want to wean off suboxone

Yes, its never to early to start tapering off and you can taper fairly quickly. I'm not sure if you are aware but you have replaced one opiate with another? The downer (and your doctor should have known this) is that by swapping to subutex you have actually made things a little worse as subutex binds to all three opiate receptors in the brain where as oxy only strongly binds to one which makes it physically more difficult to get off. Dont freek out I just want to give as much info as poss. My choice would have been to taper off the oxy then drop to dyhydrocodine and taper that further. Taper as quickly as you feel comfortable if you start feeling withdrawal syndrome take one step back and slow down a little.

If you have problems with the final step off, as subutex is quite strong, and you cant go back to something like dyhydrocodine something that may help you depending where you are, it may be worth asking your Dr for some pregabalin, I found it stops the nastiest of the withdrawal syndrome (itchy bones, joints and the jerks), its off label usage in most countries, dosage is dependent on you and your opiate usage level and your weight but once you have tapered as much as you can it should be fairly low, I ( I'm a big fella at 160kg) needed 900mg every 3hours once I had dropped to 120mg of dyhydrocodine per day (could have dropped to 30mg but as my gp was prepaird to give me pregabalin I figured there was no time like the present. It took 5 days till the worst had past. It won't help with the diarrhea that will hit but that doesn't last long, a few days, and also you will feel like you have a touch of flu but all should be over within 10 days max.

You will still "want" and for some that is the hard bit but if your not in with people who supply illicit drugs then it is somewhat easier, oh and give your Dr strict instructions not to let you go back as they will. (Though that could bite you if you decide you can't cope with the pain)

One last thing you will feel a bit low for a few weeks (post opiate depression is normal) especially as your pain will get worse as your body needs time to start producing its own natural opiates, if you weren't in pain this would manifest mainly as joint and muscle pain, but as another pain sufferer it usually isn't that noticeable next to your primary pain.

You may find you can't deal with your primary pain and need some help with it. Unfortunately for some pain opiates are your only choice but there are ways of taking them to keep low dosages useful and there are some drugs that ar'nt addictive that OK won't give you the same relief but may help, just post back here if you have any further questions or worries.

Just one last thing don't go back to your full prescribed dose after tapering off for a while, just go back up to the next step as it were.

I wish you all the very best and hope you beat your dependency.

Hiya, you are welcome, its not easy on your own. Yes aches and pains are normal. Regarding tapering you just want to try and avoid the full blown withdrawal, only you will know how much is right for you but as long as you are moving in the right direction. I don't have any personal experience with subutex, the switch terrifies me, so always preferred stepping down a standard opiate. If you start feeling uncomfortable maybe go back up by half what you reduced by, I'm just not sure how bigger step 1mg is unfortunately. But at 10% i am guessing it will be ok. But bare in mind its all about percentages, you will be able to take larger steps to begin with but as you reach lower levels you may find that the step between say 2mg and 1mg too much being a 50% drop. Do you have anything else to help with the arthritis? If you don't mind me asking, which country are you in (or time zone would do) ? I am in the UK. I have this thread marked so will do my best to reply quickly but its just my phone so data isn't on all the time.

Hi sherry49203, I am also tapering from Oxycontin, I work full time so need to be able to function at the same time. I have gone down from 350-400mg per day for over the past few years to now being on 180mg per day. I am only 5ft 2 and 7 stone, so it was a lot for my body. However even at 400mg a day I didn't feel as if it was enough. It has taken me 4 month to get here and I have had so many days where I have slipped and took more than I'm suppose to. I have 2 chronic pain diseases and require surgery under general anaesthetic every 6-8 weeks. So it is very hard to stop completely. However I am trying. I hate that they rule my life. I can't go more than 3 hours without craving them. I'm doing a lot of yoga and meditation which has really helped. Every time I feel really anxious I either do 10-30 mins of yoga, or meditate for just 5 minutes sometimes. But I still get the cravings and the aches and pains. I also get really depressed and anxious.

I used to be prescribed Tramadol and managed to stop that cold turkey when I fell pregnant after taking it for 5 years. It was hellish for about a month and then I just felt fine. I don't think theres any chance I could do that now. The best incentive for m before was being pregnant, but right now I don't really have as much incentives. 

But as you cut down its all worth it because you feel such a weight has been lifted. It gives you motivation o keep going. I also find that keeping an hourly diary helps. I write up what I've taken and how I feel every hour. Even just a few words like, feeling v. depressed or not as sweaty as normal. It sounds stupid but it helps to look back on and see how far you've come. 

I am more than happy to message and see how you are getting on. I am finding some days extremely difficult just now. I am in hospital for surgery tomorrow. I'll be back out on Wednesday. Keep going with it and I'll try and help if I can. 

Take care.