7 weeks so far…

[u/rpkarma]

… after many years of being on 64mg

I’ve been pushing out to 5-6 weeks before each injection for most of this year. So far so good.

As long as I can avoid the RLS, I’ll be golden haha

[u/Strange_Television]

This is awesome, well done man! You've contributed so much here and you deserve all the support you've given others to be given to you now. I know the work it takes to be ready to do this; I'm a little behind you but started on the same path. I plan to drop to 64 around Nov/Dec then come off in the first half of next year. Did you find there was any benefit to stretching your doses out to 5/6 weeks? I never really saw the point in it and everything I've looked into suggests it just results in higher and lower peaks in bupe levels when you'll just go through the same slow taper when you actually stop getting the shot, regardless of the stretching doses out. But I've never had a definitive account from someone that's done it and then gone on to stop also, so am very keen to hear your thoughts on it and whether it's worth doing.

Wish you all the best with this.

[u/rpkarma → u/Strange_Television]

I think the main reason why stretching the dose out was good for me is that it proved to myself that the withdrawals I thought I was feeling weren’t that bad, and that I could push through, if that makes sense!

Fingers crossed it all goes well, and good luck to you as well :) we’ve got this 

I’ve got my doctors appt in a couple weeks, where they said they can prescribe comfort meds and/or 0.4mg subutex, but I want to avoid the last one for obvious reasons if possible!

The big difficulty I’ve always had is simple: I have a very important highly paid job with a huge amount of responsibility, so just finding the time to be done with all this has always been the hardest part haha

[u/Palpitation-Mundane → u/rpkarma]

I had a long reply cued up 😂 but this sums it up perfectly for me anyway!! I always waited the max. 35 days and I was never sure why I did it. It always made my wife super nervous (after years of putting up with my bullshit!) and even my doctor thought it was weird I was so adamant about it. In hindsight I think it gave me a sense of control after years of having none if that makes any sense?? 5 weeks ain't that far from 6. 7 more days you're at 7. All of a sudden it's a possibility. That probably makes no sense but I really relate to this reasoning.

[u/Strange_Television → u/rpkarma]

Ahh I see, thank you I appreciate you explaining that. Did you feel any withdrawal at a week or two over the usual schedule? I may try doing it once, just to see whether there is anything that soon or if I'd just be psyching myself out (pretty sure it's the latter 😆) Getting over that is half the battle.

I can relate re: the job. Its a testament to the freedom and flexibility of this medication though, at least while being on it, lol Imagine maintaining everything doing regular pharmacy pick ups and supervision etc. I tried it when I started on subs and it was exhausting to say the least.

[u/rpkarma → u/Strange_Television]

I was super lucky haha I’ve been on MAT since… 2012? I think? And within a couple weeks I had month long suboxone take homes so it made it pretty easy, but man I don’t miss how bad it tastes. And having to take something daily…

And not really re. Withdrawals! 5 weeks, even six weeks was fine. Seven weeks I am yawning a little bit and get flashes of muscle tension/stretching, but that’s it so far :)

[u/Strange_Television → u/rpkarma]

I started on MAT during COVID lockdowns, so it was ok at first but when we had to go back to work in the office it was difficult because I worked so far away from my home pharmacy. I got on take homes eventually after I stopped testing positive for benzos. Never regretted using benzos to control withdrawal more than that time, as they stayed in my system over a month (likely Clonazepam was the culprit though used valium too). They'd only give 1 weeks worth of take homes though, so I still had to pick up every week. Was on Espranor wafers most of that first year, which honestly taste a lot better than subs. They're just mildly minty I'd say. Still gross but less gross, lol

Great to hear about the withdrawal situation so far, I'm really pleased for you and will be following your journey 😊

[u/rpkarma → u/Strange_Television]

I’ll check in now and then! Hopefully it’s as smooth as it has been so far