opinions on tapering plan given by my doctor

[[to...]]

hello everyone.

 

my psychiatrist suggested to me (where i have to withdraw from 10 mg valium--and where i was taking 5 mg. am. and 5 mg p.m. to start taking 2mg 5 times a day in preparation of withdrawal. he wanted me to stay on 10mg a month (i have alrready crossed over from 1mg ativan i was on for 2 1/2 months) then

eliminate on pill so it's 8 and hold for a month

eliminate a pill so it's 6

4

2

0

 

all in all taking 6 months from when i begin.

interested in everyone's opnion on this.

 

i have gotton a lot of good advice from diaz who suggests along with others to titrate and (if i did i'd be using milk) and start at .02 hold for i guess 10 or so maybe two weeks, then go up as i'm able and keep a chart etc.)

 

would it be weird to titrate the 2 mg the doc wants me to remove while taking the other pills, and withdrawing that way,

any thoughts.

 

the books i have read suggest a 10 percent reduction for people who have been on it less than a year for me it was 2 1/2 months of ativan and i just crossed over to valium and will hold for 3 weeks. the getting rid of the 2mg a month would be 20 percnt reduction.

 

 

so i can either do the pill reduction and hold for a month and go down that way or

titrate the 2mg is like wierd

 

or just titrate like what diaz says where i may actually get off sooner, the same time or later, but go at my own pace

and it would be less, the same or more.

 

i have 2 weeks to prepare, so i've got the syringe and 100 ml container and the recipe from diaz for the milk titration method so it's just a question of which to choose from.

 

i guess after all this time i'm probably going to go with  diaz which seems safer and gives me a lot of room versus the very

structured 2mg elimination my doc has decided on. of course i have psychiatrist local who will write me as many scripts as i need, who knows nothing about withdrawal at all and will actually give me up to 3 refills--he just likes to write script.

 

 

 

look forward toyour comments.

or titrate

[[bu...]]

1) Because of its long half-life (20-100 hours) dosing 5 times a day really shouldn't be necessary. Most folk on V dose twice a day.  I have actually been on once a day starting from 3 mg.

 

2)  Cutting 10-8-6-4...etc and holding for 30 days at each step  is going to be a very bumpy ride, at best.  Daily titration should definitely be easier, but IMO, a 6 mo taper from 10 mg is unrealistic, no matter how you do it.

[[Be...]]

I agree with builder that dosing 5x/day seems a bit excessive/unnecessary, but I don't suppose it would do any harm.  I also think people seem to have a gentler time of it titrating off  but disagree about the difficulty of getting off 10mg diazepam in 6mo.  I was on Ativan for nearly 20 years, did not cross over to diazepam and tapered off 3mg (= 30 mg diazepam) in 6 months by just cutting up my pills.  I wish I had titrated instead but I did get through it and did not develop intolerable withdrawal symptoms. 

 

Btw, I was terribly nervous about tapering but after I was about 6 weeks into my taper plan, I began to believe that I was going to be able to get free and feel less anxious and that made the rest of the taper easier mentally.  I hope you'll soon pick a plan and get started.  Nothing reduces fear like positive action. 

[[be...]]

hi Toulouz......i agree with previous suggestions that V doesn't have to be

                    taken multiple times a day. personally, i only dose once a

                    day and never ran into any interdose withdrawal problems.

 

                    but when it comes to the length of a taper, i think that will

                    vary from person to person and what they can and can not

                    handle as far as symptoms go. i am almost at 10 mgs. and

                    plan to be finished at around 6 months myself. i like having

                    a projected date. it gives me a goal to shoot for. so, imo

                    the plan you have is doable. just go according to how you

                    feel......bjunk..

[[...]]

1) Because of its long half-life (20-100 hours) dosing 5 times a day really shouldn't be necessary. Most folk on V dose twice a day.  I have actually been on once a day starting from 3 mg.

 

2)  Cutting 10-8-6-4...etc and holding for 30 days at each step  is going to be a very bumpy ride, at best.  Daily titration should definitely be easier, but IMO, a 6 mo taper from 10 mg is unrealistic, no matter how you do it.

 

I agree on both counts.