Valium/Diazepam Support Group

[[ed...]]

Thanks Hope!  I appreciate the help, and I will check out the Ashton thread! I do not know where I belong here just yet. I was thinking about doing a larger cut, but am truly learning that I must be patient or my world will fall apart, which it still may do. Thank you so much!

 

FWIW, I stuck to Ashton's schedule (using the 14 day period) until about 7mg. Then it became too aggressive for my body to handle.  I think it's a GREAT place to start because it's safe and simple. You may be able to follow it the whole way down; you may not. I'd suggest starting with her guidelines and working your way down. Keep reading the boards for information and you'll be up to snuff by the time you have to make a decision if Ashton is right for you the whole way off.

 

Best of Luck!

 

--Ed

[[Ri...]]

Thanks Hope!  I appreciate the help, and I will check out the Ashton thread! I do not know where I belong here just yet. I was thinking about doing a larger cut, but am truly learning that I must be patient or my world will fall apart, which it still may do. Thank you so much!

 

FWIW, I stuck to Ashton's schedule (using the 14 day period) until about 7mg. Then it became too aggressive for my body to handle.  I think it's a GREAT place to start because it's safe and simple. You may be able to follow it the whole way down; you may not. I'd suggest starting with her guidelines and working your way down. Keep reading the boards for information and you'll be up to snuff by the time you have to make a decision if Ashton is right for you the whole way off.

 

Best of Luck!

 

--Ed

 

 

 

 

Thanks Ed!  I think I will do the Ashton method, but at a lower dose and perhaps utilizing holds.  Your input is much appreciated. It is quite a change to have so many people with so much experience being freely helpful vs doing this alone! I do have  a couple of great friends helping me through, but having not been through these withdrawals that these nasty benzo's have, it is so comforting that we are all here.  I only hope I can help others someday as much as you (all) are helping me (and not laughing too hard an my mistakes...lol)!!!  RR

[[ed...]]

Thanks Hope!  I appreciate the help, and I will check out the Ashton thread! I do not know where I belong here just yet. I was thinking about doing a larger cut, but am truly learning that I must be patient or my world will fall apart, which it still may do. Thank you so much!

 

FWIW, I stuck to Ashton's schedule (using the 14 day period) until about 7mg. Then it became too aggressive for my body to handle.  I think it's a GREAT place to start because it's safe and simple. You may be able to follow it the whole way down; you may not. I'd suggest starting with her guidelines and working your way down. Keep reading the boards for information and you'll be up to snuff by the time you have to make a decision if Ashton is right for you the whole way off.

 

Best of Luck!

 

--Ed

 

 

 

 

Thanks Ed!  I think I will do the Ashton method, but at a lower dose and perhaps utilizing holds.  Your input is much appreciated. It is quite a change to have so many people with so much experience being freely helpful vs doing this alone! I do have  a couple of great friends helping me through, but having not been through these withdrawals that these nasty benzo's have, it is so comforting that we are all here.  I only hope I can help others someday as much as you (all) are helping me (and not laughing too hard an my mistakes...lol)!!!  RR

I've only been here a few months and I can't tell you how helpful people are on these forums. It's amazing how we can all come together to help one another without regard to race, gender, creed, or religion. You'll be giving advice and encouragement in no time!

 

Happy tapering with whichever method you choose. Looking forward to reading about your progress.

 

Best,

Ed

[[...]]

Hi all BB's, have a nice day to all>  I just want to ask if anyone experience any hair loss or thining hair while on tapering, Coz I experience at the moment I ask the health shop and they told me to try the silica complex for hair skin and nail, if anyone tried please let me know, i feel so depressed if I saw my hair on floor falling, i know it is related to W/d but i want solve it, i just started that silica complex supplement anyway hopefully its working.

 

regards, mcm

[[Kg...]]

MCM I had this and as I got lower it stopped and returned to normal. One of the gifts from our taper. I don't know if what you are trying will work because to be honest I think it is from the drug leaving our body. If it continues don't worry it will grow back - now my hair falls out at the normal rate vs the huge clumps that came out before. 

 

 

[[...]]

Thanks kgirl for your response and congrats!!! You beat the benzo... How you getting on by the way, hope you completely heal and enjoying your freedom from benzo.  Please keep us posted.  Regards, mcm

[[Kg...]]

Not there yet Mcm  I have 1.09 mg of Valium to finish with. It has not been 'pretty'. Anyone who says Valium is easier to get off of then K has not been on both like I have.    My hair though started to get back to normal well before I finished my K taper of course given my benzo brain I can't remember exactly when. 

[[fr...]]

  I agree, I now wish I would have tapered directly off Ativan.  It would have maybe saved time and doesn't have the metabolites etc. that the V does. Oh well, too late now although sometimes I wonder if I should go back to ativan and drop the valium since I seem to be getting worse instead of better.

[[Kg...]]

Freeme: I think when we go back and forth it messes with us so I don't have an easy answer. I was on 2 mg of V while I tapered my K.  Got that to 0 and now the s/x are pretty much the same as I had with K towards the end.  I can't go faster and I can't hold (since that makes me worse). I am doing a microtaper and just gritting my teeth all the way down.  I consider all benzos to be poisons. 

[[...]]

Kgirl, didn't notice you have V to taper,  anyway you nearly there and you said your hair is back to grow normal now so it means you're healing, don't worry you will be finish soon, and everyone , hope we are all heal and have a smooth taper.  Regards, mcm

[[Pi...]]

Had a rough day today. After I made really small cut I felt it coming on last night. Woke at 4. Managed to get back to sleep for about 45 minutes. My buddy got cancer and I had to pick him up from the hospital today since he had procedure done. I had to sign some things and they put me by the recovery room behind a curtain. The dr's were coming out discussing colonoscopy with patients families. That was major buzz kill and just about gave me a panic attack. I held it together but I had my 3.75 mg of Valium which is my afternoon dose for emergency and this is the worst I've felt since I started so I brought along 1mg of Xanax in case of  major emergency. I was only going to take if I got chest pain or something but took nothing. I don't think I'm cutting too fast BC I leveled out after 14 mg but since March 26 have went from 20mg to 13.75 now. I sure hope day 4 is better on day 3 of that last little cut I did. I underestimated Valium. I read where was much easier than Xanax which may be true but Valium has got a mighty grip too.

[[ed...]]

It sure does take a grip. It sure does. In my opinion, you came down way too quickly--over 30% in 6 weeks. I'd slow down for a while and let those cuts catch up.

 

All the Best,

Ed

[[dd...]]

Super huge cut...you should only be doing 5-10% every two weeks or even less than that...plus it takes a couple weeks to really feel the valium cut...so you might want to hold for awhile...

[[Sh...]]

Super huge cut...you should only be doing 5-10% every two weeks or even less than that...plus it takes a couple weeks to really feel the valium cut...so you might want to hold for awhile...

 

Be careful about saying what people SHOULD do. I was able to go from 10mg to 7.5 to 5 to 2.5 in 8 weeks. And stabilised perfectly at 2.5mg. If I had listened to people on BB I would probly be stuck at 9mg still. I am at 1mg now, and almost off and feeling good. Plus the second part of your statement is incorrect. Everyone is different but after a couple of weeks you should be starting to level out, not just beginning to get hit. I get hit 3 days after a cut.

 

This person is not you.

[[Pi...]]

Thanks for the replies. It gives me a couple different angles to look at for sure. Sometimes I just need to vent as I have not a person in the world to talk about this with. My family doesn't understand. Day 4 has been a good one so far. I slept from 1-7 am and am now doing yard work. Had to come in for a bottled water and thought I would make a post. Just a bit dizzy but will work through it. Thank you so much. Good luck to the people out there who are tapering Valium, this schedule 4 drug in the United States which is classified as:The drug has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs in schedule 3 The drug has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. That is nonsense.

[[Ke...]]

I agree with Shamo...

People NEED to be very careful about what they tell others.

My experience is different from most others.

Telling people how to do something or how they will be feeling is dangerous. We are scared already and don't need to hear other people's horror stories of what it will be like.  Taking the chance of giving a person false information is dangerous.

We need to hear hope.....

K

[[He...]]

Thanks for the replies. It gives me a couple different angles to look at for sure. Sometimes I just need to vent as I have not a person in the world to talk about this with. My family doesn't understand. Day 4 has been a good one so far. I slept from 1-7 am and am now doing yard work. Had to come in for a bottled water and thought I would make a post. Just a bit dizzy but will work through it. Thank you so much. Good luck to the people out there who are tapering Valium, this schedule 4 drug in the United States which is classified as:The drug has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs in schedule 3 The drug has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. That is nonsense.

 

Hi Pitchman and everyone, yes we can only share our own experience. I'm not a fan of the phrase "you need to..." but I also notice some crowing on here like, "Well, look how well I did" so that has its own way of making others who need to go slower think something might be wrong with them. That said, I just want to add that when I started to attempt to taper off totally on my own, my initial "cut" was big. So, when I stabilized after that, and had found Ashton, I tried the 1 mg/every 2 weeks and got very sick again. In June I'll finally be starting my microtaper and believe me, there are so many different opinions on here. After reading off and on for years, I've deduced that for me a slow liquid microtaper should enable me to function enough to work my job and hopefully not be much worse than the tolerance w/d sx I already have. You are doing really well, I'm impressed that you can do yard work, etc. BTW immodium works well for me with nausea; I don't know if yours is stomach or intestinal though. Mine is the second. I just take 1 pill usually.

 

In total agreement with the classification BS and I think the pharma companies are hiding the benzo evil behind a big opiate news blitz of late, while they are cutting off injured people who turn to street drugs not to be sick. BTW vent away and feel free to PM me anytime. I too have no one to talk to about this in daily life.

Aloha, Charlotte

[[dd...]]

Super sorry guys...you are all very correct...I have no right to be using the word "should"....everyone is totally different and normally my response is exactly that...you have to listen to YOUR OWN body and taper accordingly. Again my apologies. It will not happen again :-(

[[Ki...]]

One thing that surprised me when I started crossing to valium is the amount of difference in dosage equivalency there are. Valium / xanax you see anywhere from 8 to 20- big difference. And part of that, as I learned the hard way, is metabolism. I just took my last dose of xanax last night and I was supposed to end up with an " ashton" number of 13.6. Im going to end up around 11 due to crossing daily and going with how I felt day to day. It was rough but its done except for figuring out my FOUR TIMES A DAY dosing. Yup- my DNA results cane back with valium as a big NO NO because Im an ultra rapid metabolizer. Well imho thats not a no no, thats just one more thing in my plan. So what if its 4 x a day? I can do that. Now I will stay here a few weeks at 11 mg then cut down gradually, by feel, and adjust as I go along. If it takes 6 months, my brain will let me know. If it takes 3 years, so be it. As long as my doc goes along with it. Hoping for the least time but keeping it all open. None of us should ever assume what works for us will work for someone else. If I had listened to some of the crazy plans on here I would probably have been a basket case, so I just read a lot and went slowly, and that worked for me. For those who can just jump in the unknown waters and are brave enough to go extreme- if it worked for you- good for you, lucky dog! We can all only do what our bodies let us do and if we don't listen- be ready for a fight cause it WILL fight you. Benzos dont care.

[[fr...]]

  DDJohn, don't worry about it, all advice is well meaning.  Most people can't cut that much and that fast, I think that is what you meant.  We really don't need to correct each other just read and make our own decisions.  I know if I cut like that I would be dead.  YOu just tried to be helpful so I hope you continue to offer support and don't' worry, we are all in this together. 

[[Pi...]]

What freeme said DDjohn. Maybe I did cut a little quick. I do appreciate your response. It shows you care to offer an opinion. I appreciate that. Thanks kittybeanbag, so glad I have a person I can PM that is going what I'm going through.

[[dd...]]

Thank you freeme and pitchman. I got a little over-zealous in my thoughts and wording. My brain is such a mess I am surprised I can even put two sentences together :-)

 

I hope you are doing better. These drugs are just awful. I have been doing some reading on Isonitol and Niacinamide to help with anxiety during withdrawal. Might be something to check out.

 

Hugs

[[Ki...]]

Thank you freeme and pitchman. I got a little over-zealous in my thoughts and wording. My brain is such a mess I am surprised I can even put two sentences together :-)

 

I hope you are doing better. These drugs are just awful. I have been doing some reading on Isonitol and Niacinamide to help with anxiety during withdrawal. Might be something to check out.

 

Hugs

 

Just my opinion but inositol ROCKS. There are a few threads under the natural supplements area- its helped me keep on working! And it seems all it does is help straighten out unstraight things- no direct action itself- thats what sold me. Me ❤️ Inositol

[[mr...]]

Just my opinion but inositol ROCKS. There are a few threads under the natural supplements area- its helped me keep on working! And it seems all it does is help straighten out unstraight things- no direct action itself- thats what sold me. Me ❤️ Inositol

 

Kitty, how much inositol are you taking?

[[Sh...]]

Super sorry guys...you are all very correct...I have no right to be using the word "should"....everyone is totally different and normally my response is exactly that...you have to listen to YOUR OWN body and taper accordingly. Again my apologies. It will not happen again :-(

 

No worries ddjohn3...not having a dig at you at all. Just pointing out that everyone is different and words like SHOULD might be better off left alone. As freeme said, they might be dead if they cut that much! Advice is more than welcome. It's just that Pitchman has already made those cuts and is probably in a vulnerable state ATM.

 

All good brother!