Advice on Valium taper

[[Be...]]

Hello

just looking for advice and reassurance please. 
I took Lorazepam prn prescribed by GP for less than a month for insomnia and. Started getting interdose symptoms which worried me.  I was already in touch with the mental health crisis team as I’d been suicidal with depression and they moved me onto 4 mg of diazepam for two weeks with a plan to taper down.  But having read around taper schedules, the psychiatrist’s plan looked too fast.  The first cut was down to 2mg a day! 
 I started on the 17/6 and did things gradually and am now at 2 mg and will take 1.8mg for the next week and reduce to 1.6 then 1.4 for the following weeks and see how I go.  I’ve generally been ok despite a vile itchy  rash that is murder at night and my sleep is bad.  I’m on 7.5 mg of Mirtazapine which helps me nod off but I only get a max of 4 hrs, 

I want to be off this drug asap due to it controlling my life and general anxiety about taking it.   Just wanting reassurance I suppose after watching too many awful YouTube videos. 🙁

[[Co...]]

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

A few quick questions:

1. What was your dose Valium before you initiated your taper?
2. For how long did you take Valium before you started your taper?
3. Is it correct that you started your taper on 17th June?

To reassure you, the majority of people, so long as they follow a sensible taper plan, can withdraw without too many problems. Yes, Youtube invariably and inevitably attracts worst case examples. You should not base your expectations upon what you view there. Even at BB, we usually attract those who have already experienced problems. We do not often hear from those who have not experienced problems, but we try to keep expectations more on an even keel by explaining the skewed nature of our membership.

What caused you to start taking Valium? And why do you wish to quit?

[[Be...]]

Thank you for your reply. 
I was on 1mg lorazepam occasionally for sleep problems and was doing that no longer than three weeks.  So the mental health team switched me to 4mg of Valium per day for two weeks.  I really didn’t want to do that but they insisted. 
So I started that regime on the 19th June.  Felt generally dreadful pumping that into my system.  
I’ve now got myself down to 2mg per day in four doses spread throughout the day.  Not sure I should have done that. I’m quitting because the whole thing was a mistake.  I shouldn’t have been given a benzo in the first place but nothing was helping me sleep.  I was roaming the streets at 3am…

My body is very sensitive to medication in general.  My husband who has a drug past wouldn’t even have noticed 4mg of Valium whereas my body was saying ‘stop taking this poison!’

Edited July 25 by [Be...]

[[Be...]]

The crisis team also looked at me like I was making a massive fuss about the taper.  They kept trying to tell me that people taking 100 mg of diazepam a day followed their method and were fine.  One of the social workers said she took it every day for three months and just stopped. 
my interdose symptoms on the lorazepam told me that that wouldn’t be my case…

[[Co...]]

21 hours ago, [[B...] said:

I was on 1mg lorazepam occasionally for sleep problems and was doing that no longer than three weeks.  So the mental health team switched me to 4mg of Valium per day for two weeks.  I really didn’t want to do that but they insisted. 
So I started that regime on the 19th June.

To make sure we are on the same page: when did you start taking benzodiazepines, and when did you start your taper?

[[Be...]]

I started 1 mg lorazepam nightly around 28th May  ( and not every night) and by 19th June I’d switched to Valium 4mg a day for two weeks and then started to taper off on the 29/6. 
 

A few visits to a&e mid May had given me some diazepam that I also took a few times.  I’d gone in with high heart rate and blood pressure - anxiety lead. 

[[Co...]]

Hi @[Be...]

I think your taper plan seems reasonable in the circumstances. Yes, sometimes that taper rate would be too fast, but mileage varies greatly, and your relatively short-term use means that you are better placed to tolerate this withdrawal schedule without too many problems.

Is your GP flexible? If you begin to find that withdrawal symptoms increase, is he/she amenable to you slowing your taper rate?

[[Be...]]

Thank you for your reply.  I just want out due to this rash.  Although I accept it may not disappear straight away.  My gp is fine with me doing things my own rate.  I’m hoping I can reduce small amounts each week. 
 

my only other concern is timing the doses when I’m under 1 mg.  Do you have any advice how to make it easier? 

[[Co...]]

On 26/07/2024 at 15:39, [[B...] said:

Thank you for your reply.  I just want out due to this rash.  Although I accept it may not disappear straight away.  My gp is fine with me doing things my own rate.  I’m hoping I can reduce small amounts each week.

That's good to hear.

Aiming to remove a small amount each week is a sensible plan. But be flexible if the situation warrants it.

On 26/07/2024 at 15:39, [[B...] said:

my only other concern is timing the doses when I’m under 1 mg.  Do you have any advice how to make it easier? 

Assuming you are using 2mg tablets, reducing your dose of Valium by a quarter-pill (0.5mg) at this stage is usually manageable, especially after short-term use.

If you should end up experiencing difficulties, our members will be able to provide you with some tips for making smaller reductions. The chance are, though, that you will not need them.