Help! spontaneously withdrawal symptoms at 27mg of diazapam

[[...]]

I started tapering mid this year from 33mg to 27mgs of Valium awhich I held for 3 months.  All of sudden, without changing the dose, I started experiencing body temperature decline, sweats, chills, sharp decline in cognitive function, eye muscle spams, ... these symptoms have not gotten better for three weeks.  What do you think I was going on and how do i stabilze so i can continue with my taper?

I've been on benzos for over 15 years, 12.5 on klonopin and 2.5 years on Valium.

 

[[Pa...]]

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

I'm so sorry to hear about your suffering, but let me ask a couple of questions to try to get a good understanding of your history.  

You tapered from 33 to 27 mgs, was this all at once or did you reduce in increments?  Have you changed your Klonopin dose and what is it?  Did you experience any symptoms when you made your reduction 3 months ago?

What you've described sure sounds like symptoms of withdrawal or tolerance, I'm wondering about tolerance, if that may be what's going on? 

Lets keep talking so we can figure this out.

@[Pa...]

[[...]]

Thank you,

Long story, I tapered four mg in one month, then paused for one month, then went down two in a week, paused for a week, than went down another two (at 25mg).  Shortly after that, I started experiencing withdrawal symptoms and my doctor changed around my dosing schedule, put me on Depakote temporarily, and increased my dose back to 27.  I have no idea which one of things worked but the symptoms stopped and I was OK for 3 months perhaps a little more anxious after being taken off the Depakote .  Then all of a sudden,  one day, all hell broke loose.

I wonder about withdrawal and tolerance too. I'm definitely experiencing withdrawal symptoms at a high dose of Valium and am concerned especially about the cognitive decline.  What do you recommend I do in general and about the taper?

 

[[Pa...]]

@[...], your initial taper was faster than we suggest, we recommend reducing by about 5-10% every few weeks or whatever your symptoms will allow.  Using your symptoms to guide you can hopefully keep you functioning. 

Do you suspect the Depakote is contributing to your symptoms, did you taper it?  Whatever is going on it appears you need to take action.  You could see if increasing your dose will help you stabilize then start a taper, but if your doctor won't increase your dose you may need to start your taper now and hope it breaks the tolerance you're dealing with.  I've seen members say that making a reduction can actually make them feel better. 

Are you still on Klonopin?

[[...]]

Depakote has a helpful side effect of increasing Valium's blood level in the body so my guess is it helped me amongst other factors stop the first withdrawal episode but it came at the cost of drug induced Parkinsonism so I had to taper the depekote down (I was only on it for 4 weeks total).

Have you seen this in others (spontaneous withdrawal mid taper)?  What usually helps stabilize more, tapering up, tapering down, or holding?

much appreciated.

 

[[Ni...]]

Reductions of 2 mg per week is too fast and causing your withdrawal symptoms. You should go for max 1 mg per 2 weeks, it's what I did from 28 mg valium to 0 and I had nearly no withdrawal symptoms. 

[[Pa...]]

I've seen some strange things when it comes to Valium, symptoms show up a lot later than with the other benzodiazepines, sometimes out of the blue as you described but its not typical.  We usually suggest holding because increasing sometimes doesn't work, it doesn't always provide the relief people seek.  But, you mentioned you'd been holding for 3 months so I figured it wouldn't help to hold more but now that you've told me how the Depakote affected you, I'm wondering if holding would be helpful?