Just wonder will recovery happened while taping? Anyone has experience?

[[JC...]]

So far, I only see hell......

[[pr...]]

I am tapering very slowly, so that most of the time I am able to work and have a life and get out a bit and have some fun from time to time.  It's not a walk in the park but it's not miserable. 

 

I do feel like my brain is healing as I go along.  At least, the effects of the drugs seem to be getting less and less over time.  I am the only person my age (56) I know who says their memory is getting better instead of worse!

 

I see other people on slow, manageable tapers who experience the same thing.  It's not exactly fun but it's definitely not h*ll.

[[Ni...]]

I think you can begin to heal while tapering too. Going slow and listening to my body has helped tapering to be tolerable. I don't know if we ever truly stabilize while tapering, but since more and more of the benzo is leaving our bodies I would think that would be part of healing.

[[am...]]

I agree. I have tapered from 2 mg and down to below .5. And I have been noticing that some of the s/x I had have disappeared this month and I'm having more frequent and longer lasting windows of normalcy.  It must be healing. 

[[JC...]]

Thanks, at least it is positive. How slow are you guys doing? Do you follow the manual - 0.5 mg per 2 weeks?

[[Ni...]]

Thanks, at least it is positive. How slow are you guys doing? Do you follow the manual - 0.5 mg per 2 weeks?

 

I follow the manual as a guideline and go by percentages and not mg, because I'm getting to the low end of my taper. I'm tapering Xanax too, so that is different than Valium (diazepam).

 

I'm trying to stay somewhere in the range of the 10% every 1-2 weeks and go slower if I have a lot of symptoms and a little faster if I'm doing alright.

 

Are you having lots of symptoms?

 

 

[[Ni...]]

So far, I only see hell......

 

Hi JC201101,

 

I was going to say, you can put a signature line at the bottom of your posts if you want to. You just go back to your profile and add it. That can help other members help you with questions you have with your taper.

 

[[am...]]

I'm not necessariy following the manual in terms of length of time from cut to cut. For example, this most recent cut (using water titration), I've been holding at my current dose for a month. I go by how I feel - how are my symptoms - do I feel ready both emotionally, mentally and physically to make another cut? On Monday, I will make a very tiny cut and stay there for 2-4 weeks.

amb

[[pr...]]

I also taper not by a calendar or schedule but by how I feel.  As you can see I am doing a multi-drug taper, which is rare, and not really recommended, although it's working well for me as I am going at a glacial pace.  I also keep a daily journal of dosages and symptoms.

 

When my symptoms start to ramp up I hold until they settle down, before cutting again.  There seems to be a point when holding when I begin to notice that I actually start feeling better, and that's what I try to get to before cutting again.  I try to get to that place of improving and then wait until the improvement seems to have leveled off.

 

That's just what works for me, everyone is different.

[[Ni...]]

I try to go on how I feel as well. I was going a little fast because I felt good, then after I made a third cut I realized it was too much so I did a "cut reversal" --not really the same as up-dosing-- I just backed tracked a couple of days and made a smaller cut. To me, that's why it's very important to listen to your body and what it's telling you. I tolerate some anxiety and cog fog, but when got too much chest tightness I realized I had gone a little further out than I wanted too.

 

 

[[1a...]]

So far, I only see hell......

healing ( at least for me ) did occur during my taper.....i had some nice windows, and my sleep improved the lower i got.....

[[Pe...]]

Really appreciate this question as I wonder the same thing. At times during my taper I think healing it progressing and then at other times, it seems like my symptoms flare so much I don't feel I've made any progress. I, like others posting here, am going VERY slowly and work hard to listen to my body.

 

I also, however, feel that I continue to experience negative effects from having diazepam in my system as well. This is in part because I never really fully stabilize even when holding. I think that's great the Priahnon can taper and get out and enjoy life at the same time.  Sadly, that hasn't been my experience thus far.  In other words, at some point I just have to continue my taper and manage the symptoms the best I can, backing off when they are not manageable. I totally agree about the importance of listening to your body, however, and going slowly, slowly, slowly.  For me that is MUCH more slowly than the Ashton Manual. I couldn't even begin to handle those cuts.