3,2,1: Under 3 mg Valium people

[[ho...]]

BenzoLottie -  I am so glad you are going to eventually get to sue this doctor.  What a crime it is/was for all the patients he mistreated, and also the peer provider. Ugh. 

 

I am with you on speaking out and writing to our congress and senate member’s.  My doctor does this kind of work.  He is constantly going before boards and trying to get laws changed, and more awareness out there.  It is horrible what is going on.  I try to talk to anyone that will listen.  I am an open book, because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else, and people need to at least be aware.  It is amazing how many people think they are on a “low dose” because of the # associated with their benzo.  They have no idea what is going on 

 

Thank you for sharing more of SN story.  What an incredible women she is.  I can see how that high of dose would have shut her down too.  :'(

 

Marie

[[Be...]]

I am an open book, because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else, and people need to at least be aware.

 

 

Me too. I will keep pushing until I am heard.

 

It is amazing how many people think they are on a “low dose” because of the # associated with their benzo.  They have no idea what is going on 

 

My one brother. He started on .5 mg Ativan. Up to 1.5 mg. 15 years of use. He drinks alcohol and is diabetic too. He thinks he'll be able to just quit because he's quit hard drugs as a young adult. He only wants to quit because he freaked out over the FDA's Black Box warnings. He wants to wait until he retires first, because work stress is what got him on it. He has 5 more years, so by the time he plans on kicking this, he'll have been using for 20 years. He admitted he's been having more anxiety, and other various symptoms. I told him he's in tolerance withdrawal. That's why he had to keep upping his dose. He's resisting upping his dose now. Thought 1.5 mg was no big deal. I told him that's like 20 mg of Valium. He was a bit shocked.

 

Thank you for sharing more of SN story.  What an incredible women she is.  I can see how that high of dose would have shut her down too.  :'(

 

Marie

 

1 mg. of K basically shut me down. I never put the picture together until I switched to V.

[[ho...]]

Lottie -  Yes.  We all need to keep writing and sharing our stories. We need to be heard!!  There are other things we need to be heard on too…LOL!

 

I am so sorry for your brother.  I bet that was an eye opener to him.  I have quite a few friends I have opened their eye’s too.  They say, I only take “such and such”…I too explain…They get a kind of blank look, and a little freaked out.  Then I explain the what “if’s” they lose their long time doctor’s for whatever reason, and just the long term health risk.  Just to be clear, I am not one of those that just because I have chosen to get off, I am running around telling everyone to get off.  I just share my experience and “inform”.  I never push.  I do explain that if someone is getting a new RX, to be very careful and only take for a couple days, and what the dangers are and how quickly decency can happen 

 

For me K at 1mg didn’t really effect my life in a bad way.  I functioned really well and actually had quality of life.  I just knew I needed off of it, because I was over the trauma that had led me to be on it in the first place and it wasn’t healthy in the long run.  I just didn’t know it was going to be so hard getting off 

 

Marie

[[Be...]]

My brother's long-term doctor prescribed the Ativan. His doctor is older than him, and we are both over 60. I worry about his doctor retiring and him having nothing.

[[sp...]]

I did find a really nice Naturopathic Dr. that was willing to work with me on a taper (the original Dr. that got me on Xanax, said when its time well taper you off...it will take about two weeks) And i went with this ND because she said she was a benzo tapering "expert".  Her tapering plan (which i didnt know at the time) was to cut your dosage in half every other day. Talk about a rollercoaster train wreck. Thats when i told her about crossing over to V since i was in tolerance and experiencing really bad day anxiety on xanax. She was not happy i wanted to switch over to V but she did it. She was okay with it when i said it will prob take me about 4-5 months to come off of 10MG V too. I said 1MG every 2 weeks is the plan. So i am lucky that i found someone that was basically letting me run the show when it came to how i was going to get off this garbage. Who knows, maybe the next patient shell use this method...she seemed like it was a ridiculously long taper plan and that crossing over to V was a really bad idea. So much for the benzo tapering "expert".

[[Be...]]

Has anybody who doses once-a-day have this problem? I feel like I'm 'running out of steam' by late afternoon, early evening. Mornings are my best, evenings are my worst. It's just getting worse, though I've been holding. I finally caved in yesterday and took 1 mg of my daily dose in the early evening, within an hour, my symptoms eased a bit. I'm going to take it late afternoon, and see what happens. It didn't seem to affect my sleep any (it's very broken anyway). I just feel so miserable by evening that I just want to crawl into bed and call it a night. I'm holding at this dose indefinitely, and reassessing the microtaper rate. I may have to slow things down. I used to be able to taper .5 mg. a month, I did that for about 4 months. I was doing .66 a month for 2 months prior, I had been able to manage 1 mg a month. Before I got to 9 mg., I was doing 1 mg. every 3 weeks, originally every 2. Seems the lower you get, the less you can reduce.

 

I have a telehealth appointment with 1 of the NAD+ patch suppliers next Tuesday. I already have them from the other supplier. The vials are in the zipper baggie in my fridge. I will probably wait until after Easter, so I'm just staying where I am, and not moving forward with tapering. Both suppliers know this is what I'm using them for, and both mention on their websites that they have had many order these for benzo detox, reporting good results comparable to the infusions. I'm feeling pretty optimistic; should I succeed, this opens the door for a more affordable option for those who can't pay the cost of going to an infusion center.

[[ne...]]

Hi everyone

 

  I`m finding sx worse the lower I get so I`m holding at 3mg right now and hope to taper a bit more in two weeks. 

I`m getting muscle pain in my left side, and would LOVE a buddy who has the same and we can share the rest of our journey.    Is anyone getting the same sxs at 3mg?  I`m having other stuff like the tight band around my head and dizziness but those come and go- the muscle pain is the worst.    TY

[[Be...]]

The dizziness is very common. For some, they develop vertigo (have had that occasionally) or POTS. I have not had that 'tight band around the head', but I have seen a lot of others describe having that same sensation. I tend to get headaches on the left side, and ear problems that would affect the left ear far more than the right (hyperacusis, fullness/congestion, popping, random tinnitus), I have muscle pain that moves from one location to another. Your symptoms are pretty typical, and they seem to get worse as one gets lower. Maybe it's because a lot of healing is going on. It's interesting that you mention your muscle pain being on the left side, my headaches and ear problems favored the left side too. I find the one-sided thing to be perplexing, but none of this process makes any sense. I've been using NAD+ nasal spray, and the headaches and ear problems are rare, it seems to be helping with those. I just wish it would knock this paresthesia down. That and GI issues are my worst symptom.

 

I expect you'll hear from others who are members of the 'tight band around the head' society. And the dizziness too. Holding for few weeks is probably a good idea, see if you get relief from the muscle pain. Some on BB swear by Epsom Salt baths to ease muscle pain. They just soak in a tub of warm water and Epsom Salts. Heating pads. For me, the massage motors in my Tempur-Pedic bed (a gift from my late mother when I bought my house 7 years ago). I use them every night to quiet my body down, and ease the pain, so I can sleep once the diazepam kicks in. You can buy mats/pads with massage motors, if you don't have a bed or chair with them, and see if that helps. Topical pain creams/gels, if you can get past the smell some give off. Strong odors bother me. But there are some that don't have strong odors. I have prescription Lidocaine 5% ointment. It's for chronic pain, but I've been using it to try and knock down the paresthesia. You have to use it consistently for 2 to 3 x's a day, every day, before it helps. A Lidocaine patch is more effective, you can get OTC ones, just stick them in areas where you have pain. You can wear them 8 to 12 hours, they provide continuous relief by releasing Lidocaine constantly. Just some ideas you can try.

[[ne...]]

Thank you BenzoLottie

 

I`ve tried just about everything for the pain including pain patches but unfortunately nothing helps the muscle pain,  I use heat or sometimes ice and it`s a weird pain, like a pulling sensation.  Pain is pain - right?  But when I had toothache a few weeks ago, painkillers completely stopped that pain until I was able to see my dentist - but the pain killers did zilch for the benzo pain.  it`s mind blowing how it will work on ordinary type pain but not this??

 

Thank for your reply regards the dizziness and tight band around my head. Thankfully these come and go.  As for left sided sxs, I`ve read it`s extremely common to have only one side affected with sx. 

 

What amount are you taking now? Hope it`s ok to ask?    I`m thinking of dropping to 2.75mg tomorrow but I am VERY nervous of dropping any amount at the moment.    UGH

 

 

[[Be...]]

 

What amount are you taking now? Hope it`s ok to ask?    I`m thinking of dropping to 2.75mg tomorrow but I am VERY nervous of dropping any amount at the moment.    UGH

 

 

See the tulip ticker in my sig. I microtapered down to 2.75 mg., and crashed. I think the microtaper was too fast and too much. While the headaches and ear problems have mostly stayed away (and I'm convinced it's the 90 mg. a day of NAD+ nasal spray keeping them mostly at bay), the paresthesia has gone up and down like a rollercoaster, by late afternoon it's just up. It's gotten so bad on my lower face, it feels like anything from having acid on my skin to a fire burning that I can't extinguish.  I'm noticing that taking part of my diazepam in the late afternoon, seems to help knock it down by evening. But it still lingers. I am holding on for dear life now, and staying put at my current dose.

 

Nerves just misfire everywhere with this. Overexcited nerves. That's what fuels the paresthesia, and fueled the headaches and ear problems. It's what fuels your muscle pain. Which is why OTC pain relievers don't really help. Our nervous systems are in overdrive due to the glutamate excitotoxicity. 

[[Vi...]]

Glad this thread is here.

 

I just hit 4 mgs of diazepam as of yesterday after tapering from 40 mgs starting in February of 2022.

 

I will be back in 3-4 weeks after I get to 3 mgs, but wanted to say that my symptoms have changed as I got down to about 5-6 mgs. Also, I've always taken all of my doses in the morning around 7 am, as I was put on Xanax to help treat hyperthyroidism symptoms caused by my doctor by giving me WAY too much synthetic hormone (I have no thyroid).

 

On the up side, I do have "mini" windows almost every day for just an hour or so. I am also thinking clearer. While I still have a lot of anxiety, I am less afraid of it.

 

Main symptoms:

 

Agoraphobia

I now have agoraphobia, which was only a minor symptom at doses above 5 mgs. It's pretty intense now, and a walk in the back yard (I live on the beach, which has helped with healing) is about as much as I can handle in small quantities.

 

Blood Pressure

My BP has been high enough to require a tiny dose of clonidine (0.1 mgs daily). I am still on 30 mgs of buspirone per day, but have no idea if it's helping or hurting. Either way, I need to finish tapering the diazepam first. I also take a very small dose of hydroxyzine to help me sleep, and I often get 5-6 hours of sleep when I take it.

 

Throat / Voice

My number 1 symptom is my throat. I get burning in my throat and face, and have severe muscle tightness in my throat and vocal cords. This symptom is so intense that I can't talk for more than a minute or two before taking an hour break. I hate this, as I live alone and having no voice keeps me from calling friends and family. This symptom has been with me since I started tapering. I believe my throat is my "weak spot" since I had my thyroid removed and all of the issues are around where my thyroid used to be.

 

Nausea

Almost daily. 4 mgs of ondansetron usually controls it, though I still don't have much of an appetite.

 

GI Issues / Constipation

Enough said. Awful.

 

 

So far, these symptoms are new and consistent and have been since I hit about 6 mgs per day.

[[ho...]]

Glad this thread is here.

 

I just hit 4 mgs of diazepam as of yesterday after tapering from 40 mgs starting in February of 2022.

 

I will be back in 3-4 weeks after I get to 3 mgs, but wanted to say that my symptoms have changed as I got down to about 5-6 mgs. Also, I've always taken all of my doses in the morning around 7 am, as I was put on Xanax to help treat hyperthyroidism symptoms caused by my doctor by giving me WAY too much synthetic hormone (I have no thyroid).

 

On the up side, I do have "mini" windows almost every day for just an hour or so. I am also thinking clearer. While I still have a lot of anxiety, I am less afraid of it.

 

Main symptoms:

 

Agoraphobia

I now have agoraphobia, which was only a minor symptom at doses above 5 mgs. It's pretty intense now, and a walk in the back yard (I live on the beach, which has helped with healing) is about as much as I can handle in small quantities.

 

Blood Pressure

My BP has been high enough to require a tiny dose of clonidine (0.1 mgs daily). I am still on 30 mgs of buspirone per day, but have no idea if it's helping or hurting. Either way, I need to finish tapering the diazepam first. I also take a very small dose of hydroxyzine to help me sleep, and I often get 5-6 hours of sleep when I take it.

 

Throat / Voice

My number 1 symptom is my throat. I get burning in my throat and face, and have severe muscle tightness in my throat and vocal cords. This symptom is so intense that I can't talk for more than a minute or two before taking an hour break. I hate this, as I live alone and having no voice keeps me from calling friends and family. This symptom has been with me since I started tapering. I believe my throat is my "weak spot" since I had my thyroid removed and all of the issues are around where my thyroid used to be.

 

Nausea

Almost daily. 4 mgs of ondansetron usually controls it, though I still don't have much of an appetite.

 

GI Issues / Constipation

Enough said. Awful.

 

 

So far, these symptoms are new and consistent and have been since I hit about 6 mgs per day.

 

We look forward to having you over here.  I am so impressed with your w/d and how fast you have gone, however it is no wonder you are having some pretty severe symptoms too.  Just keep in mind the lower you go in mg and cuts, the much larger those % of cuts are and you could find your sx becoming much worse or even new ones.  Listen to your body. 

 

Marie

[[ho...]]

Hi BB’s just popping in to say hi. 

 

It does seem to get harder the lower I have gotten, and I can NOT reduce more than about 7-8% in a month and sometimes it takes 6 weeks. My worse sx are pain in my bones and muscles, burning on my face and tinnitus.  I am also tired all the time. Ugh.  Anyway… plugging along.  I had to hold for a few days about a week ago 

 

 

Marie

[[Vi...]]

Hi BB’s just popping in to say hi. 

 

It does seem to get harder the lower I have gotten, and I can NOT reduce more than about 7-8% in a month and sometimes it takes 6 weeks. My worse sx are pain in my bones and muscles, burning on my face and tinnitus.  I am also tired all the time. Ugh.  Anyway… plugging along.  I had to hold for a few days about a week ago 

 

 

Marie

 

Thanks for the welcome, Marie. It looks like you have been tapering for a long time, which shows intelligence and patience. I could use a little of each.

 

I am definitely getting hit harder (now at 3.8 mgs). I thought my symptoms wouldn't be so bad as long as I kept daily micro-tapering. I hardly slept last night, and this morning - for the first time during my taper - I had awful nausea and BP spikes before sunrise. I usually have a little bit of nausea in the afternoon.

 

I also have a ton of burning in around my mouth and heavy tinnitus.

 

I hope the rest of your taper is easier than it has been recently. I have to believe that we're healing through the pain, and I know we're all different, but I still have a gut feeling that we start healing long before we hit the 3 mgs (diazepam) mark.

 

I started at 40 mgs about 14 months ago and I remember when a 5 mg diazepam tablet did nothing for me. Sadly, that's why I was switched to alprazolam and up-dosed by my doctor to 2 mgs of alprazolam a day ( = 40 mgs of diazepam).

 

Here's to a tolerable finish to your fight. Keep moving forward, no matter how long it takes!

[[Be...]]

My worse sx are pain in my bones and muscles, burning on my face and tinnitus. 

 

 

My paresthesia became burning face. WinnieDog said hers became numb. I'm holding on where I am. Not going down for now. It's been rough, and I'm doing prep for NAD+ that I'm starting Saturday. Nothing like loading up on a bunch of supplements all at once. The one thing many avoid doing during w/d. I'm going to claw my way to Saturday morning. Does your face get worse after eating? Mine does.

[[Be...]]

 

 

I also have a ton of burning in around my mouth and heavy tinnitus.

 

 

I started having the tingling, zapping, sometimes burning, around my mouth when I got below 4 mg. It got worse at 3 mg. It's now more burning, and it spreads all over my lower face. My arms and legs get tingly, zappy, too. Mostly my face is affected. 

[[Vi...]]

I started having the tingling, zapping, sometimes burning, around my mouth when I got below 4 mg. It got worse at 3 mg. It's now more burning, and it spreads all over my lower face. My arms and legs get tingly, zappy, too. Mostly my face is affected. 

 

Sorry to hear you have it, too. I've got it pretty strong today, even though my BP and nausea are very mild compared to most days. At least we know what's causing it, right? It's bittersweet, as while I know it's a withdrawal symptom it's not fun knowing because it's a miserable symptom and so many seem to have it.

 

I hope you have luck with NAD+ treatments. There's a company near me that will come to your house and give you a 250 mg or 500 mg IV, but I think I would try the patch first. You're so close, which you should be very proud of!

[[Su...]]

Hi Buddies,

It's been a long hard journey to get here-- but here I am!  At 3mg!

Some of the supplements I've been taking have been helping in speading up my snail slow taper. -- see my other posts if you're interested.

 

I still have interdose  w/d during the day and need to dose every 3 hours.  Yes I know it's impossible with Valium's half-life etc etc -- but i think that's a red herring for some of us.  It's the duration of action that is important, and the results of a google search offer wildly different results as to how long that is: but the recommended dosing of Valium from the manufacturer is 3X a day so....

 

At any rate I'm here!!!  Celebrating!  in a benzo w/d kind of way.. 

[[Vi...]]

It's been a long hard journey to get here-- but here I am!  At 3mg!)

 

Congrats! I would love to learn more about muscimol and what symptoms it has helped you with. I'm trying to search for your posts, but it's a pretty deep rabbit hole haha!

 

I need to get to 3 mgs fast before they kick me out of here (I'm at 3.8 mgs). 

[[Su...]]

It's been a long hard journey to get here-- but here I am!  At 3mg!)

 

Congrats! I would love to learn more about muscimol and what symptoms it has helped you with. I'm trying to search for your posts, but it's a pretty deep rabbit hole haha!

 

I need to get to 3 mgs fast before they kick me out of here (I'm at 3.8 mgs). 

Thanks VG!

There's a thread called "Has anyone tried Musicmol?" don't judge my computer skills 

 

There's a good discussion on muscimol and some sources there.  Or in my most recent posts I'm there a lot!

[[Vi...]]

There's a thread called "Has anyone tried Musicmol?" don't judge my computer skills 

 

There's a good discussion on muscimol and some sources there.  Or in my most recent posts I'm there a lot!

 

Excellent. Are you allowed to post or send me a link? That thread gets complicated and the "Fully Decarbed Amanita Muscaria: Moon Serum" item doesn't look like the picture of the bottle of tincture you posted ("Calm Mushroom"?). I'm in the States.

 

Thanks so much. Today has become pretty full of nasty symptoms. I may need to slow down..

[[Su...]]

There's a thread called "Has anyone tried Musicmol?" don't judge my computer skills 

 

There's a good discussion on muscimol and some sources there.  Or in my most recent posts I'm there a lot!

 

Excellent. Are you allowed to post or send me a link? That thread gets complicated and the "Fully Decarbed Amanita Muscaria: Moon Serum" item doesn't look like the picture of the bottle of tincture you posted ("Calm Mushroom"?). I'm in the States.

 

Thanks so much. Today has become pretty full of nasty symptoms. I may need to slow down..

 

I'm sure I'm allowed to -- but incapable! 

I'll answer any questions you have on that thread!! 

See you there

[[ho...]]

Hi-

 

Welcome SufferingSixty - YAY! Congratulations.  It is such a milestone to make it to 3 mg. 

 

Guitar - Thank you for the nice words of encouragement.  Yes a loonngggggggggg time I have been doing this. LOL  I thought I was going to be done in like 9 months    I realized at when I hit 10mg and did my first 1 month hold ( I had just really hit a wall) that this was going to be a much longer process.  At 7mg, I felt very defeated and was holding again.  At 5 mg, I was thinking about quitting for a while and revisiting it maybe in a year ( just briefly thinking this)…..it has definitely consumed my life for far too long, however I will eventually get off.  I can only go so fast or otherwise I just end up so so sick, with terrible sx and benzo flu and bedridden :'(.  I do believe we heal as we go down, but in order to heal, we have to give our CNS time to recover and not stress it out too much.  A tricky balance. 

 

Lottie- My face just burn’s like I have a sunburn and it can get really severe….I haven’t really paid attention to when I eat or not.  I will, and let you know.  If I am having more severe sx, I can get tooth pain and ear pain as well.  So I try really hard to watch for my sx and start holding obviously so I don’t get into trouble.  Good for you on powering up on the supplements and your upcoming treatment.  I definitely think my supplements are helping me.

 

I hope everyone else is plugging along and those who are lurking and close to 3mg…..you are almost there….keep up the good work 

 

Marie

[[Be...]]

 

Lottie- My face just burn’s like I have a sunburn and it can get really severe….I haven’t really paid attention to when I eat or not.  I will, and let you know.  If I am having more severe sx, I can get tooth pain and ear pain as well.  So I try really hard to watch for my sx and start holding obviously so I don’t get into trouble.  Good for you on powering up on the supplements and your upcoming treatment.  I definitely think my supplements are helping me.

 

Marie

 

Mine would start with 20 minutes of eating, no matter what I eat.    Have had the tooth pain and ear pain as well.  I finished my prep and started the treatment. Too early to tell, only on Day 2.

[[ho...]]

Lottie - I was curious to know how things were going?  I do think maybe my face is burning a little more after I eat, and I just didn’t pay attention to it before.  I wonder why that is?

 

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter.

 

Marie