Valium/Diazepam Support Group

[[Gr...]]

thank you Ed,

 

didn't consider that my taper may have caught up with me, you guys have such wise words and suggestions thank you, think I may be manageable at 5mg, Im going to try and hold at that for a few weeks before cut

 

I think that's a great idea. You might even want to make your first cut .5mg.  Many on here doing a cut and hold method max out at 10% of their total dosage once they get down to 5mg--which, obviously, would be .5mg. I'm only doing 5% and I definitely get slammed (and get back up) for a brief spell.  If your body heals in one week rather than 2 weeks, you can always cut another .5mg. This is much easier than cutting a full 1mg and finding out "too late" it was too much.

 

--Ed

Ditto for the 10% max rule. Whenever I made a 10% cut, that cut would be a lot more symptomatic than previous cuts, so on the following cut, I went back closer to 5% and it wasn't as bad. I cut .5mg from 5mg about a month ago and it hit hard and I had to hold a bit longer than before. This time I reduced my cut to .25mg from 4.5 and this has been a relatively easy cut so far.

[[Le...]]

I thought maybe some of you could help. I crossed over to valium to taper, but I'm taking Prilosec 40 m for stomach issues. Been on it for longer than the benzo by about a month. I told my doc the valium was interacting with the prilosec but she didn't seem concerned.  How will it effect my taper? I reduced my night time dose to .625 because I 've been so sleepy.  How exactly does it interact? Should I speed up or slow down my taper? I'm so lost now. I had a few good days over the past week and a half. What should I do? I can't taper both at the same time!

I dug this response up from the archives...hope you find it useful.  I couldn't take Omeprazole with diazepam...but I metabolize this drug differently.

Last week I was given Omeprozole by my Dr, for Acid pain behind my Sternum I'd had for 3 weeks....I took the Omep for 4 days etc

 

Hiya Onwardgo.  Omperazole tends to have a relatively strong interaction with diazepam. 

 

In the last section called "Drug Interactions" of this study it says "Omeprazole inhibits the clearance of diazepam by 26 to 54 percent"  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2589004/pdf/yjbm00033-0005.pdf

 

The article mentions in passing that the degree of interaction depends on a person's genetics.  So you may be luck or you may not!

[[Ki...]]

 

 

Kitty:  Just know the cuts will catch up to you.  I have used this schedule to get off - it is just a bit slower but gives your body at least a one day break to 'catch up':  c/c/c/h. Another good pace many use is 10 cuts in 14 days.  The issue with Valium I think is a long half life so you can get 'hit' big time when the cuts start catching up to you.  The rate I use allows me to cut .5mg every month.

 

I had heard that this was an ultra slow, safe turtle taper from a few long timers on here but there seem to be a lot of differences of opinion. I certainly dont mind it a bit if I need to slow down. This is working out to about 1/3 of a mg for me this month because of my initial hold. Actually I had the DNA test done because I absolutely HAD to dose 3x a day and even got in an argument with my docs nurse. Turns out on one of the 2 V pathways Im an ultra rapid metabolizer- the one that processes the longest acting part, cant remember the name. And the other pathway, I called it the temazepam pathway so I could remember it, I was just " rapid". So that explains why I only get 8 hours out of it. But its working ok right now so Im hoping it keeps on. Some days I cut each night, sometimes its every other night. I was thinking .5 mg a month was good up until 4 mg then slow down more thats where everyone seems to run into trouble. Thanks for the advice!!

[[Gr...]]

hi BB need help, I'm copying and pasting my original post on the forum LeslieAsh suggested I post here for any suggestions on what to do from here on in, I'm really struggling

 

Can somebody please help with taper, I get to 3mg, then struggle, then updose went up to 4, then 4.5 then anxiety, complete panic, didn't know where is was, who I was, I rescue dosed 20mg a week ago, got back to 5mg, the same thing happened today took another rescue of 20mg.  very high I know, I'm sooooooo freaking disappointed angry and still feel crap.  I really don't know how to do this and what to do.  The sx's are too intense to the point nothing feels real and thats when I crawl shaking to my cupboard to take the rescue. Im crawling to my cupboard for drugs and Im a parent, Im ashamed of myself.

 

My worry is i don't want this to become a regular thing, but when it happens, I really, really feel i have no option, I go to bed petrified, in the hope I won't wake up, & I wake up and Im still petrified this is so horrible, horrid, demeaning, I hate this drug. 

 

 

Hi Sharlom,

 

I'm not on BB that much now but just saw your post. I am almost done with my taper and learned to not cut by more than 7% over a two week period. In my signature is a template for a spreadsheet that you can use and input your own data to make sure you're not cutting by more than 7-10%. Once you get stable on a dose that works for you, a daily taper using liquid Valium should be much easier.

 

I wish you all a nice day!

[[...]]

Grace- do you make your own liquid or use a pharmacy made one?

[[...]]

Hi everyone, as you lower down your dose did you ever experienced having a poor sleep like 2 hrs almost zero a night? what supplement or did anything help you get back better sleep.  My worse symptoms now is insomnia that the reason why Im on benzo in the first place.  thanks in advance hope somebody will chime in.  regards, mcm

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[[Ki...]]

Hi everyone, as you lower down your dose did you ever experienced having a poor sleep like 2 hrs almost zero a night? what supplement or did anything help you get back better sleep.  My worse symptoms now is insomnia that the reason why Im on benzo in the first place.  thanks in advance hope somebody will chime in.  regards, mcm

Modify message

 

A lot of folks take the sedating antihistamines to help them sleep ( unisom, benadryl etc) and on the natural supplements forum you can find a lot of threads about inositol, taurine and other " generally recognized as safe" ( legal term) products used for sleep. I use pretty much all of them- hopefully I will be able to taper off those someday too. Good luck finding something that helps you!

[[...]]

Hi everyone, as you lower down your dose did you ever experienced having a poor sleep like 2 hrs almost zero a night? what supplement or did anything help you get back better sleep.  My worse symptoms now is insomnia that the reason why Im on benzo in the first place.  thanks in advance hope somebody will chime in.  regards, mcm

Modify message

 

A lot of folks take the sedating antihistamines to help them sleep ( unisom, benadryl etc) and on the natural supplements forum you can find a lot of threads about inositol, taurine and other " generally recognized as safe" ( legal term) products used for sleep. I use pretty much all of them- hopefully I will be able to taper off those someday too. Good luck finding something that helps you!

 

thanks Kitty, for the reply, hope to have more response to read.

[[so...]]

I second the Benadryl suggestion if it doesn't make you feel too loopy. You can always do one tablet instead of two if it does. It's actually quite helpful with some WD side effects, isn't it? Or am I mixing that up with being helpful for vertigo issues? Not sure but it'll definitely give you some good sleep!

 

[[...]]

thank you Solaceanpeace=  benadryl is not available here in europe where I live it is only available in U.K but been trying some antihistamine that are availabe and prescribe for me but no luck for the second night, will try double dose as my doc instructed anyway, hopefully it works this time..  thanks, mcm

[[Gr...]]

To add to the discussion about sleep, I take one Benadryl if I sense I'll have a tough time sleeping, but I try to use just 1/2. Usually 1/2 a Benadryl is enough. When I'm having an easy time with the taper, I can go without any sleep aids. Unisom is another sleep aid that works for me if I run out of Benadryl, but I only take 1/2 since even 1/2 a Unisom has me feeling loopy in the morning.

 

Now that I'm toward the end of my taper, the daily cuts are a little tougher since any reduction equates to a larger percentage. So I'm at .83 for two to three days, then .82 for a couple more, then .81. (Wondering when this is ever going to end...but it will). Distraction is the key. I was in bed all day Saturday since my ear was ringing, had a headache and was feeling very anxious. I felt I was going to have a nervous breakdown since I was so fed up with the symptoms. Today I have the same symptoms but I had to be places and get stuff done. I was able to cope with the symptoms just fine today because I was keeping busy. Ibuprofen also helps with the headache. I need to remember this the next time I'm tempted to lie in bed because of symptoms.

[[...]]

Grace200, thank you for the info, I sleep lastnight with the help of antihistamine feeling heavy today, I know it wears off later in the afternoon anyway.  Regards, mcm

[[Pi...]]

Does the feeling of moving up and down ever go away? 

[[ed...]]

Does the feeling of moving up and down ever go away? 

 

From your signature, I see that you crossed over from .5mg A to 2.75mg V. Ashton recommends 5mg V at that dosage. Could that possibly be why you're getting hit with your sx? But to answer your question: it seems that these Benzos produce any side effect you can think of and many you could not dream of. They eventually resolve for most everyone after getting off the drug. But taper slowly...please. 

Good luck,

Ed

[[Pi...]]

I was so incredibly sleepy and drugged feeling that I decided to taper ativan out instead of crossing over completely to valium. I ended up on two 1.25 doses which worked for about 4 days before the drugged feeling came back and I cut my pm dose to .625. I'm going to cut slowly now using my gram scale.  I'm not expecting a symptom free taper, it's that I wasn't expecting the dizziness this quickly.  I might go back up a bit on my pm dose and see if it helps.  I know this sounds irrational,  but my brain keeps telling me to hurry up and keep cutting.  I've actually screamed shut up to myself.

[[ed...]]

I was so incredibly sleepy and drugged feeling that I decided to taper ativan out instead of crossing over completely to valium. I ended up on two 1.25 doses which worked for about 4 days before the drugged feeling came back and I cut my pm dose to .625. I'm going to cut slowly now using my gram scale.  I'm not expecting a symptom free taper, it's that I wasn't expecting the dizziness this quickly.  I might go back up a bit on my pm dose and see if it helps.  I know this sounds irrational,  but my brain keeps telling me to hurry up and keep cutting.  I've actually screamed shut up to myself.

 

I see. I see. Yeah, I was in a big hurry at first as well. Hopefully your brain listens to your mouth!  I'd wait a bit to see if you stabilize before jumping up again.

 

Good luck,

Ed

[[...]]

We were all in a hurry at the beginning and tapered too fast several times. Takes a crash to fully accept this is a slow and slower game even though everyone on here warns you to go slow. Guess it takes a while to figure out what "slow" really means! I'm still trying to figure it out.

[[ed...]]

We were all in a hurry at the beginning and tapered too fast several times. Takes a crash to fully accept this is a slow and slower game even though everyone on here warns you to go slow. Guess it takes a while to figure out what "slow" really means! I'm still trying to figure it out.

 

Exactly. I guess there's a reason that most of the successful tapers I've seen seem to take 14 months, 18 months, 2 years, etc.  I'm hoping for 14 months myself. I'm 8 months into it next week.

[[Te...]]

Hello Buddies,

I been in this forum before,  some of you will remember me, I see new buddies,

 

I need help and the better place is this forum.

 

I was ready to write my success story, everyday I was daydream what to say,

everyday I was feeling better and better.  I finished with Valium 2 months ago,  I was few months at very low dose 0.3 , 0.25 mg

 

the only bad symptom was the sound in my head, recently I found that Candida can be a problem, I changed my diet and I was feeling even better, almost no sound.

 

But, yesterday I went to ER,  for a nasty heart biting,  It last like a  minute,  but wasn't fun, I got disoriented, It stared with that sound, like BP  then the panic,  I calmed down after I take a aspirin and 1 mg Valium,  then went to ER just to prevent anything.

 

In the ER I got nervous as being in public places still a problem for me.  went back to home at 11:30 pm, scare to sleep,

the last time I was in ER was in December 2014.  I got few nasty panic attacks , but no like this. 

 

From feeling almost normal to this feeling of going back to the old symptoms.

 

Any help or words send me to my PM.      I wasn't much around forums since I'm a bit hypochondriac.

 

This forum helped me a lot, I was ready to post my success story and give back some support. 

 

being benzo free left Us unprotected ??

 

 

TEX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Kg...]]

Tex you didn't say but I assume you got checked out and were okay?  I hope so.  I would just write this off as a gift from Valium - everyone says all of sudden we get hit out of nowhere and that as the months go on it gets better. Easy for me to say I know but since I am behind you by a few months I think that it is something we all need to remember - just when we feel good - wham bang the drugs remind us that we are still healing. 

 

Be glad it is 'only the Valium' and I hope that this is the last wham bang you get from it.

[[Te...]]

Thanks Kgirl,

 

I really needed your words,  Yes,  I got checked, only my BP is little high,  all the others results were OK,  Thanks God.

 

I didn't have BP raise for months.  Now it's back ,  I had everything under control, now I need to bounce back to normal again.

 

Keep working, you are doing great!

 

Thanks

 

TEX

[[Kg...]]

Thanks Kgirl,

 

I really needed your words,  Yes,  I got checked, only my BP is little high,  all the others results were OK,  Thanks God.

 

I didn't have BP raise for months.  Now it's back ,  I had everything under control, now I need to bounce back to normal again.

 

Keep working, you are doing great!

 

Thanks

 

TEX

 

Ah bummer - to have it back - it will go away - and you will bounce back.  And thanks for the 

[[Su...]]

Katie......Read my signature...you say it dosent make sense...I've had other buddies in the same boat...How could you say it dosent make sense...how cruel...oh I cried.  Think about what you say.

 

Well some of us have had a lot longer and harder journey.  It is no help to anyone to put them down, or to cause them to feel they don't belong here.

 

I Do!!

 

Yes clonxzepam then added Valium.. from 165 mg Valium down to 11 mg fingers crossed.  It's been soooo hard.

 

 

[[Su...]]

:smitten:on the up side everyone have the best day you can.  Keep on healing!!!!

[[Ju...]]

Have made it to 2.5mg valium today using daily vodka titration method that I learned on this forum, so thanks again DiazPam and the many others who have helped get me here. I'm trying not to be scared of what lays ahead but I've read so many peoples comments about it being so damn hard once you get under 2.5mg, and I have to work within what my doctor will prescribe and he is reducing my dose by half a mg every four weeks.

 

BUT, thankfully when I started micro-tapering almost eight months ago I chose to stockpile and not tell my doctor who thinks I'm actually on 3.5mg daily. So hopefully I can use my stockpiled Valium to reduce slower between now and January when he cuts me off. I plan to reduce my 100ml jar of vodka-water-valium mixture by 2ml daily as I've been doing these last eight weeks, then slow that down to 1.75ml reductions daily...maybe more? Maybe some of you can relate to wanting to go slow but having pressure from the doctor, and also wanting it to just be done already.

 

I've found that if I hold for too long I feel worse than if I just keep plodding along a tiny bit at a time. I've had so many good windows despite the panic attacks here and there. Some insomnia, anxiety, digestion issues, headaches. But thats all so normal to me now, sadly. This morning was a little bit rough but it was mostly psychological. I hate the fear more than the physical stuff.

 

Luckily it's a thousand times better than it was this time last year when I had just switched from Ativan. Everything seems better compared to the Ativan hell. At least now I know what was causing it, back then I thought it was me and that I was stuck that way forever. This morning I lost my perspective and began to fear that again, but I'm trying to hang in there.

 

Thanks for listening. Helps knowing you guys are here to talk to, and that you understand. Hope you are all winning your battles bit by bit too.