Author: chinagirl
Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:31 am
Hi Csquared,
Glad you found Sub, got off the roller coaster of active addiction. You describe what all opiate addicts feel both when we first find opiates, and then when we get to the point we want off.
Yep, you are on that pink cloud of making a good decision to get into recovery. I remember it well. 7 months ago I got out of a 2 year relapse after having 5 years clean and sober…and started on Sub after being on methadone (at a clinic). Sub is preferrable to methadone for me. My life is much much happier on Sub. But sub is not without its own issues.
I think your dose is probably fine as long as you don’t have cravings. I think you can stay at 12mg and stabilize for a couple of months…then think about going down to as low as you can without having cravings. the beauty of sub for me is no cravings. Even when I had those previous 5 years clean and sober (did not take any replacement med) I had cravings…intensely at the beginning of my sobriety of course, then less so after a few years, but it was still there. Now I can have a bottle of vicodin around and NOT use them, NOT even think about them. Altho i don’t keep a bottle of vicodin around, its just that I do not crave at all and to me that is a miracle.
I don’t know if this is your first recovery but I’ll throw this out there and you can take it or leave it. But stopping opiates and going on Sub is just the first step. Learning to live life, find healthy coping skills, takes some other work. My advice to you is get into some kind of recovery program for yourself…either therapy, or AA/NA, or SMART recovery…there are several ways to do this…but the point being is we need help. We can’t do it alone. We have a history of skewed thinking…and I am not saying we can’t meditate or think for ourselves at all, I’m saying that what most addicts in recovery will tell you is that they do need someone healthy and someone who gets addiction and is themselves sober to help bounce our ideas and thoughts off of…our own thinking got us here, you know? And that is all I’m saying…find someone who can trust to help you in the process here….find a recovery program that works for you. If you just stay on Sub and change nothing else I think you’ll put yourself at risk to relapse. My opinion…and my experience.
So, just an idea…and I hope things go well for you.
