Excited to begin K to Valium crossover!

[[Tw...]]

So I made it again too quickly to .5mgs of K from 3 mgs. Had a massive wave at .5mgs and in a last resort plan my doctor agreed to try a crossover with me to stabilize at 20mgs of Valium maybe less depending on how I'm feeling. Following the Ashton crossover plan and even though I'm going up a little bit I'm truly hopeful that I'll be able to stabilize and follow the Ashton taper down from 20 mgs of Valium. I'm just praying for a semi smoothe crossover for some positivity right now. I just hope some of my physical suffering might go away. I'm beat down right now and a smidge of relief would be so nice. Curious with anyone's experience from a Klonopin to Valium crossover after failed direct K tapers and how they felt after making the transition? Thank you everyone who has given me advice with all of this. Literally, potentially life saving advice on here!

[[dr...]]

I'm in a similar situation and I crossed over from .5 clonazapam to 10mg diazepam over a week.  Extremely difficult for me and I feel worse now.  Depression,hyperacusis,anxiety worse? How did you make out with your X/o?

 

[Guest [ch...]]

Your plan is a good one. I crossed from 2mg Ativan to 10mg Valium back in January and that worked out well for me. I stabilized on the Valium (was kindled / in tolerance on the Ativan), and then tapered slowly over the course of about a year. I jumped yesterday .

[[hi...]]

I firmly believe that c/o to Valium is a good idea. I tried for a yr or more to taper directly from Klonopin and could not handle the sxs. I then read about Reg Peart, Ashton and followed their advice. I c/o from .5mg Klonopin to 10mg Valium. I did well from the start on Valium. Good luck!

[[Tw...]]

Well I'm almost finished my crossover and I notice much less interdose withdrawal even not being done yet. I followed Ashton's plan with roughly a 3 week process. So far besides being slightly more drowsy I'm doing better. Mood seems up, less depressed anxiety has dropped a bit. I'm very happy with my decision so far. Hopefully, this will be what I need to finally break free.

[[hi...]]

once you are successfully c/o to all valium---do you plan to hold that dose a bit before beginning a taper? 

I held 30 days, worked out very well.

[[Tw...]]

Yeah I think a week hold at 20 mgs maybe a little less depending where I stabilize at is what I have written out. I'm still going to push myself but follow the Ashton method and listen to my body as best I can from a stable platform now. Seems to be helping so why not. Anything to heal.

[[On...]]

I see doc Wednesday and he is known for doing a Valium crossover. I am at .388 Klonopin and have made abysmal progress this year. I am hoping this cross over might help. What do you guess (I know no one can read his mind) that I will start at given I am at .388 K now. I am so confused. I read the Ashton Manual, but still don't know how it works when you start at .388.

[[hi...]]

Hi, Oneday, I was at .5mg Klonopin and c/o to 10mg Valium.... Im guessing you could c/o to 8mg? I was able to get my pdoc to rx 2mg AND 5mg Valium pills to mix and match my taper. I cut .25mg every 4-8 weeks, just depending on my body's reactions. Good luck! 

[[dr...]]

hikingchik, were you dry cutting the 2mg tabs into eigths to get the .25mg?

[[hi...]]

Here's what I did to get the .25mg...say I was at 3.5mg. To get to 3.25mg, I would take a 5mg pill and quarter it to get 1.25mg, then add the 2mg pill to get 3.25mg. So 1.25 + 2= 3.25mg

[[dr...]]

Brilliant Hikingchik!, I used to be excellent at math but after benzos, obviously this is no longer the case. Thanks 

[[hi...]]

Brilliant... I'll take it! Thanks, drummerboy and good luck to ya!!  :thumbsup:

[[On...]]

How does this sound for a cross over from Klonopin to Valium?

I am at .388 which is close to 8 mg Valium.  (.5 Klonopin - 10 mg Valium)

 

Week 1: 8 am Noon 4:00 pm 8:00 pm

Diazepam 1 mg 1 mg 1 mg 1 mg

Klonopin .375

(I have never been able to break my Klonopin dose in half to go to twice a day without severe panic attacks. Keep at this dose until Valium onboard.)

 

Week 2: 8 am Noon 4:00 8:00

Diazepam 1 mg 1 mg 1 mg 1 mg

Klonopin .375 

 

Week 3: 8 am Noon 4:00 8:00

Diazepam 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg

Klonopin .250 (or could go to .125 if fairly stable)

 

Week 4: 8 am Noon 4:00 8:00

Diazepam 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg

Klonopin .125 am 

 

Week 5: 8 am Noon 4:00 8:00

Diazepam 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg

Off Klonopin

 

Start Valium taper .1 every other day

[[hi...]]

That should work for you. Everyone is so different. It's difficult to know for sure. Good luck dear. And I'd hold the 8mg Valium, once you are fully c/o, for 30 full days! That helped me immensely! 

[[On...]]

That should work for you. Everyone is so different. It's difficult to know for sure. Good luck dear. And I'd hold the 8mg Valium, once you are fully c/o, for 30 full days! That helped me immensely! 

 

Thank you so much! I will remember that about holding for 30 days after cross over. Trying to stay confident!

[[On...]]

How does this sound for a cross over from Klonopin to Valium?

I am at .388 which is close to 8 mg Valium.  (.5 Klonopin - 10 mg Valium)

 

Week 1: 8 am Noon 4:00 pm 8:00 pm

Diazepam 1 mg 1 mg 1 mg 1 mg

Klonopin .375

(I have never been able to break my Klonopin dose in half to go to twice a day without severe panic attacks. Keep at this dose until Valium onboard.)

 

Week 2: 8 am Noon 4:00 8:00

Diazepam 1 mg 1 mg 1 mg 1 mg

Klonopin .375 

 

Week 3: 8 am Noon 4:00 8:00

Diazepam 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg

Klonopin .250 (or could go to .125 if fairly stable)

 

Week 4: 8 am Noon 4:00 8:00

Diazepam 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg

Klonopin .125 am 

 

Week 5: 8 am Noon 4:00 8:00

Diazepam 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg 2 mg

Off Klonopin

 

Start Valium taper .1 every other day

 

This is not working. I have only been doing this only three days and the Valium is making me brain dead, zombies me out, hot flashes at night (not menopause) and keeps me totally awake at night! And I haven't changed the Klonopin at all. It's like where I was months ago only with more and different symptoms.

 

I know it is still early and this should subside, but I don't know if I have the courage to go through a major episode of more symptoms, especially at the holidays. I have no idea what to do and will talk to doc next week.

 

And then I read the half like of K is 30-100 hours and Valium is 40-200 (I don't know if this is right so don't quote me). So since my body always goes with the minimal half life (I have symptoms from K after 12 hrs) then why go through all this work to switch?

[[dr...]]

Onedayat..., I can only sympathize with you and relate.  Insomnea worsens everything.  I too did very similar cross over from .4mg K to 8mg V (in my case clonazapam to diazapam) I crossed over in a week which probably did not help me. Only for the first week on Valium did I sleep better(4-5 hours), anxiety was a little better but depression is worse.  Because I felt slightly sedated on the V after cross over I thought everything was ok as this is what I had read somewhere on this site or Ashton manual.  I was already in a really bad unstable state on the K and could not stabilize so switched to V thinking it would be easier to taper from.  Also I was desperate to get into rTMS therapy and needed to taper faster to start therapy.  So I x/o in 1 week and I cut from 8 to 4mg in 8 weeks.  This was way too fast for me.  I am holding at 4 mg V cause I can't seem to reduce any further without risking hospital visit.  I am only sleeping 1-3 hours a night every night on V.  It's brutal.  If I make it through TMS therapy I will also be at a loss what to do next.  My point is, in my case I screwed up by crossing over too fast and then tapering too soon but in my case I really had no choice.  I was also taking K 4 x/day.  My current Valium is 4mg once a day(again not by choice)  You are right on about different symptoms from K to V for some of us.  Best of luck to you  and sorry I couldn't be of any help other than to commiserate.

[[On...]]

Onedayat..., I can only sympathize with you and relate.  Insomnea worsens everything.  I too did very similar cross over from .4mg K to 8mg V (in my case clonazapam to diazapam) I crossed over in a week which probably did not help me. Only for the first week on Valium did I sleep better(4-5 hours), anxiety was a little better but depression is worse.  Because I felt slightly sedated on the V after cross over I thought everything was ok as this is what I had read somewhere on this site or Ashton manual.  I was already in a really bad unstable state on the K and could not stabilize so switched to V thinking it would be easier to taper from.  Also I was desperate to get into rTMS therapy and needed to taper faster to start therapy.  So I x/o in 1 week and I cut from 8 to 4mg in 8 weeks.  This was way too fast for me.  I am holding at 4 mg V cause I can't seem to reduce any further without risking hospital visit.  I am only sleeping 1-3 hours a night every night on V.  It's brutal.  If I make it through TMS therapy I will also be at a loss what to do next.  My point is, in my case I screwed up by crossing over too fast and then tapering too soon but in my case I really had no choice.  I was also taking K 4 x/day.  My current Valium is 4mg once a day(again not by choice)  You are right on about different symptoms from K to V for some of us.  Best of luck to you  and sorry I couldn't be of any help other than to commiserate.

 

Thanks for your feedback drummer.  I talked with my doctor today and decided to stay with Klonopin and stop the cross over to Valium. What you described is what worried me would happen to me. Plus the depression on Valium was so apparent for me. What is TMS therapy and how does it help with anxiety? I can't afford more doctors but was wondering.

 

I hope your symptoms let up! Holding for a little while helps me the most, plus staying away from adrenalin triggers like caffine, sugar, the newspapers, etc. that cause more anxiety. Plus listening to a positive tape, someone who is uplifting, on YouTube or wherever helps me get the negative thoughts out of my mind especially at night.

 

I don't mean to discourage others from trying a cross over, it has helped many people and the smaller pill sizes for V are helpful too. It just didn't work for me and I may not have given it enough time.

[[ma...]]

Hi,

please help!

Since May 2016, I began to diminish Klonopin (0.5 mg in the evening).

I am now 37 days at a dose of 0.25 mg Klonopin (evening).

I had 80 days to sleep max. 2 hours. During those 80 days, I slept only four nights max. 4 hours, one night I slept five hours.

It is 37 days since I stopped cutting Klonopin. I am exhausted. Please advise me what to do? How do i have to proceed?

Please email me your opinion. I am sorry for my english.

Thank you very much.