Author: ClearAqua
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:40 am
Hi fly….don’t know if you’re still around but if you are, I hope you’ll post and let us know how you’re doing and if you are doing better by this point.
I’m sorry I didn’t read your post back when you first posted it! Your doctor is sadly one of the many, many mis-informed MDs out there who prescribes Suboxone but doesn’t have a clue about getting folks off of it.
"fine after 7-10 days" is so laughable. Tell her to take Suboxone for as long as you have and then feel fine 7-10 days after jumping. The half-life on this stuff is just firing up good at that point plus all the Sub you have stacked after being on a higher dose for a while.
This is just my opinion but one that I’ve formed after being on it for going on 4 years and being in my taper for 4 months:
Suboxone is a struggle to come off of. It takes an incredible amount of discipline, strength and fortiude within to do a slow taper (which I think is the BEST way to do it). A faster taper (which is what I’ve been doing) is going to produce somewhat of a constant state of mild w/d. You are "living the taper" for months on end.
Cold turkey, as you did it, is very hard to do on Sub because of the long half-life but if you can do it, it might (as ladder said) be the best way to go…"just rip the band aid off". I wish I had the courage to do what you did!
Not everyone can do it and most of the stories I’ve read from people such as you who’ve done it say that the PAWS is worse but that IT DOES go away eventually.
Our brains have an amazing capacity for healing…especially long-term opiod users as there has been NO DAMAGE shown to the brain in long-term opiate use. It’s just that it can take months and up to 1-2 years for the dopamine reuptake, the healing of receptors and our creating our own dopamine to get back to normal. The good news is that everything points to the fact that IT DOES AND WILL HAPPEN….we just have to have patience.
I hope you are still around and respond…would love to know how you’re faring these days.
