Author: setmefree
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:53 am
Hi there Hawker! It is sure good to see you checking back in here! I’m so happy for you……over one year off and still doing so well!!! That is just fantastic!! And how kind of you to take the time to help the others here who are having some trouble with tapering/stopping!
As for me, I’m approaching the two-year mark of my Sub treatment. As you may recall, I had gotten myself to 1mg/day or less a while back, had a brief lapse and then went back up on my dose. Since that time, I unfortunately had another slip after again getting to a fairly low dose. So, I had to sort of hit "pause" on things, get back to a more therapeutic dose of Sub and start looking at doing something different. At this point, I am seeing a therapist who specializes in addictions, for one-on-one counseling and support and I’m on 4mg/day of Sub and things are looking much more positive. Apparently, I just was not truly ready to be off Sub before. I had never been craving free and in working with my therapist, I’ve realized that I still had unfinished business related to everything that happened while I was in active addiction. So I’m working on those issues and focusing less on the Sub until I truly get to a place where I am virtually craving free and stable enough to begin a final taper. I do plan to go ahead and reduce to 2mg/day over the coming 4-6 weeks, as reductions to that point have tended to be trouble-free for me in the past.
Anyway, I still have in my mind the great advice you gave me back when I was tapering before and I will utilize that again when the time comes…..So, thank you for that!
Ladder, I’m sorry about what you’re going through. It sounds pretty awful and I’m sure that you are just so tired of feeling this way. I think it’s great that you recognize your limits….know what you can handle and what you cannot. I am wondering if you could benefit from counseling at all. What came to my mind was that I have encountered a few patients while I was a nurse who were suffering with chronic pain, and I remember them talking about how much success they had with different types of therapies they were utitlizing on the recommendation of their therapist. I can’t remember if it was a psychiatrist or a counselor, but I remember being really impressed at how much success they had found by using these techniques. I know your situation is not the same, but I still wonder if therapies like that might help you. I’m definitely thinking that if I run into problems like you have when I finally get to the place you are, I will investigate any avenue available to find some relief. I apologize if this is something you’ve already talked about or tried. I just feel so bad for you…..I wish I could help you in some way! Don’t lose sight of how far you’ve come either! You have been on Sub for a long time and on pretty high doses during that time, so over all…..you’ve done very well! I’m sure it feels like forever to you……Heck, it feels like forever to me at the two-year mark! But you are getting so close. I hope and pray that you can find a way to get some relief so you can finish this up and be done with it as comfortably as possible. And I’m sure sorry that it’s been such a tough go for you.
