Author: Almost_done

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:57 am

Note: I cannot yet post URLs, so you’ll have to wait, or enter this into google docs

file/d/0BxSIPgGh3pZPZlNKRV90X2R1dFk/edit

A bit of background on myself:

Was an opiate addict for 3-4 years, after getting my start when my wisdom teeth got yanked. Fell in love. Fast forward 3 years later, having gone through morphine, dillies, heroin, etc, and I’m abusing multiple opanas a day. A little more than a year ago, I got into a program after I left detox around last Thanksgiving (one prior to this). I have been faithfully working this program, attending groups, re-enrolled in school, gym the whole nine yards.

I am now down to .625mg/day, and will be off of the stuff in a matter of weeks at this point, not months. I am excited, and more importantly: ready. That I think is the biggest thing.

What this thread is about though, is a neat little suboxone taper chart. I myself was not the original creator of this chart. I cannot remember where I first found it, perhaps here or another forum. However, it had several issues and if you yourself have been using the unmodified version of this chart, you have been unknowingly using a chart with some issues. The biggest issue that I rectified was that the chart was not cumulative. This means that it was in fact giving you a wrong level of buprenorphine in your blood based solely on the prior days dose, not on a correct cumulative total which would output the new daily total of your blood levels.

SO I took that chart, fixed it up, and here you go. You can extend it for as long as you want and as many days as you’ve been on suboxone, and see EXACTLY how much is maintained in your level each day. You can extend the significant figures and get a more precise amount in your blood stream, how much each drop will affect this level per day, and all that good stuff. In essence, you can use this chart to try and make your taper as smooth as possible.

Obviously we all know you’ve gotta pay the piper at some point, and there is no way around that. This does though make it (seemingly) a bit easier. If nothing else, that mental aspect of "having a plan" and doing everything within your power to ease the transitions might do more than the actual calculations do. That just mental aspect seems to help me a lot.

The one thing with this chart that I have not completed:

IT DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR BIOAVAILABILITY!

We all should know the sublingual BOA of suboxone is around 30-50% depending on conditions; the average is said to be 40%. SO, you must enter that percentage of your daily dose into the chart, NOT the amount you take per day. This means that if you take 8mg, you must multiply that by 0.4 and enter THAT number into the chart. This will give you the correct amount of suboxone in your blood and how much you really get per day with that "dose".

I am willing to answer whatever questions anyone may have regarding this chart, although its pretty self explanatory. On libreoffice/openoffice, the graphic adjusts automatically. I am not sure about microsoft excel.

Best of luck to everyone in their battles.