ready to break please help

[[jo...]]

The night before I did pretty good for the first time since day one I slept a total of 6hrs and felt pretty good during the day however last night was really bad . Only slept a couple hours after midnight. A new withdrawal symptom I never felt before. My tongue feels weird kinda hurts a bit plus My body is aching and shaky , head pain and pressure. Feel very paranoid and scared, I dont want to go back and dose up however This feeling in My tongue is adding to My fear. 

 

I sure could use some support right now .  Maybe I have been cutting down to fast . I dont how to calculate the decimals so I have been making what I thought were small cuts as recomended by the pharmacist.  Around 10 days ago I was at 0.25mg once per day and now Im down to about 2/3 of that amount. My goal was to hopefully get to 0.125 if that is correct 1/8 of a mg over a 3 to 4 week period.

 

How long am I suppose to hold each cut even if its tiny ? Some pharmacist I spoke to wanted Me to cut down by 25% per one or two weeks however I did not want to make that big of a cut . At this point in time I need help in a big way so please give Me Your opinion or suggestions and has anybody else ever felt symptoms in their tongue ?  Sorry I have not updated My schedual below its because I dont know how to do the decimals I only know the basics in quarters.

 

Been on the K for 8 weeks one dose per day. .025mg.  Am I suppose to take this on an empty stomach or with food ? I have done both and thought maybe the food was preventing absorption.  Finally when tapering down do the symptoms subside between cuts if I hold ?  If I sound like I dont know what Im doing its because I dont ! I have never dealt with type of situation before.

[[Sc...]]

Sorry you are having so much trouble. I am too. If you haven't tried holding, that would be a good thing to do and see if in a week or two you feel better. It is very individual and difficult to figure. I always felt better after holding throughout my whole taper, now at the very end, nothing seems to work. Good luck and God bless.

[[ma...]]

Hi Johnnyapple

 

Sorry your having a rough time at the moment, we get all sorts of weird symptoms in withdrawal as well as life threatening ones, it can be very scary.  I had any worrisome symptoms checked by the doctor just to be safe.  The tongue issue is quite common, mine was burning, sometimes numbing.  If you use the search you will find many posts about this subject.

 

Try not to updose if you can,  Its fine if you need to hold another week, this will pass, it really does get better.

 

Hang in there

 

Magrita

[[Cl...]]

I am also sorry that you are in such a pain. In the last paragraph, do you mean 0.25mg? Or 0.025 mg? You said in the second paragraph that now you are 2/3 of 0.25. For me 8 weeks is not a long period. So holding your dose for  :)ten days is perhaps too much. If I were on your shoes I would cut by other 1/3 if you can today. You are perhaps going to suffer more insomnia and bad tongue feelings, but for a short period only.

I hope some experts chime in here, but in my opinion, it is better for you to cut down today, hold for a week or less if you do not feel that bad and then cut by half the remaining 1/3, hold for few days and jump! I see pointless stay for longer on a benzo if you have been on it for a relatively short period and in a low dose.

My best wishes!

[[jo...]]

Hi clona21  some benzo folks would agree with you that the quicker I get off this stuff the better because its only been 8 weeks at a low dose of 0.25mg " I believe that is 1/4 of one milligram ?

 

What really pisses Me off is I have spoken to many pharmacist about this situation and they ALL downplayed the dose and time I have been on it saying Oh You should not have any problems at all getting off.  I was told from several  Oh just cut the dose in half for one week or two then just quit at 0.125mg.  A couple actually told Me to Oh just taking taking it, You will be fine ! What are they nuts. 

 

Why is it that everyone assumes that low dose short duration means no problem !!!!!!!!  Maybe its because I have other medical issues such as depression / anxiety caused when the depression hits.  Or maybe its the sleep deprivation I went through that is making the withdrawal symptoms worse ?  Everyone is different !  I confess Im sensitive to this meds always have been . this is the first time I have ever been on this crap.

 

Ok thanks to those who responded to My post and I hope to hear  from even more benzo buddies. 

[[Cl...]]

Hi clona21  some benzo folks would agree with you that the quicker I get off this stuff the better because its only been 8 weeks at a low dose of 0.25mg " I believe that is 1/4 of one milligram ?

 

What really pisses Me off is I have spoken to many pharmacist about this situation and they ALL downplayed the dose and time I have been on it saying Oh You should not have any problems at all getting off.  I was told from several  Oh just cut the dose in half for one week or two then just quit at 0.125mg.  A couple actually told Me to Oh just taking taking it, You will be fine ! What are they nuts. 

 

Why is it that everyone assumes that low dose short duration means no problem !!!!!!!!  Maybe its because I have other medical issues such as depression / anxiety caused when the depression hits.  Or maybe its the sleep deprivation I went through that is making the withdrawal symptoms worse ?  Everyone is different !  I confess Im sensitive to this meds always have been . this is the first time I have ever been on this crap.

 

Ok thanks to those who responded to My post and I hope to hear  from even more benzo buddies.

 

Hi Johnny, sorry if you feel I am minimizing your suffering, I did not mean that. I meant that I do not want you suffer for longer by being on benzos for longer. But you are right that we need some experts to chime in here and that everyone is different. I have read here many posts of suffering people who have been on low doses for short periods, so I do think it is quite hard for them as it is for you. As it is for all of us. Wish you the best!

 

[[jo...]]

Hello again Clona21 No I did not think You were trying to minimize My suffering.  Matter of fact after I put out My last post I ran an errand and spoke to another pharmacist which was a small family run buisness. She also said and I quote " this is a very low dose and You have been on it for a short duration so You should not be having this problem getting off this drug ". She looked at me with a question mark in on Her face like She was doubting me !

 

Like You said I also read many post and read drug review post about this drug and yes indeed many so called short term low dose users are going through difficult  times trying to get off this med.  also Im no math genius its been 40 years since High school so I forgot how to do the decimal thing. that is why Im doing the very small dry cut . I brought this up with the pharmacist they said that was ok to make tiny cuts each day however Im going to take the same dose today as yesterday and wondering if I should hold.

 

sorry for the long post however when a cut is made how long should a person wait to make another cut if they are feeling symptoms ? Yes I sure would like to be off this K however being a total amature at this I dont want to make my situation worse. I am depeding on what I read here and combining it with what info I get in person. So  far the internet info has been more accurate, if I had listened to the medical people I would be in the emergency room now.  thanks again clona21 and yes indeed their are so many factors invovled with each individual person. 

[[Cl...]]

Hello again Clona21 No I did not think You were trying to minimize My suffering.  Matter of fact after I put out My last post I ran an errand and spoke to another pharmacist which was a small family run buisness. She also said and I quote " this is a very low dose and You have been on it for a short duration so You should not be having this problem getting off this drug ". She looked at me with a question mark in on Her face like She was doubting me !

 

Like You said I also read many post and read drug review post about this drug and yes indeed many so called short term low dose users are going through difficult  times trying to get off this med.  also Im no math genius its been 40 years since High school so I forgot how to do the decimal thing. that is why Im doing the very small dry cut . I brought this up with the pharmacist they said that was ok to make tiny cuts each day however Im going to take the same dose today as yesterday and wondering if I should hold.

 

sorry for the long post however when a cut is made how long should a person wait to make another cut if they are feeling symptoms ? Yes I sure would like to be off this K however being a total amature at this I dont want to make my situation worse. I am depeding on what I read here and combining it with what info I get in person. So  far the internet info has been more accurate, if I had listened to the medical people I would be in the emergency room now.  thanks again clona21 and yes indeed their are so many factors invovled with each individual person.

 

Hi Johnny! I am very pleased that you are not mad at me! 

Yes, lots of people suffering after relatively low dose-short time, I think it is also due to the fact that all the mental problems we have when we get prescribed benzos seem to dissapear, then we want to get off of benzos and we have the primary problems plus the wd problems, awful! I do understand you completely.

As for how long we need to hold before making the next cut? I do not know the answer. When I started my taper, which was a mess, I became stabilized rather quickly, Day 5 or 6,  so I was enjoying good 5 days before cutting again. Now that I am at lower doses, I have only bits of Windows, I do not get stabilized, then I cut and the Day after nice Windows for me, then worse, then cut-nice Windows, worse, cut, better, worse...this is a real mess, I never know what is going to happen to me in my next cut...so I am ready to experiment with myself once in holidays and probably by January I would change to microtaper.

All the best! I wish I could help you!

Just a suggestion, why you do not try, next time you feel ready, to cut a very tiny piece of your dose? Then hold for a while, you can also use titration.

 

 

[[Cl...]]

The night before I did pretty good for the first time since day one I slept a total of 6hrs and felt pretty good during the day however last night was really bad . Only slept a couple hours after midnight. A new withdrawal symptom I never felt before. My tongue feels weird kinda hurts a bit plus My body is aching and shaky , head pain and pressure. Feel very paranoid and scared, I dont want to go back and dose up however This feeling in My tongue is adding to My fear. 

 

I sure could use some support right now .  Maybe I have been cutting down to fast . I dont how to calculate the decimals so I have been making what I thought were small cuts as recomended by the pharmacist.  Around 10 days ago I was at 0.25mg once per day and now Im down to about 2/3 of that amount. My goal was to hopefully get to 0.125 if that is correct 1/8 of a mg over a 3 to 4 week period.

 

How long am I suppose to hold each cut even if its tiny ? Some pharmacist I spoke to wanted Me to cut down by 25% per one or two weeks however I did not want to make that big of a cut . At this point in time I need help in a big way so please give Me Your opinion or suggestions and has anybody else ever felt symptoms in their tongue ?  Sorry I have not updated My schedual below its because I dont know how to do the decimals I only know the basics in quarters.

 

Been on the K for 8 weeks one dose per day. .025mg.  Am I suppose to take this on an empty stomach or with food ? I have done both and thought maybe the food was preventing absorption.  Finally when tapering down do the symptoms subside between cuts if I hold ?  If I sound like I dont know what Im doing its because I dont ! I have never dealt with type of situation before.

 

 

Johnny! I have just read your original post again, you said 10 days ago you cut from 0.25 mg down to 2/3 of 0.25 mg, so 0.25 multilplied by 2 and divided by 3 is 0.16666, that is quite a Big cut!  That is why you are feeling so bad!

You can do two things 1) to hold at 0.1666 mg for a week or 2 weeks and see if you get stabilized.

2) to updose a little, for example from 0.1666 to 0.2 mg, hold until stabilised and then cut again.

I myself would p select the first option, since you have been there for 10 days, I am sure you are going to get stabilized but it will take more time of what you expected!

 

[[...]]

Hi JA

 

Just for the sake of comparison.  I am reducing from the same dose you are, although I have only been at this dose for 5 weeks.  actually 4, the first week I was on .5mg 

 

I should stress that I didn't start out stablized.  3 days prior I tried to go from .25 to .12  (cut my dose in half) and had some pretty intense sx.  I had 1 dose back at .25 then went down to .17

 

I went from .25mg to about .17mg.  basically I went from a half tab of .5mg to a third of a tab of .5mg

 

day 1 , day 2 and 3 were bad for symptoms. 

 

Day 1

- I was still shaky from the last attempt at reduction.

-had insomnia the night prior so poor sleep broken sleep.

-moderate anxiety

Day 2

-insomnia,

-I had more shakes

-headache. 

-back ache.

-tingling in hands ,

-cog fog. 

-moderate anxiety

Day 3

-insomnia,

-cog fog,

-tinitus,

-extreme fatigue,

-tingling hands and feet,

-had muscle cramp in back of my calf all day.

-headache, but no anxiety.

-I did wake up feeling like I was seriously hung-over. 

My CNS seemed to calm down in the evening as I approached my dose which surprised me. 

 

I am on day 4.    Last night was much better for sleep for me, I got 6 hours.  I also just got up from an hour nap and am feeling pretty good. I'm actually feeling 85% of normal before any of this crap started for me 3 months ago.  I'm going to stick to this dose for a few days and if I'm stable I'll reduce I think.

 

When I take my dose, I take it an hour away from meals. I take it at about 930-1000pm and try to be in bed by 11.  I also take it with chamomile tea and I dissolve the piece of tablet in my mouth with a warm swig of tea. swoosh it around and rub it against the roof of my mouth with my tongue.  It doesn't really taste all that bad. The tea is enough to mask the taste.  not like asperin or tylonal or even the zopiclone (gag) I was taking prior.

 

 

Listen to your body.  I'm not a pro, I've never done this either.  My instincts are telling me to go as fast as I can, but dont push my body too much. 

 

I think it's reasonable to give yourself time to stabalize between cuts.  Maybe not a full 10 days of stabilization.  But personally I'm going with a dose cut on the 4th day of feeling good.  I want off this crap asap.

 

I'm wondering why people push though the final cuts even while they are still symptomatic.  did I miss something?

 

[[jo...]]

clona21 I meant that I cut down from 0.25mg over a ten day period to now at 2/3rds of that dose. 10 days ago I started making tiny cuts on the 0.25mg half tab and each day took off a little more until now at 2/3rds of a that half tablet.

 

today I took the same dose as yesterday in order to see how I do tonight and tomorow. Like I said I need to get some sleep even if it is as always crappy brokensleep. Im 60 and hate to admit this however dont know if its the drug however I have to urinate on the hour and that urge wakes Me up. its so frustrating.  It does not take much to mess up My sleep. The day Im off this stuff and its out of My blood will be a glorious day for me and a happy one . Hopefully I wont get slammed with a late rebound , i wonder if most people get slammed after the blood titer is zero.

[[Cl...]]