anyone crossover to another after valium updose?

[[Fr...]]

My friend is in the midst of updose (full reinstatement) after partial taper, cut too much, went into acute for 2 months.  There's still time for it to work, as she started on the 12th, up to 25mg since 15th, but she's afraid she held too long in acute.  There are improvements, but I'm just looking for options, because when hope is down she needs those.  Has anyone switched when valium stopped working?

[[je...]]

Hi there FriendOf

 

I complete understand why she is looking for options. When we're feeling miserable we just want to escape at all costs. To answer your question we have to look at your assumption that the valium has stopped working and based on her history I don't think there's enough to come to that conclusion yet. So here's the hope: based on her history it's more likely that her increased taper rate caught up with her. In my opinion it's unlikely that the hold contributed to her symptoms, in fact, I think she did a great job by holding and not pushing it anymore. She is already experiencing an improvement in symptoms, something that would likely not happen if she's in tolerance (valium stopped working). That's a lot of hope! And even better news, she's already on the longest acting benzo that is probably the easiest to taper. This means she doesn't have to switch to another benzo which might require her system to adjust all over again resulting in new uncomfortable symptoms.

 

We often say the only way out is through. It means there are no short cuts, no way around, you just have to push through the symptoms. If you can get her something to distract from focussing on her symptoms, that would be very helpful. If her time is occupied by watching a TV show, doing puzzles or something to keep her mind of this, then time will pass faster and hopefully she'll see more improvement in due course.