Why is it harder the lower we go?

[[cr...]]

Maybe it's just psychological, but can anyone explain why it's harder to keep cutting the lower you go? I started by cutting from 2mg to 1.5mg in 4 weeks. But it took 4 months to go from 1.5mg to 1mg. And almost 7 months to go from 1.0mg to 0.5mg. Am I just worn out and paranoid or does the fact that I've been on it for more than a year now play into it? If I went as fast as when I started tapering, I'd be off in 3 weeks. What gives? It's like trying to tunnel through the earths core to get to the other side of the world. The closer I get, the hotter it becomes.

 

ALSO, on an unrelated note. Does anyone have any advice on how to stop dark thoughts running through my head? It's just withdrawal, but my emotions have been so haywire lately. I've been feeling compulsive. I just screamed into my pillow the other day and that seemed to help lol. Hopefully nobody heard me.

[[Fi...]]

Hi there,

It's harder the lower you go because the brain has to learn how to function without the drug buddy. As far as intrusive thoughts when I was able to distract myself I did, other times no matter what I did they would pop in. It will all calm down. For me it stopped around the 3rd month from being off the benzo.

Tapering is a painful process, I waited a month before each cut and my doctor was cutting it by half, I still think it was still too much of a drop at the time but I wasn't aware of liquid tapers until I found this group at 3 months out.

Hopefully you can find a schedule that will work for you. I'm going to be honest, it's very hard, we feel like we have completely lost our minds at times. Our emotions are all over the place and the physical pains that come and go out of nowhere can be brutal. Try to stay strong and just keep pushing forward.

It will get better with time, sending you positive vibes 

[[Lo...]]

Maybe it's just psychological, but can anyone explain why it's harder to keep cutting the lower you go? I started by cutting from 2mg to 1.5mg in 4 weeks. But it took 4 months to go from 1.5mg to 1mg. And almost 7 months to go from 1.0mg to 0.5mg. Am I just worn out and paranoid or does the fact that I've been on it for more than a year now play into it? If I went as fast as when I started tapering, I'd be off in 3 weeks. What gives? It's like trying to tunnel through the earths core to get to the other side of the world. The closer I get, the hotter it becomes.

 

ALSO, on an unrelated note. Does anyone have any advice on how to stop dark thoughts running through my head? It's just withdrawal, but my emotions have been so haywire lately. I've been feeling compulsive. I just screamed into my pillow the other day and that seemed to help lol. Hopefully nobody heard me.

 

No, it's not just withdrawal. The withdrawal process is long, tedious and exhausting on the mind and body, that, after a while, a lot of depression and fear builds up in addition to withdrawal.  It's the length of time that makes it hard, as well as the fact that the physical dependency feels much stronger when the dose gets really low. It sounds very counterintuitive, but it's true. Lorazepam is very difficult to taper off directly, and that last reminder may be pretty tough to taper. If you are suffering from dark thoughts and other difficult symptoms, it may be wise to stay where you are for a while before resuming the taper. Just giving your body and mind a bit of a break.

 

 

[[jo...]]

Tapering is very difficult. Everyone reacts differently. My taper started (again) this year. Moving from 1.5 mg Clonazepam down to .75. From 1.0 to .75 has taken me 3 mths. I'm holding right now because I constantly feel like I have the flu. Chest pains and low energy as well. Some days feel great, mist days feel afraid.

Hoping things get better soon, they always do but it's a long hard road.

[[Gr...]]

I don't know why, but this is very true for me and my taper.  Just going from .18 to .14 has been long and hard.  I don't even know why but it sure isn't just psychological.  I have definitive physical symptoms that accompany my cuts. I do wonder about an accumulative effect of withdrawal on my nerves might be making it worse now, as a lower dose just cause I've been messing with my system each cut, so maybe it's just worse with each cut no matter what? 

[[2t...]]

I reassessed my taper many time during the 11 months it took, originally I thought 4 months but each cut got harder so I had to slow down or hold many times.

I think you will find a lot of people on here started with a time frame in mind and have extended it.

 

2trusting

[[Bl...]]

I agree, now I am crawling toward 2mg diazepam things are tough, I started a microtaper hoping it might help but sadly my tinnitus, panic and anxiety are back to haunt me. Some how we have to stay strong and look after ourselves as best we can. Dark thoughts are yuk, they creep up on you then wham take that - I am probably going to sound crazy but I talk to mine and tell them to naff off I am refusing to listen.  Then try to distract myself which can be difficult. Not fun... with you in spirit, one foot in front of the other.

[[bi...]]

I see you are thinking about switching to valium. I highly recommend it and get the liquid diazepam if you can and some 1 ml syringes and microtaper. I started out on .5 lorazepam and trying to make cuts to taper from that was awful with the interdose withdrawals. I crossed over to diazepam and while not easy it made my day to day much better and manageable.

[[cr...]]

Thanks for all the replies. I feel like I'm going crazy trying to finish out this ativan taper. This interdose wd and constant dosing is srsly frying my brain atm. Kinda feels like I've lost touch with existance at the moment. Will keep valium in mind. Just worried if I can handle the crossover.

[[bi...]]

Someone helped me with my crossover plan. You supplement a fraction of your dose with equivalent valium for a few days and then up it until you are on the equivalent dose of valium and then hold the dose for about a month. I actually felt a lot of relief from the crossover. I like valium way better than Ativan!

[[si...]]

Hi All,

 

I was on cca. 20 mg of Diazepam 18 months ago. Five months ago I was on 10 mg of Diazepam. Now, I am on 4 mg per day ... Reduction went more or less linear ... However, I started experiencing both nervousness and anxiety in the last week.

 

Am I going too fast

 

What should I do .....

 

Many thanks in advance ......