Monthly percent

[[Di...]]

Has anyone who’s been on benzos less than six months been able to taper at 15 percent a month ? I know Ashton’s manual just looking for success story’s with not so long benzo use opposed to years on them was on k 2mg for four months 

[[Ca...]]

It depends on what it is 15% of? The smaller the dose, the higher the percentage will be. I just looked at Ashton's taper schedule for those coverting to valium, and it has the taper rate as one mg every 1-2 weeks which I think is fast but I am a long time user. I think that you would need to try that 1.5 percentage  rate to see if it's tolerable. I am tapering one mg a month on a microtaper and at 14 mgs right now trying to stabilize. I probably will go to a percentage taper when I get lower but I don't want this to be endless.  Good luck to you! Let us know how that works for you.

[[Ma...]]

A percentage taper is best done at higher doses, but you can do either linear or percentage of the previous dose depending on symptoms.  15% may be fine, especially with less use, but it’s very individual.  If you’re having bad WD, it’s too fast.  Im a long term user (9 years) and doing about 15-20% a month right now and doing ok overall.  I’ll likely need to slow things down at some point.  As you get very low, you’ll eventually need to do a slow linear taper because otherwise you will never finish doing percentages (by definition) But I’m talking really low (under 2-3 mg Valium or equivalent) doses before you need to worry about that. 

Edited April 20 by [Ma...]

[[Do...]]

Hi,

I was only 3 months on benzos and struggling to taper 5% every 2 weeks. My dose is currently 3.63mg of diazepam and is very hard to keep an uninterrupted rate snd need to do mini holds of a few days every week or so.

Ashton doesnt cover low doses at all and is not a good guide and unrealistic to taper 1mg evey 1-2 weeks all the way to zero.

[[or...]]

I don't follow any guidelines more than I go by how my body feels.  I learned early on here on BB that listening to my own body is my best guide to a taper.  I still do it that way, and honestly, I've done so well that way, it seems like the first half of my dose of C, 1 mg, went so quickly.  I go by weight of dose in grams which I started with a 1 mg tablet, and now I am down to .090g of dose weight.  It did take me a year because I did bigger doses before I got to BB and got pretty sick with wd symptoms, but eventually learned small, micro cuts worked best for me.

I am now doing just .001 g of C and holding for 9 or 10 days.  However, if I need/feel I need to hold longer, like this last time, I do without hesitation.  I have a lot of quality of life doing it that way, and also some almost unbelievable healing during this taper, oregonlady PS I've also read somewhere, and tend to believe it, that the length of time a person takes a benzo doesn't seem to differ in some of us, the wd sxs intensity, or lack thereof.  What I mean is, I was on 1 mg dose of C for 35 years, and I have had an easy time comparatively speaking, again, quality of life, still doing the things I love and more

My Taper History as best as I could get it logged: https://benzobuddies.org/profile/243292-[or...]/?tab=field_core_pfield_34

[[or...]]

On 19/04/2024 at 06:22, [[D...] said:

Has anyone who’s been on benzos less than six months been able to taper at 15 percent a month ? I know Ashton’s manual just looking for success story’s with not so long benzo use opposed to years on them was on k 2mg for four months 

Welcome @[Di...], I'm sorry I didn't see you posted the original post (OP) but what I said above might help you as well.  I just listen to my body, and gauge my taper that way.  The Ashton is great, but everyone of us is different so we have to sort of feel our own way.  Even to cut the 5% that we read in places (5% - 10%) was way too much for me.  15% might work for you but you won't know unless you taper that much, and hold, they say, for at least 5 days for sxs to start to show.  I would start lower myself, and then see how it goes.

Even a short-time on a benzo can cause pretty serious wd sxs, that what I hear anyway, oregonlady PS I know it's an old saying but I do believe it's better to be safe than sorry