The Easier Taper Support Group

[[Ma...]]

Hey Candace, begood asked me to look at your math and you are spot on . Gardie was right.  And you really have done a nice taper with all the holds.  If you are feeling bad but having windows, you can stretch it out longer than a month, 5 or 6 weeks maybe and from reading your information, just an opinion, I bet you would feel pretty good.  Of course as in all things benzo's, no one really knows.

I just spent 2 months crossing over to Roxann too but I am at 8.8.  I was worried at first, planning on holding til end January, but have been improving.  I will tell you something funny I read on another thread.  I just busted out laughing.  He said he was reading the bottle and it said taste, Spicy Mint.

Spicy Mint!  That was Chernobyl Toilet Seat if it was anything.  It is so nasty.  I just laughed and laughed.

You are getting low, hope you finish with an easy walk off.  Nice to meet you.  Good luck, Mary 🍀🍀🍀

[[ga...]]

Hey Candace, begood asked me to look at your math and you are spot on . Gardie was right.  And you really have done a nice taper with all the holds.  If you are feeling bad but having windows, you can stretch it out longer than a month, 5 or 6 weeks maybe and from reading your information, just an opinion, I bet you would feel pretty good.  Of course as in all things benzo's, know one really knows.

I just spent 2 months crossing over to Roxann too but I am at 8.8.  I was worried at first, planning on holding til end January, but have been improving.  I will tell you something funny I read on another thread.  I just busted out laughing.  He said he was reading the bottle and it said taste, Spicy Mint.

Spicy Mint!  That was Chernobyl Toilet Seat if it was anything.  It is so nasty.  I just laughed and laughed.

You are getting low, hope you finish with an easy walk off.  Nice to meet you.  Good luck, Mary 🍀🍀🍀

 

I'm so glad to hear the hold has been helping you!

[[Ma...]]

Hey Candace, begood asked me to look at your math and you are spot on . Gardie was right.  And you really have done a nice taper with all the holds.  If you are feeling bad but having windows, you can stretch it out longer than a month, 5 or 6 weeks maybe and from reading your information, just an opinion, I bet you would feel pretty good.  Of course as in all things benzo's, know one really knows.

I just spent 2 months crossing over to Roxann too but I am at 8.8.  I was worried at first, planning on holding til end January, but have been improving.  I will tell you something funny I read on another thread.  I just busted out laughing.  He said he was reading the bottle and it said taste, Spicy Mint.

Spicy Mint!  That was Chernobyl Toilet Seat if it was anything.  It is so nasty.  I just laughed and laughed.

You are getting low, hope you finish with an easy walk off.  Nice to meet you.  Good luck, Mary 🍀🍀🍀

 

I'm so glad to hear the hold has been helping you!

 

Love you Gardie 

[[be...]]

Gardie and Mary, thanks for your imput, I am still confused, but that is OK..I think Candace knows what she is doing. Peace and Healing. http://justclickit.ru/smiles/image/holidays/holidays%20(589).gif

[[Ol...]]

Mary I saw that on the other thread.. I think it was Bob? or maybe Tom. So funny!!!!! It definitely made me laugh out loud.

[[Ma...]]

Mary I saw that on the other thread.. I think it was Bob? or maybe Tom. So funny!!!!! It definitely made me laugh out loud.

 

It is such the perfect description, it is so nasty  :laugh:

[[bl...]]

Good morning all

http://justclickit.ru/smiles/image/flowers/flowers%20(2).gif

 

I just made again my cutting calculations and I realized that I made two cuts in December that if you add them, they equal only to 6.25% !!! 

 

I thought I had already made a 5% cut in the first cut and that now I'm in the 10% overall cutting 

 

So, I have to do again my calculations for the next cuts.

 

Taking into account that everyday I do a mentally demanding work, this mistake is... 

 

I definitelly need to get off these pills!!! 

 

Blue

 

 

 

[[bl...]]

 

Happy and healthy New Year to all!!!

 

[[be...]]

 

Happy and healthy New Year to all!!!

 

 

[[be...]]

 

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year".~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering 'it will be happier'.~Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

"Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy shall form an invincible host against difficulties." -- Helen Keller

[[bl...]]

 

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year".~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering 'it will be happier'.~Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

"Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy shall form an invincible host against difficulties." -- Helen Keller

 

http://justclickit.ru/smiles/image/hearts/hearts%20(324).gif  :smitten:

[[ga...]]

 

Happy and healthy New Year to all!!!

 

 

This is beautiful.

[[ga...]]

 

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year".~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering 'it will be happier'.~Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

"Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy shall form an invincible host against difficulties." -- Helen Keller

 

http://justclickit.ru/smiles/image/hearts/hearts%20(324).gif  :smitten:

 

I want to give happy heart balloons to BG, too! But I am not tech savvy. Oh, here's a happy one! and  .

[[Mo...]]

Hi, I'm new to this thread. I started tapering off of 10mg of valium last Feb and am down to 2mg.  But so far the valium taper has been easy. I'm going slowly and holding when I have a stressful event. I have a therapist who is helping me  through it. . It's mostly been pretty easy compared to many stories so I'm glad that there is this thread. I don't read the other stories or threads anymore because it freaks me out and the anxiety of what may come is worse than going through it for me. So far. I am not discounting anyone. I came off of gabapentin a year ago and that was so horrific for me that I ended up in the psych unit at VA for months. So I know that coming off GABA meds can be horrendous. I was on klonopin for 8 years for trigeminal neuralgia and don't wish I never went on it. That kind of pain is so horrendous. I then had surgery for the condition, it worked and no longer had the terrible pain. Switched over to valium - three uncomfortable days while switching and started tapering by 1mg. Now at 2mg I started tapering at 1/8th of a mg. Anyway, I am at 1 7/8 mg as of last week. This last week has been the worse so far, with deep fatigue and like I had a very mild flu. So not so bad.

 

I just started cuts of 1/8mg because a very good pharmacist recommended this kind of drop for the last 2mg. He also recommended at LEAST 2 weeks between drops and told me that when I come off of it totally that my dopamine will be screaming that I'm dying but that I can't listen to it. That's how dopamine works when the GABA receptors are not getting the GABA that it's used to. He also said I could stretch it out however long I needed to but never go back up. He worked in  addiction medicine and very knowledgeable (amazingly) about benzos. He said he was impressed with my provider, because it was rare that he saw a provider help someone off of benzos the right way. 

 

It's a little harder to dry cut, weighing out the pills, then doing the math etc. but so far it's working. I guess what I'm hoping is that if my tapering effects are mild and that i go by small increments now that the final withdrawal will be manageable. Hoping. Anyway, I'm glad that the horror stories are not the only stories because I might not be able to make this journey if I didn't know that there are a lot of people that it is not agonizing for.

[[ga...]]

Welcome! I am so very happy to hear about your successful surgery for trigeminal neuralgia. That is truly wonderful.

 

I'm sorry your gabapentin taper was so hard. I'm tapering it now, myself, but much, much more slowly than the doctors told me. I learned from my Xanax disaster (before I knew how to taper correctly) not to believe everything the doctors told me.

 

It sounds like you are doing everything right now. You have informed yourself and made a plan and are going at a pace you can cope with. That's exactly right! Most people end up on BenzoBuddies because they were given wrong information and had a terrible experience. They arrive here trying to recover from that horrible experience. And that's why there are so many horror stories. You are right to stop reading them.

 

I'm so happy that your pharmacist and your doctor are willing to let you go as slowly as needed. As you get closer to the bottom, you may find you need to slow down even more. Some people switch to liquid Valium at the end so they can make smaller cuts more easily. Just a thought.

 

Again welcome and please check in again and let us know how you're doing.

 

Gardie

[[Mo...]]

Hi, could you tell me what DLMT stands for? Thanks

 

[[Ol...]]

Hi, could you tell me what DLMT stands for? Thanks

 

Daily Liquid Micro Taper.

[[bl...]]

Welcome Mobykal 

 

It's great to hear about your successful surgery for trigeminal neuralgia and that your are doing well with your valium taper! I'm so sorry about the painful gabapentin taper!

 

I like to think that our gaba heal while we taper, so when we finally come off totally, we might as well have milder symptoms.

 

Gardie is right. Many people never write on BenzoBuddies because they are given the right info and they quit benzos relativelly easy. My first taper was successful, with very mild side effects and back then, I am not sure I knew that this forum even existed! So, I believe there are many people that have easier tapers.

In this thread I met some of the most inspiring, wonderful and supportive people that have helped me a lot!

 

Stay positive and wellcome! 

 

Blue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[va...]]

Following.

[[be...]]

Welcome Mobykal, I think that finding a place with buddies that have similair tapers is very helpful, and most of us have had to learn the hard way, that we do not have to rush off. Of course some of us trusted what our Doctors said about tapering and found out it was about to kill us...but there is always Hope, one must never give up trying to find the correct taper rate and style. I know very well what does not work for me and I have learned to be Patient, Accepting and Grateful for my experiences while tapering and it has helped in my everyday life also. Stay Strong, and it takes one step at a time...and Believe that you can and you will. 💖 Peace and Healing.

[[ga...]]

Hi, could you tell me what DLMT stands for? Thanks

 

Daily Liquid Micro Taper.

 

 

Micro means how small each cut is. You make a tiny cut every day instead of a big cut every 2-4 weeks. Some people find the tiny cuts give them almost no symptoms.

 

An example would be if you wanted to reduce by 1mg per month, you would take that number and divide it by 30 (days in a month) and make a micro reduction of .0333mg every day. (I would round that to .03mg.) It involves a lot of math. People usually make a chart or spreadsheet of some kind to follow. People on the Titration Board are usually discussing how to DLMT.

[[ga...]]

I'd like to add that some people who arrive on BB in a terrible place have managed to right their ship and then proceed to have an easier taper. They often do this with a long hold or small updose and hold. Addiction specialists would advise against this because they are used to working with addicts, but I have only met a handful of addicts on this forum. Almost everyone here is physiologically dependent, not addicted.

 

I know I was never addicted to my benzo. An addiction counselor I saw briefly told me to stop saying I was addicted because I wasn't. Addiction and physiological dependence are 2 different things. If someone is addicted, updosing and holding are not going to help them. Only getting off is going to help them. But most people here are not addicted. They are experiencing withdrawal symptoms because they are physiologically dependent on the drug that they have taken as prescribed. People who are not addicted and who have tried to taper too fast can sometimes benefit from updoses and holds. Neither should be done without becoming informed about the potential benefits and risks. For those who are interested, there are support groups groups that discuss each of these things.

 

Gardie

[[Mo...]]

I'd like to add that some people who arrive on BB in a terrible place have managed to right their ship and then proceed to have an easier taper. They often do this with a long hold or small updose and hold. Addiction specialists would advise against this because they are used to working with addicts, but I have only met a handful of addicts on this forum. Almost everyone here is physiologically dependent, not addicted.

 

I know I was never addicted to my benzo. An addiction counselor I saw briefly told me to stop saying I was addicted because I wasn't. Addiction and physiological dependence are 2 different things. If someone is addicted, updosing and holding are not going to help them. Only getting off is going to help them. But most people here are not addicted. They are experiencing withdrawal symptoms because they are physiologically dependent on the drug that they have taken as prescribed. People who are not addicted and who have tried to taper too fast can sometimes benefit from updoses and holds. Neither should be done without becoming informed about the potential benefits and risks. For those who are interested, there are support groups groups that discuss each of these things.

 

Gardie

 

I agree. I never went to rehab. The pharmacist I talked to was a Dr. of pharmacy and knew about the Ashton manual, described what happened to the receptors in the brain that affected dopamine  and how benzos affected the GABA and how it worked. He wasn't from a rehab but from the VA. NOT an intern. He also knew that it took a long time to get off them. He knew his stuff. He also said it's very rare for someone who had a true addiction to benzo's. Although he worked in addiction medicine he knew about other psychotropic meds like anti-depressants, other GABA drugs etc.  Most docs and pharmacist go by what the manufacturers recommendation. Ugg

 

[[ga...]]

I'd like to add that some people who arrive on BB in a terrible place have managed to right their ship and then proceed to have an easier taper. They often do this with a long hold or small updose and hold. Addiction specialists would advise against this because they are used to working with addicts, but I have only met a handful of addicts on this forum. Almost everyone here is physiologically dependent, not addicted.

 

I know I was never addicted to my benzo. An addiction counselor I saw briefly told me to stop saying I was addicted because I wasn't. Addiction and physiological dependence are 2 different things. If someone is addicted, updosing and holding are not going to help them. Only getting off is going to help them. But most people here are not addicted. They are experiencing withdrawal symptoms because they are physiologically dependent on the drug that they have taken as prescribed. People who are not addicted and who have tried to taper too fast can sometimes benefit from updoses and holds. Neither should be done without becoming informed about the potential benefits and risks. For those who are interested, there are support groups groups that discuss each of these things.

 

Gardie

 

I agree. I never went to rehab. The pharmacist I talked to was a Dr. of pharmacy and knew about the Ashton manual, described what happened to the receptors in the brain that affected dopamine  and how benzos affected the GABA and how it worked. He wasn't from a rehab but from the VA. NOT an intern. He also knew that it took a long time to get off them. He knew his stuff. He also said it's very rare for someone who had a true addiction to benzo's. Although he worked in addiction medicine he knew about other psychotropic meds like anti-depressants, other GABA drugs etc.  Most docs and pharmacist go by what the manufacturers recommendation. Ugg

 

Wow, I wish we could clone your doctor and send them out to replace all the ones causing so much benzo pain.

[[Ca...]]

Happy new year everyone!

 

Thank you for all the input on my rough patch I’ve been having.  I decided to hold for a couple of weeks while I finish up work commitments that involve very early morning working hours. I’ve been having increased amounts of insomnia lately, and it’s affecting my ability to work in the early morning. I figure I’ll hold until those commitments are satisfied and then pick back up where I left off. Who knows, maybe the hold will help stabilize me a little bit?  These last two mgs are a bear! I really appreciate all of your advice and support