Author: hatmaker510
Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:23 am
Hi socopro and welcome to the forum. As you seem to be aware, we don’t really recommend people playing their own doctor with suboxone as you plan on doing. It’s just more addictive behavior. We addicts are really good at thinking we can be our own doctors. That said, I know I can’t change your mind, so I’ll help you out as much as I can.
First, Google the COWS worksheet. That will help you to determine when you should take your first dose of suboxone to avoid precipitated withdrawals. You need to be in mild-to-moderate withdrawals.
Second – 16 mg might be too much. I’d suggest you start out with something like 4 mg, wait and see how you respond, then take more if you’re still in withdrawals. Suboxone is VERY strong, you’d be surprised. Keep taking more until your withdrawals are gone. That’s the dose you can start out with. At least that’s the way it’s done at a "normal" induction. This way you work your way up to the proper dose, instead of starting out with a high dose when it might be too much.
Yes, you can dose once daily, meaning you can wait 24 hours between each dose.
When you use suboxone short term for detox purposes only, you still need to taper down, just rather quickly. Suboxone is still an opiate and you’re essentially using it to be able to wean yourself off opiates, because it’s pretty much impossible to do that with your DOC.
Once you’re stabilized at say, 12 mg, stay there for a few to several days, then you want to start dropping your dose. Continue doing this until you’re done. You might still have some withdrawals, just know that.
There are no standard set of rules or instructions for short term detox tapers – everyone is different. But I hope this helps you some. Feel free to ask if you have more questions. GOOD LUCK!
