The Easier Taper Support Group

[[be...]]

it makes me so happy to see that others are having success at tapering without being bedridden!

it took me a long time to accept that it was even a possibility, and like gardener says, turtle taper! it has been months and i have only dropped .25mg, but i'll take it as slow as i have to so i can still function day to day.

You have the right attitude, Accepting the Process of Healing is a biggie, also what we resist persists. I do not care either that it has taken me a long time and still have more time to go, I am functional and that is the best. 🕊 Peace.

[[be...]]

 

I think I started the turtle thing, and Valley added the chicken on the turtles back...I think or was it you that added the chicken?? I could not do a snail as I do not like things that slither on the ground, so a 🐢 was the best for me. Gard I agree that this has not been easy, but it has been doable, really better than my first two failed tapers. 🕊 Peace.

 

Ah ha! I thought you were our "turtle champion." And I confess, I added the chicken. Then Valley copied it onto his slow taper "propaganda list" and the rest is history!

 

 

 

 

...Now cover your eyes, BG. Slimy thing in my next post!

Ugh...Ugh slimey....

[[Su...]]

Hi, SS!

 

Hi Gard! :clap:

[[Su...]]

I have this on my refrigerator for when I get impatient.

 

:laugh:

[[Li...]]

Haha...love the pics! 

 

Thanks Gardener and BeGood....ya'll are truly inspirations and hopefully by the summer I will try again and see what happens.  Thanks for your words.  Best of luck to you guys in your "Turtle taper"...brave ladies!! 

[[ga...]]

Hi, Lib! I'm very glad you're still hanging around during your "sabbatical" from tapering. There's no rush. Even where you are right now you're way ahead of me and will be off before I am!

 

Begood, I sincerely apologize for posting my favorite meme with the you-know-what on the turtle's back, but don't you think it would make a great mascot of this thread? We need a mascott!.

 

Gard

[[ga...]]

For anyone reading on this thread, here are some helpful links.

 

The Long Hold Support Group: for people who got into a rough spot and needed to pause their taper to get stabilized: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=153201.0;topicseen.  You probably want to skip ahead to the current page. It's way too long to read it all. If you skim through several newer pages, be sure to look for the chicken on the turtle to find the collection Valley has made of quotes from members who have been helped by holding (stopping their taper) until they stabilized.

 

The Daily Micro-Tapering Support Group: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=135284.0.  Skip ahead on this one, too. It's not as active as it used to be, but builder and some others still show up to answer questions and, Sharkey, who stared it will show up if you PM him to let him know you've posted a question.

 

I use guided meditations that cultivate relaxation through mindful acceptance. I learned abut mindful acceptance on a benzo withdrawal site, but found it was a very hard concept to apply to my life. Then I found MBSR body scans. Here's one on YouTube that was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn to help patients at his hospital cope with stress from chronic illness.

There are other scans that are similar. I have found 3 or 4 that I like and use regularly.

 

Gard

[[be...]]

Hi, Lib! I'm very glad you're still hanging around during your "sabbatical" from tapering. There's no rush. Even where you are right now you're way ahead of me and will be off before I am!

 

Begood, I sincerely apologize for posting my favorite meme with the you-know-what on the turtle's back, but don't you think it would make a great mascot of this thread? We need a mascott!.

 

Gard

Gard, how about the sloth as the mascot???

[[ga...]]

Me? Me? Yes! I want to be fame-us!

http://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rescued-baby-sloths-conversation-fb__700-png.jpg

[[be...]]

Me? Me? Yes! I want to be fame-us!

http://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rescued-baby-sloths-conversation-fb__700-png.jpg

Welcome little one U R Wunderful . :smitten:

[[ga...]]

Sweet Sally Sloth Welcomes You to our Easier Taper Support Group

            http://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rescued-baby-sloths-conversation-fb__700-png.jpg

 

Tapers don't have to be brutal. Many of us have hit some rough patches, learned from them, and eased into a smoother taper with wide windows and minor waves (blips, as BG calls them). We are here to share ideas with each other for making our tapers as smooth as possible and to encourage each other to keep on with whatever is working.

 

Some people can taper at Ashton's rate and some even faster. That's great! But most of us here have found that slow-as-a-sloth is a good speed for tapering with minimal symptoms. Many have also used holds and/or daily micro-tapering to taper smoothly with as little life disruption as possible.

 

A few posts back I put up a few links I've found helpful. I hope others who have figured out how to taper smoothly will come and add their own links and suggestions for what has helped them.

 

We can do this together: upside down, slow as a sloth, whatever it takes, one day closer to freedom.

 

Gard

[[St...]]

Oh hey, check this group out. Apologies for this, but I'm going to repost something I posted in the long hold taper group. I'm trying to "walk off" my final 2mg in the hopes of having an easy rest of my taper and could use some advice.

 

------

 

So I'm thinking about starting my taper again. Most of you probably don't remember my situation. I crashed hard after 2 weeks off in 2014 after a difficult and probably too fast taper. I crashed again in 2016 after walking down slowly to 2mg of Valium on a liquid microtaper. I lost 5lbs. a day for 7 days straight and I didn't sleep for 10 days. This happened while I was overseas in Australia where my wife was on assignment.

 

Since then we've moved back to the US, purchased a house and I've been working and just trying to keep stable since then. My mom passed away shortly after we moved back from Australia and I held the entire year as I got through all the transitions. The funeral, taking care of my father, the house search, the move to the house and getting settled.

 

I'm finally at a place where I think I could begin to take up my slow microtaper. My wife and I have been living in our house now for over 6 months. All of our debts are paid off and we have a decent amount of savings. I've been working for almost a year now here in the US. I think I have my feet under me enough that I could start.

 

My question is how will I know for sure? Many people on this board recommended that I give myself grace and get through all those major life events first. I'm through them. I'm through the first anniversary of my mom passing. I'm through all the various moves, Christmas, etc. I think I can proceed. I just want to know if there's anything else I should do before I proceed.

 

I've tried medical marijuana and discovered it has some utility for me. I've tried L-Theanine since being back in the US and discovered it has some utility for me. I need to do a better job cleaning up my diet, but otherwise I think I'm ready to start again. So now what?

[[ga...]]

Hi, Stephen. It sounds like your life has settled down and you are in a better place to taper now. I went through a similar thing with a lot of upheavals that caused me to hold for a long time. When I started up again, I did a liquid micro-taper. I was concerned, too, about how it would go, so I started by easing into it like this:

 

I figured out what my daily cut would be (based on a rate of 5%/month) and I made one little cut on a Sunday. Then I waited a whole week. The next week I made a cut on Sunday and Wednesday. The next week, Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. These were very small cuts, the size I intended to make every day once I got going. After everything went OK for those 3 trial weeks, I went to cutting daily. And it continued to be OK.

 

I was able to taper for many months, and then held during the holidays, and then started up again. Whenever I start after a hold, I ease into it. It makes me less anxious and gives me lots of time to adjust if things get rocky.

 

Gard

[[St...]]

Thanks, Gard. What do you consider little cuts? 0.05mg little enough or too little?

[[Ro...]]

wow Gard! i think you are seriously onto something there with your easing in to the taper slowly like that!

i am considering changing to a microtaper if it happens that i need one, but just like everything else, it gives me a bit of anxiety, so i hold off!

I am super thankful that my last two cuts have been pain free, and will keep going this way until that is no longer the case.

[[ga...]]

Thanks, Gard. What do you consider little cuts? 0.05mg little enough or too little?

 

I must confess, I do NOT figure anyone's else's cuts (for their own safety ).

 

What I do for myself is figure out 5% of my total (because that's what I want to cut per month as a relatively safe starting place) and divide it into micro-taper cuts, so that would be dividing it by 30. That's for each dose, of course. Then I ask someone on Benzo Buddies or one of my adult children to make sure I figured it right.

 

If you need help with math, try the Liquid Titration board or the daily micro-tapering support group. There are people on there who will not mess up the math.

 

Once I get going with my daily cuts, if all goes well with cutting 5%, I let the percent creep upwards, which it will naturally do as the months go by. I've gotten up to 8% with tolerable symptoms as long as my life stress is low at the same time. Some people can go faster. Some must go slower. I learned the hard way that it's better to start slow and creep upwards than start fast and crash.

 

Gard

[[ga...]]

wow Gard! i think you are seriously onto something there with your easing in to the taper slowly like that!

i am considering changing to a microtaper if it happens that i need one, but just like everything else, it gives me a bit of anxiety, so i hold off!

I am super thankful that my last two cuts have been pain free, and will keep going this way until that is no longer the case.

 

I'm so glad your taper is going well, Rosa. 

 

I am the chicken there on the back of the turtle (tortoise, actually). After my long hold, I was so afraid to start again that I developed my ease-into-it plan. It was a confidence-builder if nothing else, and it worked.

 

[[Li...]]

Gardener...your ease into it plan sounds awesome....I will incorporate it once I start back up.  Great idea!!! Thanks so much for sharing.  AS usual, you are a wealth of help and information to me....my Librium sista!

[[ga...]]

Gardener...your ease into it plan sounds awesome....I will incorporate it once I start back up.  Great idea!!! Thanks so much for sharing.  AS usual, you are a wealth of help and information to me....my Librium sista!

 

Cool, I have a sista! Looking forward to the day we are the free-from-Librium sistas!

 

Hey, I was going ask you, did you ever see any specks floating on the top of your liquid after you shook it up? It's happened to me a few times. I wonder what it is. Or maybe I don't want to know. 

 

Gard

[[Li...]]

Gardener, Yes I can't wait for that day! 

 

Yes, I have seen specks on top of the water after shaking...one was even a little big so shook it again which made it better...I guess I didn't leave it soaking long before shaking?  I hear ya...maybe we don't want to know.  I thought about going back to pill form since I won't try weaning till June but was terrified I would get sxs again from changes in delivery so it's liquid till the end!!  I think if you've only seen the specks a few times then nothing to worry about.  I'm glad you are continuing down with your taper....you must have gotten pretty stabilized?

[[ga...]]

Gardener, Yes I can't wait for that day! 

 

Yes, I have seen specks on top of the water after shaking...one was even a little big so shook it again which made it better...I guess I didn't leave it soaking long before shaking?  I hear ya...maybe we don't want to know.  I thought about going back to pill form since I won't try weaning till June but was terrified I would get sxs again from changes in delivery so it's liquid till the end!!  I think if you've only seen the specks a few times then nothing to worry about.  I'm glad you are continuing down with your taper....you must have gotten pretty stabilized?

 

OK, good to know floating specks are "normal."

 

I'd sure be tempted to go back to capsules, too. I've always done my holds when I've gotten to even capsules. The dissolving gets tiresome. But if you're comfortably adjusted to liquid, I agree, why rock the boat?

 

Yes, I'm pretty stable. As long as I don't do anything weird, my symptoms are manageable. Expecting a blip next week, though, because I have to have a medical test that includes an injection with epinephrine. I'm not feeling like I need to hold, though. I thought about it, but decided to stick with my daily micro-taper and just plan to be bit laid up. Clearing my calendar as best I can and cooking up a big pot of chili this weekend so I'll be prepared to be a bit under the weather afterwards. I figure this will be nothing compared to all the buddies who have been suffering the flu lately. (No flu in my house. Knock wood!)

 

Gard

[[Li...]]

Gardener,

 

Good luck on your procedure....I totally reacted to Epinephrine back when I had hormone pellets put in...lasted for only 2 days....never made the connection to my benzo till after I got into these groups.  I can imagine it would affect me worse if I was tapering down.  I'm glad you are getting prepared...smart lady.  But I'm hoping your reaction will be mild and brief.  I do know of a lady right now who has the flu, a big time hormonal imbalance and still suffering from a C/T off her benzo.  The combination from hell if you ask me.  I have met such awesome, strong people in these groups...they amaze me constantly. 

 

I worry about the flu too but so far so good here as well. 

 

enjoy your chili! 

[[ga...]]

Gardener,

 

Good luck on your procedure....I totally reacted to Epinephrine back when I had hormone pellets put in...lasted for only 2 days....never made the connection to my benzo till after I got into these groups.  I can imagine it would affect me worse if I was tapering down.  I'm glad you are getting prepared...smart lady.  But I'm hoping your reaction will be mild and brief.  I do know of a lady right now who has the flu, a big time hormonal imbalance and still suffering from a C/T off her benzo.  The combination from hell if you ask me.  I have met such awesome, strong people in these groups...they amaze me constantly. 

 

I worry about the flu too but so far so good here as well. 

 

enjoy your chili!

 

Thanks, Lib. I'm glad to hear the epinephrine reaction only lasted 2 days. I'll just clear my calendar for 2 days.  No flu in my house yet (knock wood). I bought a cleanser called Hibiclens on amazon. Used to buy it at Walgreens where I use to live, but haven't see it here so ordered it. I ordered the foaming dispenser. It works great. Smells a little like perfume. Healthcare professionals use it because it leaves something on your hands that kills both bacteria and flu virus. I wash with it every time I go out the door. Wish I could get my daughter to do the same! I'm sure she's bringing virus into the house because she and her finds all work with children in one way or another. She's walking a germ factory! Of course hospitals are germ factories, too. I think I'll bathe in the Hibiclens before I go! Then I will smell like a perfume factory.

 

Gard

[[Va...]]

wow Gard! i think you are seriously onto something there with your easing in to the taper slowly like that!

i am considering changing to a microtaper if it happens that i need one, but just like everything else, it gives me a bit of anxiety, so i hold off!

I am super thankful that my last two cuts have been pain free, and will keep going this way until that is no longer the case.

 

I'm so glad your taper is going well, Rosa. 

 

I am the chicken there on the back of the turtle (tortoise, actually). After my long hold, I was so afraid to start again that I developed my ease-into-it plan. It was a confidence-builder if nothing else, and it worked.

 

Good to see the mascots showing up  on other threads! 

[[ga...]]

And good to see you, Valley! Your Long Hold thread "propaganda" saved my taper and my sanity.