J
Jackie30
Guest
I just wanted to post my experience, in the hopes that it will help someone else.
My DOC was roxy's, I was taking anywhere from 10-30/30mg pills per day. For a long time (two years) it stopped being fun, and was a necessity to get through each day. So much of my time was spent using, and finding ways to get more. I got so tired of it. Finally I woke up one day, and while my daughter was still sleeping I told my grandmother everything.
She was so supportive, I'm so lucky to have her. She took me to a psychiatrists office that day, and he prescribed me suboxone.
I took my first dose too soon, and went into precipitated withdrawls. You're supposed to be in mild-moderate withdrawl before you start taking it, and I wasn't there. So I got sick for a couple days, and I spoke to my doctor every day on the phone, and I finally got stabilized at 24mg per day, and I felt good again.
At first I was convinced that I needed to take them throughout the day, just like my DOC. My doctor told me that I was just re-inforcing addictive behaviour, and that the suboxone lasts longer than 24 hours (37hrs), so I only need to take it once a day. I eventually realized he was right, and took all 24mgs when I woke up, and didn't think about it for the rest of the day. I stayed on this dose for about a month and a half. After passing several weekly drug tests, I got switched to Subutex, because of the cost. I was also getting bad headaches from the Suboxone, and now that I'm on Subutex I hardly ever get headaches anymore.
So I dropped to 20mgs a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm on day 3 of 16mgs and I feel great. I've been told by my Dr. and several others on this medicine that the drop from 24 to 16 is very easy, because there's only a slight difference between the doses, because of the ceiling effect.
I've read posts everywhere that ask the question "what dose should I be on?". There is no generic answer to that question. The dose you should be on is the smallest dose you can take that eliminates all cravings. If you're tired all the time, you're probably on too high of a dose. Your body tells you when it's time to reduce your dose the same way. When I started feeling tired on 24mg, I dropped to 20 and felt so much better. Same thing with this recent reduction to 16mg.
There are a ton of success stories about this medicine, in comination with a recovery program. This is not a "cure-all miracle drug". Very simply, it alleviates the cravings and withdrawl symptoms, so you can work a recovery program (the one I chose is NA, and it's great for me). You have to give your brain time to learn to live life without addictive behaviours. The medicine alone will not cure you from addiction, it will only be a band-aid. Recovery means to learn what your addictive behaviours are, what your triggers are, and how to deal with them and regular life without running for a pill everytime something happens.
With regard to the stigma in NA about medically assisted recovery, I chose to keep the medicines I take to myself. I don't share about that any more than I would the blood pressure medicine I take. It's my business. I'm very active in NA, and my feelings are still valid, my problems are still valid, my stepwork is still working and very helpful, even though I take Suboxone. I am still working recovery and I'm doing great!
My taper is going to be slow and steady, and I will get as low as .5mg before I stop, and even then, I may go every other day, or every two days, and then stop. I am currently taking two of the 8mg pills, but there is a 2mg pill that I will be taking when my dose gets lower, so I can be more accurate.
I feel that with this slow of a taper, I will have very little w/d symptoms. Maybe some restless legs, and some insomnia, but I will have Clonidine to help with that when I do make the jump, and I've also heard that Hyland's Restful Legs helped a great nuraber of people, when nothing else would, so I'll have that on hand as well.
I think it's important to have a good doctor, who knows what they're doing, and who isn't just handing out scripts, but really talking to their patients, and caring about their recovery.
I would have never gone to NA without the prompting of my doctor, and I sturabled on to something I love! I have met so many great women in the fellowship!
I just wanted to share my experience, strength and hope with all of you, I hope someone gets something out of it.
Good luck to all!
My DOC was roxy's, I was taking anywhere from 10-30/30mg pills per day. For a long time (two years) it stopped being fun, and was a necessity to get through each day. So much of my time was spent using, and finding ways to get more. I got so tired of it. Finally I woke up one day, and while my daughter was still sleeping I told my grandmother everything.
She was so supportive, I'm so lucky to have her. She took me to a psychiatrists office that day, and he prescribed me suboxone.
I took my first dose too soon, and went into precipitated withdrawls. You're supposed to be in mild-moderate withdrawl before you start taking it, and I wasn't there. So I got sick for a couple days, and I spoke to my doctor every day on the phone, and I finally got stabilized at 24mg per day, and I felt good again.
At first I was convinced that I needed to take them throughout the day, just like my DOC. My doctor told me that I was just re-inforcing addictive behaviour, and that the suboxone lasts longer than 24 hours (37hrs), so I only need to take it once a day. I eventually realized he was right, and took all 24mgs when I woke up, and didn't think about it for the rest of the day. I stayed on this dose for about a month and a half. After passing several weekly drug tests, I got switched to Subutex, because of the cost. I was also getting bad headaches from the Suboxone, and now that I'm on Subutex I hardly ever get headaches anymore.
So I dropped to 20mgs a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm on day 3 of 16mgs and I feel great. I've been told by my Dr. and several others on this medicine that the drop from 24 to 16 is very easy, because there's only a slight difference between the doses, because of the ceiling effect.
I've read posts everywhere that ask the question "what dose should I be on?". There is no generic answer to that question. The dose you should be on is the smallest dose you can take that eliminates all cravings. If you're tired all the time, you're probably on too high of a dose. Your body tells you when it's time to reduce your dose the same way. When I started feeling tired on 24mg, I dropped to 20 and felt so much better. Same thing with this recent reduction to 16mg.
There are a ton of success stories about this medicine, in comination with a recovery program. This is not a "cure-all miracle drug". Very simply, it alleviates the cravings and withdrawl symptoms, so you can work a recovery program (the one I chose is NA, and it's great for me). You have to give your brain time to learn to live life without addictive behaviours. The medicine alone will not cure you from addiction, it will only be a band-aid. Recovery means to learn what your addictive behaviours are, what your triggers are, and how to deal with them and regular life without running for a pill everytime something happens.
With regard to the stigma in NA about medically assisted recovery, I chose to keep the medicines I take to myself. I don't share about that any more than I would the blood pressure medicine I take. It's my business. I'm very active in NA, and my feelings are still valid, my problems are still valid, my stepwork is still working and very helpful, even though I take Suboxone. I am still working recovery and I'm doing great!
My taper is going to be slow and steady, and I will get as low as .5mg before I stop, and even then, I may go every other day, or every two days, and then stop. I am currently taking two of the 8mg pills, but there is a 2mg pill that I will be taking when my dose gets lower, so I can be more accurate.
I feel that with this slow of a taper, I will have very little w/d symptoms. Maybe some restless legs, and some insomnia, but I will have Clonidine to help with that when I do make the jump, and I've also heard that Hyland's Restful Legs helped a great nuraber of people, when nothing else would, so I'll have that on hand as well.
I think it's important to have a good doctor, who knows what they're doing, and who isn't just handing out scripts, but really talking to their patients, and caring about their recovery.
I would have never gone to NA without the prompting of my doctor, and I sturabled on to something I love! I have met so many great women in the fellowship!
I just wanted to share my experience, strength and hope with all of you, I hope someone gets something out of it.
Good luck to all!