DOSE:	50 mg	oral	Naltrexone
			Pharms - Clonidine
			Pharms - Diazepam
			2-Fluoroamphetamine
			Pharms - Clonazepam
			Pharms - Sertraline
			Amphetamines

BODY WEIGHT:

170 lb

Detoxing Off of Suboxone With Naltrexone

I had been on Suboxone 12-16 mg for the last three years and one day (I had been thinking about it) I decided to do a rapid naltrexone detox as I was starting a new job in 4 weeks and wanted to be up to par. First I tapered down to 8 mg over 2 weeks which was not hard. Then Detox day arrived, so I pre-medicated with 0.3mg Clonidine, put on a 0.1mg Clonidine patch, and took the 2 Naprosyns, 6 10mg valium (60 mg as I also was on 3 mg Clonazepam per day for panic attacks by my doctor which is the equivalent of 3 Clonazpams). I also took 100 mg Seroquel to deal with any psychotic episodes that can occur when you do this and to sedate me as well. An hour later when I felt the meds and was sure all the drugs were in my system I went for it and took the 50mg Naltrexone. I had taken 8 mg Suboxone earlier in the day as well. Surprisingly it did not go as badly as I thought.

After about 15 minutes I felt this weird anxious feeling in my stomach and then started to get hot and cold. I asked my partner for another couple Valiums, and 0.1 mg of Clonidine. Now remember I have a great tolerance to Benzos so I do not recommend these dosages to anybody.

Well that seemed to work because according to my partner, for the next 6 hours I just slept, tossed and turned fitfully on the couch and then woke up with some minor withdrawals i.e. watery eyes, chills, yawning, sneezing etc. No vomiting or diarrhea took place and as I knew I would have no appetite I had stacked up on Boost High Protein as I know I can only tolerate that when I am kicking. I looked in the mirror and I looked scary, very pale, dark circles and bags under my eyes and just very sick in general. I took a warm shower which felt soooo good, we have a great hot tub outside but it’s the middle of winter and I could barely handle 70 degrees inside. Time for for Clonidine, took 0.2mg by mouth with another two valiums, drank a boost and went back to sleep. The Clonidine lowers your heart rate and blood pressure so every time I took a dose either my partner or I together would check my vital signs. Criteria was Clonidine OK if heart rate above 60/minute and systolic blood pressure (the top number) at least 80.

This routine continued for the next couple days and the extreme fatigue and weakness was helped by my prescription to Dextroamphetamine for my ADHD which I have had since a small child. Yep, I was a ritalin baby. The depression was terrible and the worse thing was how all of the “minor” signs lingered due to the long half life of the suboxone so I made an appt with my psychiatrist, told him I had been depressed and he started me on Zoloft which with the Dextroamphetamine Well, the Zoloft quickly worked wonders.

Within 5 days I was able to do basic chores around the house, feed our 5 chickens, two cats and two dogs, one a 8-week-old Amstaff terrier puppy, mind you this is in 0 degree weather, some snow days. I sort of lived by our fireplace insert in the living room to stave away the chills.

The other symptom I forgot to mention which has lasted the longest is the insomnia. I can fall asleep, usually by 12, am a late person and damn it if every morning I didn’t wake up at 3:00 on the dot for 3 or 4 weeks, then it went to 4'30, but no later, so every day I was lucky to get from 3 to 4.5 hours of sleep for over a month. After awhile I had had enough because in spite of the amphetamines and Zoloft which to me is stimulating, I was getting damn tired so I sent away for 25mg Thorazine (a first generation antipsychotic used for sedation and nausea/vomiting as well), 75mg Sinequan (Doxepin, an old tricyclic antidepressant with potent anxiolytic and hypnotic qualities), and 50 mg Trazodone. I didn’t know which would work the best, but I knew they all could help and when they arrived, my sleeping increased to 6-7 hours and I would rotate the three.

During this time, we are into 5 weeks, I was still taking small amounts of Clonidine, either 0.1 mg or half of a 0.1mg pill twice a day usually due to residual withdrawals, runny nose, watery eyes, stretching and sneezing and it actually helped and I slowly tapered off them letting my body be the guide. I stopped the diazepam after the first week or week and a half and went back to my normal dose of Clonazepam. I also take Depakote ER and Abilify for bipolar illness type 1, and a thyroid pill as I am hypothroid, and never stopped taking those medications.

One big thing I forgot….the first two weeks of Detoxification I took 200 mg Tegretol (generic is Carbamazepine) twice a day to prevent what is called the “kindling” effect in withdrawals which happens in patients with seizures as well. Basically your brain remembers every Detoxification you have ever done and makes each withdrawal that much worse and Tegretol prevents this from happening however there are a lot of drug interactions with it and blood work should be done if on it for awhile so I kept the Tegretol to a minimum of two weeks.

I was fully functional after a week, even though I was still on meds. I am glad I did it this way as I got the worst withdrawals from the Suboxone while in a heavily sedated state with my partner monitoring me and just had to deal with the residual withdrawal effects that come from any Opioid Detoxification, the difference is with Suboxone it lasts about 3-4 weeks instead of 7 days like heroin or oxy, but every day I felt better and better.

It’s been six weeks now, am back on my normal med schedule and just spoke with my psych. Doc about now starting an extremely slow taper from my Clonazepam, driven by my withdrawal symptoms if any; it will be such a slow detoxification and he is so cool he says if you start having withdrawals, stop where you are for a couple weeks, then resume....

If I relapse and start using Opioids again which I know is a huge risk factor for me, I have no problem going back on Suboxone , it will just be a much smaller dose than 12-16 mg, more like 1-2 mg/day but so far so good. Some days I take my Naltrexone without any ill effects, some days I forget but it doesn’t matter as it binds up your opioid receptors much longer than it stays in you system (about a day, up to 4 days for half of your receptors to be clean off a 50mg dose). I am seriously considering low dose naltrexone to build up my endorphin system which is so damaged. I also take 2000 mg D-phenylalanine, not the L or DL, which stops an enzyme that destroys your brain's enkephalines, substances like endorphins. I do know if I do relapse, I must be very careful as I have no tolerance now and could easily OD.

All in all I am glad I did it this way and was fortunate enough to have the right meds and the right access to meds and a wonderful understanding partner who encouraged me through it all and I feel great today, slept 6 hours and am enjoying my second week at my new job. We will see what happens! Good luck to all of you who may try this, and please don’t do this cold turkey, key is LOTS of Clonidine, trade name Catapres, check heart rate and b/p before each dose, and valium's generic name is diazepam or any benzo you can get your hands on, like lorazepam, oxezepam, xanax etc, just don’t stay on it very long, you don’t want a wicked benzo addiction like me! I know for some it is not that easy, at the beginning, very scary, I used lots of clonidine at the beginning and clonidine for a month, small amounts towards the end (tapering) else rebound hypertension (high blood pressure) may occur. I had no vomiting, no diarrhea, no stomach cramps. All the other major opioid withdrawals symptoms were controlled with besides the clonidine, valium and seroquel that first night, with the tegretol first two weeks and I discontinued valium for 1-2 weeks.

The amphetamines prescribed and new Zoloft prescription helped immensely with the lethargy and depression that was out of this world just gone in a few days, and the sleeping adjuncts I finally got from an offshore pharmacy which really helped and are still helping and are non-addictive. Know amphetamines may be hard for some to come by, Ritalin works just as well, and any SSRI antipressant.

Walking is very important to build up your endorphins and keep trying to eat, even when you do not want to. Hope this helps someone. Remember to have a close friend or spouse be with you the first two days as you can be a danger to yourself and or others un-knowningly as you may be so out of it. Good Luck to all you on Sub who want off, it can be done with a little, rather al lot patience and naltrexone, and lots of ancillary medications. Honestly I was only miserable for 2-3 days, rest was uphill!

Exp Year: 2011	ExpID: 89924
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 44
Published: Feb 4, 2016	Views: 8,906
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Naltrexone (338), Pharms - Clonidine (344), Naloxone (339) : Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Addiction & Habituation (10), Alone (16)