Need help with crossover schedule from 10 mg Ambien to Valium

[[ga...]]

Does anyone have a schedule for crossing over from 10 mg Ambien to Valium?  I am also on Ativan 1.75 mg per day (divided into 3 doses) and want to get rid of the Ambien first so should I cross taper it to valium?  Then what do I get rid of next...the valium or the Ativan?  My doctor won't cross taper me from Ativan to valium....she reluctantly agreed to do so only for the Ambien.  She's never heard of Ashton and isn't interested.

[[ga...]]

I really hope someone can chime in here with some help on a schedule.  I have the equivalency facts straight....10  mg Ambien = 5 mg Valium.  My question is the schedule....how to do the crossover.  Please help!!!!  Thanks!

[[me...]]

Gardenlady--here is the cross-over schedule for zopiclone to diazepam (from the Ashton Manual). It looks like this would work if you just cut all the quantities in half. Zopiclone is a similar z-drug. Not many here do cross-overs from the z-drugs, so you aren't getting much feedback.

 

http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s12

 

But the situation you are in is a bit different, as you are also taking Ativan. I guess you'll just have to start the cross-over and see how that feels. Or drop the Valium idea and do it the way GABAreceptors did.

[[ga...]]

Thanks for the schedule, meowie.  This schedule seems pretty abrupt to me as people on this site write that Valium has to build up in the blood and it takes time.  Cutting the Ambien 50% all at once seems too drastic the more I think about it...even with 2.5 mg of Valium.  I failed a taper attempt cutting by only 25%.  Last night, I shaved 5% off of the 10 mg Ambien and have had withdrawal all day...shakes, heart racing, panicky anxiety, less than 3 hrs sleep (my new normal). That seems way out of line with what others experience.  I must be super kindled.

 

If I stick to the 5% cut, it'll take me a year to get off this stuff and that's not even touching the Ativan.  Not sure what to do.  I'll see how I feel on day 2 of my 5% taper tomorrow.  I don't know how I'll can survive with so little sleep over a long period of time.