Valium/Diazepam Support Group

[[Kg...]]

PaulMar: I think Valium, for some of us, is a drug that causes depression and other s/x that we didn't have on our original benzos. This is why many of us went back to our original benzo and tapered from it.   

[[Ma...]]

I got nothing?  Wrong group I guess.

[[Ca...]]

PaulMar: I think Valium, for some of us, is a drug that causes depression and other s/x that we didn't have on our original benzos. This is why many of us went back to our original benzo and tapered from it. 

my soul purpose of taking V was as a muscle relaxant... It did/does make me a bit depressed..

 

And for that relaxant therapeutic effect it works in about 10minutes... -but its all over in about 5hrs...

But I dont get withdrawals from that... -That takes much longer...

 

If possible, starting your taper from stable if a great idea.. Hope your Dr can see that...

Best wishes...

 

Sorry Magnolis, I havnt been following here... -But maybe "bump" what you posted...??

 

[[Le...]]

I finally hit 7mg v.  Yeah!!. I took my original Benzo for sleep, so I dose twice at night. 11pm. 2mg dry, 1 mg liquid titration. I am doing a dlmt. And when I wake up between 2 and 3, I take 5mg v.  I also break up a 50 mg trazadone pill. Now that I hit 7, i have to make a change. My question is : should I work toward getting Rid of 11pm dose and take 1mg dry and titrate 1 mg or weigh and shave 5mg to 4mg and keep 11pm dose as Is?  Thanks for any feedback or opinions. It took me 2.5 months to get from 8 to 7 due to tapering error and other self induced mistakes, so I need feedback on this decision.

Magnolis, congratulations on hitting 7mg, that's wonderful!!  :yippee:

 

Have you thought about taking the entire dose at 11:00 instead of splitting it up? It would simplify your dosing schedule and give you more "bang for the buck" regarding the sedative qualities of the medication. Maybe someone else can chime in with other/better suggestions.... 

[[la...]]

Question....someone mentioned that I could already be in ACUTE by being at onlt 1.5mgs

 

 

is that possible?

 

do you have to be completely off to hit acute?

 

because if this is not acute then I will never make it .....I am in bed now...not able to function

 

 

[[Ca...]]

I finally hit 7mg v.  Yeah!!. I took my original Benzo for sleep, so I dose twice at night. 11pm. 2mg dry, 1 mg liquid titration. I am doing a dlmt. And when I wake up between 2 and 3, I take 5mg v.  I also break up a 50 mg trazadone pill. Now that I hit 7, i have to make a change. My question is : should I work toward getting Rid of 11pm dose and take 1mg dry and titrate 1 mg or weigh and shave 5mg to 4mg and keep 11pm dose as Is?  Thanks for any feedback or opinions. It took me 2.5 months to get from 8 to 7 due to tapering error and other self induced mistakes, so I need feedback on this decision.

Magnolis, congratulations on hitting 7mg, that's wonderful!!  :yippee:

 

Have you thought about taking the entire dose at 11:00 instead of splitting it up? It would simplify your dosing schedule and give you more "bang for the buck" regarding the sedative qualities of the medication. Maybe someone else can chime in with other/better suggestions....

Hey Mag... I guess its very subjective,

My personal sedation time is rather short too, prob about 4-5 hrs... more in the day, less at night. i think the insomnia overrides it... -I dose an even split of V -about 10am and 6pm...

 

For me, I would tend to reduce the second dose, as its slightly in the direction of evening out dosage and blood levels... -but its a small point, as both doses are close together anyway, and its a therapeutic effect rather than a longer blood half life type thing that your after... -I am guessing that u tend to wake early, and cant get back to sleep...??

 

If this is the case, you might find sleep harder to medicate for as you get lower and have to look at alternate methods... -and no, I dont mean other meds... lol.  (Not for me to really comment on)

-so again the second 5mg dose, would be the way I would go...

But probably just as important... -what does your instinct tell you?? And have you tried a larger initial dose as suggesred above...?? -It might save the habit of waking up for that second dose...?

 

Best wishes...

[[Ma...]]

I have never slept through the night since I was in my 20's. Beside breaking my dependency on Benzo,s, I have a huge psychological dependency for medicating when I wake up at 2 or 3. When i reached tolerance last summer I would take a pill or portion every 2 hours. It was horrible.

So now I have to break this belief system that is ingrained. The 2nd half of the night Is the hardest. That's why I'm thinking of keeping the 2nd half the largest dosage. Anyone out there able to break this psychological belief system that you have to medicate to sleep?

[[Ca...]]

I have never slept through the night since I was in my 20's. Beside breaking my dependency on Benzo,s, I have a huge psychological dependency for medicating when I wake up at 2 or 3. When i reached tolerance last summer I would take a pill or portion every 2 hours. It was horrible.

So now I have to break this belief system that is ingrained. The 2nd half of the night Is the hardest. That's why I'm thinking of keeping the 2nd half the largest dosage. Anyone out there able to break this psychological belief system that you have to medicate to sleep?

I think I know what your talking about, I had it with oxycontin, but its not quite addiction...  for me it was fear of what i knew would happen if i got behind in what my body needed to survive at base levels...

What got me past it was pure hate for the medication and the damage it was doing, asides from all the other hassles associated with a DOD...

 

[[bl...]]

Have you tried Mag powder at night with apple cider vinegar? It's certainly not a benzo but the routine of it is a bit soothing and it helps with sleep...for me.  I don't know. If you feel compulsion to take a pill, I know the feeling, maybe try L Theanine middle of night?

Blue

[[Ma...]]

Good ideas, thanks!!

[[Pa...]]

Hi Kgirl e All,

 

Even though I'm struggling, im afraid of increasing the Valium dosage or switching back to Lorazapam. When I was on Lorazapam taking .5 or 1mg, I would always wake up the next morning with awful anxiety and go into a panic attack. I would take .5 or 1mg of Lorazapam at 8:30am and around 10:30am I would feel a little better. That was the case for about 3 Years. Last year I would only get relief maybe 50% of the time. I also tried taking .5mg at bedtime and 1mg in the morning and that didnt help either. Yes, I definitely didn't take it properly but taking it every day last year was horrible and this is what I'm afraid of.

 

Is it possible that after 11 weeks off of Lorazapam I'm still suffering from anxiety that starts when I wake up and lasts until 7 or 8pm and sometimes even later? My doctor thinks I'm just simply suffering from chronic anxiety and have not gotten the positive effect of the Zoloft yet.

 

I am going to try to go one more week with what I'm on. 100mg Zoloft in the morning, 25mg Trazadone at bedtime sync 1.5mg Valium mid morning. Hopefully the Zoloft and Trazadone will kick in and give me relief do I can stabilize. Once I stabilize I will continue to taper to 0.

 

If I don't see any improvement by next Friday, I will definitely consider increasing Valium to 4mg in the morning and 4mg in the afternoon.

 

Any comments are appreciated.

 

[[ca...]]

KGirl, i hope your doing ok as for your statement on Valium i totally agree as i found the Klonopin a lot different to taper from than this dreaded Valium !

[[Kg...]]

Can Do - Thanks my friend - I am doing much better with the usual ups and downs of being done -more ups than downs and back to living my life so all in the + column.  I hope that soon you will be done with your taper - keep in touch.

 

PaulMar: As others have told you on this board the dose of Valium you are on seems to be a large cut from the amt of lorazepam you were on - again everyone is different but using the Ashton equivalents you should be taking more Valium.  I think someone here gave you the amt.  For many of us it is the Benzo that causes the anxiety - not the other way around. 

 

I suggest you take a look at Baylissa Frederick's web site: https://baylissa.com/  She has videos and a list of s/x so you can see that what you are experiencing right now is 'normal' given your situation. 

[[Ma...]]

I know this question has been asked many times but:

I need a better scale. I compare 2 gemini's and they can vary way beyond my comfort zone. I'm also starting to need to weigh bits because I split doses. Is there a step up from the gemini scales?. I'm in this for a long time, so I need to be sure of the weights. I've taken such a huge financial hit, due to this journey, what's a few more hundred? Thanks.

[[Ho...]]

I know this question has been asked many times but:

I need a better scale. I compare 2 gemini's and they can vary way beyond my comfort zone. I'm also starting to need to weigh bits because I split doses. Is there a step up from the gemini scales?. I'm in this for a long time, so I need to be sure of the weights. I've taken such a huge financial hit, due to this journey, what's a few more hundred? Thanks.

 

This is the scale that edzo used and swears by but it's not cheap.

 

https://www.phantomscales.com/buy/tree/hrb224.php

 

You can also PM Marija, I seem to remember she may have a scale she likes a little better than the Gemini but is not near this costly.

[[...]]

I have a scale similar to edzo's although a different brand. It is totally accurate and worth the peace of mind for me.

[[Ma...]]

Libr

 

What is the name of the scale you use? Where did you get uit?  Thanks

[[...]]

Mag- I have a Sartoius and I got it off the internet. I don't remember the site as it was over a year ago but it was more expensive than Edzo's so maybe his is a good idea.

I've never tried any other scale so can't compare.

 

[[Kg...]]

Magnolis: I know you want a more accurate scale vs the $20.00 one you are now using.  I question the 'why of this'.  Most of us who did our tapers using the scale did just fine with the cheap scale we used. I think the trick is to use only one scale and keep 'taring' it.

 

My trick was to weigh one of my pills and use this as my 'control' for my taper.    I put this pill aside and never took it  - I used it to calibrate my scale each time I cut pills.

 

For example: My control pill weighed .172 grams.  The next time I had to cut my pills I weighed this pill - if it weighed in at .171 or .173 or even .170 or .174 on the larger doses I said okay and then cut my pills knowing that my pill weights were what I needed - I wasn't going too far up or down in weight.  If the pill weight was off - I just kept taring the scale until it gave me the correct weight - sometimes I turned the scale on/off to get my correct control weight.  I tapered essentially down to 0 using the cheap scale.  To measure the lower weights I used the control pill - for example if I needed to take .006 grams I put the pill chip in the scale with the control pill to get the right weight. 

 

Being off by .001 or .002 should really not make much of a difference.  I know some of us are too OCD to deal with the fluctuations of the weight - in that case what I suggest is to have someone else cut your pills for you and put them in your pill box in the order you need to take them and label each dose.  I think sometimes our minds control our bodies too much - and if you think the pill weight is correct - it will be (since it is only off my a small amount).  I hope this helps. 

[[...]]

Hope- I know it's early, but how is the MT going compared to the C/h? So curious to get your feedback now and in another month or so!

[[ka...]]

Oh Libr, thank you for asking about HOPE - I have been remissed in doing that very thing.

HOPE - how are things progressing for you? 

[[Ma...]]

Kgirl,

 

Thanks, but my pills vary greatly too.  Valium.  So I really want an accurate scale. 

 

 

[[Ho...]]

Hope- I know it's early, but how is the MT going compared to the C/h? So curious to get your feedback now and in another month or so!

 

I am a little over two weeks in and have cut 0.25 mg. Now symptoms are ramping up so am on hold as of today.  I'll restart at a slower rate and see how that goes. I'm still on the fence. I honestly think I'm going to be symptomatic either way I do it. I'll keep you posted though.

[[...]]

Thanks, Hope, for the update. You seemed to have moved thru this 0.25 faster than the previous two cuts so it was looking good from the outside! I'm rooting for you as always and hope these sx's back off quickly. Definitely keep us posted.

I'm still holding...

[[Ma...]]

Hope,

 

I'm slightly higher in v than you and  my rate is .022. I've tapered 14 days straight. Today I had an Ibs episode. If it continues tomorrow, I hold. Disappointed, but if these symptoms aren't nipped, they take on a life if their own.