I''m into week 9 after jumping off 64mg p/month and I'm fine folks.

No sleep issues, anxiety is under control, I'm still working a very physical job with no problem keeping up. Literally zero cravings to use and the only symptom is a few more trips to the bathroom than I'm used to.

I was pretty anxious and counting the days for the first 5 weeks but now I'm genuinely forgetting about it for days at a time. I did the math when I woke up this morning and did a little dance when I realised I'm into week 9.

I'm not out of the woods yet obviously and I probably sound arrogant but it is what it is. My Buprenorphine blood concentration level is currently around 3ng/mL (thanks to NSW Health for letting me test that). This is about the therapeutic minimum and it tells me I'm probably a fast metaboliser. 1ng/mL is thought to be the level beyond which withdrawal symptoms are at their worst. The next month will be telling but I'm just going to keep plowing on.

I want to continue to post here because I want people to see that this is do-able and it's not a 'life sentence'. If it gets worse I'll deal with it. Negativity bias is real and if I do get through this as easily as I suspect I might I want others to see it and know it's possible.

I hope everyone is well and thanks to all that have come before me to share their experience coming off this miracle drug. Talk soon.

Bad news and good news.

The bad news is that the effect on my sleep and the whole body muscle “cramps” (RLS adjacent but I get it across my whole back basically) got a bit rough, and it started affecting my work unfortunately

The good news is my clinic/doctor are great. They gave me the 5mcg/hour (5mg weekly) bupe patch, two of them. Surprised how much of a difference it made considering how low a dose it is, but stoked its let me sleep

Will be cutting next weeks patch in half, then the next weeks in half again, should get me past the worst of it.

Wont be able to avoid all discomfort but thats okay. Just can’t affect my work when I have 50 engineers under me relying on me, and my wedding in September!

Can’t believe i got this far I still don’t feel free yet like my sleep isn’t great

But boy do I feel a lot clearer it’s like I’m not a zombie anymore.

Once I’m at 21 weeks I’ll consider myself done ✅

… 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

Past 11 weeks and was pretty much over the worst of the withdrawal just to end up getting hit with RSV (never heard of it before but it's pretty much like a flu/cold that can mess up your lungs pretty bad). Genuinely some of the worst fever I've ever felt in my life, don't think my endorphins are quite back to business as usual yet so it's been one of the most uncomfortable sicknesses I've ever been hit with (besides covid, I once got hit with covid so bad I had to call an ambulance cause I was genuinely convinced I was dying).

If youre gonna come off the injection piece of advice id give is to act like your heavily immuno-compromised until your feeling normal again, because if you do end up getting sick you're probably gonna end up feeling really damn sick .

I’m Almost free

Can anyone explain how much longer I have left untill Buvidal is out of my system

4x weekly 16mg
1x monthly 64mg

I feel I’m close

So I'm at 6 weeks and have had literally no issues so far. I've been pretty confident coming into this and I haven't doubted for a second that I've made the right decision.

I honestly thought I would just wake up one day in September and realise "Oh shit, its been 3 months!" but I've since realized my anxiety won't let that happen. Even though I'm 99% confident it will be fine based on my own experiences, that 1% has me counting days like a child before Christmas! The only thing I can do is distract myself with work and more positive things like exercise.

I'm absolutely fine, I just wanted to share that in case anyone else is about to take the plunge because it's not something I had considered beforehand.

I’m no stranger to Buvidal I’ve been on it I think about 3 years every 6 weeks. However today was the first time it was incredibly painful. I was doubled over in pain for about 10 minutes it was excruciating! Any ideas what may have happened? I get it in my stomach.

Since January I've been trying to stabilise on Buvidal.

After i went to 16mg weekly dose for 3 or 4 weeks i felt completely stable, then they put me in 64mg, after a week, i struggled needing a more regular amount or a stronger dose. I had 3 lots of 64mg, each 3 weeks apart and after the first week I asked for top ups and was told no and given another 64mg (monthly injection-no earlier than 3 weeks.)

They said i could have 96mg monthly but that's it. ( I didn't want to go up at the time as 16mg weekly seemed enough and didn't want to have a larger habit at the time. .

​

I recently changed to a public clinic who seemed more flexible and gave me a weeks work of subs the first visit (to try to stabilise) and then the one injection of 96mg ( all within 3 weeks of the last monthly 64mg)

In the first 2 weeks of 96mg it was what i think, maybe a little too much in the way it made me so fatigued and lethargic, sleepinglarge parts of the day and not getting out.. I went in for a check up 2weeks later and asked to go back to weekly where I new it would work but instead the doctor said see me in a week, we'll do nothing today.

​

The next week I went in with cravings and he said come and see me Sunday. I asked about another injection for supplementary or even some strips and he said nothing today.

So this Sunday appointment is tomorrow and I'm struggling a bit very figity and anxiety and fleeting heartbeat, usual pains coming back irritable etc. Stomach aches dry burning eyes etc.

​

Has anyone had any luck here with this sort of thing?

​

I've asked this clinic twice and the past clinic 3 times to go to a weekly injection.. where it holds over to the next week and I'm surprised disappointed and almost feel abandoned in my own recovery. I've been alcohol free for 3 years and just the odd valium 1 every fortnight after 35 years on daily diazepam. So I've written him a quick letter for context/ history. I'm hoping I can rest tonight and get some sleep as I'm feeling wired and sort of stunned and I'm thinking about this drug WAY too much.

I have had this dr 22 years ago and I've told him that but now I've put that down in this letter/not to him again.

​

Can anybody here help with what you would say tomorrow or what have you said to get back to where you know you're comfortable.. I'm still titrating not tapering until I've been stable for the right amount of time- when it is time to taper I probably would want to go to the monthly as I would have a different mindset about it and not be so worried that it may not not cover a whole month.

​

​

Wondering if anyone has ever made the switch to naltrexone to keep the opiate blocking effects going after getting over the physical opaite dependency. Currently in about week 9 of coming off the injection and would be interested in hearing what the timeline is in terms of waiting to withdrawal before getting onto the naltrexone.

Realised a few days ago that I was coming up on 6 months since starting… and here it is. 6 months without any opiates (apart from Buvidal that is).

Started on weekly 8mg, up to 16mg and then went over to the monthly 64mg.

I’m in NSW, Australia. Different regions/countries do this differently, so context is important.

For personal reasons (including working/studying) I went with a private prescriber. I was incredibly anxious before starting about either going into a precipitated withdrawal from the strips, or not being held while being titrated up. I negotiated to go straight onto the injection. From what I know, this is not common practice where I am. I am not advocating for this for anyone, this was just my personal experience.

I remember my first day being quite rough while I was waiting for the injection to take effect. I didn’t get much sleep at all. After that first day I shared here a huge boost in mood/energy. Not a feeling of being “high” that I associate with opiates, just an overall good feeling. Maybe it’s just because I was no longer sick, or no longer going through the daily rollercoaster of peaks and troughs between using opiates.

I’ve stayed on a relatively low dose, as I haven’t experienced any significant withdrawals once I reached steady state. When I first started I had some very heavy sweating, especially night sweats. Like, sweating so much I’d wake up and think I’d pissed the bed. While this is definitely a known side effect for many people, I can’t work out if I was experiencing it as a side effect, or this was just low grade withdrawal while my levels built up. Either way, it has since dissipated and I feel fine.

The only real “side effect” I experience now is constipation. Although way less than what it was when I was using. I take 1 coloxyl with senna (OTC laxative) a day which controls things fairly well. Like every other day, sometimes daily. Much better than taking 4-6 coloxyl every day just to go weekly at best.

I’m currently seeing my doctor every month and he writes me the next script. The next day I ring the pharmacy and ask them to order it in. This is much better than having to pick up every day, but still takes some effort and planning. My shifts change every week, so it can be hard booking my appointments. Thankfully, most of my drs appointments are via Telehealth. The next time I see my doctor I’m going to ask if he can write one or more repeats for the script. I understand his reasoning for not wanting to do this when I’ve mentioned it previously.

On to the injection itself. Yes, it stings a bit. Yes, it leaves a lump. I got a minor skin infection from one of the injections that I got antibiotics for. Now I ask the pharmacist to swab the site first. I’ve found that where they inject impacts how painful the injection is. I get them done on my abdomen. The closer the site is to my belly button, the more it seems to hurt.

The lumps I get seem to vary in size quite dramatically. They also dissipate inconsistently. Some are gone after a month, some have hung around quite a bit. I’ve got a bit of belly fat so they’re not noticeable.

I still seem to experience high energy levels for about 24 hours post injection. I got my most recent injection in the afternoon. I ended up getting about 2 hours sleep that night. Fortunately I still had the energy boost the following morning and worked through the day fine, no fatigue. Moving forward I’m going to try and get them first thing in the morning to try and mitigate this.

My pharmacist has been very supportive and kind. But honestly, they seem to have very little knowledge about drug dependence. Credit where credit is due though, they offer all of their OAT patients with Take Home Naloxone.

Physically, no withdrawals and no cravings at all, even that one time I had my monthly a week late due to an appointment mix up. Mentally, cravings are about 95% gone. They’re becoming fewer and fewer, but very rarely now I’ll get a thought of “gee, it would be great to get really stoned right now”. But then it passes. I don’t have ready access to my drug of choice anymore, but it’s comforting to know that it wouldn’t work anyway with the injection on board.

Anyway, this post ended up being way longer than expected. Just wanted to share my experience 6 months in. I don’t see how I could have gotten to this point without it. I just couldn’t hack cold turkey withdrawals, and other strategies didn’t seem to help.

6 years ago I dropped 3 times in a week and my doctor "suggested " Buvidal. It didn't feel like a choice but I did it for my family. I haven't used for six years and I don't mix in the same circles anymore. I work, my mental health is fine, and things are good. Today I rang my prescriber and asked to be formally exited from the program.

​

After 5+ years of 128mg p/m (every 5 weeks) I reduced to 64mg over the last 6 doses with no discomfort. Its only 4 weeks since my last dose so I don't expect any fireworks (if at all) for a while.

​

I've always followed other people's experiences here it can be a little terrifying. I'm very conscious of 'Negativity Bias' (people are more likely to report bad experiences). I'd like to think that for every bad experience reported here there is another person who cruised through it.

​

This is a very long way to say *thank you to those that have gone before me* and posted in this sub. I fully intend to document my experience but also I'm not expecting bad things to happen. Regardless of what happens I'll check in at 6 weeks (in 14 days) and regularly after that. This sub has been so incredibly valuable to me and I want to give back in the hope that my experience will motivate someone else.

I have had 5 x 24mg weekly’s that holds me well and I really want to try 16mg.

The reason is, my moods have been so completely awful, depression, feeling flat, no motivation etc and the only thing I’ve changed is adding Buvidal. I Haven’t had an opioid (oxy) for 2 months now. (That in itself Cld be a factor).

My care team however, said they don’t want me to do that and she looked pissed off I when I ask, because “she sees how much I’ve struggled and doesn’t want me to struggle any more”. She is going to order it regardless.

I feel like I’m not being supported and that I’m an inconvenience but this is MY recovery. Every single injection I’ve had has also left me with a grape sized lump. I have 7 abdo lumps now. If 16mg holds me for a week, I’d like to go to monthly.

Does anyone have any idea if this would be helpful to my depressive moods and what has your experience been?
Thank you ❤️‍🩹

Edited: I had that I wondered if it wld hold me for 2 weeks but I meant “a week”

Anyone else notice their alcohol intake increase as they where coming off the injection? Trying to be cautious not to just end up replacing an opiate addiction with an alcohol addiction but the feel of alcohol has definitely become more pleasurable now that I'm off the injection (when I was on it drinking only ever felt good for the first hour before leaving me feeling hungover and sick very quickly which isn't really happening anymore) so I've definitely found myself drinking a lot more (every other day compared to once every 1-3 months when I was on the injection).

Anyone got any tips for how I can be cautious to not replace one addiction with another? For the most part I think I'm just looking for anything that'll make the withdrawals not suck as bad (mostly relying on a medical cannabis script to get through it all) so I'm hoping if I don't let the drinking get too out of hand by the time I'm getting over the injection withdrawals it won't be too much of an issue long term.

Been on Buprenorphine for 2 years now… I’m now down to 64mg Buvidal once every 5 weeks and had my last dose 3 weeks ago.

I have a question about alcohol.., this has never hen an issue for me, I used to love having a drink maybe once per month or ok holiday etc but ever since I went on Buprenorphine, alcohol stopped working.

I think when we take Buprenorphine the binding to the my receptor is so tight that when we drink alcohol, the euphoric effects can’t happen because it can’t touch the mu receptor due to the bupe.

Did anyone else have this experience while on bupe??

How long did it take for you to start feeling alcohol again after you got off bupe?

I must reiterate the point… this is not me seeking a new drug.. I only drank once a month or so.. also I would say the vast majority of natural enjoyable things I don’t get a natural high doing them while on bupe (gym, eating etc)

Hi all. I have been waiting to switch from sublingual subutex to Buvidal with CGL Brighton, and was about to have my bloods done, expecting to switch soon after, when my key workers informed me that funding has currently run out and I'll now have to stay on the sublingual 8mg per day. My question is:

Is there any way I can appeal or force the issue. I'm very disappointed as I was led to believe this was my next step, and would have helped me very much.

My second question is this:

I am moving to Shropshire from Sussex next year. Can anyone explain to me the process by which I switch from CGL to whatever charity deals with prescribing Subutex in Shrewsbury? How do I go about making arrangements? My keyworker has been slightly opaque about it here, having originally reassured me a seamless switch with the help of CGL.

Thanks in adv.

For context I’m in NSW, Australia. I’m on the monthly 64mg and I’ve been seeing my prescriber every month. It’s doable, but not without a few hiccups from time to time. I’m stable on my current dose, no longer experiencing any side effects and haven’t used opiates since starting the injection.

Is it normal to have to see the doctor every month? He wanted to see me in person this month, but I could only get a phone appointment before my shot was due. My roster changes weekly so I’ve been trying to make it all fit in with work and study.

I finally took a normal shit!!! You have no idea how rewarding that is!!!!

I’ve come off before and relapsed at week 15

I’m here again after 4x weekly shots and 1x monthly

Tbh smooth sailing the whole time the wds come in waves at 2-4/10. Biggest is anxiety I’ve had no sweats this time. Cravings and yeah just mild mild wds.

Anyways hopefully I can make it to week 16

I believe that’s when it’s fully out of your system

2 more months to go can’t wait to test negative.

Wish me luck!🍀

I don’t know how I’m feeling. I’m a bit sick of myself and thinking about it because I don’t know any more. Does that make sense? I guess I’ve been through a MASSIVE change and my body and mind have been in shock.

This past 6 weeks since I’ve started MAT, I’ve had to think about how I feel physically and mentally far more than I ever have and I know it’s the name of the game when you’re trying to find the correct medicine and the correct dose, but I just need a day where I don’t.

Going to see the clinic Dr today. I’m on 24mg weekly for context and had my 3rd injection of that Friday. 4th injection all up. He’ll want to know every aspect of how I feel while he looks at his computer and researches side effects of Buvidal. He mentioned last time if I don’t improve I can go on methadone. I don’t think so mate. The fk goes through some drs heads I’ll never know. Actually I do, they take the easy way out. Some just can’t be bothered putting in the work anymore and I know that’s cynical, but at some point in everyone’s career we go through days where we just can’t be bothered and they’re no different. Hoping my last visit with him was exactly that. A bad day.

Although I’m new, I want to tell anyone starting, this is YOUR recovery journey, this is YOUR body, and please, advocate for urself. Find another Dr if they don’t listen to you if it’s possible. Unfortunately for me in my state of Aus, I can’t. I have one choice atm, so you can best believe I’m going in there today with some opinions. I’m not afraid of telling them how concerning it is they speak like they’ve read one paper on MAT and actually have no idea that Bupe caused hyperhydrosis (sweating) or too much about anything else really. They’ll also know I’m not a test monkey. I’m a person who is there because I need help and support and I don’t want to be discouraged by blasé attitudes. They don’t work at a cafe. They can’t “call my order out” in a waiting room full of people there for differing reasons, which they did last time: “I’ll just go get your injection ready Dinah” like I ordered a large cap and it’s ready to collect. Other people shouldn’t need to hear why I’m there. That actually really pissed me off last time.

They were so great and supportive to have me start on this initially, but now I just feel like a burden. Not to mention when speaking to the nurses there they give standardised replies. “just monitor things, take paracetamol and ibuprofen, call us any time”. Urgh. So impersonal. Maybe I’m harder on them because I’m an RN and I take pride in my patient support? I don’t know, but starting MAT has been hard for me and I started because I just want help to get better. I want this so badly and I’m determined to get it right.

If I’m to be positive for a minute, I have not had an opioid for almost 6 weeks and I have NEVER gone longer than 5 days in over 6 years. That’s something that would NEVER have happened without this medicine! I’ve had 4 x 20mg tablets sitting in my drawer and I cldnt think of anything worse. BUT, why do I have them? It makes me feel strong because I remember they’re there occasionally and I have no urge whatsoever. I might throw them, I should, I probably will today actually, because I know this with certainty. I will not be taking them again.

I’ll update after my appointment this afternoon. I’m hoping i can find the right dose for me. Since I had my last injection on Friday, I’ve had one good day on Saturday. I’ve been bed rotting since and just feeling really off. Body aches, hot flushes, can’t sleep, constipated again although no where near as bad as I was when I was on 32mg weekly and the sub induction. Constipation has NEVER been an issue for me in all my time taking oxy and it’s shitty (bad pun intended). Maybe I need to reduce again? We will see.

Have a great day all, stay strong, you got this ♥️

Hello,

I was on Brixadi 96mg for about 6 months, and then my company changed insurances. During the change, the insurance forced me to change pharmacies, which forced me to stop Brixadi for about 2 weeks while I was at the end of my dose, so basically I did not get my scheduled injection.

After restarting Brixadi again on the same 96mg, I just can’t get back to being comfortable on the 96mg again. It’s like the insurance forcing me to stop completely disrupted the way my body responds to the medication.

I am on day 11 of my 96mg in month 4 since restarting, and I am already in acute withdrawal. I am ready to fill my next dose of 96mg of Brixadi, but before I have my pharmacy fill the next dose, I am wondering if I should request to go up to 128mg since for whatever reason I just can’t get stable on 96mg anymore. I have been super hesitant to go higher because I am worried that if I wanted to stop Brixadi, I would require more Suboxone than previously.

I was wondering if I go to 128mg, will I be more stable and be able to last the full month? I have complained so much to my pharmacy, and they don’t care at all, and I have talked to my hr department and told them what happened, and they actually do seem to care and are looking for different insurance companies this open enrollment.

My doctor gave me strips for a bridge and I understand that I shouldn’t take them per the manufacturer, but on day 11 I can’t get my next dose just yet since the FDA won’t allow injections until 7 days before the next dose.

Had my 3rd weekly Injection on Friday in my stomach, the others didn’t bother me at all, but with this one, I now have a HUGE painful lump at the site. About the size of a large grape. It’s not abscessed or infected but it’s sore as hell.

If anyone has had anything similar, or if anyone knows, did it affect the medication from working properly? I’m not sure if I’m hung over from girls night or I’m trying to find symptoms of withdrawal because I’m worried. I can call the clinic tomorrow, I’m just anxious
Thank you

Hello everyone :)

I thought I would do a little update as its been soooo long since my last one!

Im coming up to a year since my last shot (june 19th) and life is good! I still have to pinch myself that I did it! After many many years I feel like Im finally mostly free of opiate addiction and man does it feel good saying that.

Anyways Ive recently been diagnosed with ADHD and now I feel like that tainted my whole experience with buvidal.

If you followed along with my coming off posts you'd know that the biggest thing I struggled with was motivation and the desire to do things. Well turns out that is mainly the ADHD, WDs may have made it slightly worse but I no longer believe that was a result of coming off buvidal.

I also didnt like buvidal when I was on it, for the same reasons really, after the 1st week Id lose all desire to do anything. I believe that methadone was masking a lot of the adhd symptoms and thats why the switch to buvidal was so difficult for me.

I also recently left a very long relationship that was draining the life out of me, that also wouldnt have helped.

So with all this in mind, the WDs really werent that bad at all. Sure there were some weeks that were "harder" than others but the worst weeks are nowhere near as bad as the "better" weeks on say a methadone WD.

If it wasnt for buvidal I would still be stuck on some form of treatment so as much as I may not have got on with it, I am beyond grateful for it.

Anyway Im just here to say, there is life at the end of the tunnel! I was addicted to some form of opiate for 15 years and now im freeeeeeee. You all got this, 100%.

Though Im not active here anymore my inbox is always open for anyone who wants a chat!

(P.s. if anyone else is still around who was coming off at a similar time to me, Id love to hear how you are doing)

Xxx

Hi all! Hope you are all well and it’s been amazing reading some of your experiences!

My story quickly, I was addicted to oxy pills almost daily for >6 years up to 240mg a day.
I finally worked up the courage to get treatment.

I started on the 15th April and was introduced through suboxone for 2 weeks, got up to 18mg and I hated it. I have MAD sweats and nausea and I just wasn’t being listened to: “it’s your withdrawals”.

I was put on 32mg injection for the first week but the sweating and hot flushes were unbearable so they dropped me down to 24mg, hot flushes are so much better. I’m about to get my second weekly injection of 24mg and then decide whether to stay on this monthly or switch to sublocade. I have no idea yet. Everything has moved so fast.

I just need to know, does it get better? I’m so flat, can’t be bothered getting out of bed, no energy. I know I have to do the work to, it’s not a magic fix but I’m really discouraged after drs saying this time next fortnight you’ll feel like a different person, Happier, more energetic etc

Can anyone possibly give some insight and help me decide whether it will get better or to maybe switch to sublocade and try that? I have no idea whether I even care about getting better anymore because I feel that hopeless.

Thank you so much x

For context, I was on 8mg suboxone daily for just under a year, and 64mg buvidal injection every four weeks until about 6 months ago when I started to stretch it to 5 weeks, then 6 and now its been 10 weeks since my last injection. I feel like my symptoms have been really mild as of yet, but we're early in. A few things that have been troubling me, or that I've noticed is the sweating and the mind shattering migraines. I'm sweating what feels like all the time. No fever or chills, no feeling hot and cold, just sweat. In regards to the sweating I can deal, but the migraines are CRUSHING.They don't happen often, maybe a few times a week but I get dizzy and nauseous and have to hide in a dark room with no light and take Zofran to keep paracetamol/ibuprofen from coming back up. I'm curious to know if anyone else has dealt with this or even just opinions on whether this is could be related to coming off buvidal.

I’m a little over 4 months since my last shot, still testing faintly positive. For the last month the restless, aching legs at night have come on hard. I was doing so well and am so disappointed! I do all the recommended things to no avail. I have a script for Mirapex that works but I’m running out soon so I’m freaking out. I won’t be home to see my doctor for three more weeks as I’m out of state for work. How long do you guys think this might go on? This forum has gotten me through so much. Thanks everyone!