DOSE:			Pharms - Buprenorphine
			Naloxone

BODY WEIGHT:

170 lb

Throughout my 20s, I dabbled in opiates. I used oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, kratom, and other pharmaceuticals occasionally on the weekend for a little fun for over a decade, never experiencing what I now know to be the physical withdrawal that accompanies true opiate addiction.

In 2016, that all changed. Fentanyl became readily available online. Unlike other pharmaceutical opiates, which are incredibly costly—this stuff was cheap. Too cheap. In short time, I became physically dependent, using nearly 50mg of powder per day at my peak (this is incredibly dangerous, don’t do it). My tolerance to all other opiates skyrocketed. I never touched heroin, but could eat handfuls of oxycodone and still not feel “normal”. My body craved fentanyl. I would wake up multiple times at night, drenched in sweat, just to snort a little fentanyl to feel “OK”. This addiction lasted around 6 months, during which I tried to quit twice cold turkey, but the withdrawals were unbearable and I always went back to the fentanyl.

Then I tried suboxone. I had read both good and bad online. I did my research and read that a quick taper with (relatively) low doses of suboxone could help me quit the fentanyl with a little less pain. I purchased 4 x 8mg strips and used them as follows over the course of 10 days:

Day 1: 8mg
D2: 4mg
D3: 4mg
D4: 2mg
D5: 1mg
D6: 3mg (I slipped, couldn’t sleep and took an extra 2mg)
D7: 1mg
D8: 1mg
D9: 0.5mg
D10: 0.5mg
D11: 0.5mg
D12: 0mg

The first two days were spent in bed, though I was nowhere near as uncomfortable as my previous attempts at quitting. The remainder of the taper, I was able to work and function as a human being.

I was told I might experience withdrawal symptoms from the suboxone several days after quitting due to its long half life, but I am now two weeks past my last 0.5mg and haven’t had any physical withdrawal symptoms, other than a bit of lethargy.

Of course, I am now again experiencing the world as a human, free of opiate, and it can be intense, especially emotionally, but I am so incredibly happy to be clean. Suboxone may have saved me.

Fentanyl, never again.

Exp Year: 2016	ExpID: 109421
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 31
Published: Oct 26, 2016	Views: 2,216
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Pharms - Buprenorphine (265) : General (1), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Addiction & Habituation (10), Not Applicable (38)