3,2,1: Under 3 mg Valium people

[[Ca...]]

Do jimmy u think jumping at .25 is ok? I’m gunna be there in 6 weeks hopefully so thinking about doing the same x

Worked great for me.. -But our approach will be a bit different.. No hidden meaning in that, WE are different..

I just encourage you to keep doing what you feel is best.. -It has a power of its own..

 

Keep up the good, hard work, I say.. -Fwiw..

 

 

[[Sh...]]

Thanks can’t x yeah we are all different I guess I won’t know til I get there but really it’s just 1 more cut after that if I keep going. I just want off ASAP! Thanks for the advice x

[[Ji...]]

Do jimmy u think jumping at .25 is ok? I’m gunna be there in 6 weeks hopefully so thinking about doing the same x

 

Probably be OK but do what you are comfortable with.

Maybe I pronged the withdrawal by going lower.

You'll know when the time comes, don't stress it.

[Guest [bl...]]

Hello Friends -

 

New member here on my last bit of Valium.  I tapered down from 5mgs Valium after a bad Ativan CT. I tapered the 5mgs over 10 months. While not pleasant it wasn’t horrible just uncomfortable and weird (if that makes any sense). I am now at 0.25 mgs. I have stayed at 0.25 for nearly a year, as I am terrified of reliving how that initial CT felt. I am wondering if I should just stop now or taper more? Thank you all for your time and guidance.

[[Sh...]]

Do jimmy u think jumping at .25 is ok? I’m gunna be there in 6 weeks hopefully so thinking about doing the same x

 

Probably be OK but do what you are comfortable with.

Maybe I pronged the withdrawal by going lower.

You'll know when the time comes, don't stress it.

 

Thanks jimmy x

[[in...]]

I would love some advise and encouragement with my taper because I am hitting a really bad wave today and need a boost from the group based on their experiences.  I have been tapering from about 20mgs of Valium in August 2019 down to 1.0mgs Valium as of Febr 12, 2021.  I have really had to slow my taper down a lot from 2.0mgs forward due to withdrawal symptoms that were taking longer to ease. Initially, I would reduce a 0.5mgs every 2-3 weeks but then at 2.0mg V I slowed to reducing 0.01mg per day using DLMT.  Now even that is proving to be too fast so I am having to slow down to reducing at a rate of 0.01mgs every 2 days.  Even that may not be slow enough and I may need to slow to 0.01mgs every 3 days like JWL did.  (JWL, I really appreciate following your posts because they mirror what I am experiencing a lot).  I am resigned now to the likelihood that I may need to hold at 1.0mgs V for several months like JWL and Olive Kitty did because my waves are seeming more intense.  I just need some more peace and a break from the constant withdrawal pain.

 

I have had some really good windows for a day or a few hours on a periodic basis followed by the waves of nausea and muscle pain. When I have a window it makes me think that I must be tapering at a rate my body is adapting to and can handle.  Then right after that I will have a bad wave that makes me question my rate of taper.  I get confused trying to analyze this.  I am showing how my symptoms are rotating over the last 25 days which is typical for me.  I have never held long enough to have more consistent good days trying just to get off of Valium.  Recently, it seems to have become more unbearable and I plan to hold long enough to have some more stability.  I would stay here for months if it helped me become less symptomatic like JWL and Olive Kitty did successfully.

 

Because I have a very technical job working in a healthcare facility and requiring intense focus 3 days a week I have used Ambien at a very very low dose to control the withdrawal symptoms for part of a day to allow me to keep working.  I have done this during the whole taper to temporarily reduce the withdrawal symptoms for a few hours.  It works in about 15 minutes and due to the extremely short half life does not linger very long.    I absolutely cannot afford to stop my work and I know that a lack of purpose would surely kick me into a severe depression.  I will take Ambien PRN 1.25mgs -2.5mgs no more than 2-3 times a week during my critical work days.  On my non work days I try to exercise and distract myself other ways.  Also, I have been having some recent success using CBD oil with Delta 8THC and a little Delta 9 THC combined in it with mixed results but promising.  It is hard to find the right dose at times so I am still experimenting with it.  I don't live in a state where Marijuana is legal so this is the best I can do.  Sometimes, a betablocker helps with palpitations too.

 

Oct  13, 2020 I hit 1.5mgV.  I held for 70 days until

Dec 22, 2020        1.5mgV  I began reducing by 0.01mg per day until

 

 

Feb 12, 2021        1.0mgV (Day 1 of hold)  Mostly queasy 

Feb 13, 2021        1.0mg V (Day 2 of hold) Pretty good day overall 

Feb 14, 2021        1.0mg V (Day 3 of hold)  Mostly queasy 

Feb 15, 2021        1.0mg V (Day 4 of hold)  Rough day 

Feb 16, 2021        1.0mg V (Day 5 of hold)  Queasy morning :-[/ Good afternoon on

Feb 17, 2021        1.0mg V (Day 6 of hold)  Queasy morning :-[/Pretty good afternoon

Feb 18, 2021        1.0mg V (day 7 of hold)  :thumbsup:Really good day where I felt totally normal all day!

Feb 19, 2021        1.0mg V (day 8 of hold)  :thumbsup:Mostly a good day

Feb 22, 2021        1.0mg V (day 11 of hold)  really rough day with nausea 

Feb 23, 2021        1.0mg V (day 12 of hold)  mixed good  and bad

Feb 24, 2021        1.0mg V (day 13 of hold)  pretty good day 

Feb 25, 2021        1.0mg V (day 14 of hold)  mixed bad  :-[and good

Feb 26, 2021        1.0mg V (day 15 of hold)  mostly bad queasiness 

Feb 27, 2021        1.0mg V (day 16 of hold)  mixed good  :thumbsup:and bad

Feb 28, 2021        1.0mg V (day 17 of hold)  mixed good and bad 

Mar  1, 2021          1.0mg V (day 18 of hold) mostly bad day with some depression 

Mar  2, 2021          1.0mg V (day 19 of hold) bad day :-[/good evening

Mar  3, 2021          1.0mg V (day 20 of hold) mostly good day 

Mar  4, 2021          1.0mg V (day 21 of hold) bad day :-[/ good evening after a massage

Mar  5, 2021          1.0mg V (day 22 of hold) queasy nearly all day 

Mar  6, 2021          1.0mg V (day 23 of hold) mostly bad day with some depression

Mar  7, 2021          1.0mg V (day 24 of hold) really good day :thumbsup:/ bad evening

Mar  8, 2021          1.0mg V (day 25 of hold)  really bad day with a lot of nausea and muscle aches. feels so bad its all I can do to not take a rescue dose. 

 

 

(I have held here at 1.0mgs V for 25 days as of March 8, 2021 I have had a few really good windows followed by some equally bad waves of withdrawal symptoms of nausea and muscle pain.  I am planning to hold here until I stabilize before resuming my taper at an even slower rate of probably 0.01mg reduction every 3 days.  I guess I was so disappointed that today after 25 days I had one of my worst days in the hold.  I know that the healing is not linear but it still makes me lose confidence that I am healing.  On a day like today I worry that I will have to updose if it gets any worse but at the same time I know that there is no guarantee it would work and I cannot imagine losing the ground I have gained in reducing the Valium.  I guess I did not expect the last 1.0mg V to take so long to get off of.

 

Any ideas or encouragement would be so appreciated!

 

Investartist

 

 

 

[[Mo...]]

Investartist,

Sorry to hear you are having a rough go, especially at such a low dose.  I'm not sure i have any real good advice as everyone seems to be so different, but wanted to ask, did you find that you benefited from the long hold you did for 70 days?  Is it worse now than when you held before or about the same? 

[[Sh...]]

At .75ml and it’s absolute hell x

[[di...]]

Good luck to everybody getting close.

 

Remember that you already did the hard work to taper down to where you are. Now, if you're on 0.something mg of Valium, it's having practically zero effect. We all know that it can take a while for our nervous system to repair, soon it will be doing that unimpeded. It feels great when you realise that you haven't thought about benzos for several days in a row. You're all getting closer to this happening. 

[[Sh...]]

Thanks Diaz. Can’t wait x

[[Pl...]]

Thanks buddy for encouraging message 

 

 

[[Mo...]]

Hang in there, Shayna.  You are so close, almost to the "safe" zone of being able to jump if you wanted to.  That is a positive at least!

[[Sh...]]

The insomnia is absolutely brutal x

[[in...]]

I’m really struggling with waves of daily nausea and skin burning symptoms.  I know beyond a doubt that I tapered too fast over the last 6 months for my system.  The only thing I can do is to try to hold at 1.0mg Valium until i stabilize or I could updose to 1.5mgs V per day.  I am trying so very hard to hold where I am but the severe queasiness and skin burning is making each moment a marathon. It has been worse in the last 2 weeks so I have not turned the corner yet.

 

Ironically,  I had a nearly normal day 9 days ago and again 3 days ago while on vacation so I thought I had turned the corner.  Then the last 3 days have been really bad.  It is so confusing when there can be absolutely terrible days with a couple of good windows in between.

 

My last hold at 1.5mgs V of 70 days in Dec 2020 was not as bad as this one is.  I guess my last taper from 1.5mgsV to 1.0mgs was actually a 33% reduction in about 50 days and I have held that now for 33 days.  I wish I had known to go much slower or tapered 5-10% and waited a month between smaller tapers. 

 

Is it ok to take a “rescue dose” of 1-2mg Valium if I just can’t handle the pain?

 

Is it possible that updosing from 1.0mg V back to 1.5mgs where I was last December and hold till stable a reasonable choice? Then when I’m stable I could resume a very slow taper???

 

Any advise or encouragement would be appreciated.  I can’t decide if I can still handle the daily discomfort and need to updose?  I’m slowly running out of stamina for tolerating the nausea but but at the same time I don’t want to go backwards either.

 

Michael

[[Fr...]]

Hey everyone today I am at 2.94 v equivalent. Wondering how much everyone has had to slow for the last few milligrams. I was thinking of slowing way down to about 3% a month but that would add almost three more years to my taper. Does that math seem right? That seems ridiculously long for 3mg.

 

I have had an uptick in symptoms the last week or more and am getting a little scared. I don’t want to hit a huge wall. I have been doing a very slow taper up until this point. Been tapering 28 months already and have a very messy long story before that taper started of several meds and c/t’s.

[[Ca...]]

Hey everyone today I am at 2.94 v equivalent. Wondering how much everyone has had to slow for the last few milligrams. I was thinking of slowing way down to about 3% a month but that would add almost three more years to my taper. Does that math seem right? That seems ridiculously long for 3mg.

 

I have had an uptick in symptoms the last week or more and am getting a little scared. I don’t want to hit a huge wall. I have been doing a very slow taper up until this point. Been tapering 28 months already and have a very messy long story before that taper started of several meds and c/t’s.

Im just off to bed.. -big day, -shattered, but I present my sig for consideration (fwiw)...

 

Id say, follow your symptoms and be generous with time, esp if you still respond well and somewhat recover from your reductions..

 

Congrats on getting here despite it all..

 

[[Fr...]]

Thank you Cantfly-

I will see if I can make sense of your signature. Did you jump and then reinstate? How are you doing now?

[[se...]]

Sone have taken a month or two off and started again, if you are having an uptick in symptoms, this may be a good option for you.

[[Sh...]]

9 days to go x

[[Fr...]]

Sone have taken a month or two off and started again, if you are having an uptick in symptoms, this may be a good option for you.

Thank you!

[[Ca...]]

Thank you Cantfly-

I will see if I can make sense of your signature. Did you jump and then reinstate? How are you doing now?

dd/mm/yy -if that helps..

 

If nothing else im a great example of why to be very cautious of comparisons to others...

 

With that in mind.. “how are you doing now..?” might not be the best question.. -It might have you jumping off a cliff for no reason (so to speak)...

-Or in other words, I dont think benzos, in and of themselves, have that much to do with recent events.. Id more say its overall medication damage specific to myself..

 

My point was it might be a bit slower at sub therapeutic doses if like you say, you have a “bit” of history...

Though even that isnt cut n dry (no pun), as i imagine Shay would attest to (hi Shay)..

 

In *most* situations I do feel “low n slow” is the path of least harm, even if not pleasant..

Again, how low n slow will be symptom based in some shape or form.. Often thats hard to do in the moment at the end, but looking back over previous months can help..

 

A good thing is (perhaps not quite yet) that they are very low doses, so imo, the extra time on meds becomes a lesser of a problem..

Its good to know and recognise ones own psychological parameters around all this too..

Know that your close, and you will get there..!!

 

[[Sh...]]

Hi can’t xx yep I agree!

 

It’s really best to do what ur comfortable with. Low and slow doesn’t always mean things are easier, at least it wasn’t for me xx

 

I’ve seen some people have dropped .25mg every 2-4 weeks, Ive seen people have to microtaper, and I also have seen one buddy jump from 2mg and feel better straight away. Like Forrest Gump says, life is like a box of chocolates, u never know what ur gunna get. Same with benzo wd unfortunately.

 

I went from 2 to 1.75, from 1.75-1.5 was hellish (but I had not long come off zopiclone) and u can see the rest in my signature. It’s been pretty tough but sneaking down and microtapering just wasn’t an option anymore for me.

 

Sorry without going back on ur posts what has been ur method so far? I would say keep the momentum and see how u feel, u might do fine keeping the speed ur already going at? I agree 3 years for that amount is hard to get ur head around but lots of people do it to remain functional x

[[Fr...]]

Hi Shayna-

I have been dry micro tapering the whole taper. I am not good but not terrible. It is manageable and I can function for half the day and rest half the day. This really limits life. Everyday is groundhogs day. I always have the question in my mind if I slow with that rest time l need to take lessen. I saw a good post from Bart about how to find a tolerable rut rate perhaps I will try it. The only way to know is slow and see if things are better.

 

Thank you for the response. I hope you are hanging in there and able to rest.

[[Sh...]]

Oh I know how limiting it is. And Groundhog Day is how I describe my life constantly. It sucks.

 

But if u have been functional on the micro taper, keep going. If u feel brave u could speed it up for a trial run, if ur super sensitive u will know pretty fast that u need to slow down.

 

It’s only a decision u can make. If I was seeing improvements microtapering I would have kept going but I didn’t so I sped up.

 

I just hope things are as manageable as possible for u x u know best for u xx

[[Pl...]]

Hey Shayna 

 

hows your tapering going and how you feeling? See you are at 0.25mg, well done thats great 

 

What you planning to go down to until you finish?

 

I am roughly where you are at, think I will go down to 0.1mg to be safe before I finish, which will hopefully be at the end of the month