First night on Buprenorphine

[Anthas]

So today I took 0.2 mg of Buprenorphine, thinking it was better to start low.

The effect was incredible. My legs didn't move at all. In fact, the effect was so effective that I even got scared. My body was so relaxed. I got a little anxious that I may not wake up if I felt sleep. I layed there amazed by the weird feeling, it was a pleasureable feeling, but being weird it felt scary. I asked my wife to check on me for a moment when I felt sleep to see everything was ok. Knowing that she was watching I could let myself go and felt sleep.

My sleep tracker definetely felt it, best sleep score I ever had. Strangely my breath rate was a little high (14 from my average of 12, nothing major) and my HRV was the lowest ever at 40. And all of this at only 0.2mg!

It's the first night, so I'll have to wait. I have mixed feelings. Kind of scared for tonight because of the little bit of anxiety I got yesterday, but also full of hope that at such a low dose I had so amazing results.

I also read that anxiety could be one of it's side effects... maybe it's just that, I don't know.

Anyway, I'll keep you guys posted.

Again, thanks for all the help!

[SueJohnson]

That's great! Enjoy! 😀Yes anxiety and increased breath rate are common side effects. Joolsg found taking 25 mg of pregabalin took care of the anxiety. I would keep checking your breath rate to make sure it doesn't increase further.

[Joolsg]

I'm delighted for you. Hopefully, we can build the anecdotal evidence on here of how brilliantly Buprenorphine works for so many of us. That's exactly how I reacted. I still do. It is absolutely miraculous.I woke up after 8 hours sleep. But with severe nausea. I used cannabis to settle the nausea.

The anxiety/panic started after 3 weeks & I started 50mg pregabalin to settle that. It worked in 2 days. I then reduced to 25mg and stayed on that.

Buprenorphine can cause raised heart rate as well, but I've had ECG etc, and it's all fine. It also caused head sweats 2 or 3 times a day, but I'm used to them now.

[Sylviet in reply to Joolsg]

Isn’t buprenorphine a narcotic? Isn’t that a little dangerous?

[SleepDepriv3d in reply to Sylviet]

I think not sleeping for days, weeks, months, years on end is a lot more dangerous than a little opioid

[Jumpey]

I'm delighted it worked.

[Bernaldi]

I think you may have reacted to the feeling of falling asleep quickly, which is something I have also reacted to, because we are used to having to fight to get to sleep. Once you realize it's "just sleep" and you're not dying, you'll relax and enjoy.

[Anthas]

Just, an update. Yesterday I took only half of a 0.2 mg pill and still the night was smooth as ever. Are there buprenorphine pills smaller than 0.2mg?

[LotteM]

Hi Anthas, wonderful news. And, it is as if you’re recounting my story. I did well on 0.2mg, reduced to 0.1mg after a few nights (I always strive for the lowest effective dose), but after I think a week or two I had to revert back to the 0.2mg. I remained on that for more than 2 years, no further increase needed. I only switched to 5mcg/h 7d patch because I experienced mini-withdrawal in the morning and well into the day. It took me a while to realise that and I can’t remember whether I had that from the start. I think it developed after some time.

Hopefully you won’t get any side effects.

The 0.2mg is the smalles pill size. They are easily cut into two (I have a pill cutter provided by my pharmacy), and even split the pills i to quarter for a while. The only thing is that you get less exact doses when you split the pills.

Enjoy you calm and sleep!

[SleepDepriv3d in reply to LotteM]

This is interesting! My first night taking it, I took just over 1mg and ended up getting so sick. When I woke up I had horrible restless legs and I thought it was strange. The next night I took 0.5mg at night, and when I woke up with restless legs again, I took another 0.5mg and it completely got rid of the symptoms. I must have been experiencing a mini withdrawal in the morning and I get better coverage by splitting the dose rather than taking it all at the same time.

[Anthas]

Thanks! I'll give it a try... So you think that I'll end up having to up the dose too? How were those mini withdrawls?

[LotteM in reply to Anthas]

Maybe. Maybe not. We are all different. Most people actually need higher doses, 0.4mg and up.

My mini-withdrawal manifested as a general feeling of unwell, like a flu, combined with a general restlessness and RLS-like symptoms in various parts of my body, but mostly upper body. It resolved quickly if I took an extra pill (0.2mg). Or even half a pill. But it would return after several hours.

[SleepDepriv3d]

Did you mention your HRV thinking that low was good? Just curious as it’s actually the other way around. You want your HRV to be high, lower HRV is related to more health problems. There is a bit of a genetic component, but just thought I’d mention that if your HRV is usually high, and then you noticed it get lower, it’s not necessarily a good thing. Apologies if I misunderstood your post!

[amrob123 in reply to SleepDepriv3d]

Yes, I noted that too. And even though devices such as Fitbit aren't all that accurate when it comes to HRV, they can reveal trends which may be helpful to be aware of.