Tweetsy’s Restoril for Insomnia needs tapering

[[Tw...]]

Hello.  This is my seventh year of insomnia.  A few years ago I was prescribed Restoril, 30mg, and Xanax, o.25mg twice a day.  The provider who prescribed those has left my practice.  My new provider doesn’t believe in benzodiazepines.  I take the Restoril five nights a week (this practice is called intermittent dosing).  Even though it is not every night, I am hesitant to stop suddenly, and would like to taper down my dose.  The Xanax is taken as needed.  My end goal is to eliminate the Restoril altogether from my life.  My doctor has not renewed my prescriptions, but I still have some left.  I would like to be pointed in the direction of tapering resources.

[[Pa...]]

Hello Tweetsy, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

 

I’m sorry to hear your doctor isn’t on board with your medications, and you say he’s not refilled your prescriptions, does this include the Xanax as well?  Can you tell us how many pills you have left of both medications, its very important you begin a taper as soon as you can or find a new doctor who will continue to prescribe to you.  We suggest only tapering one drug at a time, this way you can make adjustments in your taper if things are getting too painful, tapering more than one won’t allow for this.

 

We suggest reducing your dose by about 5-10% every couple of weeks but what works better is to let your withdrawal symptoms guide your reductions, this can hopefully keep you functional.

 

Not everyone will suffer intense withdrawal symptoms so you might be one of the lucky ones, have you ever missed a dose or experienced odd symptoms you might attribute to your benzodiazepines?

 

I’ll provide some links to help you navigate the forum but please do let us know how many pills you have left.

 

Pamster

 

Colorado Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidance

 

Planning Your Withdrawal (Taper)

 

Withdrawal Support (during your taper)

 

Ashton Manual symptom list

[[Tw...]]

I have two months left of each.  I started to get into the habit of renewing almost monthly even if I had some left because there are so often issues getting refills.  I am not concerned about the Xanax (that I use intermittently), but I am concerned about discontinuing the Restoril, as I have taken it five days a week every week for several years.  It is a powder that comes in a capsule, so no scoring the tablets as one could with Xanax.  I thought I saw something somewhere (not sure if it was even on this page), about dissolving the contents in alcohol, then mixing with water, then drinking a certain amount.

 

On the days I don’t take it, sleep is worse, and I am more likely to get a migraine, although this can happen on the nights I have taken it.  I am concerned about what would happen if I just stopped taking it, as it has regularly been in my life every week for years, even if I don’t take it every day.

[[Pa...]]

A liquid taper would be a good idea, we can help you do this.  I didn’t taper so don’t have experience but if you’ll start a thread on the taper board someone can help you.  Here is the link. http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=164.0

 

Can you tell me how often you’ve taken the Xanax on average, I’m concerned about your use, even intermittent use can cause dependency. 

[[Tw...]]

Xanax is a from 0.125 to 0.50 up to five nights a week.  I plan on holding steady for now, as I want to work on one at a time.  I have been on it for tensing years.

[[Pa...]]

Is this your prescribed dose or what you’ve actually taken?  And the doctor didn’t renew your Xanax either, right?

[[Tw...]]

Prescribed dose is 0.25mg twice per day as needed.  It has not been renewed either.  My medical provider said he is “not a big fan of benzos.”

[[Pa...]]

I asked you in an earlier post if you’ve ever experienced odd symptoms or side effects that you can attribute to the benzodiazepines, I’m trying to determine if you’re going to experience withdrawal symptoms.  Can you name any instances where you felt something when you were late for a dose, or if you skipped a couple of days?

 

This is a list of symptoms you might have felt. Ashton Manual symptom list

[[Tw...]]

On days that I skipped, I was definitely more prone to insomnia, headaches with nausea, extreme fatigue with almost flu like symptoms, irritability, and lack of concentration.  But I can also get these on days I don’t skip.

[[Ma...]]

Check out the buddie Meowie. She lists the instructions for  a water taper. You are very lucky your benzo is temazapam. We see very few people having issues getting off this one. It’s potency is 1/2 of Valium and is the lowest potency benzo. I’d cut and paste if I knew how!!

I would have been off temazapam 7 years ago if I had done this direct water taper.

[[Pa...]]

You can experience the symptoms when you don’t skip a day for many reasons.  One would be that because Xanax has such a short half life, you can begin to withdraw from the drug even while taking it, its called interdose withdrawal, most of our Xanax users will dose 4 times a day to escape it.  Another reason might be tolerance, when we become tolerant to our dose, it takes more to achieve the same effect. 

 

I’m very concerned about your doctors unwillingness to allow you to taper slowly off of the Temazepam and the Xanax, its medical malpractice in my opinion and dangerous.  Can you advocate for yourself and ask him to allow you the humanity to taper off of these drugs slowly so you can remain functional and able to take care of your responsibilities?

[[Pa...]]

Check out the buddie Meowie. She lists the instructions for  a water taper. You are very lucky your benzo is temazapam. We see very few people having issues getting off this one. It’s potency is 1/2 of Valium and is the lowest potency benzo. I’d cut and paste if I knew how!!

I would have been off temazapam 7 years ago if I had done this direct water taper.

 

The issue I’m most worried about is the Xanax.

[[...]]

I think the xanax is a bigger problem and I would taper off it 1st and save your other medication so you can sleep while you're tapering off xanax.  Which one do you have the most pills of? 

In any csse have you seen this video yet?