Methadone detox to Suboxone

TootsieRoll32

Ok my husband and I are on 70mg of methadone and are moving to a new state. In the town where we are moving to does not have methadone, and the doctor wants to put us on Suboxone. Can anyone tell me what are the withdrawals you might go thru while switching from methadone to suboxone. If anyone can help please let me know. Thank you

Gypsy1947

I was wondering if you could get methadone from a Dr. in the town you're moving to. Maybe they just don't have a methadone clinic. It seems if the Dr. wants you to have it and feels you need it, then you would be able to get it. I am coming off fentanyl pain patches and I'm going on methadone for two weeks and taking the fentanyl patch off the day I start it. I hope I'm not trading on addiction for another. I'm only supposed to be on the methadone for two weeks tops.
Good Luck and I hope things go well for you,
Gypsy

bdean

Tootsie,
Have you checked the clinic locator to see where the nearest clinic will be to you..I dont have a clinic in the town I live in but I attend a clinic thats approx. 77miles away(one way)..I only go every two weeks though..But if you have a good record at the clinic you attend now then there are alot of clinics that will take that into consideration and transfer all the time you have in..Also most if not all states offer hardship exemptions where if you have to drive more than 50 or so miles one way you can get take homes quicker and more of them.....The reason I am telling you all this is because it is reccomended that a patient slowly taper down to 30mg of methadone or under before making the switch to suboxone..And even then they recommend that you wait atleast 48hrs(most want you to wait 72hrs)before you take your first dose of suboxone.The reason for this is that suboxone is an opiod antagonist..And if you were to take it while having methadone in your system or not already in acute withdrawals from the methadone then shortly after taking the suboxone its gonna go in there and push every bit of the methadone off the opiate receptors and place you in full fledged withdrawals..Which from everything I have heard from others being thrown into withdrawals with medicine or all at once is 5times worse that the withdrawals that come on gradually after stopping a medicine..I hope maybe that you have atleast time to take a few months to get you and your husband down to atleast the 30mg mark...The recommended taper schedule is no more than 10% of your dose each month so this month it would be a 7mg drop..Followed by approx 6mg drop next month and so on..I hope that things can happen the way they should for you..If not I will be praying that everything goes as smooth as possible....
Good luck Tootsieroll,
bdean

mollie68

hi there,
a freind of mine in the program just did this. she was on meth and switched to the suboxone. her addictionoligist said she had to be off the meth 5-7 days before starting the suboxone. thats all i know about it. other posters gave you some good ideas. hope this helps.

trompelemonde

just a question about going to the doctor and getting on subutex. how does that whole thing work? how long do you have to stay at the doctor for for the first day? and how long does it take before you feel "normal" again? im nervous about this and could really use some input. thanks

trompelemonde

sorry I don't know too much about going from methadone to subutex. but i do know that you have to be clean for at least 24 hours off of heroin before u take the subutex otherwise it makes you go into horrible withdrawls and makes u super sick, but if you do it the right way its supposed to make you feel pretty normal and give you energy. this is all hearsay though, i dont actually know from experience. sorry!

nc2007

My husband has just got clean(10 days) from subutex. He was using heroin and methodone up until three weeks before going on Subutex so was only on Subutex for aprox 10. Hope that makes sense.
Just under a year ago he detoxed from methodone, heroin and crack.
He has physically found the Subutex fantastic. Some slight w/d but is getting a good few hours sleep.
The only problem is he is so depressed this time. I don't know if it is down to Subutex or because he relapsed or what.
Also, when he got clean last year he had really hit rock bottom so wanted to get clean so badly. This time he has only been using for a few months and most of that time it was on/off whilst he was still fighting it.
Anyway, I just thought I would add our expeiences wit Subutex.
Also, just quickly I was told Subutex can cause depression. Not sure what the stats are on that. He was depressed before he went in and is def more depressed now, but could be down to him having a clear head and actually dealing with stuff now.

nc2007

Just wanted to add, here in UK we were told by a drug clinic that if you are on Methodone you must have nothing for 24 hours but if you are only using heroin you must have nothing for 8 hours. We were told that by a Doctor- but not sure if diff in the US.