How long do you think my withdrawals will last? 5 days have passed question about 2nd week

[[th...]]

Hello I am 24 y/o male have been taking 10-20mg's of diazepam on and off for 6 months and then went hard and started doing 30/50-150mg's daily for 2 months while drinking basically every night and whippets off and on but a lot when doing them (Nitrous Oxide). I then slowed down to 10-30mg's daily for a week and have gone cold turkey now as I can no longer get my hands on diazepam at this current moment.

I am 5 days into my withdrawal experience as my first symptom was headaches and for now I can say I have the following symptoms. I have checked online and have seen it says the second week of WD is the worse and full WD can take up to 3 months to a year and I have seen here it can possibly take even longer for some.

My symptoms are:

1. Anxiety coming back, I have always been somewhat anxious though so could just be sober me back.

2. Extreme sensitivity to light and movement and sound and blurred vision(Photophobia) or even double vision sometimes. More noticeable after doing something strenuous on the mind and/or body.

3. Possibly depersonalization/derealization as I feel like I am waking up from a dream/living in a dream, this is quite confusing so confusion as another symptom. 

4. Fatigue as I need to sleep more and do not feel like doing basically anything but sit or lie down and watch stuff or listen to music. 

5. Definitely my heartbeat is feeling strange, sometimes even slight tightness or pain there but feeling fine now and as of the last 2 days. 

6. Today on my 5th day I have basically no taste when eating food so loss of appetite.

7. Had tinnitus for the first time last night, very light and did not stop me from resting. 

8. Nightmares, but last night I had positive ones, still a stressful dream but I woke up feeling positive after it. 

9. Hyperthermia, definitely feeling quite hot and taking cold showers before bed so I can sleep.

I am drinking herbal tea and water, nothing else and eating a healthy full diet, no alcohol and sugar drinks.

I am actually in a strange type of positive mindset, not depressed, even though I broke up with my girlfriend of 7 years around when I started to do more diazepam and am now basically feeling like I am waking up to this. I see it as though it had to happen and I am going through a slight change in my life but a positive one, once I get out of feeling how I feel currently, this was actually a realization from my dream last night which kind of showed this as a type of awakening for me, as I was going down a bad path previously and as long as I survive this I should be good and perhaps stronger and better than before (I hope)

Really my question is around how long will I feel this way? months? a year?

Will I survive continuing cold turkey? 

Is it true that the WD is the worst at the 2nd week mark?

If 2nd week is the worse part, will I feel any better after it passes?

Thank you for any answers in advance.

I do understand cold turkey is not the way but I am quite resilient to drugs as a whole and have quite a lot of experience with them in the past and have never had any side effects like this so first time going through such a serious withdrawal but I think I am handling it well for now. 

If the feedback tells me to start tapering instead of cold turkey I will probably go to the doctors and explain my situation and start this but I am not sure. I have never had a prescription for this drug it was fully recreational use, I just noticed I enjoyed the effect of lowered anxiety and went with it I guess, no idea why I took so much and for so long in a row without second thinking. I usually think before I act but obviously I now know this ''sense of self-wellbeing'' can be blinded. 

I would say I am only affected by this physically my mental is fine, however, I see that the longer this goes the worse a persons mental can get. 

WD - Withdrawal

[[Pa...]]

Hello @[th...], welcome to BenzoBuddies,

A question before we discuss yours, have you used benzodiazepines in the past, before this last 6 months?  The reason I ask is because we've noticed that if you've used and stopped them in the past, the withdrawals can be worse, its a theory called kindling.

Diazepam takes awhile to fully leave our system so I would imagine your symptoms will get worse before they get better but I'm not sure if reinstating and doing a slow taper is your answer.  We never know if reinstating will make things better or worse, it varies with each of us.  Do you have an expectation of a doctor being willing to work with you if you explain your situation, I'm worried you won't because they're all getting pretty nervous about even suppling people who haven't abused it with enough to taper.

I'm sorry to know you're suffering and I hope it won't get any worse but if it does, we can definitely advise you on a taper and provide suggestions for how to find a practitioner to help you.

I'm glad you're only having physical symptoms at the moment, this may change but it sounds like you've educated yourself about what to expect. 

@[Pa...]

[[PE...]]

9 hours ago, [[t...] said:

Hello I am 24 y/o male have been taking 10-20mg's of diazepam on and off for 6 months and then went hard and started doing 30/50-150mg's daily for 2 months while drinking basically every night and whippets off and on but a lot when doing them (Nitrous Oxide). I then slowed down to 10-30mg's daily for a week and have gone cold turkey now as I can no longer get my hands on diazepam at this current moment.

I am 5 days into my withdrawal experience as my first symptom was headaches and for now I can say I have the following symptoms. I have checked online and have seen it says the second week of WD is the worse and full WD can take up to 3 months to a year and I have seen here it can possibly take even longer for some.

My symptoms are:

1. Anxiety coming back, I have always been somewhat anxious though so could just be sober me back.

2. Extreme sensitivity to light and movement and sound and blurred vision(Photophobia) or even double vision sometimes. More noticeable after doing something strenuous on the mind and/or body.

3. Possibly depersonalization/derealization as I feel like I am waking up from a dream/living in a dream, this is quite confusing so confusion as another symptom. 

4. Fatigue as I need to sleep more and do not feel like doing basically anything but sit or lie down and watch stuff or listen to music. 

5. Definitely my heartbeat is feeling strange, sometimes even slight tightness or pain there but feeling fine now and as of the last 2 days. 

6. Today on my 5th day I have basically no taste when eating food so loss of appetite.

7. Had tinnitus for the first time last night, very light and did not stop me from resting. 

8. Nightmares, but last night I had positive ones, still a stressful dream but I woke up feeling positive after it. 

9. Hyperthermia, definitely feeling quite hot and taking cold showers before bed so I can sleep.

I am drinking herbal tea and water, nothing else and eating a healthy full diet, no alcohol and sugar drinks.

I am actually in a strange type of positive mindset, not depressed, even though I broke up with my girlfriend of 7 years around when I started to do more diazepam and am now basically feeling like I am waking up to this. I see it as though it had to happen and I am going through a slight change in my life but a positive one, once I get out of feeling how I feel currently, this was actually a realization from my dream last night which kind of showed this as a type of awakening for me, as I was going down a bad path previously and as long as I survive this I should be good and perhaps stronger and better than before (I hope)

Really my question is around how long will I feel this way? months? a year?

Will I survive continuing cold turkey? 

Is it true that the WD is the worst at the 2nd week mark?

If 2nd week is the worse part, will I feel any better after it passes?

Thank you for any answers in advance.

I do understand cold turkey is not the way but I am quite resilient to drugs as a whole and have quite a lot of experience with them in the past and have never had any side effects like this so first time going through such a serious withdrawal but I think I am handling it well for now. 

If the feedback tells me to start tapering instead of cold turkey I will probably go to the doctors and explain my situation and start this but I am not sure. I have never had a prescription for this drug it was fully recreational use, I just noticed I enjoyed the effect of lowered anxiety and went with it I guess, no idea why I took so much and for so long in a row without second thinking. I usually think before I act but obviously I now know this ''sense of self-wellbeing'' can be blinded. 

I would say I am only affected by this physically my mental is fine, however, I see that the longer this goes the worse a persons mental can get. 

WD - Withdrawal

Hi.

All your symptoms are really common. And you being able to post and being online telling me you are fine for being in acute wd! I also CT from diazepam.. different doses but around 150mg +. 

I started getting better after 3 months but had much worse symptoms so i think you be ok quicker and hopefully with less struggle 👌☺️

Good job coming off this poison. 

Good luck!

 

Edited August 12 by [PE...]

[[th...]]

On 12/08/2024 at 11:15, [[P...] said:

Hi.

All your symptoms are really common. And you being able to post and being online telling me you are fine for being in acute wd! I also CT from diazepam.. different doses but around 150mg +. 

I started getting better after 3 months but had much worse symptoms so i think you be ok quicker and hopefully with less struggle 👌☺️

Good job coming off this poison. 

Good luck!

 

On 12/08/2024 at 02:44, [[P...] said:

Hello @[th...], welcome to BenzoBuddies,

A question before we discuss yours, have you used benzodiazepines in the past, before this last 6 months?  The reason I ask is because we've noticed that if you've used and stopped them in the past, the withdrawals can be worse, its a theory called kindling.

Diazepam takes awhile to fully leave our system so I would imagine your symptoms will get worse before they get better but I'm not sure if reinstating and doing a slow taper is your answer.  We never know if reinstating will make things better or worse, it varies with each of us.  Do you have an expectation of a doctor being willing to work with you if you explain your situation, I'm worried you won't because they're all getting pretty nervous about even suppling people who haven't abused it with enough to taper.

I'm sorry to know you're suffering and I hope it won't get any worse but if it does, we can definitely advise you on a taper and provide suggestions for how to find a practitioner to help you.

I'm glad you're only having physical symptoms at the moment, this may change but it sounds like you've educated yourself about what to expect. 

@[Pa...]

Hello and thank you very much for the approval of my post and for your replies @[PE...], @[Pa...]which mean a lot as they are so helpful and honestly just reassuring. 

I was really looking for some reassurance as since I started looking into withdrawal information its just been the more I read the more scared for my wellbeing I got. (just seeing some of the really bad symptoms that can occur and possibly affect me for life) 

Its been 2 nights since I posted the post and I actually noticeably feel better and better each day, I believe this will continue...

I have never taken any benzodiazepines before this, so no kindling should occur as mentioned by Pamster

I will not be tapering in that case and I will continue forward with my CT and my mental is still the same - as positive as before.

After your reassuring posts I can tell you both that I feel even better and hopefully I will get a good night of sleep tonight.

I hope that you are both currently doing well and continue as such and have the best luck in life going forward! 

I will post again if I have any more questions, if not my next post may be when I feel fully healed and normal again which I am hoping will be soon!

Thank you again for your replies Pamster and Peppe, have a good one!!! 

 

[[Pa...]]

I'm thrilled to hear you're doing so well @[th...], you must be one of the lucky ones who can discontinue these medications without too much trouble, I'm so glad!  But what's even better is the knowledge you're acquired since you stopped the diazepam, you now know what can happen and can take steps to make sure you never end up like us. 

Yes, please do keep us posted about your recovery, we'd love to see you write a success story, it will be a nice change from the years long suffering most of them describe.