Temazepam to Diazepam Switch

[[Os...]]

Hi, first time poster here. 
I started getting a restless leg from a suspected pinched nerve, and was prescribed diazepam. April 2024. Also put on a 6 day course of 4mg prednisone. The diazepam finally allowed me to sleep. Seemed like a magic fix at first. Took it through the prednisone so I could sleep through that. After the leg thing went away after the prednisone, I had been on diazepam for a little more than a week. Stopped taking it. Then, two days later, when trying to fall asleep, would get adrenaline surges that would wake me up, and this happened all night long. I had had this before, so I just think it was a strong reaction to the steroids. I smoked pot for many years, and would get this when I quit smoking too.

So, went back to doc and said I couldn’t sleep because of it, and he put me on 15 mg Temazepam. It worked for a few nights, but still didn’t sleep great. So, went back to doc and upped to 30 mg. Finally, I could sleep. In the back of my mind, I would think “this is good, but I probably shouldn’t get used to this. These pills are not good for long term”. Doc also put me on Citalopram, but after ten days felt like shit so stopped taking them. Felt better after that decision. (I now think that I was feeling the interdose withdrawal from the Temazepam more than side effects from the SSRI). 
Soon I started to get tingling in my hands and feet. I now believe it was because my CNS was frozen at night, and hyperactive during the day. I got really scared of the long term damage I was doing. So, after 2 weeks at 30 mg, And down dosed to 15 mg Temazepam.

Then came the down dose symptoms. 4 days after, my right leg started feeling weak. I noticed that the 2 flights of stairs at work were really hard and my leg was cramping. Started PT for my leg, they think the pinched nerve is back.

i decided right then and there, i was done with Temazepam. I was already at the lowest dose I could get 15 mg, so I switched back to diazepam 5mg, because I could taper that much easier, with pill cutting. Right now, I’m 5 days post switch. Emotional symptoms are hard. I have a back issue that gives me pain, and I feel like that pain is amplified right now during the day. It really limits me, which makes me really sad. 
I have 4 daughters, oldest 10, youngest newborn. The oldest is my buddy, and she looks at me everyday, wondering what the heck happened to her strong and cheerful dad. I try my best to be present and supportive of everyone, but it’s a struggle. 
My plan is to start tapering the 5mg diazepam to 4.5mg this week. I do have an appointment with a new psychiatrist tomorrow, and I’m really hoping he understand benzo withdrawals and can help support me, and not tell me it’s in my head. 
I was a super present father for my first three kids when they were babies. With my back, I can barely hold her within pain. I’m near years as I type this.

My restless leg is back, and I tried gabapentin for it and had the worst sleep in a while, with auditory hallucinations all night long. 
I’m hoping to find a med for restless leg that doesn’t give me those kind of side effects while I work on pinched nerve with PT. 
I know I can’t just stop diazepam cold turkey. So far, the switching symptoms are tolerable. Maybe because I was on Temazepam for only 1 month, at the various dosages. Just in case there are others trying to switch, I did 30->15mg Temazepam , spent a week at 15, before switchihg to 5mg diazepam. That is not the recommend dosage from the Ashton manual, but I was impatient and didn’t have the 5mg diazepam at the time, but I couldn’t handle the neuropathy, so I just did it. 
 

In so many ways, this feels like when I quit pot 3 years ago. The weak leg is new. The amplification of back pain is new. But I’m olde (46) now and my body sucks more.

i want to get better. I want to be able to run around with my sweet kids. I want  to be more helpful for my wife. It’s just so hard. After reading so many of your stories, I know there is a wide spectrum of challenges, and I know mine are just beginning. I’m not going to go cold turkey, but at least once a day I think about doing it. Flushing them all. (I live on septic, not city sewer). Get the awful part over with now.

I sleep 4-5 hrs a night. And get up and watch the sun rise, frustrated because 2 months ago I was sleeping like a baby (8 hrs) and doing great, until the rest leg pinched nerve thing happened.

My journey continues….

[[...]]

Hi, @[Os...]) Welcome to BenzoBuddies! So good you've found us.

Really sorry for all the nasty things you're going through. Certainly, your benzo journey adds to it. As i see, you've been changing a lot of medications recently. I think it's also made things worse. Know it by my own experience. Imo, you haven't been taking benzo long and hardly could have developed strong physical dependency yet. I would come off diazepam as soon as possible. In fact, it doesn't treat anything. Of course, you should do it in a symptom oriented way, although be ready to anyway feel tough for a while bc of it. I hope other members will stop by and share their thoughts and experience too.

I'm sure you have all the chances to happily run around with your sweet kids pretty soon:) Good luck! 

[[Ne...]]

Several buddies have developed a dependency in a short period of time.  I only took 15 mg of Temazepam for 14 days, Tapered then for  5 days at 7.5 mg.  On the 24th of this month, I will reach my 3 year mark into recovery with broken sleep and tinnitus still symptomatic.  It has been manageable for some time.  Dependency on benzos can happen within as a few as couple of weeks.

[[Os...]]

Day 6 of Temazepam to Diazapem switch.

Sleep is tough already. For the first few nights of the switch, I was able to get 5-6 hours. Now, I take the diazepam (still 5mg), fall asleep quickly, and 3-4 hours later, I wake up and I'm done for the night. It's been getting earlier and earlier too. I've been trying to use sunlight to retrain my circadian rhythms, and after a few days of that (looking at the sunrise and the sunset outside for 30-60 minutes), I'm getting super tired at about 9pm. So, I take my bedtime supplements (Magnesium, Melatonin) and diazepam, and now I wake up at 1:30am, having slept for about 4 hours. Today, I'm grateful it's not zero hours of sleep, because I know that's coming. So, I'm trying to stay positive.

I have a psychiatrist appointment as a new patient today. I'm hopeful that he is aware of benzo withdrawal and can help me taper. I currrently have about 24 5 mg diazepam pills, and about 10 2 mg pills, so I know I'm going to need some more 2mg, unless I get really creative with the 5mg pills, but that's not my preference. 

If I can get the right pills, I can do:

Starting tomorrow, 4mg (2 2mg pills a night)

Next week 3 mg (1.5 2 mg pills a night)

Following week 2 mg

Following week 1 mg

Then jump.

My symptoms haven't really stabilized from the switch, but at this point, I'm willing to endure some rough emotional times if it gets me free sooner. I just want to avoid seizures, and I think that this taper strategy will be effective in doing that. It's going to suck, but maybe by the 2mg/1mg weeks it'll be doing so little for me that it'll start the real withdrawal and get that acute phase going. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking forward to to it, but I went to get to it.

I miss my old life. 7 weeks ago, I felt normal. I did normal things. I didn't fear going to bed, knowing that I would be able to sleep for at least 5-6 hours no problem. Now, everything seems so challenging.

Before this all started, I had no idea about benzos, benzo side effects, or withdrawal effects. I wish I could go back in time, but I can't. All I can do is face each day, knowing that no matter how uncomfortable it is, I can get through it. Luckily, for the next month, I only have to work 4 hours a week, and so far, I've been able to do that. Next month, things get more challenging for me, workwise. I'm hopeful that by then, I'll have gotten through the acute stages. But, I know I don't have control of that. I can only take the dosage steps.

I'll write again about what the psychiatrist has to say. I appreciate the comments you've given so far. It really helps to be not alone.

I have 4 daughters and a supportive wife, but there's only so much my kids can hear, and my wife is overwhelmed from a new baby.

Oh, last thing. My wife turns 40 next month, and I need to plan a birthday party for her. The party is in 4.5 weeks. Wish me luck on maintaining my shit so I can give her the party she deserves!

[[be...]]

19 hours ago, [[N...] said:

Several buddies have developed a dependency in a short period of time.  I only took 15 mg of Temazepam for 14 days, Tapered then for  5 days at 7.5 mg.  On the 24th of this month, I will reach my 3 year mark into recovery with broken sleep and tinnitus still symptomatic.  It has been manageable for some time.  Dependency on benzos can happen within as a few as couple of weeks.

Wow. I can't believe that banzo can do this to so many people. I took Xanax for just a month and my life is just destroyed

[[Os...]]

Update, saw a new psychiatrist today. He has a great deal of experience in benzo withdrawals. I did need to negotiate my dosage taper, but he listened to me and gave me the prescription of 2mg diazepam I asked for. He wanted me to jump from 5 mg to 2 mg with no transition, but was ok with me doing it the way I wanted. Didn’t even have to bring up the Ashton manual. 

[[Os...]]

Last night, I tapered from 4 to 3.5 mg.

Heres the tapering schedule so far:

5/28 temazepam 30 mg to 15 mg

(toughest week)

6/4 temazepam 15 mg switch to diazepam 5 mg

(another tough week. I think between the reduction and the crossover, a lot to adapt to in a short amount of time. I was only on 30 mg temazepam for 2 weeks, but had been on benzos for a month during that time. But, the neuropathy from the 30 mg tam has gone away. The lingering symptom is a weak right leg, but it has good days and bad days). 
 

6/11 reduce diazepam 5 mg to 4 mg

Pretty smooth. Back started aching. Condition from before. 
 

6/15 4 mg to 3.5. I was going to go down to 3 mg on 6/18, but decided to smooth the transition. And, my pill cutter arrived, and I wanted to try it. I have 5 mg and 2 mg pills so I cut 1 of each in half. 
The other reason I made the reduction last nigh is because I was absolutely exhausted at 8:30pm and felt like I could sleep without a higher dose. 
 

I slept for about 7 hours!

Im starting a thread covering supplements im taking with advice from functional medicine doctor.