Titrating Valium?

[[Ja...]]

Some of you might know from another forum under the same alias, which is great for support as well 

 

I'm in Mexico and the only form of Valium I can find here are tablets of 10mg 

 

I'm down to 8.75mg V (aprox.), but cannot make another 1.25mg cut because I'm afraid the w/d will be terrible. I've already suffered a mild panic attack and was anxious for about 4 days before I got back on my feet.

 

Therefore, I think titrating 8.75mg is the best way to let my CNS know I care about it 

 

Anyways, I know the drill and will be using whole milk to titrate down to zero. 

 

I'm confident this method will work, but I have not found much help or feedback from people who have successfully (and with minimum w/d sx) used this method to taper off a benzo.

 

The only thing that comes to mind to make sure titrating goes smoothly is to stir, stir, stir to get the Valium as evenly distributed as possible. I know it won't be as good as liquid Valium, but 95% there would be much better than taking solid cuts using the pill cutter (i.e. pill crumbler).

 

 

Jarocho

[[si...]]

hi welcome to the forum - you come well equipped - i am sure someone will be along to help you with your titration - so make your self comfortable and look around.

 

 

[[TP...]]

Hola Jarocho.

 

Como estas mi amigo?

 

As you know that's about the limit of my Spanish!  :yippee:

 

Nice to see you here bro. Great place to get support and a sense of humor is appreciated here. :thumbsup:

 

T

[[ru...]]

Hey Jarocho,

 

Welcome to the forum!!

 

I titrated the last bit of my taper, using valium, a tiny bit of vodka for preservative and whole milk. I tried the liquid valium and had a bad reaction to it, so I crushed my pills and made up my own liquid. It worked well for me. Because I had the vodka as a preservative, I found at the end that I could get 4-5 days work of doses on one solution.

 

However I didn't start titrating until I was down to 0.25. Yeah, I was a bit obsessive but it made me feel better about getting off when I did.

 

Come March 11th I will have been off one year. 

 

rufus

[[Co...]]

Hi Jarocho,

 

I can create a titration schedule for you. What dose tablets do you use? It sounds as though you are using 5mg Valium tablets. I recommend that you obtain 2mg tablets; you can then make 0.5mg reductions by splitting these tablets into quarters. Nearly everyone can manage a Valium taper by pill-splitting, so long as they use the 2mg tablets. If later you still need titration, I will create a schedule for you.

[[TP...]]

Since he's not around right now, I am his friend, and I can tell you that in Mexico he can't get anything less than 10 mg tablets. He's been cutting them into 1/8's and cutting by 1.125 mg. He'd like to go on a smooth taper like me where he'd be cutting 0.2 mg every other day for now, and go to 0.1 mg once he reaches 5 mg. I am using liquid Diazepam, but he has to work with the 10 mg pills.

 

Thanks for helping Colin. 

 

T

[[Ja...]]

Hey thanks everyone...or as we say her GRACIAS!

 

Colin,

I have nothing but 10mg Valium tablets here in Mexico. Have tried to look all over the place for 5mg or 2mg, but no cigar...so let's say I cut the 10mg in half, that means we can assume a 5mg tablet and schedule accordingly. Unless you think the 10mg will work best?

 

Your help here will be very much appreciated as this will be all new to moi..thanks a lot (muchas gracias)! 

 

Jarocho

[[TP...]]

Oi! I thought you was going out!  :2funny:

 

T

[[Co...]]

Hi,

 

The titration method we use will work fine with 10mg Valium tablets. It's late here, so I'll get back to you tomorrow.

[[Ja...]]

Hi T not sure you're helping or hurting me by saying I'm your friend 

 

Colin cannot put into word how much that would help me...oh yes...A LOT...gracias new amigo!

 

Jarocho

[[si...]]

hi colin is in europe so he is sleeping now - but someone will be back on or on to help you tomorrow  who knows maybe even tonight.

 

hope you sleep well tonight.

[[TP...]]

Hi T not sure you're helping or hurting me by saying I'm your friend 

 

Colin cannot put into word how much that would help me...oh yes...A LOT...gracias new amigo!

 

Jarocho

 

De nada muchacho! http://www.freedominmessiah.com/BoucingSmileys.gif

 

Yeah, I think he's in England, so you won't hear from him till tomorrow at the earliest. It's, what, 6:15 a.m. there now? Yeah that's it. 

 

T

[[Co...]]

Hi Jarocho,

 

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

 

How fast a taper do you wish to follow? It should be a similar rate to any successful cuts you have managed so far. You will need a measuring cylinder (we recommend 100ml marked at 1ml intervals, but will work with whatever you can get your on). A 10ml syringe body is handy too. A pestle and mortar, but a cup and the back of a spoon should surfice.

[[Ja...]]

Hi Jarocho,

 

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

 

How fast a taper do you wish to follow? It should be a similar rate to any successful cuts you have managed so far. You will need a measuring cylinder (we recommend 100ml marked at 1ml intervals, but will work with whatever you can get your on). A 10ml syringe body is handy too. A pestle and mortar, but a cup and the back of a spoon should surfice.

 

Not a problem on the delay as I'm not planning cutting anytime soon anyways.

 

Since 15mg I've been able to cut by 1.25mg by an average of 8-10 days (min was 5 days and max was 14 days).  I do not however want to make another 1.25mg cut or I'm afraid this time I will do more harm that can take me longer to recover. I think .1mg/daily until I get to about 5mg would be best fit for myself. From 5mg on I think I can do .1mg every other day until off. 

 

I have the basic equipment: pill crusher, 20ml measuring syringe, no cylinder, but I can use the syringe to pour it into the cup to get to 100ml. Lots of whole milk in the store and a 100% commitment to be benzo free with as little pain as possible (enough panic attacks for me!).

 

Thanks!

 

Jarocho

[[Co...]]

Hi,

 

The 20ml measuring syringe should be fine; there is no need to make up a volume of 100ml from it 20ml is good enough. How large are the increments marked the syringe?

 

I'm not totally clear about your present dose; is it 15mgs?

 

The titratiomethod we use does work by reducing a set volume each day. Rather, it works from a reasonable percentage cuts (and over how many days), converts this into a daily cut, recalculates automatically after every reduction in dose, so that the next cut is relative to your new dose. This ensures that your cuts do not increase in size (in relative to your dose). At a low dose, the system switches over to a set cut over set period of time. This ensures that the end of the taper is not drawn put unnecessarily long at the end, as your GABA system will have largely recovered by this stage. It will be clearer once I post up the table.

 

The titration system works best if you use a whole tablet for titration - is this OK?

[[Ja...]]

Hi Colin,

I'm at 8.75mg right now and understand 100% of what you just mentioned.  This last cut has been rough therefore I see no option but to get the titration going when I'm in better shape.

The syringe has marks of 1ml increments, so it's exactly like the cylinder but only 20ml.  I'm fine with using the 20ml as that would just means less work and probably more evenly distributed particles (althought that's just my reasoning).

 

Jarocho

[[Co...]]

Hi,

 

Do you think you can easily eye-ball reductions of 0.5ml with syringe? It would an even smoother taper if you can. If not, it should be fine anyway.

 

So, just to check: you take 7/8 of a 10mg Valium tablet per day?

 

When would you like your schedue to start? You need to be obver your last cut first.

[[Ja...]]

Hi,

 

Do you think you can easily eye-ball reductions of 0.5ml with syringe? It would an even smoother taper if you can. If not, it should be fine anyway.

 

So, just to check: you take 7/8 of a 10mg Valium tablet per day?

 

When would you like your schedue to start? You need to be obver your last cut first.

 

1) No, but I can drop the contents into a cup and use a second syringe to get the .5ml out

2) Yes, I'm taking 7/8 of a 10mg tablet per day

3) March 3, 2008

 

Muchas gracias you're mucho cool!

 

Jarocho

[[Co...]]

OK, I'll work up a schedule for you in a day or two.

[[Co...]]

Hi Jarocho,

 

I was about to work up your schedule, but you do not appear to have posted the taper rate you would like to follow. If you are unsure: what size cuts from what dose have worked well for you, and the period between these cuts?

[[Ja...]]

Starting Dosage: 8.7mg

Cut: 0.1mg everday ; 5mg and below 0.1mg every other day

Liquid: 100ml whole milk

 

If I get in trouble of course I'll slow it down.

 

Btw, how long is prepared Valium liquid for (2 days)?

 

Jarocho

 

 

Hi Jarocho,

 

I was about to work up your schedule, but you do not appear to have posted the taper rate you would like to follow. If you are unsure: what size cuts from what dose have worked well for you, and the period between these cuts?

[[si...]]

Starting Dosage: 8.7mg

Cut: 0.1mg everday ; 5mg and below 0.1mg every other day

Liquid: 100ml whole milk

 

If I get in trouble of course I'll slow it down.

 

Btw, how long is prepared Valium liquid for (2 days)?

 

Jarocho

 

 

Hi Jarocho,

 

I was about to work up your schedule, but you do not appear to have posted the taper rate you would like to follow. If you are unsure: what size cuts from what dose have worked well for you, and the period between these cuts?

 

i think you did a good job putting everything out there for easy access - that is very helpful to those trying to help you through the process.

[[Co...]]

Hi,

 

The system we use works from a percentage, since this is how we tend to think of cuts around here. The majority of people taper about 10% of their dose every 1-2 weeks. Your taper rate seems to translate into about 11.5% cut over a 20 day period. I'll use this as a baseline. It is a pretty slow taper though.

 

Our method usually assumes that you make up a new batch each day. If you reach a stage where you using less than half of the syringe for a day's dose, then you could, of course, make it last for two days.

 

I will post up a table tomorrow. I'll set up the start date for 1st March, if that's OK. The size of the cuts (or the frequency of cuts) will slow as your daily dose diminshes. At a low dose, this will switch to a regular cut, where your taper rate is no longer growing smaller (I'll set this to kick in at 4mg). This is to stop the taper being dragged out too long at the end stages. I can always post a new table if you feel the taper is too slow or too fast.

[[el...]]

Hi Jarocho!

I just wanted to stop in to say hi and welcome you.

 

So..."Hi!" 

Linda

[[Ja...]]

Ok Colin this is less confusing.

 

Let's work on 10% off every 14 days. 

 

Sorry if you have to undo anything.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

eljay,

Thanks for the welcome I feel good here already...I see jokes are allowed here w/o people getting bend out of shape. I know when to be sensitive and supportive, so I'll keep my sarcasm and comedy rated PG for now.

 

 

Jarocho