Valium Cross Over

[[Br...]]

Did anyone else have a bad reaction to valium? I’m trying to get off of ativan i’ve been on for 4 weeks tomorrow i was started at 2 mg at night and went up and down with dosing throughout the time i’ve been on, tried one day of taking nothing thought i was going to die, had been cutting my own pills carelessly so who knows what dosages i had actually been taking but have been on 1.5 for over a week now. i at first was only taking it at night but after trying to CT i then experience interdose withdrawals and started taking it 3 times a day and going back down to 1.5. I tried to replace my night time dose of .5 mg with 5 mg of valium and it was horrific. I had a paradoxical reaction i was restless and rapid heart and felt so strange and after finally falling asleep for 3 hours i fell into really scary sleep paralysis and felt really really bad the next morning even worse than usual. i took my morning dose of .5 mg of ativan and was so out of it it was crazy and scary. i reallt feel like i have dementia off these things. i’m only 23. that day which was yesterday i had two migraines with aura where i was almost vomiting and felt like i was dying i had to take aspirin.  i resumed my ativan .5 mg and slept for hours thank god. i woke up with still a slight headache and took more aspirin and still have a slight headache. i feel really sick and awful since taking valium. i thought that was supposed to be the gold standard for getting off short acting benzos? i will never take it again after what i experience even just trying to slowly incorporate it. i just don’t understand why my body reacted so horrible to it all i could find was that i might not be able to metabolize ir or it caused histamine issues? I have so many horrible symptoms im afraid ive wrecked my brain for good after everything ive done i just want off asap

 

[[Hu...]]

So you've been on benzo's/ativan for only 4 weeks? You don't have to swap for a different benzo. That is mostly done for interdose withdrawal on shorter acting benzos. With 4 weeks you are not having withdrawal, unless you do something stupid like leaving doses out.

How much are you taking now daily? > Just pick 2 even doses.

Then taper with a quarter every week or what is doable, listen to your body. You can get hooked pretty quickly, but don't stretch it out, especially since you've been using for a short time. 

Forget about the diazepam. It is not needed in your situation. That is all the advice I can give you.

Edited January 10 by [Hu...]

[[Br...]]

@[Hu...] right now i take 1.5 mg total i take 0.5 mg three times a day because i did start to experience interdose after trying to CT after almost two weeks on. I go see my doctor tomorrow and I honestly am thinking about asking him if I can go to 1 mg for a week and then .5 and maybe jump off from there these things have made me so sick and are causing me so much stress in the little bit of time i’ve been on them i don’t know if it’s because i had gone up and down in dose and CT one day then went back on and was cutting my pills myself so who knows what doses i was getting.. Im in a world of hurt im only 23 and im having so many issues now wirh sleep and digestion and mental and everything else 

[[Hu...]]

Ok. 3 doses that are 0.5 that is good to begin with. No, you didn't experience interdose from a CT. You gave your CNS a big shock, that is something else. Ativan is very potent. What I would do in your case is to taper with removing .25 from every dose. First dose 1, then 2, then 3. Between every decrease take a few days to stabilize. Don't rush it. But if it takes you a week to decrease .25 that is ok probably. You are in a tough spot. The difficult situation of choosing between stopping fast enough and not stopping too slow. It will be uncomfortable for sure.

[[Br...]]

@[Hu...] thank you so much for the advice that sounds good. all of my family keeps telling me to get off of these they see how sick i am. i feel like a lethargic drugged brain dead zombie all day i think a lot of the symptoms i experience cause me to panic very badly and the fact im so afraid of them and the symptoms they cause is part of why im so sick too 

[[Hu...]]

7 hours ago, [[B...] said:

@[Hu...] thank you so much for the advice that sounds good. all of my family keeps telling me to get off of these they see how sick i am. i feel like a lethargic drugged brain dead zombie all day i think a lot of the symptoms i experience cause me to panic very badly and the fact im so afraid of them and the symptoms they cause is part of why im so sick too 

Yes. Getting off them is better, but you can't CT them like a cigarette. 1.5 mg is a large dose. 

.25 cuts are also large. You could also do half of a quarter for a few days to make it smoother.

Edited January 10 by [Hu...]

[[Br...]]

@[Hu...] i have really tiny .5 mg pills so i’m unsure of how to go about this 

[[Br...]]

@[Hu...] i’m a small girl i wish they never started me at 2 mg that was just a shame 

[[Br...]]

@[Hu...] my pysch also recommended the .25 mg drops once a week he said i could even try dropping my mid day dose altogether but he wouldn’t recommended going that fast but idk what i wanna do 

[[Hu...]]

28 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

@[Hu...] my pysch also recommended the .25 mg drops once a week he said i could even try dropping my mid day dose altogether but he wouldn’t recommended going that fast but idk what i wanna do 

2mg is not a special dose btw.

Just keep your doses even:

0.5/0.5/0.5

0.25/0.5/0.5

0.25/0.25/0.5

0.25/0.25/0.25

Like that. the last dose you should end up with is the night dose. 

[[Br...]]

@[Hu...] 

you’re saying to drop a dose to .25 mg and wait a few days between doing that then drop the other? not even a full week between each dose change? would i drop off after all of my doses are .25 mg? or where do you go from .75 mg? 

[[Hu...]]

3 hours ago, [[B...] said:

@[Hu...] 

you’re saying to drop a dose to .25 mg and wait a few days between doing that then drop the other? not even a full week between each dose change? would i drop off after all of my doses are .25 mg? or where do you go from .75 mg? 

No you should do .25 drop a week. If you can handle it. 

For the last 3 doses of .25 just drop the day and afternoon dose and only take the night dose. Something like that would be bad if you are on it for a long time, let's say months or a year. But you will be able to do it. 

[[Br...]]

@[Hu...] how do i make sure im getting accurate cuts i have a cvs pill cutter and when i cut the .5 mg pills in half it’s never a perfect cut? how many weeks should this take with this plan? i’m sorry im so stressed over this and feel like i have dementia and barely sleep