How many people HAVE to work while tapering

[[On...]]

Thanks Bart, etown, and Eliz, for your calming words of wisdom.

 

If my doses have been not what I thought they were, at least I can be happy that I am now actually a a LOWER dose than I thought instead of a higher dose. 

 

I miscalculated for a week back very soon after switching from Ativan to Valium with only a one day crossover. That miscalculation was considerably HIGHER than the dose I "thought" I was getting, 4.5 instead of 3. It was extremely disappointing when I discovered that mistake. I was mixing dry cuts of both 5 mg tabs and 2 mg tabs. It was a very stupid math error. Duh.

 

Being lower is, at least, something to celebrate. And I survived.  :2funny:

[[...]]

Hi Etown,

Onelove is traveling and forgot her calibration instructions for the scale.  Mine is at home.  Can you post the calibration instructions so that she can calibrate before measuring out her dose?  Hopefully that is not against the rules. 

[[pe...]]

Hi,

What do you guys know about withdrawal and flu?!?!? My whole family has had fevers and some kind of virus. I'm home from work with a sick kid today. I feel weird. Mostly, my anxiety has gone through the roof! It's nearly unbearable. I have to believe it's somehow related to the virus that gave my husband  a fever of 104 degrees over the weekend. But I don't have a fever (yet?) and I'm afraid something else has gone wrong! I'm in day 8 of a 12% taper and it has been a super smooth drop until today. How could a virus kick up my anxiety like this? Any words of advice, comfort?

 

Thanks,

Peace

[[et...]]

Peace - not sure about the flu but a drop of 12% is pretty hefty at your level in my opinion. It is about this time , 8 days that many people would really feel a drop like this.

etown

[[pe...]]

Okay, Etown,

Tell me more. Too much of a cut at the end? What is going slower at the end all about? I'll rebound, right? Gulp.

 

Peace

[[et...]]

Peace- Ashton talks about 5% every 2 weeks. IMO even this is too fast FOR ME. If it was me I would be looking at 3-5% over the next month or more. If you are having a tough time and it doesn't resolve within 7-10 days or so you may have to adjust your rate or your dose. A good hold might be in order for a few weeks and let the brain catch up to the cuts.

This is only my opinion.

etown

[[...]]

Hi Peace

If it were me and I was coming down with some other illness I would definitely hold, and if I got worse I would go back to the last dose I felt better at and do the cut when I got over the other illness. I believe you will continue to heal as far as the benzos are concerned during this time even if you back up a dose.

Bart

[[pe...]]

Etown and Bart,

Thanks. I'm definitely in a hold until I see how this thing goes. I thought Ashton said 10% every 2 weeks was ok. Maybe that rate changes at the end? Anyway, I'm holding.

 

Thanks,

Peace

[[et...]]

Peace - not a bad plan in my opinion no matter what the reason. Gives you a chance to stand back, take a break, access the situation and get ready for the home stretch.

Drive on friend

etown

 

Hey Bart what's up buddy?

In the groove my mentor and friend

[[...]]

Hey etown

SOS. Actually, I have a cold right now.  Took off work, ended up cutting my workout short, no yard work or honey-do's for this kid today. Spent some time watching my stocks go down on the business channel and screwing around on BB. This is the first time I've been sick in over a year. I plan to handle this as poorly as possible for a while then get back to the grindstone. Finally got around to reading The Benzo Book by Jack Hobson-Dupont today on the link that Braban sent me. That guy had one heck of a rough time and it's still going on 9 months after his taper ended when he wrote his book. Whoops, I forgot all about my evening snort of Valium fumes until just now, maybe cog fog is coming back. Guess I'll go snort, take a nice long Mg bath and hit the sack. Keep plugging along, dude. One day it will all be over. Ironically, I'm ending my taper in much better physical condition than I was in before benzos due no doubt to the stress reduction, better diet, all the exercise, more vacation time and who knows what else. In fairness, my wife has complained of my isolating, some mood swings and is resentful when she sees me typing away on BB so this has certainly not been all wine and roses. She never really understood the seriousness of all this benzo withdrawal stuff and I wasn't about to worry her unnecessarily.

Bart

 

[[...]]

Hey Bart,

It is difficult for anyone not going through withdrawal to fully understand just how hard it is.  My family knows and they are sympathetic but I can tell when I try to talk about it with them that they are bored with the whole subject and do not understand why it is taking so long.  I think they still want to compare it with Alcohol or opiate withdrawal and think it should have been over and done with months ago. 

 

The good thing is that they know I have never been a person who had anxiety, or other mental disorders so they know I am "right in the head" the bad thing is the lack of true understanding.

 

We will all get through this though and I, like you, hope to be in better shape on the other side.  I actually have lost 52 lbs by eating a more healthy diet and watching my lifestyle.  Another 10 lbs and I will be at the weight I was 20 years ago!

 

Sorry to hear that you are down with a cold.  Get Well Soon! 

[[He...]]

Hi all,

I'm only on pg. 4 of this thread. I plan to read all 82 pages. However, I just can't wait to post, hoping for some support. I am not working, and I need to be. I now realize that tolerance w/d sx caused problems at the last 2 part-time jobs I was able to get. I'm a counselor and I was hired to be an administrative assistant on both jobs. My bosses were not patient people which raised my stress levels a LOT. I noticed that I was having trouble remembering things compared to in the past, plus the nervousness. Anyway. There are few jobs where I live, none for counselors at the moment. I am terrified to interview, much less try to begin in some new job after my recent experience and having started my taper. I'm holding at 13 mg Valium as I need to be able to work if I can find something. I believe that working will help to distract me, although I get really tired a lot. I would prefer to continue with a micro taper, but with a new job I'm afraid of losing a job if I need to call in sick due to severe nausea or migraine.  Any support as to how to get through this would be appreciated. I'm hoping and praying for some part-time work in the evenings somehow, as my symptoms are so much less then. I may have to move for work and am practically paralyzed thinking about how to make that happen. I have no spouse to help me through this and have been staying with a friend. Thanks for reading, with heart, Charlotte 

[[et...]]

Healing me - Hi welcome to this thread. You hit the jackpot. There are lots of people here who can help you. We're a tough bunch working and all. Smart to hold...very smart. If you read my signature you'll see we are not that far off on our doses. I've had a few hiccups along the way but I am presently daily tapering using a jewelers scale. My method is a few pages back or on the substitution tapering page. Anyway when you are ready to re-start there are some cool people here. You'll get back to work if you have a plan, not go too fast and set in for the haul to the end. I have found that to be productive and minimize symptoms I needed to throw away the calendar and let my symptoms guide my taper.

We don't really care if you work or not your input is welcome as you are on this thread.

etown

[[He...]]

Thanks for replying etown! I spent the day reading the entire thread after my post. I like the energy and the support of the posters on this  thread. Yes unfortunately I have to get some kind of income soon; I'm getting food stamps and medical from the state so feel fortunate there but cash is still necessary for some things. I hope to be posting my return-to-work process here. I have enjoyed your postings on supplements and plan to begin using the vit. c with orange juice and cream of tartar.

 

In answer to someone else's question about a good form of vitamin c, I use the salt (sodium ascorbate) instead of the more common form, ascorbic acid. I found for many years that ascorbic acid irritated my intestines.  Usually it comes in a powder form, Emergen-C is one in packets which is 1000 mg and mixes well with water. I'll have to check it now though, for additives. Fortunately the ascorbate has gotten easier to find over the years. I even saw some tabs at Walmart once.

 

Wise Woman, your posts regarding your job which became hectic, then quitting it, then feeling like I do about diving back in, were so helpful to me! I, too used to be fearless and I have to keep reminding myself that I'm still here, just in a healing process. I hope you are OK in your new p/t job, I read that it too became stressful recently. As for smells: perfume, exhaust, anything strong, just tends to trigger headaches for me.

 

Well it will take me awhile to learn names (this was a lot to take in, staring at the screen for hours), but I'm grateful to all of you and hope the ones who have jumped will continue to drop in and let us know how good it's getting!

With heart, Charlotte 

[[...]]

Hi all,

I'm only on pg. 4 of this thread. I plan to read all 82 pages. However, I just can't wait to post, hoping for some support. I am not working, and I need to be. I now realize that tolerance w/d sx caused problems at the last 2 part-time jobs I was able to get. I'm a counselor and I was hired to be an administrative assistant on both jobs. My bosses were not patient people which raised my stress levels a LOT. I noticed that I was having trouble remembering things compared to in the past, plus the nervousness. Anyway. There are few jobs where I live, none for counselors at the moment. I am terrified to interview, much less try to begin in some new job after my recent experience and having started my taper. I'm holding at 13 mg Valium as I need to be able to work if I can find something. I believe that working will help to distract me, although I get really tired a lot. I would prefer to continue with a micro taper, but with a new job I'm afraid of losing a job if I need to call in sick due to severe nausea or migraine.  Any support as to how to get through this would be appreciated. I'm hoping and praying for some part-time work in the evenings somehow, as my symptoms are so much less then. I may have to move for work and am practically paralyzed thinking about how to make that happen. I have no spouse to help me through this and have been staying with a friend. Thanks for reading, with heart, Charlotte 

Healing, I read nausea and migraine. Well, this started for me in my late teens, and it is why I was on benzos by age 30. And why I stayed on them for 35 more years.

 

Let me state CATEGORICALLY that if I still had those problems, throwing up, sometimes for days, staying in bed at least one day a week in fetal position, missing work because of it, not being able to lead a life, I would take ANY drug that stopped it, if it worked.

 

I am making it very plain here where I come from.

 

Now, having said all that, I was stable on Klonopin for a very long time, and I did not miss work - EVER. Nor would I have even CONSIDERED going off K if doing so would have affected my work. I want you to understand why I am saying that. Going back to the old life, puking and in unspeakable pain one day a week, just was not an option.

 

I jumped off K because the pain totally stopped - long story about that. This happened at the end of 2012, and that is why I jumped April 11th of 2013. And if the rapid taper I did prior to jumping had caused headaches to start again, I would have reinstated immediately. IMMEDIATELY.

 

But since the pain did NOT restart, I did something very very stupid. I jumped rather than doing a safe taper.

 

That is dangerous, and again, if I had gotten headaches, I would have either tapered or would have reinstated.

 

Everything that I have done re stopping drugs has been with the one condition that doing so can't restart the headaches.

 

So if work is very important to you, my idea - if you are interested, as a fellow migraine sufferer - is to go as SLOW as you need to. If you have to taper way slower than other people, but if you remain able to work and carry on with your life, I think that is wise.

 

Everything I have read about on this site, mostly from people far wiser than I, leads me to believe that a SAFE taper, no matter how slow you need to go, is best if it allows you to continue living your life while doing it.

 

I think you will make it, by the way. Go slowly, make it as easy on yourself as possible, and just trust that if you work these drugs out of your system slowly, and give your body and brain all the time it needs, you WILL make it.

 

Question: do you have a doctor you trust that can give you advice re headaches? You may not find any answers - I had to find them on my own - but if you get lucky, a headache doctor (hopefully also benzo-wise) might be able to help you!

[[et...]]

Gaer - very well put friend and how are you.

Thanks for dropping in.

etown

[[Mr...]]

Hello everyone.... Well I just had hip surgery two weeks ago... Where the doctor broke my leg... Really sucks but I'm just holding my taper at 4.5 mg until I can walk again then I will continue my slow micro taper.....I want to still be able to function since I already did a fast rapid 5 week taper in May and failed.... So now it's slow for me.... I don't care how long it takes, I will get it done in the end. All the best to my friends out there....Mr scared in Ottawa.

 

 

 

[[On...]]

MR. Scared, congratulations on coming through your hip surgery AND on holding your taper!  That is quite some accomplishment. Thanks for letting us know. I had no idea you were going through this. I hope you'll keep us up to date with how things go.  ~OneLove 

[[...]]

Gaer - very well put friend and how are you.

Thanks for dropping in.

etown

Etown, as a matter of fact I am doing very well at the moment, better than I ever expected. In January and Feb. of 2013 I felt as well as I have ever felt. I had gotten of Trazadone and then caffeine, and my headaches stopped for the first time.

 

But I was still on Klonopin. So I wanted off that too, started tapering in March, quit April 11th. And that's when the hell started. Exercise is the only thing that kept me sane.

 

Then very recently I finally started to turn the corner.

[[et...]]

Mr. Scared - good to hear from you. got your pm but can't answer pm's for another week. Long story doesn't matter now. Glad you camr through the op ok. sounds like you have your plan man good for you. For a while there I wondered if things would ever settle for you.

etown

[[Co...]]

Hey Mr scared,

 

Glad to hear you are going ok. Really sorry abt your surgery. I think I told you that already. Doing ok. I am in a window of relief. First time. All day today. Get well!!

:smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:

[[...]]

Woo Hoo Etown look at you!  Down another almost .5mg on your signature!  Way to go  :clap:

 

I was a bit out of it yesterday.  Not symptoms just exhaustion from lack of sleep.  Diaz-Pam and I are going through similar issues in that we don't know if the Seriphos is helping anymore and our sleep is degrading.  Anyway she mentioned in a pm to me about a sleep aid she tried in the past called SLEEP by Swisse.  I picked some up on the way home and tried it last night at the recommended dose and by golly I fell asleep easily.  Still woke up early but I feel like for the 4 1/2 hours I did get, it was at least good quality sleep.  It has valerian in it and I read a few things on here that made me believe I should avoid valerian while tapering but I decided to try it anyway - what't the worst that could happen if I am not sleeping anyway, right?

 

I feel more like myself today and will actually be able to get some work done I think!

 

TGIF everyone!  :smitten:

[[et...]]

Going down Liz - I'm glad you are getting back to resting. Hopefully it will work the rest of the way. I take 50mg of Trazodone and it has worked wonders for me. Habit forming but not addicting so I'll deal with that later. Whatever it takes remember? Hope you have a nice weekend...thanksgiving here so we'll have about 20 family over for a meal. Looking forward to seeing my kids and grandkids. I have 7 grandkids and I'm only 53. Young buck still. I can't wait to get this leson learned over and move on. Anyway chin up

etown

[[...]]

I am going to the doctor on Monday and planned on asking for the Trazodone!  You must be a mind reader.  My acupuncturist recommended it as her sister takes it.  As an alternative, I read that Evening Primrose Oil works as an herbal antidepressant and read a lot of good reviews on it.  I am picking some up on the way home and will try it over the weekend.  Most of the reviews stated I should notice a difference one way or the other after three days of use.

 

Already a grandfather at 53!  I am 50 and my daughter is still single so It will likely be awhile before I become a grandparent.

 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family and don't overdo the excitement!

 

:smitten:

[[Co...]]

Hi guys I just wanted to thank all of you for helping me through working. Your tips were so helpful. I posted my success story today. Thank you so much for helping me through this Journy.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=92537.0

 

Love,

Scott