 pieces and take out each piece daily and use the razor blade. You will make mistakes in that first film, it gets some getting used to and you might not always get a perfect dose. Now before I tapered down this low I cut the film into 64 pieces which is much easier to handle although still want to have a pair of tweezers ready. For this of you that are on high doses it might take you a few months. Remember the beginning us pretty easy. You might be able to immediately cut your dose in half but then I would only go down by quarter every 10-14 days. The lower you get down you will need an extra small dose on a rare occasion. Don't feel guilty, that is very normal. Seek God, HE is your tock!

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Little tweezers that I pin he'd ea h piece with and set the whole tweezers under my tongue and gently opened while closing my mouth. It was insane but worked. That's why I can't be sure if I always got the same dose but pretty accurate I believe because I'm doing much better. No body aches or nausea and restless legs are done. I am only on day six so I really believe tapering down below.125 is the difference between failure and success

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Sorry everyone just realized how many typo's I have. Lots of misspelling...lol. You can tell I'm still detoxing, ha ha

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Wow.. I'm impressed DeeDee. Don't be surprised if you have a bad day here or there but hey that's "normal" life in general isn't it??

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Kris, this is not a cake walk as you know but I'm to much of a wimp to jump off at the higher dose you did. There is a big difference between.5 and .125 or .06. I really think the smaller the dose the shorter the detox. However everyone is different. Just took some Ativan, getting a little restless legs. First time today so big improvement. Lets see what tomorrow brings. I will let you know. God bless.

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Ok starting to get irritable because my teens are are home doing homework and helping cook dinner because they think I'm sick. Great parenting I feel like such a looser. They think I have a stomach virus. However they are why I'm getting healthy.hopefully tomorrow I can get up cook breakfast before school. It will be day 7. Also I am going for a walk outside no matter how tired I am!!!! God is motivating me

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Ok Criss and zrissol today is day7 hurray!!! Got up at 3:00 am and cleaned my closet. Slept
great last night but I did rake an Ativan and supplements with multivitamin .feel like I have a little more energy today. My restless leg syndrome is gone

Talk to you later we are praying

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YAY!!!! Congrats on making it through the worse part!!! Question for you how long did you stay at each level during your taper? 2 weeks??

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Kris, I got down to .5 twice daily as my normal dose for a couple months. Then got tired of dealing with subs so knowing I could not cut cold turkey .I started cutting 8mg films into 32 pieces making the dose .25 twice daily. Stay on this does for 1 -1\2 week Next step is get those cuticle scissors, white towel and razor blade. Cut the 8 mg film into . Nextcut an 8 mg into 40 pieces dosing you down to .20 twice daily.stay here for 7-10 days. Now stay strong because the prices will become small at this time. Get you tweezers out and lay the white towel on a flat surface NO distractions, turn off your phone. Okay bend your 8 mg sub into quarters.Lets just start with one. Put the other 3 quarters in a baggie. Now with you razor blade and or cuticle scissors cut 16 equal pieces. I cut 4x4 creating 16 like pieces. You are now jumping down to the dose of .125 twice daily. Now do not get discouraged with how small the pieces are getting, that is where the mini tweezers come into play. Stay on this size twice a day for 7-10 days. At this point you might need an extra dose if you start having withdrawals (which should be mild and short lived).Your doing great. If you need to srat on this last dose for 2-3 weeks that is fine. When you ready to tapper off this can get a little difficult. Take your .125 mg piece and slice in half with the razor blade. This will give you ..0625 twice a day. I would stay on this fi or a week and then make the decision to jump off. If you want you can take .0625 at nighttime for a few days but then I THINK YOU REALLY SJOULD STOP. Go to store and buy B12 liquid drops , GABA calm potassium, 5-HTP for mood enhancer, magnesium and tons of fluid. Ask you Dr to give you something for anxiety.Don't forget to pray, HE will not leave you???

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