Why do people say that the lower you go, the harder it can be?

[[Ke...]]

Hi everyone

Looking for some support today.

I keep reading that the last few mgs can be the hardest.  Why?

I am at day 6 of .25 mgs V and my last cut.  I started to feel terrible yesterday...

I am so scared that this will go on and on... I don't think I could handle feeling this way for months on end. I know I tapered quicker than some suggest.

I just need hope that the feelings of anxiety and depression is the V trying hard to keep a grip on me.

I want to jump in 4 days

Need words of encouragement please.

Thanks everyone k

[[Ca...]]

Hi Keeka

 

I don't know why it's harder, other than that when we are on a bit more of a dose it at least soothes some of the withdrawal away, the less of a dose, the less soothing?? I'm just guessing.  But take heart because you are nearly there and, yes, it is hard once you jump but then each day you are definitely healing and all the symptoms you get are your body healing.  Copy the techniques others have used, distraction is key (even if it is only for a Moment or two), eat well, drink plenty of water, rest as much as you can. 

 

Cassie

[[km...]]

i am curious and wondering the same thing. i have gone from 30 mg of temazep and am now at 11.5 mg (equivalent of almost 6 of valium). i have been study and wondering if it will get harder. i have found that small daily cuts are the best by far and have been dropping .17 mg everyday. it has worked much better than weekly cuts. i have had good days and bad. so i am wondering about the last stretch. i have formed a view reading lots of stuff. first, the body seems to have its own pace realigning gaba receptors etc. you can taper to fast and it will not be ready. if you taper to slow, your body can revert to tolerance withdrawal and god forbid you add dosage you have increased tolerance. therefore it is tough finding the right taper pace. on top of that... even if you do find the right pace should you slow the pace near the end? i think it depends on if your body is tapering at the same pace you are dropping the benzo. specifically, if you have gone to fast, you are going to catch some hell near the end. if you have not gone to fast, maybe you won't. i am tapering at a slow rate and i am hoping my body is in line and it can keep it going as i get to low doses. i do think there is one other thing. i have read that people are really better off after they jump than staying on low doses. i think any small amount of benzo getting in your body and then having a half life and leaving is confusing to your body and at a certain point your body is better off with none. on the other hand if you have tapered to fast there are consequences there too. so it is a balancing act and only your body knows the right answer. so to make a long story short, if i were you i would try to be getting 6-7 hours of sleep a night (on average) with the taper and as you get to the end - like 1 or 2 mg, get ready for some turbulence and then just jump and be confident that all will improve within days, not weeks (unless of course you have tapered too fast).  anyway, this is what i am thinking. hope it helps.

[[Ch...]]

I can only speculate on this.  I don't know if there is a verifiable answer at this time.

 

The GABA receptors only begin to heal during a taper.  The longer the taper, the more time the GABA receptors have to catch up before the drug is completely gone.  As a taper is generally far shorter than the actual healing process/recovery time, we're going to feel the withdrawal of the drug more and more as it's withdrawn and the GABA receptors can't keep up.

 

It's a logical explanation, but perhaps not the only possibility.

[[sa...]]

It doesn't always have to be harder as you go down.For some people like me it actually became easier as I went down. My worst symptoms were before I even started tapering for a few months and they did become worse for a few months after I started my taper, but then gradually lessened as I went down. By the time I jumped I was 90% + healed.

 

I guess I was lucky, but I have read others describe the same thing.

[[Sh...]]

I think I have to subscribe to the theory that we are sort of in acute already...I used to stabilise to 100% but now in the lower bits I can't. I think it's because the drug isn't helping anymore and it's anti anxiety properties are now gone from my body. So it becomes harder to keep tapering...

[Guest [Ka...]]

I went really slow and it got easier for me towards the end.

[[me...]]

Here is why--the drop in Gaba receptor occupancy vs. dosage is not linear. I wish I could find a graph that illustrates this, it falls off a cliff at lower doses. It's not like if you do even drops, your brain is adjusting the same amount every drop, it actually has much more adjustment to do at the lower doses. That is why people often find they can drop faster from high doses (receptor occupancy doesn't change much) , then get hit hard at lower doses. Thus I'm a big believer in the "long tail taper"--slooow way down when you get closer to the end. Totally counter-intuitive until you understand the principles.

[[az...]]

I guess to me each of the replies made seem plausible, even though different. Such wise responses and so varied. Wow.