Author: JoshuAble
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 4:23 pm
| Minxx wrote: |
| I thank you all for taking the time to reply. He is pretty quite today. He has gotten alot of family support. He had been on a pretty high dosage, but had been tapering off and on 1/4 a pill a day for over a month. He is dealing with the recent suicide of a family member as well. He is under the care of a doctor, and spoke with him. His D/Ts are still pretty bad. Anyone know of anything that might help with those? I myself took Suboxone for a short period of time to help me quit Vicodin, as a matter of fact we started both at the same time. I don’t understand why he was put back on Suboxone, but he is so desperate to quit that he turned them down yesterday. They really helped me, and I have no idea how I would have quit Vicodin without them. But, they’re going to be hard for my b/f to get off of. As of now, our son (who is unaware of the events) just left with his aunt, and I’m going to have a heart to heart and let him get some stuff off his chest.
Thanxx , |
It’s great to hear from you Minxx.
Coming off 1/4th a pill (I’m assuming it was the 8mg pill so he was on 2mg daily) is still a relatively high dose to jump off of "cold turkey", especially since he was on Suboxone for 2 years.
While I’m not suggesting he must go back on Suboxone, in my experience and from many others it seems like he might be better off going back on Suboxone, even down to 1mg or even less since he’s been off it for awhile and is going through tough withdrawals that will last for awhile, and to slowly taper down (or at whatever pace he wants) to at least get down to 0.5mg (if not less) and then jump off Suboxone, as the withdrawals would be much less intense.
But if he has the will to get off Suboxone and doesn’t want to go back on it, well, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just a really tough thing to do (and the "acute" withdrawals from suboxone seem to last about a month or so, while the post-acute withdrawls (PAWS) are a tough thing to battle with, but if he has the will and support it’s entirely possible to do it.
I’m truly sorry about his family member, that makes it really tough if he trying to deal with such a tragedy while also going through suboxone withdrawals. Definitely seems like he has it really rough right now. For the withdrawals there are tons of posts on this forum about it, so definitely look around the forum.
Some good advice from my experiences and talking to others and research:
-Clonidine (Prescription blood-pressure medication, non narcotic and not addictive, that really helps with the crazy/restless legs and some other things). OK to use in the short term or even mid/long term to help with PAWS.
-Valium or a benzodiazepine (Prescription anti-anxiety medication that can really help with the anxiety, though you want to use it short term, as they are addictive; but using them for a week or two if he chooses to stay off the suboxone could really help him, though it seems with everything going on in his (and your life) there could be a chance for addiction to them which is no good; but short term use of Valium or even Librium could help a lot, while I’d say not to go for Xanax or Ativan and the quicker acting Benzo’s which have a much higher potential for addiction than Valium (long half life that can help him sleep as well as help with anxiety) and the very old Librium which is very often used for Alcohol withdrawal for tremors and the likes, as well as sleep; though it’s a bit less potent/effective compared to the other Benzos).
-Lexapro/SSRI Antidepressant (while it’s simply an "option", opiates definitely put a toll on the brain, and quitting them leaves your brain in a shocked type of state, and your brains not used to being "sober", and as a result your serotonin and dopamine (the main two chemicals in the brain that are the "pleasure center"). An antidepressant like Lexapro helps in assisting your brains serotonin synapses to work more efficiently and helps the serotonin communicate in the brain, rather than just be lost not knowing where to go in the brain. Lexapro can help with a range of things, by increasing your serotonin levels in the by increasing its ability to occupy the synapses it needs to attach to in the brain, it can help your overall mood, definitely will help with your anxiety and sleep, as well as a plethora of other things. I went on Lexapro about 4 months ago when I started to taper from 16mg, and it had its pros and cons but I was tapering, not quitting cold turkey from 2mg (which is actually he current dose I’m down to); but I quit taking it about 1.5 months ago, as it did help with sleep and mood, it also made me sleep a little too much, but Lexparo or any other anti-depressant is going to effect every individual in a different way, but it is widely used for ex-opiate addiction, suboxone is no different, as they all do sort of give you a rush of serotonin when using them, so when you quit completely it shocks your brain and it just doesn’t know what to do.
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-MultiVitamin (and just getting all his nutrients and minerals daily) can help almost as much as a prescription drug, because withdrawals tend to make your appetite disappear). If he’s going through the withdrawals, it doesn’t help if he’s not getting his nutrients/minerals/vitamins/etc as it can seem to actually intensify the withdrawals if you are not getting any of them.
-FOOD/HyDRATION (yes they seem or sound simple) but forcing yourself to eat throughout the day as much as possible is important when you are quitting. Staying extremely hydrated is also another big one here, and as simple as it sounds, you do a ton of sweating (cold sweats/hot flashes, etc) if you’re going through bad withdrawals, and you want to make sure to continue eating and drinking like you normally would (though it’s hard when you have no appetite you simply have to force yourself to eat). I’d also recommend Protein drinks (or meal replacement drinks) if he really has trouble eating more than a couple bites of food.
-EXERCISE (another simple one that is just often hard to do in W/D’s). Exercise, even in the form of a slow walk (at whatever pace and distance he is ok with), but you definitely have to force yourself to go out and exercise, and getting out in the sun always seems to help as it nnot only gets your body and heart going, but also helps get those endorphins going (and getting that natural "high" by just breaking a sweat walking or jogging.
-SAUNA (my personal experience) I love going in a Sauna (though I am still tapering), but when I jumped from basically 6-8mg Suboxone daily down to 2mg and began feeling some pretty decent level withdrawals (especially the cold sweats, crazy legs and insomnia), just going in a Sauna for 15 minutes (then resting and continued hydration for 15 to cool off) and going back in in for another 15 minutes) while continuing drinking TONS of water (I prefer gatorade because when you sweat a ton in a sauna you need to make sure not only to replace all that with new water, but also make sure to keep your levels of salts high, including Potassium). Just doing that daily (I had to join a gym to get access to a Sauna) helped me a ton, especially with sleep and coldsweats; but it just helped me feel better in general, as you might not have the energy to workout/walk/jog to get your heart going and sweat going to get a good exercise in, so going in a Sauna can help replace that (though combining the exercise+sauna is the best way to go). Hot baths/showers are always a good short term relief from withdrawals as well.
-STAYING BUSY (whether it’s writing, watching movies, reading books or the internet, having conversation as talking is always important, especially when he;s going through multiple things as well as withdrawals). Keeping busy, doing whatever simple things it is will really help keep his mind off of the fact he feels physically sick. Getting him to play games (board games or any games) or just getting him to talk about anything other than "the suboxone and the withdrawals" is great to sidetrack the mind and keep yourself from focusing on every little (or big) physical pain or withdrawal symptom.
Now I don’t know his situation exactly, so these are all just things I’ve done and known many people have done that helped them get through all types of opiate withdrawals, and suboxone is no different. I hope you stay strong, and i hope you’re heart to heart goes well with him and some positive stuff comes out of it. All these things I’ve listed are things that should be done whether he continues to stay off the suboxone for good, but also should still be done if he goes back onto a smaller dose and tapers down a bit for another month or two (or more) to a really low dose.
I wish you and him the best, and while it will be an emotional roller-coaster for him if he decided to continue fighting the withdrawals cold-turkey off 2mg, if there’s a will there’s a way. You’re an amazing person for supporting them and doing everything you can to help him, and by just having htat support can go a long way for him. Hopefully he opens up and you guys can decide on what to do, and I wish you the best of luck, and wish him all good things.
I’m sure others will be posting soon who have much more experience than me, but I’m glad you came back to let us know what was going on. Stay strong for him, you are an amazing person, and your husband seems like a great guy that has a lot of stuff going on right now. You’ll be in our prayers, keep sticking with it!
NOTE: Not sure why the font got so big…. sorry about that.
