Bad WD - Doctor Pushing for Klonopin After I Have Already Crossed to Valium

[[Pe...]]

Hello everyone,

 

A few weeks back, I completed my crossover from 1.5mg Ativan to 12.5mg Valium. 12.5mg of Valium felt super heavy and nauseating, so after 1 week on that, I moved down to 10mg of Valium. On this dose, I felt better than I have in nearly 2 years or so. I didn't feel like I was experiencing withdrawals, although I did feel a lot of sedation at certain points of the day.

 

Because I felt so stable, I stayed on 10mg of Valium for just 1 week before moving down to 8.75mg. I would have preferred to cut in smaller increments, but my doctor would not give me both 2mg and 5mg pills, so I am having to cut by quarters of the 5mg pills. At 8.75mg, I began to experience some withdrawals again, but they were still relatively minor compared to those I was feeling on Ativan.

 

I stayed on 8.75mg for 2 weeks before moving down to 7.5mg this past Monday. Monday and Tuesday went alright, but yesterday my withdrawals suddenly became very intense. All my usual symptoms were magnified, and I also began experiencing muscle pain and akathisia. None of the doses I took throughout the day did much to alleviate them. Akathisia is something I experienced years ago, and is pretty much my worst nightmare. I wasn't expecting to run into it so quickly.

 

After shaking in bed until 5am, I gave in and took another 1.25mg. I have not updosed at all today (so far), but I am wondering if it would be safe to go back to 8.75mg until I can figure out a way to taper more gradually? I can try cutting my pills into 8ths. I only took the 7.5mg for 3 days, but I'm not sure if backtracking would put me at risk of kindling.

 

I contacted my doctor this morning, and he expressed disbelief that I could be experiencing withdrawals at all given Valium's longer half life. He is not the best to work with, but I am not sure if I could find a better provider on short notice and in my current state. I have an appointment with him next Tuesday to talk more in depth. I am planning on begging him to make my next refill 2mg pills 4x a day so I can cut in 1mg or .5mg increments, but I am not sure if this is possible.

 

For some reason, he initially suggested I switch to Klonopin instead of Valium before I crossed over, which I rejected. Now, he is pushing for the Klonopin again. Would there really be any benefit to doing so? I have always read that Klonopin is much rougher to come off of. For me, the effects of Valium do seem to wear off in 3-4 hours, even with the long half-life.

 

Sorry for writing so much, thank you for anyone who took the time to read this!

[[je...]]

Sounds like you're having a pretty rough time, I'm really sorry. My guess would be that you have tapered too fast. I know you said you felt too drugged on 12.5mg but going from 12.5mg to 7.5mg is a 40% cut in a month if I'm not mistaken. That's huge! I would updose if I were you especially if the akathisia is returning. Updosing does not result in kindling, it's only if you start and stop benzo's completely. (I updosed twice if that puts your mind at ease).

 

How many times a day are you currently dosing? I recently heard of someone who doses Valium 5 times a day, so yes, it's not impossible to get interdose withdrawal even with the long half-life.

 

Getting smaller pills will definitely help you taper easier and making smaller cuts. 

[[Pe...]]

Thank you so much for the response! You have really helped put my mind at ease 

 

I am currently dosing 5x a day on 8.75mg. 2.5 in the morning, 1.25 throughout the afternoon/evening every 3 hours, and 2.5 at bedtime. Unfortunately I have always had a really weird/fast drug metabolism...

 

I suppose I will updose back to 8.75mg tonight, then. I will see how cooperative my doctor is come Tuesday. I think I can definitely hold at 8.75mg for a while, as the withdrawals were pretty tolerable. Any cut I make from now on will definitely be smaller, even if I have to use a blade to cut off little crumbs.

 

My last refill was on the 13th, so I will have to stick with the 5mg pills until at least the 11th, but I'll either hold or try 8.125mg until that point! I really hope he can get me 4x 2mg pills a day. But I have a bad feeling he won't...I've never seen anything prescribed for more than 3x daily, so I was hoping I could get down to 6mg before switching 

[[je...]]

I hope the updose takes care of the akathisia. It is very rare to dose Valium this often but it does happen. I don't think your doctor has to prescribe for 5x per day in order to get smaller pills. If he prescribes 3mg 3x per day, then you'll need 2mg and 1mg pills, won't you? You just won't dose 3x times per day, you'll dose more.

[[Pe...]]

Luckily the akathisia is gone again as of updosing again today! So I will hold here for now.

 

Unfortunately, since my doctor is uncooperative, he is unwilling to give me multiple sizes of pills at the same time. That's why I'm stuck with x2 5mg per day until the 11th.

So, if I'm lucky, he'd have to give me x4 2mg pills for me to have 8mg a day to work with going forwards. 2 is the smallest size, unfortunately. I guess I'll find out Tuesday...fingers crossed.

 

Thank you again for the support!