Almost at the End (hopefully) of diazepam taper

[[co...]]

I've been tapering my diazepam (valium) since december of last year (2022). 

I am currently stuck at 0.70 mg a day, I have been decreasing by 0.05mg per week but am finding the depression is getting very severe. Surprisingly my anxiety has been tolerable. I am worried this depression is just how I am, and not necessarily from the taper, although I was pretty stable mentally before starting this taper. 

 

I am not sure how to proceed, I want to keep moving forward and assume I will make the jump at 0.05mg but I am just not sure how quickly I can get there. I am feeling frustrated and impatient at how slow this process is, however I need to stay functional because I work full time. Any advice or strategies on how to make the cuts and how long to hold in between would be much appreciated, as well as when to make the jump. 

I've been on these meds since I was 12 (started on xanax, then xanax and klonopin and ambien, and 3 other psych meds). I am 28 now and really don't want to have spent all of my 20s on these horrible drugs.  My pdoc switched me from the xanax/klonopin to diazepam 2 ish years ago.

I successfully went down from being on 9 different meds last year to 4, this benzo taper is by far the hardest med to get off of!

 

 

This is the taper schedule I have been following: 

Dec 2022: 7.5-->5 mg of Diazepam

Dec-Jan 2022 5mg-->2.5 mg

Jan-Feb 2.5-->2 mg

Feb-1.75 mg (hold)

March-1.75mg-->1.5mg

Crossed over to liquid

April-1.5mg-->1.25 mg

May-hold at 1.25

June-1.25-->1.1mg

July 1.1-->1ml D

August-New strategy-0.05 every week or so

Week 1

1ml-->0.95

Week 2

0.95-->0.90

Week 3

0.90-->0.85

Week 4

0.85-->0.7 <-- I am here (and kind of stuck). 

I hope everyone is hanging in there <3

 

[[Fa...]]

Hi, @[co...].  Congratulations on getting so close to completing your taper of diazepam!  I'm sorry you are experiencing depression.  If you were pretty stable prior to starting the diazepam taper, then you can most assuredly chalk it up to the benzo/taper.  It is one of the most common symptoms in this grueling process.  

In regards to your taper, it appears you were able to handle fairly sizable cuts all the way down.  Your latest strategy of reducing .05mg per week seems prudent; however, your latest weekly reduction was .15mg instead of .05mg.  This is almost certainly the cause of your increased discomfort.  

It sounds as if you are still 'functional', however more uncomfortable and depressed.  If this is the case, I would just recommend holding for 2-4 weeks and then resume tapering at .05mg per week.  I am not a believer in tracking exponential reductions at this low of a diazepam dose.  Scheduled holds are fine and advisable; however, actively reducing much less than .1mg every 2 weeks is dragging it out in my opinion.  You are so close...you've got this!

[[co...]]

thank you so much for your response! I will try to hold it and stabilize for a bit then push forward. 

 

I appreciate the support <3