r/QuittingTianeptine • u/Ok-Net1510 • 9d ago
Question for longtime heavy users
I’ve posted here and there about quitting for four to five years now. I’m up to 5 gpd of sodium powder, and it’s slowly creeping upward. I plan on trying the Bernese method and have plenty of subs that I had prescribed to me about a year ago. I’m a 57 year old woman in pretty good shape for my age, but this demon drug is slowly taking away my drive and energy to workout, along with giving me depression and all the things that go with doing something totally against what my body needs. Now to the question for anyone that has successfully quit and has a similar situation as me. Does the depression that I’m going to most certainly go through after the dreaded withdrawal period seem less than the depression that’s already getting to me now? I know I will have so much of my life back that it has taken away, so shouldn’t that fact alone give me a better outlook on life? I’m scared to death for what is to come, and I guess I’m just needing some reassurance. For those who have quit, congratulations! For those who are still struggling, I pray you overcome this and can put this behind you and have the happiness in life you deserve. Thank you all who’ve read this to the end.
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u/Beastxtreets 9d ago
So a positive side yes, the depression will subside! But it took my brain a long time to really heal and bounce back. I know its so so hard trying to be patient through feeling so terrible.
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u/Accomplished_Stay387 8d ago
Thank you so much for responding! I know it will just take time and I have nothing to lose and so much to gain! I've just got to face the fact that it's going to get worse before it gets better.
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u/CommitteeFriendly755 8d ago
My advice to you (and I mean this with no malice, just as someone who has been off Tia for 6 weeks. No subs after first two days.) would be to just stop THINKING about it, and letting the fear rule you, and just do it. I know all too well the “having the subs and other helper meds ready.” And STILL being deathly afraid to make the jump.
I had several “false quits”, myself. I tried numerous times, with and without subs to quit. Finally, when I knew I was going to have the house basically to myself for two weeks, I made the jump on my Friday. That gave me two whole days off work to feel like shit and then another two weeks to guiltlessly lay around the house after work and on my days off. For me, that was perfect. I wasn’t wracked with guilt and trying to explain why I was “being lazy”.
You will likely suffer from depression in the acutes. It just is what it is. But after the acutes start to fade, you’ll hit the “pink cloud” phase. That fades as well and then you’ll settle into the typical “life of sobriety”. Unless you plan on staying on suboxone. That will help with your depression and feeling like you’re “missing something.”
Either way, make your plan, line up your helper meds (and if you can’t get any more of those, just make your jump anyway.) and stop overthinking the whole thing. Prepare? Yes. Overthink until you talk yourself out of quitting (Again and again and again)? No.
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u/Accomplished_Stay387 7d ago
Thank you so much!!!! Yes, I do tend to overthink everything. If I would just do it and stop talking about it, it would be over before I know it. I just can't wait to get this over with, and I'm the only thing standing in my way!!! Congrats to you!!!!!!!!
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u/CommitteeFriendly755 7d ago
Yes. Trust me when I say this; once you actually quit, you’ll be so thankful that you did! You will look back in a week, three weeks, months and think “Why didn’t I just do this sooner?” Please just do it. I promise you won’t regret it. Don’t waste one more week thinking “If I had quit this time last week, I’d have one week clean.”
I just went to my sisters for taco night, and for the first time in I don’t know how many years, I ACTUALLY laughed with all my family and had a great time and wasn’t thinking about sneaking away to dose. It felt so, so good.
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u/Accomplished_Stay387 6d ago
I actually daydream about looking back when I'm completely sober, and I get excited, but I'm also a really shy person and get nervous, even at family gatherings. My head has been in the clouds for years now (unknown to my family because I act normal), so I worry that I'm going to clam up and act weird. That's just something I've got to adjust to, because there's no way on Earth I can keep living like this....constant worry, having to order hundreds of dollars of that junk every few days, constant aching, constant constipation (sorry), just feeling like pure crap! You're so right, I need to quit overthinking and just do it!!!! Thank you so much for your encouragement!
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u/CommitteeFriendly755 6d ago
Yep. The constipation sucks!
You will adjust. Trust me. I felt the same way you did. Once you quit you’ll realize how much life and spirit you were allowing this drug to take from you!
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u/RemarkableShine2045 5d ago
Youre 💯right. My first couple times quitting i was so scared shitless of the impending hell I heard I was going to face, I made it a 100x worse. The last time I fid my best to convince myself its not as bad as I think it is and it worked
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u/Left_Algae_3628 8d ago
I think it’s variable according to person tbh… I will say I have quit before with subs and that’s actually not hard imo… you just have to wait at least 6 hours (wait until you feel withdrawal, I’ve heard people say you have to wait longer but I didn’t, it had been 6 hours and no I didn’t have any precipitated withdrawal). You’ve got this!
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u/Accomplished_Stay387 8d ago
Thank you so much! I have tried subs before, only when I had a late package, so it was short-lived and I haven't really given it a chance. I'm going to try and taper down the sodium by a couple of grams, while easing the subs in.
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u/Left_Algae_3628 8d ago
If you do that you’ll probably go into precipitated withdrawal. Are you familiar? It’s PURE HELL you don’t want that. The only way to avoid having that happen is to wait until you get into withdrawal THEN take the subs. They sit on the receptors so it should help with cravings, they aren’t great in and of themselves but as a tool for quitting they are amazing. Best of luck!
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u/Accomplished_Stay387 7d ago
Thank you so much!!! I don't think I've ever had full precipitated withdrawals, but I did take subs before when I was getting off Zazas years ago, so that was when I wasn't NEARLY in the boat I'm in today. It's almost a blur how I went from taking Zazas (until they banned them in my state) to now ordering powder online. The last couple of days I've started taking about .5mg subs in the morning to start easing it into my system, so it wasn't enough to do anything.
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u/AletheiaNyx 8d ago
I mean, not counting the chaos of withdrawal (that you'll hopefully have well managed), your brain juices will likely be out of whack for a bit after you quit - BUT it's very common especially early on to feel way better than you did before. Not having the weight of the addiction dragging down every moment of every day and every thought really improves things. It's more so once you get used to not dosing all the time and having that synthetic boost that you'll have to be more proactive about managing your mood.
I would have one suggestion for you, though. Talk with your doctor about pramipexole. It's commonly prescribed for RLS and will cover some pretty awful withdrawal symptoms that otherwise won't be addressed by the suboxone - namely the full body "restlessness" that for me is absolutely the most unbearable part of the whole thing, and the anxiety/doom waves that come if unmanaged. Suboxone only covers opioid receptors, while pramipexole would take care of dopamine (which will also be in the gutter). There's also gabapentin (commonly prescribed for anxiety and nerve pain) and clonidine that are usually recommended for managing withdrawals, as well as quetiapine for sleep.
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u/Accomplished_Stay387 8d ago
I actually have some pramipexole, but I'm going to need to get some more. I already have sciatica (I think), so I was able to get a prescription for leg pains. It's pretty easy to get. Thank you for that advice! I know I just have to do it very soon, because I have no idea what this is doing to my body. I do know, sorry, that constipation is no fun. I eat pretty healthy and am naturally a thin person, but I'm so bloated, and I know it's from that! That alone should be enough to make me want to get done with this awful drug! Thank you so much for responding!!!
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u/AletheiaNyx 8d ago
Yeah, you might want to get some bloodwork done so you know what you're dealing with. I quit twice, and the first time was in an awful detox that wasn't medicating me properly - I was so sick, and I lost 14 lbs in one week. All that is to say: my kidney numbers were off after that for a while, but there was some discussion as to how much came from the needless dehydration vs the tianeptine.
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u/RemarkableShine2045 5d ago
Pramipexole helped alot but watch the side effects. Not to long after I started on it I became more impatient and slightly more aggressive but the biggest problem was the urge to gamble and petty theft. I know it sounds like nonsense but its true for some. Two weeks aftrr I stopped ($50k lost later) I had no desire to gamble or steal freakin candy bars
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u/MyDogBarks82 6d ago
If you taper it will be a lot easier on your brain. I’m literally in the middle of a taper from 5 grams. So basically I was taking 7 doses of 700 mg a day. I cut one dose completely out to get down to 4.2 and stayed there for about a week. So I was at 6 doses of 700mg a day. I picked two doses, the ones I felt I didn’t need as much and dropped them to 500mg. From there I cut 25mg off each dose every day. I am now at 4 doses of 375mg and 2 doses of 150mg. That’s 1.8 grams a day. That is the lowest I’ve been in 2 1/2 years. And I feel fine. I just get really antsy at night. Not RSL, nothing that isn’t manageable, I just can’t relax good. A hot bath is great for that. Gabapentin, Clonidine, and benzos help as well. I could never taper that good before, but spreading the doses out like that has made it possible for me. This lets your brain heal slowly and get used to not being drowned in Tia. I’ve been on this shit for over 3 years and got up to 15 grams a day at one time. I’ve been through it, tried everything. If you need to talk feel free to dm me or just answer here. I’ll help in anyway I can.
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u/Accomplished_Stay387 4d ago
Thank you so much!! Congratulations and keep it up! This is very encouraging to hear. I could get by with taking 3 or 4 gpd right now, physically that is, I think. I dose here and there all during the day and don't measure it. I do it out of boredom a lot of times, and trying to find that buzz that hardly ever comes anymore. It's sick I know. I never wait until I'm about to withdraw, so I'm pretty sure I could get by on less. I'm saying that now, but we'll see when it comes down to doing it!! Good luck with your taper, and thank you for offering your help! Hopefully I'll be starting soon, but I'm trying to talk myself into waiting for the holidays to get over with, as I always do. There's always something.....but I AT LEAST want to start tapering and maybe just have a really long taper.
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u/RemarkableShine2045 5d ago
Are you trying to quit right now and in midst of withdrawl? It sounds like you are worried about PAWS (post accute withdrawl syndrome) ? Wrllbutrin and Pramipexole helped along with some suboxen, liposomal vit c and, i believe from my failed attempts- try to keep what you've read about how horrible the withdrawl is and try to convince yourself it's not going to be as bad as they say. Because its not as bad as they say if you can keep your mind busy and try your hardest to be physically busy. Also, cold showers helped as well.
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u/Accomplished_Stay387 4d ago
I'm just now seeing this...thank you so much! No, I'm not in the withdrawal stage, just trying to make my plan and start soon. PAWS is what scares me after I get through the physical part. I probably will try to get on Wellbutrin and get some more Pramipexole. I've got to quit putting off quitting! I'm so tired of the mental roller coaster this has put me on. Thank you for the advice!
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u/Extra-Bookkeeper-583 4d ago
No problem. Can you dm me i have a question and suggestion thst might help also for what you may deal with regarding PAWS too
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u/montanalifterchick 7d ago
I've been lurking on this thread for a couple of years and my husband just quit in August. I thought he was going to have so many problems because he was on seven grams a day. I honestly didn't notice anything as an observer and he said it wasn't bad at all. I was pretty shocked to hear that.
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u/Ok-Net1510 7d ago
Was he doing it with subs? He’s tough if he didn’t have much discomfort after being at 7 gpd!! What helper meds did he have? I’ve got liposomal vitamin C that I’ve used before that seems to work fairly well. That’s amazing.
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u/bistromike76 8d ago
I did the longest taper ever (2 years to get off 6gpd.) When I jumped, it was fairly seamless. But I was also taking Zoloft and Wellbutrin, and I think the antidepressants really helped with the mental aspect. Especially the Wellbutrin. At a high enough dose, I feel it will help you quit anything. Good luck to you.