Do withdrawals get easier the longer you taper?

[[jo...]]

4 minutes ago, [[M...] said:

Excercise definitely seems to help sometimes. I usually lift weights in the morning. It does cause a cortisol surge, but I notice I have more energy throughout the day and more clarity, even though sometimes I feel like crashing after working out. It seems hit or miss, tbh. 

Same with coffee or caffiene. I sometimes can drink it and feel fine, other times, it revs up anxiety, but I don't feel as lethargic. And sometimes I can be exhausted but still have anxiety. 

I honestly don't get it. 

Dont worry nobody gets it really. It's the enigma of syndromes.

[[Kr...]]

On 30/04/2024 at 19:06, [[T...] said:

For me, the withdrawal symptoms got worse the more I tapered. (I tapered for about 1 year)

Same for me. 
 

Your symptoms do seem mild and you are functional. I had to speed up my taper as the Valium effects were miserable. I seemed to be really bad the longer I stayed on.

Edited May 2 by [Kr...]

[[re...]]

MdFox:

The short answer................YES!!!!!!!!!!! But it is hard to tell as everyone is so different. I am a FIRM believer that we heal the lower we go only if we are really careful and incorporate healthy lifestyle changes on the way down.

But if you ever see someone talking this or that. Always go to the start of their story and look at things in how they did their taper, what additional meds they took, lifestyle habits, etc  so you can avoid the mistakes they made. And even then there are no guarantees, but why not give yourself the best chance of healing during a wise and patient taper. 

Coffee is your best friend. Don't be afraid of a cup in the morning. It has tons of benefits for health AND your brain.  And I personally think it has some gaba receptor upregulating ability. Stims seem to help this gaba receptor problem. But be careful and work up to it. 

What is your current dose of valium? It may very much get easier as you go. I have been getting lots of windows from 2.5 mg on down. But SLAMMED as well with all kinds of weird stuff. I feel most of my acute is getting taken care of in this taper. Right now I am about a year taper from 5mg Valium and down to .68mg. So far not housebound, but definitely not symptom free. And the worse i eat the more symptoms I get. 

Do everything you can in your taper to be healthy (great food and EXERCISE at any cost) and try not to listen to any scary stories. Oldchic from what I am seeing jumped from .25 Xanax. (5mg valium approx) This is HUGE to jump from and I don't recommend it one bit no matter how tough your taper is. But some people get really bad during their tapers and they just get sick of it and jump off. Everyone has a right to do what they feel they need. And even her. She seems better now. 

I would try and have patience no matter what and let most of the acute happen during your taper on down. 

[[re...]]

There is going to be a voice in your head telling you "get off NOW this is toxic to my system" Try not to listen to this, it's just withdrawal and your brain and body are leeching it out of you and trying to gain balance without this poison in you.  If you can push through it and not jump too soon...................You WILL get windows most likely. 

The brain is what needs the super slow taper NOT the body. The brain is so sensitive to these pills for many. You want to nurse that brain no matter what. And this means small reductions and HOLDS (yes even with micro taper holds are necessary usually) while your brain upregulates. I mean you don't want to taper for years and years as I think this is only necessary for 20-30 year users.

YES you would want to taper at a minimum of 3 or more years if you had a super long history with these pills. 

Edited May 3 by [re...]

[[Md...]]

2 hours ago, [[r...] said:

MdFox:

The short answer................YES!!!!!!!!!!! But it is hard to tell as everyone is so different. I am a FIRM believer that we heal the lower we go only if we are really careful and incorporate healthy lifestyle changes on the way down.

But if you ever see someone talking this or that. Always go to the start of their story and look at things in how they did their taper, what additional meds they took, lifestyle habits, etc  so you can avoid the mistakes they made. And even then there are no guarantees, but why not give yourself the best chance of healing during a wise and patient taper. 

Coffee is your best friend. Don't be afraid of a cup in the morning. It has tons of benefits for health AND your brain.  And I personally think it has some gaba receptor upregulating ability. Stims seem to help this gaba receptor problem. But be careful and work up to it. 

What is your current dose of valium? It may very much get easier as you go. I have been getting lots of windows from 2.5 mg on down. But SLAMMED as well with all kinds of weird stuff. I feel most of my acute is getting taken care of in this taper. Right now I am about a year taper from 5mg Valium and down to .68mg. So far not housebound, but definitely not symptom free. And the worse i eat the more symptoms I get. 

Do everything you can in your taper to be healthy (great food and EXERCISE at any cost) and try not to listen to any scary stories. Oldchic from what I am seeing jumped from .25 Xanax. (5mg valium approx) This is HUGE to jump from and I don't recommend it one bit no matter how tough your taper is. But some people get really bad during their tapers and they just get sick of it and jump off. Everyone has a right to do what they feel they need. And even her. She seems better now. 

I would try and have patience no matter what and let most of the acute happen during your taper on down. 

Thank you for your response. 

I started at 2 or 3 mg of Xanax throughout the day for pain, jumped way too fast down to 1.5mg, then developed interdose withdrawls. I was then switched over to 30mg of Valium, and have tapered slowly to about 27mg. 

I definitely don't feel any better from the 30mg mark, probably worse, tbh, and I still have a ways to go, so that's why I was asking the original question.  

The problem I'm facing is that I simultaneously have to find a different solution for my pain. It hasn't been easy. 

But I definitely agree with you about the exercise and eating healthy part, even when I have to push myself. 

[[Md...]]

2 hours ago, [[r...] said:

There is going to be a voice in your head telling you "get off NOW this is toxic to my system" Try not to listen to this, it's just withdrawal and your brain and body are leeching it out of you and trying to gain balance without this poison in you.  If you can push through it and not jump too soon...................You WILL get windows most likely. 

The brain is what needs the super slow taper NOT the body. The brain is so sensitive to these pills for many. You want to nurse that brain no matter what. And this means small reductions and HOLDS (yes even with micro taper holds are necessary usually) while your brain upregulates. I mean you don't want to taper for years and years as I think this is only necessary for 20-30 year users.

YES you would want to taper at a minimum of 3 or more years if you had a super long history with these pills. 

Ugh...I hate that damn voice. It's there all the time. I definitely don't have any plans on jumping too soon though. I'll hold before I do that.

Thanks for chiming in.

[[re...]]

That is a pretty steep xanax reduction. But you are on a decent amount of valium. When did you do the crossover? How long have you been on this amount of valium?

[[re...]]

How long have you been on the valium? Was it a gradual crossover?

[[Ma...]]

I have a theory which may be completely wrong, but I think there are people who hit some threshold dose as they taper, after which they start seeing improvement because their particular receptors start to recover/regenerate.  Some people really do struggle all the way down and get worse until they anre off but others seem to have a tougher time earlier in their taper and then get better towards the end.  I hope I am in this latter category because I had a hell of a time somewhere from around 0.75 to 0.5 of Clonazepam during my taper, but am actually doing much better now as I’ve gone from .5 to .25. I hope I have a remaining taper that is uneventful but I’m not going to speed things up because I know how awful it is to destabilize when you think you’re cruising along.   Just be steady but move forward.  

[[Md...]]

4 hours ago, [[r...] said:

How long have you been on the valium? Was it a gradual crossover?

Been on it since last summer, so almost a year. Yes, the crossover was very smooth and gradual, but i absolutely hated the feeling of Valium (sedation, depression, etc.), especially since I have been dosing 3 times a day (because that's what I was doing with Xanax). 

[[Md...]]

5 hours ago, [[r...] said:

That is a pretty steep xanax reduction. But you are on a decent amount of valium. When did you do the crossover? How long have you been on this amount of valium?

It was a really steep reduction. I didn't know what I was doing at the time though, like so many of us here. For all I know that's what caused the interdose withdrawals.

Edited May 4 by [Md...]

[[ba...]]

I'm being dropped 0.5 mg vlonazepam every two weeks so 1 mg a months. Started at 8 mg. I'm now at 5.5 mg as doctor slowed it down shockingly. He doesn't work with Me that well. For example I asked for an increase in mirtazipinr snd he did but he cut my lyrica in half. I takr lyrica mainly for testicular pain but it helps big time when taken with benzos. I can take less of the benzo. Now I have to fight a month. My pain doctor gave me some sleeping tablets I forgot the name but I have heard of most pills for anxiety he prescribed something expensive yet promising. I have slept 4 hours in three days.

Caffeine and food if taken after my benzo dose the benefits go to zero. So I have to takr all clonazepam in the am. Protein shake if I can before hand then eat at night. But I end up eating junk nowadays gotta stop.

Exercise helps with hard cardio like pock up basketball and weights when I can get past my brother's pit bull lol.

I find valium causes me a myriad of problems mainly depression. Most docs have tried vslium in the past with fast tapers at treatment centre's and outpatient. It doesn't work for me it's a dagger.

See the eating thing hasn't been understood by any doctor I've asked so it's probably the decades of use that's causing oddball scary and weird sides. Also if I nap and fall asleep thee effects are gone. 

My taper will be about a year. I'm guessing. I am experienced with withdrawals mainly anxiety for me and I may have to deal eith it as some people are just anxious in general right? 

1 day at a time and keep up the good work  this site is great!