Tapering Nitrazepam 5 mg with suitable alternatives and methodlogies

[[ni...]]

Hello Folks,

 

I am writing this in a hope to seek guidance from people successful on tapering Benzos as to how to taper nitrazepam 5 mg that I have been taking for the last two years with other benzos. I am willing to be patient and recover slow also. 

 

The main reason, I am concerned is that day time drowsiness and the inability to thin fast, make decisions, maintain a relationship etc.

 

Hope to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

[[Pa...]]

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

I'm not familiar with Nitrazepam but I see it has a long half life, hopefully others will chime in with their experience.  What time to you dose, is it mainly for sleep?

We typically suggest reducing your dose by about 5-10% every few weeks or whenever your symptoms settle enough to reduce again.

You mention other benzodiazepines, are you currently taking them and if so, what are they and at what doses? 

As I mentioned, we don't see this medication much, so I'm going to need to do some research to fully understand your situation but I'm sure if we keep talking, we can work this.

@[Pa...]

 

[[Ka...]]

@[ni...]I am new here too. I was also prescribed Nitrazepam. I am also trying to get off of this medication because of similar side effects to you. I cut down to 5 mgs in August. Although this is considered a large cut, I didn’t find this cut too difficult. My doctor recently tried to cut this medication by 50%, but this reduction put me into terrible withdrawal. My new prescriber has switched me to diazepam because it comes in 2 mg pills and a liquid form for smaller cuts. The 5 mg Nitrazepam pill is the lowest dose pill and difficult for making small cuts, although I am sure you could still come off of it this way. I am presently on 4 mgs of diazepam. The nurse practitioner I am now seeing is planning to start with 10% cuts and adjust future cuts according to how I do. I am sure there is more than one strategy for coming off this medication, but this is my plan for now. I hope all goes well for you as you withdraw from this medication.

[[ni...]]

10 hours ago, [[P...] said:

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

I'm not familiar with Nitrazepam but I see it has a long half life, hopefully others will chime in with their experience.  What time to you dose, is it mainly for sleep?

We typically suggest reducing your dose by about 5-10% every few weeks or whenever your symptoms settle enough to reduce again.

You mention other benzodiazepines, are you currently taking them and if so, what are they and at what doses? 

As I mentioned, we don't see this medication much, so I'm going to need to do some research to fully understand your situation but I'm sure if we keep talking, we can work this.

@[Pa...]

Hi @[Pa...]., Thanks much for your time to read my query and your revert. I rarely taken clonazepam 0.5 mg when I feel that the sleep is inadequate. 

I can literally feel the difference in the way these benzos work(nitrazepam and clonazepam).

 

Thanks again!!

[[ni...]]

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

@[ni...]I am new here too. I was also prescribed Nitrazepam. I am also trying to get off of this medication because of similar side effects to you. I cut down to 5 mgs in August. Although this is considered a large cut, I didn’t find this cut too difficult. My doctor recently tried to cut this medication by 50%, but this reduction put me into terrible withdrawal. My new prescriber has switched me to diazepam because it comes in 2 mg pills and a liquid form for smaller cuts. The 5 mg Nitrazepam pill is the lowest dose pill and difficult for making small cuts, although I am sure you could still come off of it this way. I am presently on 4 mgs of diazepam. The nurse practitioner I am now seeing is planning to start with 10% cuts and adjust future cuts according to how I do. I am sure there is more than one strategy for coming off this medication, but this is my plan for now. I hope all goes well for you as you withdraw from this medication.

Thanks for sharing the information @[Ka...]. I need to look into the availability of 2 mg of nitrazepam, then. What I went through was a horrible experience of abdominal pain, right upper quadrant rib pain, WHEN I CUT THE DOSAGE BY HALF (5 mg to 2.5 mg). Unaware of the fact that what I had been doing should be properly done in the name of tapering and  unaware of the side effects of acute dosage reduction(Withdrawl symptoms),  I did this and it was like a nightmare for me. So switched back to 5mg, with no other choice.

I am looking for tablet weighing scale, pill crusher to do a slow taper. Does that sound good?

Also, I have this very doubt of switching to clonazepam 0.5 from nitrazepam 5mg, as I had read somewhere that these two doses are equal in power. Please advise.

Sorry for bothering with too many questions. I am just trying to talk my mind out. 

God bless!!

[[Ka...]]

@[ni...]I am new here too. I was also prescribed Nitrazepam. I am also trying to get off of this medication because of similar side effects to you. I cut down to 5 mgs in August. Although this is considered a large cut, I didn’t find this cut too difficult. My doctor recently tried to cut this medication by 50%, but this reduction put me into terrible withdrawal. My new prescriber has switched me to diazepam because it comes in 2 mg pills and a liquid form for smaller cuts. The 5 mg Nitrazepam pill is the lowest dose pill and difficult for making small cuts, although I am sure you could still come off of it this way. I am presently on 4 mgs of diazepam. The nurse practitioner I am now seeing is planning to start with 10% cuts and adjust future cuts according to how I do. I am sure there is more than one strategy for coming off this medication, but this is my plan for now. I hope all goes well for you as you withdraw from this medication.

[[Pa...]]

Hi again @[ni...], I also see that Nitrazepam is roughly equivalent to Valium and it looks like I was wrong about the half life, I see its only 15-38 hours.  

May I ask, are you experiencing interdose withdrawals, do you feel the need to take the medication before your next scheduled dose?  You mentioned you feel daytime drowsiness, this would indicate over sedation, have you always felt this way?  I'm not sure switching to Valium is what you need, we typically don't suggest that unless someone is suffering interdose withdrawal. 

I'm glad you went back up in dose, its important to start a taper from a stable place so I'd wait to begin another taper until you've stabilized.  

And to answer your question, many of our members are using jewelers scales to taper with, we can help you with this is this is what you're leaning towards. 

For now, I hope you'll resist taking any Clonazepam, although it sounds like you haven't used it often.

Please don't worry about asking questions, this is why we're here.

 

[[Ka...]]

@[ni...]I would follow the guidance of @[Pa...] and other experienced members. Yes, I think the key is a slow taper. I think our negative experiences of cutting our Nitrazepam from 5mgs to 2.5 mgs points out that this is an unsuccessful strategy for tapering our medication. Although my healthcare providers chose to switch me to diazepam, I don’t think this method is typically recommended. Again, I would follow @[Pa...]’s recommendations. 

[[Pa...]]

11 hours ago, [[n...] said:

Also, I have this very doubt of switching to clonazepam 0.5 from nitrazepam 5mg, as I had read somewhere that these two doses are equal in power. Please advise.

I did want to address this question, if your use of Clonazepam has been infrequent, I don't feel this would be helpful unless you're suffering extreme interdose withdrawal.  Any changes we make to our medication will cause upset which we then have to wait for stabilization before proceeding, so we try avoid unnecessary changes unless the discomfort warrants it.   

As a side note, according to what I've found, Nitrazepam is roughly equivalent to Valium which and .5 mg Clonazepam is roughly equivalent to 10 mgs Valium. 

[[ni...]]

Thanks very much @[Pa...] and @[Ka...] for your valuable inputs and suggestions. 

Would be great, if you can share a link to amazon, where I can buy the jewellery weighing scale (supporting mcg measurement). 

Also suggest, whether a pill crusher is required to start a tapering. Anyways, I will wait for the stabilisation

[[Ro...]]

17 minutes ago, [[n...] said:

Thanks very much @[Pa...] and @[Ka...] for your valuable inputs and suggestions. 

Would be great, if you can share a link to amazon, where I can buy the jewellery weighing scale (supporting mcg measurement). 

Also suggest, whether a pill crusher is required to start a tapering. Anyways, I will wait for the stabilisation

Ask and you shall receive.  Here's a link to Amazon for the GEM20 .001 mg scale, which is used by many on here:

https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Weigh-GEM20-Precision-Milligram/dp/B00ESHDGOI/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=15O4RXTNNITR8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.S5b3PFmf86jkIKbMnD7MLfz3V-5PWCAzWFoBIW02FtuK0ES9pUhz_avfAj1qgQi01S1s17fTIRd6rfi9y3bMZ4Uifv7udXGVHIS0_N9hqie600-G33MhUwmt49DY17ciCKhmRO8mp3fL5c14IYFG1RaD8t4PEkigfH7VVttWOltUvhG9jhN4h7frCQ0G15vToeJ53LNqowv9ZRg4UHSAioNlcGSxhjMIIXDfI6Z5crU.C76fA5UIdDxJ3tusTAVgj5UWu3LIk8h3vNuTHUuDDdQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=scale+Gem20&qid=1733844923&sprefix=scale+gem20%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Also, a pill splitter would be nice to have but is certainly not required. I did my taper without the use of one.

Edited December 10, 2024 by [Ro...]

[[ni...]]

Thanks very much @[Ro...] 

I have a few questions popping out of my mind, as I start with the process. I must also admit that I did an acute withdrawal recently due to unavailability of the pills. I am so uncertain about the root cause. Hence though of asking it here.

 

I have been experiencing the below symptoms recently.

1. Nausea immediately after waking up from bed

2. Abdominal pain

3. Head ache (rarely)

4. On and off right upper quadrant rib pain

5. Loss of apetite (No weight loss though)

6. Muscle cramps and sharp pains in the hands and legs with tingling sensation on the face.

 

Could these be due to acute withdrawal of the dose?

 

For your info (I have been taking 5 mg again from today). 

[[Ka...]]

@[ni...] A lot of your symptoms sound quite similar to when I was recently cut from 5mgs to 2.5 mgs by my family doctor. I hope things settle out again now that you are back to your regular dose. I am feeling a little better now that I have gone up in my dose. Take care!

[[ni...]]

@[Ro...] By the way, I was so curious to know. Are you completely out of Benzos?

 

You had mentioned like "I did my taper". ...

If so, can you please shred some lights on the symptoms that I am experiencing and it's management? Thanks in advance

Edited December 14, 2024 by [ni...]

[[Ro...]]

12 hours ago, [[n...] said:

Thanks very much @[Ro...] 

I have a few questions popping out of my mind, as I start with the process. I must also admit that I did an acute withdrawal recently due to unavailability of the pills. I am so uncertain about the root cause. Hence though of asking it here.

I have been experiencing the below symptoms recently.

1. Nausea immediately after waking up from bed

2. Abdominal pain

3. Head ache (rarely)

4. On and off right upper quadrant rib pain

5. Loss of apetite (No weight loss though)

6. Muscle cramps and sharp pains in the hands and legs with tingling sensation on the face.

Could these be due to acute withdrawal of the dose?

For your info (I have been taking 5 mg again from today). 

Yeah, all these could be symptoms of acute withdrawal.  I am done with my taper of Clonazepam.  I didn't have muscle cramps, tingling sensations, headaches, or loss of appetite. I didn't have nausea, but did have bloating, burping, and occasional indigestion and food sensitivity.

Your symptoms, on a whole, can be tolerated but not easily managed.  Have you tried OTC meds like Tylenol for the aches and pain?  Fresh ginger is often effective for nausea.  I know of another member here who is taking mirtazapine to help stimulate appetite.  However, starting a new med is risky during withdrawal, and mirtazapine should be tapered when no longer needed.

Hopefully, I have answered your questions.