The Easier Taper Support Group

[[Ro...]]

well tomorrow is cut day again! i can honestly say that i am more nervous about this one than i have been for any of the other ones. I will again cut .125, so will be down to .5/day.

i would make a smaller cut, but i can't reasonably cut my pills in smaller than 1/4s and i am not quite ready to do a liquid taper nor do i have a compatible scale.

I know that this is a big cut but am quite hopeful that since all of my previous cuts have been so symptom free that this one will be too.

Once i am down to .25mg 2X/day i will switch to .25mg pills and then be able to cut much smaller for my next rould!

Wish me luck!

[[ga...]]

Sounds like you have a good plan, Rosabell. Just keep listening to your body and cut when you feel ready. Wishing you the best!

 

Gard

[[Ro...]]

well it's six days out from my last cut and things have been fairly good! I'm a bit more achy and a bit more gassy (both ends!!) my sleep has been a tiny bit more restless, but nothing to the point that it has negatively effected my daily life.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues along these lines.

I don't always feel comfortable sharing how extremely easy my taper has been so far as opposed to some others who suffer so greatly, i don't want it to seem as if i am bragging and that everyone should be able to have an easy time of it, because i know i may be an anomaly! However, i do feel it is extremely extremely important to let people know that not everyone has a horror show with coming off of benzos. When i first started to think about stopping them, i was terrified as i could not find one honest report of someone who didn't go through hell, and if i can be that one little beacon of hope for even one person i have done something good!

[[ga...]]

Rosabell, I'm glad things are going well and double glad you are telling people about it!  You are not an anomaly!

 

I know a couple of people (in 3D life) who had relatively smooth tapers. Their doctors let them go slowly and they did just fine.

 

Unfortunately for me, my first prescriber was clueless (and so was I), so I started my first taper from a really unstable place. It was awful. I had to stop tapering (what we call a long hold) to get stable and then try again.

 

This second try is going much better because my doctor is not rushing me, is emphasizing stability and even blood levels, and letting me taper according to how I feel and how much stress I have in my life. It's a symptoms-based taper, not a calendar-based taper. I really think most people would have smooth tapers if their doctors let them do it this way.

 

Gard

[[Su...]]

well it's six days out from my last cut and things have been fairly good! I'm a bit more achy and a bit more gassy (both ends!!) my sleep has been a tiny bit more restless, but nothing to the point that it has negatively effected my daily life.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues along these lines.

I don't always feel comfortable sharing how extremely easy my taper has been so far as opposed to some others who suffer so greatly, i don't want it to seem as if i am bragging and that everyone should be able to have an easy time of it, because i know i may be an anomaly! However, i do feel it is extremely extremely important to let people know that not everyone has a horror show with coming off of benzos. When i first started to think about stopping them, i was terrified as i could not find one honest report of someone who didn't go through hell, and if i can be that one little beacon of hope for even one person i have done something good!

 

Rosabell,

I guess I think that what you write about is what this thread is all about!  We can have fairly easy tapers with good planning, good medical folks helping us and some good luck or good genes....

I think when I first came on to BB I was scared into cutting quickly.  No blame here, just some of the posts were brutal.

When I found more gentle posts about slow considered tapers then i started to relax and things went better from then on!

No a cakewalk but sure better...

So please keep writing about how your taper is going....Inspiring and great.

So happy for you that things are good and fairly easy!

SS

[[Li...]]

RosaBell...your kinda posts are what I live for and look for so keep 'em comin'.  I look forward to hearing how smooth your jump will be.

 

Gardener99...you are amazing my Librium friend....glad you found the doc who "gets it".  I did too but I'm that chicken on that turtle picture.  Scared to death. 

 

 

[[ga...]]

RosaBell...your kinda posts are what I live for and look for so keep 'em comin'.  I look forward to hearing how smooth your jump will be.

 

Gardener99...you are amazing my Librium friend....glad you found the doc who "gets it".  I did too but I'm that chicken on that turtle picture.  Scared to death.

 

Once you get going, you will be less scared, Lib-Sis. I'm always scared when I start up or make changes. You should have seen me when I was learning to micro-taper. I'm amazed they didn't kick me off the thread for asking a gazillion questions, often the same one again and again!

[[Li...]]

Gard, do you mean asking a gazillion questions like I did to you?  lol.  Glad I'm not the only one. I'll probably have more once I start tapering down again. 

 

Hugs!

[[ga...]]

Gard, do you mean asking a gazillion questions like I did to you?  lol.  Glad I'm not the only one. I'll probably have more once I start tapering down again. 

 

Hugs!

 

[[Ro...]]

Happy March everyone!!

Things are continuing to go very smoothly for me, although my psych has asked that i start to make smaller cuts, but says that if i am still feeling alright i can cut every two weeks instead of monthly.

It has been just over a week since my last cut and no problems at all!!

I hope everyone is doing well and making it through some how

 

Cheers!!

[[Su...]]

Happy March everyone!!

Things are continuing to go very smoothly for me, although my psych has asked that i start to make smaller cuts, but says that if i am still feeling alright i can cut every two weeks instead of monthly.

It has been just over a week since my last cut and no problems at all!!

I hope everyone is doing well and making it through some how

 

Cheers!!

Such good news Rosabell!  I'm so happy for you!

SS

[[ga...]]

I'm so happy to hear your good news, Rosa! 

[[Ro...]]

Thanks ladies!!

[[St...]]

Had a little summit with my doctors to talk about how to proceed. My psych and my GP want me to consider an SSRI as I taper the rest of this. 

 

I really like my psych. I've been doing DBT with her and I think it's helpful. I'm not sure if the talk of adding medications that may affect my mind is helping much, though.

[[Ha...]]

Hi all, thought this looks a positive forum and hoping I might join? 

 

I’ve been reading too many horror stories and feel awful for those who suffer so badly. To be honest these stories have scared me half to death!  :'(

 

After so much “research” here over the past couple of months on BB, I’ve decided to do the Ashton crossover taper. It is early days but so far the crossover has been very promising and I’m hoping against hope it will continue that way! I have read many who have tapered without an issue here, so here I am hoping the positive will rub off 😊  Harmonee

 

[[Su...]]

Nice to see you here Harmonee and everyone!

Yes I find this blog easy to read and helpful!

 

As of today -- with the addition of 1mg of Valium I am down 90% of my Xanax.... it's a funny pride in this process.

It's been relatively easy at times! 

And I'm going to make sure that it's relatively easy for the rest of the way down..

 

SS

[[Ha...]]

Thanks SS  Great milestone!  Can't wait to reach that one day      Harmonee

[[Su...]]

Thanks SS  Great milestone!  Can't wait to reach that one day      Harmonee

 

thanks! I look forward to the day you hit that as well!  That we all are off this stuff.....

 

SS

[[Ro...]]

Welcome Harmonee! yes this is a much more positive place to hang out instead of reading all of the horror stories out there, it scared the pants off of me too at first.

It feels more like a place of celebration for what has been achieved by everyone here, we can support and uplift, congratulate one another on our accomplishments.

 

Congrats SufferingSixty on how far you have come, i'm sure it wasn't a cake walk, but you survived and will continue to beat this every step of the way.

 

StephenDedalus, let us know what you decide regarding the SSRI. It is such an individual decision and of course each person will react differently but if you are having a hard time with the tapering process and believe it may help you might want to try it out. I know that had i not started on Effexor i would not be where i am today, however it was a bit of a struggle the first couple of weeks after i started taking it and i know some people who react badly to this and others. Unfortunately with these types of medications it's pretty much a guessing game of what will work and what will backfire, and that can be pretty scary sometimes. But, if you truly trust your Dr. and are currently suffering enough that you also think it could help, i would be inclined to take their advice.

[[Su...]]

Welcome Harmonee! yes this is a much more positive place to hang out instead of reading all of the horror stories out there, it scared the pants off of me too at first.

It feels more like a place of celebration for what has been achieved by everyone here, we can support and uplift, congratulate one another on our accomplishments.

 

Congrats SufferingSixty on how far you have come, i'm sure it wasn't a cake walk, but you survived and will continue to beat this every step of the way.

 

StephenDedalus, let us know what you decide regarding the SSRI. It is such an individual decision and of course each person will react differently but if you are having a hard time with the tapering process and believe it may help you might want to try it out. I know that had i not started on Effexor i would not be where i am today, however it was a bit of a struggle the first couple of weeks after i started taking it and i know some people who react badly to this and others. Unfortunately with these types of medications it's pretty much a guessing game of what will work and what will backfire, and that can be pretty scary sometimes. But, if you truly trust your Dr. and are currently suffering enough that you also think it could help, i would be inclined to take their advice.

Thanks Rosabell! 

No not a cake walk, but I'm here, I'm standing, I'm smiling and I'm determined to go the next lap(s) 

SS

[[Ha...]]

However, i do feel it is extremely extremely important to let people know that not everyone has a horror show with coming off of benzos. When i first started to think about stopping them, i was terrified as i could not find one honest report of someone who didn't go through hell, and if i can be that one little beacon of hope for even one person i have done something good!

Hi Rosabell, thanks for the welcome! As a "newbie" I have no idea what journey lies ahead of me (just hoping whatever happens, I will learn how to manage it as so many brave people here do so well), but it is truly motivating to read about people coming off benzos without necessarily going through hell.  For a while I felt like running a mile after reading some of the horrible sxs people experience. I thought "just stay on them, don't risk it!!". So I've done a deal with myself to go one step at a time (hoping the step is an achievement). My first step is to successfully crossover to Valium from Xanax. For me it is so important to take the plunge, face my fears head on. What do they say? "Feel the fear and do it anyway"?

 

It would be great to keep this group bumped up the ranks as I can see so many new members are terrified and find themselves transfixed on the bad bits rather than the good. A place for encouragement and hope to tackle through whatever challengers we may or may not come up against :smitten: Harmonee

[[Ro...]]

https://goo.gl/images/ZnRpgu

[[ga...]]

Hello, everybody. My computer is crashed so grabbed my daughter's laptop to pop in and say hi. Good to see everybody!

[[Su...]]

Hi Gard,

Always great to hear from you!

SS

[[He...]]

Hi All,

 

I’m currently holding on both my AD and Benzo.  I just started both in January 2018 to “help” with a withdrawal from olanzapine.  My neurologist had me switch c/t and it did not go well!  I’ve been on a lot of different meds for chronic migraine.  This last one almost did me in.  I tried a quick taper of k since I’d only been on it for four weeks but had some bad(ish) symptoms when I got to .1 mg.  So I’m back at .25 for a while.  Just two weeks ago my doctor wanted to me to stop using he AD with a super fast taper (25 to 10 to 0).  I went down from 25 to 20 to 17 and ran into trouble.  So I’m hanging with both for a bit. 

 

I’m convinced that my body is still recovering from the first withdrawal and am very optimistic that when I start to taper, I will have a good plan and will have success!  So I’d like to follow along with your journeys to give me hope that in a few months when I start to taper from .25 to 0 it will be smooth!

 

Congratulations to all of you that have made it this far!!!!