The Easier Taper Support Group

[[lo...]]

mine was very easy till about 0.25K (5mg V)

[[be...]]

I will say that oddly enough, my Xanax taper got much easier the lower the dose.  I know that seems contradictory to what so many other people experience, but mine really did.  Of course, I also probably started out with too big a cut in my daily dose and then once I learned to cut out smaller doses with each cut things got better.  I would still have a few bad spells here and there throughout the Xanax taper, but overall it did get better.  However, I will say that I was also unconventional in the respect that my doctor added a 5 MG of Valium at bed time - which is also contradictory to what most people do since we really shouldn't be adding more benzos to the mix when we are tapering.  But I have to say that by adding that very small dose of Valium, it got me through the rest of my Xanax taper pretty smoothly.  Because of Valium's longer half life it was covering me during the day whenever I would get those Xanax inter dose withdrawals during my Xanax taper.  I am now over half way through tapering the Valium and it's been a pretty smooth ride so far - absolutely nothing compared to the Xanax taper.  The positive thing I am taking away from this whole experience is that I realize just how much better I feel off the high doses of benzos.  When I started taking them to help my body feel better, I now realize it made my body sicker because I feel so much better with each cut towards elimination. 

[[bl...]]

interesting to see a positive thread.  My first taper 10 years off valium was not a walk in the park at all, but oddly got easier as I went through it, the cuts got less symptomatic and I started teaching secondary school at 7mg (from 10) part time and full time at about 3mg - a very stressful job, plus I met my current husband during this taper - and this was in fact a reinstatement after being in cold turkey for 6 months after a few weeks use of nitrazapam.  No doctors believed what was happening to me, so got Pam Armstrong from CITA to persuade my dr to reinstate me - tapering was so much easier than cold turkey during which I only deteriorated and attempted suicide continuously.  The taper felt easy after this.  My second taper last year (from 7.5 mg valium) was due to a reaction to progesterone cream cold turkey (works on GABA receptors).  I started tapering slowly straight away and never missed a single day of work and only had one day of symptoms - I never posted as I had no need to look at forums.  After both of these tapers there were no residual symptoms after taking the last bit of valium.  I took subtherapeutic dosulepin throughout both of these tapers - this aids sleep and there is a good valid study showing it can have benefits during a taper unless you are tolerant to it. 

 

Things are different now, I have reinstated after finishing that last easy taper in April - back on valium in July. Uncooperative and inconsistent Gps led to yo-yo dosing - found a private doctor and have been stabilising on 14mg valium - after 7 weeks of hell (similar to cold turkey) I stabilised and have had two great symptom free weeks.  Today is a bad day but according to BAT this isn't unusual and is a sign to not yet start tapering.  Luckily I have a doctor who will allow me to control the taper which I intend to do slowly.  There is no reason to think that if I start tapering slowly from a stable base that this should be any different to my other tapers; again I am on dosulepin.  The key apparently is to reach true stabilisation after reinstatement which can take up to three months especially after yo-yo dosing; starting when you are not stable is a ticket to a difficult taper; most doctors won't allow time for stabilisation or even understand the concept, hence the negative press about reinstatement.  My first taper from cold turkey is proof that it works; I wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone to reinstate even months into a cold turkey rather than suffer so badly.

[[be...]]

My taper off a very high dose of K was really easy. I am doing pretty well with my Valium ℅ taper. To me, it was either luck or a very slow taper. I hope the same for you. As you see, not everyone  has to suffer badly. Take care,

 

Betsy

[[Ry...]]

I'm halfway down from 1mg klono and I'm fine. Just holding for my birthday

[[be...]]

I'm halfway down from 1mg klono and I'm fine. Just holding for my birthday

 

Good for you!

[[Ry...]]

I'm halfway down from 1mg klono and I'm fine. Just holding for my birthday

 

Good for you!

 

[[Do...]]

Congrats Ryuuka!  I'm down from 2 mg Xanax to .5.  Hope to resume tapering in about a week.  No problems from tapering so far.  I held due to a fire at my home and after that was taken care of, we started our travels to go South for the winter.  Just didn't want to bother with the tapering during all with the fire.  Not sure why, I've had nothing so far but I guess you never know for sure!

 

Keep up the good work...I will be watching  :thumbsup:

[[Ry...]]

Congrats Ryuuka!  I'm down from 2 mg Xanax to .5.  Hope to resume tapering in about a week.  No problems from tapering so far.  I held due to a fire at my home and after that was taken care of, we started our travels to go South for the winter.  Just didn't want to bother with the tapering during all with the fire.  Not sure why, I've had nothing so far but I guess you never know for sure!

 

Keep up the good work...I will be watching  :thumbsup:

 

I think a lot of it is mindset and some is just blind luck. I know that when I was dwelling on it, I was flipping out. Now that I don't, even when stuff is annoying I'm like whatever, this is gonna go away. And it does. It definitely takes away from being psychologically scarred from this whole thing.

 

Good luck on the rest of your taper!

[[Do...]]

You are absolutely right.  When I first came to BB I was scared to death.  The more I read and looked at the signatures, the more I realized that this doesn't have to be a bad journey.  I will never take it again once I'm off, that seems to be where most people have problems.

 

And after much reading, I've learned the ones having the problems are in the minority.  I feel bad for those people and want only the best for them.

[[li...]]

I'm having an easier taper than before. I'm going really slow. I still have a few sxs creep up here and there, but mostly I'm doing ok.

 

Slow and steady wins the race

[[Re...]]

Thank you for all of the success stories. It gives newbies like myself hope. I start my Klonopin taper tomorrow (10/31).  Happy Halloween

[[Ce...]]

Thank you for all of the success stories. It gives newbies like myself hope. I start my Klonopin taper tomorrow (10/31).  Happy Halloween

 

Good Luck, Ready!  Happy Halloween to you, too...there is always hope...

[[Ja...]]

My taper has actually been ok until 2 weeks ago

Yes it's hard to stay positive but so important

Our minds definitely can make our symptoms worse w no GABA

Good luck and most ppl do fine and never even find BB

[[ly...]]

 

 

After a few missteps mine is going very well.  Slow and steady is the way to go.   My mood and energy have been thru the roof since day one and that makes a huge difference.  I think that I was practically in an anxiety and depression induced coma for the past 25yrs .  All thanks to xanax!  Now I have my life back!

[[Al...]]

I had a hard time until I switched to a liquid taper and accepted the fact it was going to take much longer than I thought... Now it's going good. Very few symptoms, reducing slowly and managing to work throughout.

 

Am hoping that going slow means I can minimise the aftermath..!

 

Am quite positive about it now.

[[Ph...]]

Thanks for the replies, I have to say I've been bombarded with scary actually more like horrific stories. I've been terrified. I've only been using around 3 months at quite a varied small dose and people in support groups were hell bent on telling me I'm in for a nightmare. Baring in mind my life is already a nightmare due to a panic disorder which causes daily multiple panic attacks so really I needed to hear some positive things. Its absolutely terrifying I've found myself in this position. Thank you so much for replying 😁

You're a short-term, low-dose user.  The drug hasn't really set its hooks into you yet.  If you taper wisely, you will have no problems.  Don't let the benzo horror stories psych you out.  In fact, maybe you shouldn't read them at all.  Be gentle with yourself, let yourself heal, avoid triggers.  Your panic disorder is temporary, not permanent, I guarantee you.  Been there.

[[ed...]]

My taper has actually been ok until 2 weeks ago

Yes it's hard to stay positive but so important

Our minds definitely can make our symptoms worse w no GABA

Good luck and most ppl do fine and never even find BB

 

At what dose of Valium were you on 2 weeks ago? Where are you now? Your signature doesn't include that info.

 

Best,

Ed

[[Ja...]]

Hi! Yes I have not updated my signature bc I don't even know how!

I am at 1mg Valium now.

Two weeks ago I was at 1.14 mg as I was reducing 1ml per day!

Not sure how to stabilize but hoping that holding will do the trick

At 1.5mg I was quite good. But there has always been a storm underneath.

Shaking and burning. Even at 5... I did the damage in cold turkey I am sorry to say

Now two weeks ago I was happy. Not great but happier than this which is white knuckle terror mixed w chemical anxiety prickling and burning

Holding and meditating and clearing my life away completely.

Quit work

Do u think I will stabilize? Right now I can't leave the house. That is the antithesis of who I am. Just this chemical anxiety last week is horrific. I can sit down though. As bad as this is Akathesia is worse

[[Ex...]]

My taper was really easy. Actually I started to feel like myself immediately. Even after my jump for a couple of weeks, I still felt pretty good. I made small cuts and I stayed on that one dose for a week before making my next cut. It went pretty well. It wasn't until a couple of weeks after that I had some issues, but even then I worked straight through the withdrawal. It wasn't easy, but it was very doable, and you will do fine.

[[ed...]]

Hi! Yes I have not updated my signature bc I don't even know how!

I am at 1mg Valium now.

Two weeks ago I was at 1.14 mg as I was reducing 1ml per day!

Not sure how to stabilize but hoping that holding will do the trick

At 1.5mg I was quite good. But there has always been a storm underneath.

Shaking and burning. Even at 5... I did the damage in cold turkey I am sorry to say

Now two weeks ago I was happy. Not great but happier than this which is white knuckle terror mixed w chemical anxiety prickling and burning

Holding and meditating and clearing my life away completely.

Quit work

Do u think I will stabilize? Right now I can't leave the house. That is the antithesis of who I am. Just this chemical anxiety last week is horrific. I can sit down though. As bad as this is Akathesia is worse

 

You will stabilize. Maybe, at this low of a dose, you won't get back to a comfortable level. But you will stabilize. At that point, you have to decide if you want to hold for a chunk of time longer, reduce more quickly to get off the junk, or reduce in a slower manner. Incidentally, I know you only reduced by .14mg over two weeks, but that is a roughly 13 percent reduction.  I'm not quite where you are yet, so I'll have my own figuring out to do down the road.  You're going to get through this thou. I assure you that.

 

Best,

Ed

[[Ma...]]

This is a great thread.  I hope we can keep it going.  I am here for support with my first and hopefully only taper.  The relentless sad suffering stories are wearing me down, making me more and more afraid.

 

There has to be millions of people stuck in this problem. It comes out of no where.. I cruised along unscathed for over 20 years using small dosages of temazapam. Much less than prescribed, It wasn't until May, when I took the prescribed dose of 30 mg that I became addicted.

 

Is benzo buddies just a small slice of this population. Do most people  Just go through the taper and go on with life.

 

For me, the process of a year seems so long.  My main symptom is utter lack of motivation and fatigue and great sadness.

 

AT .030 per day, I'm wondering if I'm going too slow.  Or is there no such thing as too slow. I am grateful I am not having terrible symptoms at this point. Are here are those people that are plugging away without too much distress?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[ed...]]

I'd say most people who don't have issues never even bother to think of a support group. Definitely sample bias going on here.

[[...]]

My taper has definitely got easier at lower doses.

My physical symptoms have all but disappeared.

 

Mindfulness is my go to method on a daily basis to help overcome any anxiety. Acceptance of symptoms rather than fighting them.

 

I walk minimum 5 miles every day and have done so every day of my taper.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Great thread keep it going.

👍

 

[[ed...]]

My taper has definitely got easier at lower doses.

My physical symptoms have all but disappeared.

 

Mindfulness is my go to method on a daily basis to help overcome any anxiety. Acceptance of symptoms rather than fighting them.

 

I walk minimum 5 miles every day and have done so every day of my taper.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Great thread keep it going.

👍

 

Nice job. You're doing great!