Skipping a day of diazepam. Will i be ok

[[Do...]]

Hi I'm Dom, i have to waait approximately 40 hours for my next Diazepam dose. I take 15 mg at bed time. Will i go into acute withdrawal? 

[[Pa...]]

Hello @[Do...], welcome to BenzoBuddies,

Diazepam has a long half life so I don’t believe you’ll go into acute withdrawal.  You may not be able to go to sleep and there is a possibility you may experience some mild symptoms but you should be able to get back on track when you’re able to take your dose again.

Can we help you with anything, are you interested in tapering off the Diazepam? 

Pamster

[[Do...]]

Thanks so much Pamster. I really appreciate your rapid response. 

 

I am wanting to taper off my 15mg of diazepam a day. My doctor seems to want to keep me on it, as i have had rough time just cutting to 10mg.So he upped the dose and I've been on the 15mg dose for 7 years. 

 

I don't deally know where to start, and how i should go about reducing the dose. 

 

I feel that i need the medication more and more. Diazepam seems to only work for a couple hours now 

[[Co...]]

Hello @[Do...]. Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

Diazepam is available in 2mg tablets. Our members usually use those for tapering off, as they allow them to make smaller, more tolerable cuts to their dose.

Typically, when tapering off, the size of cuts become smaller as the dose diminishes. You might make a cut of 2mg from a dose of about 15mg, but at about this stage, many members start applying cuts of 1mg (half of 2mg tablet). Failing this, you might make a cut of 2.5mg (half of 5mg tablet) for a total dose of 12.5mg.

At some point (and probably sooner than later), you probably will need those 2mg tablets to progress your taper. The chances are that you will be able to complete the taper by applying 1mg reductions to your dose. But if at some stage you find those too difficult, you might try quartering your 2mg pills to make cuts of 0.5mg.

You mention that your doctor wishes you to keep taking diazepam - why? And why do you wish to quit? I cannot really comment as to whether of not you should taper off, but we will try to help you if this is what you decide to do. You should talk with your doctor and explain your reasons for wishing to quit, as you will his/her cooperation in providing you with a prescription for 2mg tablets.

PS You can, of course, mix and match your doses. For example, for a dose of 14mg, you could use 5mg + 5mg + 2mg + 2mg. Or for a dose of 9mg, you could use 5mg + 2mg + 2mg.

[[Pa...]]

It sounds as if your body has reached tolerance to your dose, this means it will take more to achieve the same effect.  The problem with raising your dose as the doctor did is you soon become tolerant to the increased dose, meaning you need more and more.  

What we’ve noticed is once our body becomes dependent on the medication, it begins to create the conditions we went on it to fix, anxiety, panic, insomnia and many more, only its worse than our original condition.

I think you’re wise to take a look at your use, it doesn’t seem to be helping you as much as it once did. 

[[an...]]

@[Do...] wow, seems like we’re both in tolerance from 15 mg diazepam. Mine provides zero relief. I’m also unsure how to taper off. If you ever need someone to talk to going through the same thing, feel free to talk to me.