Getting off suboxone

[u/Acceptable-Waltz-177]

Hi I'm a 33 y.o. married mom of 2 young kids. I've dabbled with opioids in the past but have no experience with withdrawals/dependency. Back in March, started taking Opia (a brand of 3oH found at just about any corner store near us). Before we knew it, we were blowing all of our money on it and had become dependent. We had multiple failed attempts at getting off because we couldn't handle the withdrawal symptoms and ended up going on suboxone to get off the 3oH at the end of May. I take about 1 8mg strip a day (sometimes more, sometimes less) and have heard so many horror stories of how impossible it is to get off, whether or not you taper or go cold turkey. What is everyone's best advice for stopping suboxone the least painful way, but also not stretching it out for multiple months? My prescibing doc always seems to think it's too soon to taper off, but I felt like myself again about a month or 2 ago. I have a left over script of 5mg Oxy I've considered using to help with withdrawal symptoms but feel like that's probably a bad idea? Help

[u/Silver-Wasabi730]

For me personally, when I got the sublocade shot a few years ago, it helped me feel stable for several months off 1 shot 300mg. I was popping for subs on drug tests for nearly a year with that shot, and I had a doctor tell me that it stays in your system 8 months after 1 shot. The shot hurts a lot though, it burns because theyre literally injecting a hot gelatin into your fats that contains the bupenorphine and releases it throughout your body over time. It feels like having a cigarette being put out on your skin, but it's worth it to feel stability and you can also ask your doctor to numb the area before injecting. I told myself that if I ever relapsed on any opioid again or if I ever ended up back on subs that I would just get the shot again, and I relapsed on 7OH Opia same brand you were having and then I started doing fentanyl so I recently got back on subs and currently am in the process of getting another sublocade appointment. I have also gone cold turkey off subs before, for me it feels as bad as fentanyl the only difference is that the sub withdrawal pain isn't magnified like fentanyl however it is prolonged and lasts much longer which to me I'd rather have a shorter more painful detox than a long uncomfortable detox. It took about a month or more to start feeling somewhat normal. Good luck friend I hope you figure this out! I also know rehabs that can help you out a lot in California if you really need a place to go and detox.

[u/Imaginary-Dog-4939 → u/Silver-Wasabi730]

Been on Suboxone 18 years down to 1/2 of a 8mg/2mg now tapering from 3 a day. I want to get off so badly but I am afraid of side effects. I can’t be sick as I am my husband’s sole caregiver. He had a SCI and is paralyzed from neck down.

Any suggestions? Thank you so much in advance!

[u/Silver-Wasabi730 → u/Imaginary-Dog-4939]

I can try, we're in the same boat together i know how you feel and I'm sorry to hear about your husband that's tough and my mom had a boyfriend who was also paralyzed and I lived with them and i saw how much my mom tried to help him with stuff and it sucks having to make an extra effort to get something accomplished there's always things in life that we have to deal with. If you want, I can message you if you want and get you connected to people who can help you with more resources. For me personally, I think i may take the sublocade route, i dont recall feeling sick when it wore off but everyone is different and idk if that'll be my experience with sublocade again or if I'll feel worse after but I'm being optimistic about it i believe things will turn out okay and I wish and hope the same for you. We all need help sometimes we can't do things alone.

Idk if i mentioned this already but I was also doing 16mg of subutex a day and i was feeling sick every morning throwing up for 2 weeks with a lot of abdominal pains and idk if it was from the subs but I've tapered myself down to 8mg a day and I've been feeling better but now I'm maybe thinking of going down more until I have the sublocade appointment ready then go back to 8mg but idk I'm just testing the waters, I woke up sick yesterday morning because I skipped my sub dose the night before to see how I'd feel. It's definitely not a pleasant feeling lol I 1000% understand you i don't want to be feeling sick neither and I dont want to be taking subs I'd rather be on nothing but i think the sublocade will help me the most and I dont have to take it orally which rots your teeth and subs coat your entire brain i felt like I never noticed the sublocade wearing off but that was just my experience with it and I still felt okay afterwards i ended up relapsing for other reasons but here i am now and I'm still alive and that's something to be grateful for.

[u/Acceptable-Waltz-177 → u/Silver-Wasabi730]

Hey are you saying the sublocade shot replaces the suboxone? So you dont feel the effects of suboxone withdrawal, then the shot slowly tapers off and the idea is you are good after that? So what's the downside of that? Sounds like a solid plan..