Starting to stabilize at 2mg.

[[kn...]]

 I've been hanging at two mg for 13 days now.  I've had intensive muscle fatigue and weakness in my legs.  Trembling muscles in legs, "fire and Ice" body temperatures.Up for 2-3 hours at a time and then back to bed.  This has gone on throughout this level of taper.  I've noticed that, at least at these lower transitions, the symptoms tend to hit much sooner and are much more intense after each transition, but I've been able to stabilize after two weeks or so.  Big problem this fall has been family support for all of this.  With all of the fall holidays activities on tab,  I've been encouraged to stay at this level throughout the balance of the year.  As I mentioned in a previous post, OCD-mainly impulse control has been a big part of my mental health history.  I want to push forward and get off this stuff (diazepam) by the first of the year.  Again, family is interested in my participation  in life during this time and not doing any more tapering.  Really in a quandary as to what to do.  Anyone else here going through this same kind of thing? 

[[An...]]

Good to hear you have stabilized at 2 mgs. I am a little over 2.5 mgs and I plan on continuing my 10% taper rate every 3 weeks. The decision to hold is a personal choice. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with holding where you are until all the Holiday stuff is over with this year + since you are stable, you will be able to enjoy all the festivities with your family more. I recall Professor Ashton saying holding is fine but try not to updose if possible.

Hope you are having a nice Sunday friend. You are almost off the valium. 👍

[[je...]]

@[kn...] can you please fill in your taper history? This will help us better understand and support you. 

[[kn...]]

Thanks for all of your support and follow up.  II was taking doses of both clonazepam and lorazepam for nearly ten years when my new provider advised me that it was time to taper off both meds.  He switched me to an equivalent amount of diazepam (60 mg) in June of 2021 and I began from there.  No description of expected symptoms was discussed.  For the first several months, he advised that I should drop 10mgs per month.  I started to experience tingling and numbness about two months into the process, but still felt relatively well.  When we got down to 10mgs, I started to become extremely ill and asked that we slow down. I still had no idea what was going on and my psychiatrist "said" that his patients had never reported these kinds of things during benzo withdrawal.  He then advised me that I should be able to cut down 2mgs every eight weeks between appts.  I followed his advice and became more ill as time went by.  I called the triage nurse in behavior health one weekend and plead my case.  The Dr. called me at home and listened to my complaints, but simply stated that we would cut back one mg at a time.  This occurred at the 5mg. mark.  By this time I was running around from Dr. to Dr. trying to find out what was wrong with me.  I explained the withdrawal program going on, but none of the providers seemed to know or acknowledge what I was experiencing. I found your website in June of this year and finally everything made sense.  In July through the present time, I managed to chop pills in enough pieces as to drop .5 mg at a time.  My last appt with this provider was in  early Sept '23. At this time, I was fed up and simply asked for enough 2mg pills to get me through until the end of the year.  It's been wicked, but I am now holding at 2mg. and trying to learn enough to switch to a water titration system to finish.  My petition for a new provider was granted and I'll see him 10/4/23.    

[[je...]]

Thanks for providing this information. I still need approximate dates of when you reduced your doses and by how much. If you click on my avatar and then click on "about me", you'll get an idea of what we need. The reason we ask this, is because each cut influences the next. Without seeing the whole picture, it's really difficult to give you proper feedback.