Slow taper and reinstatement

[[Jo...]]

Hi,

This is my first post and aplogies if its already been anwsered that I haven't seen.

I was put in 1mg clonazepam 20 to 25 years ago for what we thought was an anxiety attack.  I had no previous history of anxiety.  I move alot in my career and most doctors did not question my current medications (other meds were for thyroid and asthma) so I stayed on it for many years.  About 8 years ago I found a youtube site that helped me understand what I was going through.  There was fairly minor interdose withdrawal symptoms, it was mostly agoraphobia and lifestyle changes. 

Ive been slowly tapering since then at my own pace to make it as painless as possible and I have been at 5mg valium daily (broke in half 2/day)  for a few years and lately have had 5 to 10 days/month where I could take 2.5mg only and was hopeful my next drop would be to 2.5mg day.

I recently moved to a small town in TX and although they said they would refill my diazepam time went on and for the first time I was without my medication.  I was scared to death.  I made an apt with a new doctor and about 6 days later went to see him.  I had originally planned to continuing slowly tapering but it was almost a week and I could cope so far (with lots of hydroxyzine for sleep).  I told him I wanted to continue off the valium and asked that he write me a small script for 20 pills as a just in case.

This only lasted 2 days and I was in acute withdrawal.

I was lucky my old doctor agreed to call me in a script (I reninstated 5mg/day)  and I've since discovered Dr. Joseph Witt.  I will be speaking with him this week about his taper program.

As excited as I am I'm also terrified.  What if I complete the taper and sometime after am hit with more horrific symptoms?  Can I reinstate or will I create a new monster?

He did an interview with coach Chris.  Chris said he would rather taper slowly even if it took forever than go through that hell again.

I want off this crap so bad and want to heal, I just need to be able to work and support myself and not live in terror.

Is it true that the body will not begin healing untill we have completely stopped taking the benzodiazapeens?

During my slow taper it feels like its rough for 2 to 8 weeks after I cut then my body seems to tell me when to taper again.

I guess im just asking for some overall advice.

Sorry for the long post.

John 

[[Pa...]]

Hello @[Jo...], you've been at this a long time!  I'm sorry to hear of your recent scare though, it sounds like it brought up a lot of fears you'd probably had under control.  I think its great you'll be seeing a doctor who actually understands what we go through, I'm sure he'll be happy to answer your questions if we can't.

I believe we heal as the drug is removed.  Our brain has to step up and do its job once we start removing the drug, do you feel you've seen improvement since you started your taper?

I'm glad you've been listening to your body to guide your taper. 

[[al...]]

We definitely heal as we taper down otherwise we would not be able to taper to lower doses and eventually adjust and feel better and be ready for another cut.

Good luck with Dr Witt, he's really good but SUPER expensive .  Like thousands of dollars a month. 

[[ap...]]

On 19/02/2024 at 10:18, [[J...] said:

Hi,

This is my first post and aplogies if its already been anwsered that I haven't seen.

I was put in 1mg clonazepam 20 to 25 years ago for what we thought was an anxiety attack.  I had no previous history of anxiety.  I move alot in my career and most doctors did not question my current medications (other meds were for thyroid and asthma) so I stayed on it for many years.  About 8 years ago I found a youtube site that helped me understand what I was going through.  There was fairly minor interdose withdrawal symptoms, it was mostly agoraphobia and lifestyle changes. 

Ive been slowly tapering since then at my own pace to make it as painless as possible and I have been at 5mg valium daily (broke in half 2/day)  for a few years and lately have had 5 to 10 days/month where I could take 2.5mg only and was hopeful my next drop would be to 2.5mg day.

I recently moved to a small town in TX and although they said they would refill my diazepam time went on and for the first time I was without my medication.  I was scared to death.  I made an apt with a new doctor and about 6 days later went to see him.  I had originally planned to continuing slowly tapering but it was almost a week and I could cope so far (with lots of hydroxyzine for sleep).  I told him I wanted to continue off the valium and asked that he write me a small script for 20 pills as a just in case.

This only lasted 2 days and I was in acute withdrawal.

I was lucky my old doctor agreed to call me in a script (I reninstated 5mg/day)  and I've since discovered Dr. Joseph Witt.  I will be speaking with him this week about his taper program.

As excited as I am I'm also terrified.  What if I complete the taper and sometime after am hit with more horrific symptoms?  Can I reinstate or will I create a new monster?

He did an interview with coach Chris.  Chris said he would rather taper slowly even if it took forever than go through that hell again.

I want off this crap so bad and want to heal, I just need to be able to work and support myself and not live in terror.

Is it true that the body will not begin healing untill we have completely stopped taking the benzodiazapeens?

During my slow taper it feels like its rough for 2 to 8 weeks after I cut then my body seems to tell me when to taper again.

I guess im just asking for some overall advice.

Sorry for the long post.

John 

Hi there, we all heal, especially once of the drug. Reinstating or updosing is a no go, you will prolong your taper. Just know our brain just needs to produce enough amino acid,gaba,to bring us back to ourselves. It's a major job reconstructing the brain, it takes patience and time