Buprenorphine, alprazolam not helping withdrawals?

[KaLiShNiKoF]

2mg of Xanax daily, plus 4mg of Suboxone daily, not really helping SWIM
SWIM smokes about a Gram of kush or .5 gram of Hashish daily aslo to help cope with pain of withdrawal. days are not all that great, thoughts of relapse are very, very tempting. ANY ADVICE? any? PLEASE, SWIM knows there are some wise one's out there. What should SWIM do? Increase Suboxone dose, and try to take aplrazolam at a later time? i just don't know. Any advise would help.

PLEASE!!!! i need help ASAP

[rokman nash]

When did swim begin the sub? Where were was swim at dosage wise before starting sub?

ROC

[KaLiShNiKoF]

SWIM has take suboxone off and on for about a year and 8 months, but has been consistent for about 3 months now and does not want to ruin this. but SWIM just built up enough money to buy a bundle.. and is very tempted. At one point was using about .4/.5 grams of heroin daily/ along with a high dose of 160mg-180mg of Oxycontin. Very confused now and does not know what to do. any advise would help. THANKS

[rokman nash]

oxy also daily?
ROC

[rokman nash]

Look either shit or get off the pot. You either want to be free our you dont.It is a concience choice to use or not. I want to get high but i dont because i made a personal choice to do this.Follow your proram and don't worry about getting a bundle. Get with your life opiate free.

ROC do the day orhe day will do you

[teddybearpicnics]

Hey why is this not helping with the withdraws? Wondering if you are just mentally craving, or if it's physical too? The combo should be helping you out amazingly. 2 mg is a bar right? That in itself should help with withdraws...

Increase the dosage of suboxone if it's not helping, to about 8-12 mg's...when swims usage was very high :around 8 bags a day: he needed 12 mg's to feel good on the first day...check around the forum for a taper chart. Swims personal one is this...

Day 1: 12 mg's
Day 2: 6 mg's
Day 3: 8 mg's
Day 4: 4 mg's
Day 5: 6 mg's
Day 6-whenever: 2-4, sometimes 6 if he feels like shit.

This has always worked for swim because of the long half life, on day 2 you still have over 6 mg's still in your system. Not going to explain it you probably already know.

If swiy does buy the bundle, make sure you have waited long enough for the receptors to clear, blowing all that money for nothing well definitly set you on a road of destruction.

All swim knows is if he always had kush, hash, and a xanax bar, he wouldn't really be thinking about dope until he was so fucked up he would be like man if I did a bag I'd be unstoppable.

.teddy

[moda00]

Hmm, I'd say it's difficult to separate out what is withdrawals and what is other issues- not questioning swiy's judgment, just my thoughts. As teddy asks, are the symptoms mainly the continued cravings to use, or are there other physical and/or mental effects? Is swiy on alprazolam for a specific diagnosis, or to help with opiate withdrawals? And is he trying to do a long term bup maintenance program, or taper off? More info would help.

Some effects that can seem like withdrawals are underlying mental health issues (anxiety etc.) that comes out when one stops using. Sometimes it is simply situational anxiety, caused by the changes and challenges of stopping one's use, which is also understandable. It is also very possible that the dose is simply not enough, as 4 mg is on the lower end of the range of doses given in such a situation (generally 2-40 mg/day). However, swim can imagine it may be hard to tell what is caused by what, given the multiple substances being ingested daily.

Swim thinks one can be in recovery from an opiate addiction and still choose to use marijuana or psychedelics in some cases, but she highly recommends to anyone that they stop all other substance use for at least a period of time when getting into recovery, to allow the body to stabilize and get used to the changes that come along with. That way, swiy can narrow it down and get stabilized on the suboxone without any confounding effects from other things.

Also, in terms of the cravings, this can definitely be a sign that one is not on a sufficient dose, and something that can accompany other opiate withdrawal signs, but it can also be induced or worsened by environmental factors- have you ever seen those colored brain scans that show the changes in an addict's brain when they are shown a photo of something related to their use- a spoon, a particular street or corner, whatever? It is very telling. If swiy is still around illegal drugs, using friends, "places, people, and things" associated with using, this does affect the neurochemistry of the brain and causes changes in the reward centers of the brain which trigger a craving- so along with the pharmacological intervention of the suboxone, one has to make changes in their habits and surroundings. Best of luck, and let us know more details if you like.