Valium/Diazepam Support Group

[[le...]]

Typo meant diazapam. I know not good idea if been off it long time. But everyone seemed think tapered too quick, am non functional as still suffering from whatever flu jab dud, so figure need small dose diazapam on much longer taper get me through as it did help. Not ideal but can’t go on like  this and only been off 10 days.

[[Pa...]]

I was only on diazepam 10mgs, for four weeks and am so far tapering down one mg a week from 10.8 to 8 but it has been really hard, i might do 1 mg every 10 days or two weeks  from here on down.  Fortunately my dr is supportive and is letting me set the pace.  I would never have imagined Only  4 weeks of valium would catch me up so deeply, but it did.

[[wi...]]

I was only on diazepam 10mgs, for four weeks and am so far tapering down one mg a week from 10.8 to 8 but it has been really hard, i might do 1 mg every 10 days or two weeks  from here on down.  Fortunately my dr is supportive and is letting me set the pace.  I would never have imagined Only  4 weeks of valium would catch me up so deeply, but it did.

 

Hugs. Take your time. There's no benefit to stressing out the body and mind excessively. You'll make it through. Try to keep external stress down and stay calm if you can.

[[sp...]]

Went from a mess of alcohol plus Xanax for 5 months every night all over the board from .5 to 2MG a day plus klonopin to a 2 day cut over to valium at 10MG. Now im cutting 1MG every 10 days until im out. Down to 8 MG in a few days. Yes i am not a very patient person. I know about the weeks were suppose to take to cut over to Valium...i couldnt even make it 3 days. I believe now the 10MG of valium was too little to start on since for 5 months i had basically been taking anywhere from .5 to 2MG a day of a mix of xanax and klonopin. Throw in a ton of alcohol on top of it all. Thats just the way i roll i guess, now though im very stable on my 9MG of valium....no alcohol no other meds. im feeling good. Well see as i go down how i feel but im hoping on getting off this remaining 8 MG in a couple months tops.

[[St...]]

Is it considered a CT if you taper for a year then jump at an amount higher than .5 or 0 cause it's just rough either way ? Taking the medicine helps nothing except keeping me out of withdrawal for about 2 hours after each dose. Ask me it actually makes me days worse every dose i take!

[Guest [...]]

I get the exact same thing.

 

I dose three times per day too!

 

I’m not sure what to do, other than keep going.

 

I don’t think it would end well for me, if I stopped now!

 

Winnie

[[Be...]]

Is it considered a CT if you taper for a year then jump at an amount higher than .5 or 0 cause it's just rough either way ? Taking the medicine helps nothing except keeping me out of withdrawal for about 2 hours after each dose. Ask me it actually makes me days worse every dose i take!

 

In a way, yes. You would be jumping way too early at the dose you have in your signature. People have done it on here, and ended up reinstating at a slightly higher dose, holding for a bit, then tapering again.

 

Now that you are under 3 mg, all the Valium/diazepam stored in your body is catching up to you, as you've cut your dose. It's a bad thing as you taper off the last amount, w/d symptoms tend to be worse. The good thing is when you finally step off, you won't have much stored in your body, and as that remainder exits, you'll enter acute.

 

It sucks, but it's the reality we have to live with. It's enough to make you  or  or  :'( at times.

 

Sometimes holding for another week (some hold even longer) helps, sometimes cutting the dose helps. It's frustrating because you feel as if you are d@mned if you do, and d@mned if you don't.

 

Have you posted in the under 3 mg Valium/diazepam support thread? It's for those of us trying to get off those last few mg. 

[[St...]]

Is it considered a CT if you taper for a year then jump at an amount higher than .5 or 0 cause it's just rough either way ? Taking the medicine helps nothing except keeping me out of withdrawal for about 2 hours after each dose. Ask me it actually makes me days worse every dose i take!

 

In a way, yes. You would be jumping way too early at the dose you have in your signature. People have done it on here, and ended up reinstating at a slightly higher dose, holding for a bit, then tapering again.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for this insight! I have posted over there but not this specific question. I'm so glad to know i'm not alone in noticing how difficult the last few milligrams are. I was so happy to join he under 3mg group lol not knowing at all what I was in for. Truly thought it would be a breeze this low simply because of the low amount i'm now taking. Never took into account things like my body now needing to adjust to such a low dose and also changing up my cuts a bit as they now are naturally and inevitably getting bigger. I definitely don't want to crash so if imma do it I may as well see it through to the end slowly. Give my brain a fighting chance to heal without such immense shock.

Now that you are under 3 mg, all the Valium/diazepam stored in your body is catching up to you, as you've cut your dose. It's a bad thing as you taper off the last amount, w/d symptoms tend to be worse. The good thing is when you finally step off, you won't have much stored in your body, and as that remainder exits, you'll enter acute.

 

It sucks, but it's the reality we have to live with. It's enough to make you  or  or  :'( at times.

 

Sometimes holding for another week (some hold even longer) helps, sometimes cutting the dose helps. It's frustrating because you feel as if you are d@mned if you do, and d@mned if you don't.

 

Have you posted in the under 3 mg Valium/diazepam support thread? It's for those of us trying to get off those last few mg.

[[St...]]

I get the exact same thing.

 

I dose three times per day too!

 

I’m not sure what to do, other than keep going.

 

I don’t think it would end well for me, if I stopped now!

 

Winnie

 

 

I'm so sorry we're in this both! I pray healing for you as we just keep swimming our way out of this! I go back and forth all day with "is just stopping any worse than what i'm feeling now?? Am I prolonging my healing by keeping the knife in my back?" Smh sometimes our minds can be our own worse enemy.

[[Be...]]

Thank you so much for this insight! I have posted over there but not this specific question. I'm so glad to know i'm not alone in noticing how difficult the last few milligrams are. I was so happy to join he under 3mg group lol not knowing at all what I was in for. Truly thought it would be a breeze this low simply because of the low amount i'm now taking. Never took into account things like my body now needing to adjust to such a low dose and also changing up my cuts a bit as they now are naturally and inevitably getting bigger. I definitely don't want to crash so if imma do it I may as well see it through to the end slowly. Give my brain a fighting chance to heal without such immense shock.

 

No, you are definitely not alone. I believe that's why that thread exists. Oregonkatz has mentioned that getting off the last few milligrams was the hardest for her. Though she stepped off a while ago, she still helps out on here. howmanytimes recently posted over there how hard it has been, she's below 2 mg. She's been honest about mistakes she made that resulted in setbacks, so people learn from her mistakes. I know she would tell you to not jump at your current dose. I know I wouldn't, but I've been tempted to just jump. When I read posts from those who were c/t'd or rapid-tapered, or jumped too soon but couldn't go back on, it's a reality check for me. I was happy to finally get to 3 mg. But that was hard to get to. I realized I can't do cut-and-hold anymore, so I'm going to do what Oregonkatz did and microtaper daily. As you can see, WinnieDog is also struggling. I feel like my body is betraying itself, but I know the benzo w/d hell is the cause. We have each other to lean on, misery loves company. We'll boost our miserable selves and build up each other to the end. It will end. I just wish I knew when, and so do others. 

[[ho...]]

Is it considered a CT if you taper for a year then jump at an amount higher than .5 or 0 cause it's just rough either way ? Taking the medicine helps nothing except keeping me out of withdrawal for about 2 hours after each dose. Ask me it actually makes me days worse every dose i take!

 

Hi- My guess, would be yes. Often times a therapeutic dose is prescribed at just 2mg., and I see you are just above 2mg, so even with a year long wean down, jumping off now would most likely result in a c/t.  Honestly I thought about doing it too.  Starting at a much higher dose at over 2 years ago, my thought was: Heck, I was cutting 1mg every 2 weeks, so I could do 2 mg.    Well, you have to factor in th % of cut. It is still a large cut going from any mg to 0, especially if you have been on these lower doses (like myself) for a while, and the body is use to this.  So then I have to realize I just held this last month for a week because I was falling into another benzo-flu spiral…imagine what would happen if I c/t at 2mg, or 1mg or even .50…my body can’t handle any more than about 7% a month

 

I know you are miserable, and i can so relate…..this has been a miserable journey.  Finding my sweet spot of about 7% a month has helped a lot for me.  I still screw up ( don’t ask me how  ) and have to hold at times, or I have something on the calendar, like a trip and I will hold so that I will feel as good as I can.

 

For me, I feel like I am honestly healing as I am going so slow that there is time for my body to not be so stressed out; for my brain to actually function at some level again.  I hope you can find comfort in giving your body time to heal while weaning.  Maybe slow down a bit and find a comfortable % in cutting.  How are you tapering? This could also play a big role in how you are feeling.

 

Marie

[[ho...]]

Is it considered a CT if you taper for a year then jump at an amount higher than .5 or 0 cause it's just rough either way ? Taking the medicine helps nothing except keeping me out of withdrawal for about 2 hours after each dose. Ask me it actually makes me days worse every dose i take!

 

Hi..me again…

 

Ok, I just went over your signature and this has probably been discussed but I don’t know, and I don’t want to go back on the boards to look.  . 

 

So you started off with Ativan and then did a direct switch to liquid V, and it looks like there was not a  “slow” crossover, like there should have been. (I did a rapid crossover from K-V and it was hell) So if this is correct, you started off in a bad place. Then it looks like you tapered to quickly.  So if I am correct by the information you have provided, your poor body is just probably stressed out to the max.  I can relate, and I remember how I felt.  My latest calculations are you are doing about 11% reduction a month and that was based on a few days ago…I don’t know how you are reducing (daily?) and if your reductions are increasing, you will certainly feel worse, not better.

 

If it were me, and this is just from experience…..I would hold for a while.  I did a hold for a month when I was in benzo hell ( I have actually done another 3 week one too) after I did my disastrous crossover, and just kept reducing for a few months and finally crashed.  I felt so much better, and was able to continue, but still made lots of mistakes a because I just wanted off so bad.  I didn’t understand “slow n steady” yet.  Anyway, just my two cents.  Perhaps, you and the wonderful BB’s have already discussed this like I suggested already. 

 

Marie

[[Al...]]

I had to quit updating my signature bc I was in hospital for diverticulitis with complications.Ive been out a week and mostly bothered by GI symptoms.  I am currently at 6.5 Valium and on Monday I can drop to 6.0 mg of Valiuum.  I just wanted to jump in here and get acquainted with other people who are tapering V.  My current sxs are depression, insomnia, GI symptoms and tinnitus.  I have no idea what the origin of these sxs are really.  I have issues that could be unrelated to Diverticulitis.  I just turned 75 and I was a very healthy person until 1.5 years ago I developed tinnitus out of the blue.  Perhaps I had reached habituation tolerance.  I ask myself what my future is going to look like.  Because Im not active, some of my friends are now semi-ghosting me .....  I can't hang ..... and Im just over halfway .....I manage now to get out and drive etc, walk my dog ....I fear getting down to the last 3 or so mgs.    Anyway, hi folks.  Im here  with you.

[[ho...]]

I had to quit updating my signature bc I was in hospital for diverticulitis with complications.Ive been out a week and mostly bothered by GI symptoms.  I am currently at 6.5 Valium and on Monday I can drop to 6.0 mg of Valiuum.  I just wanted to jump in here and get acquainted with other people who are tapering V.  My current sxs are depression, insomnia, GI symptoms and tinnitus.  I have no idea what the origin of these sxs are really.  I have issues that could be unrelated to Diverticulitis.  I just turned 75 and I was a very healthy person until 1.5 years ago I developed tinnitus out of the blue.  Perhaps I had reached habituation tolerance.  I ask myself what my future is going to look like.  Because Im not active, some of my friends are now semi-ghosting me .....  I can't hang ..... and Im just over halfway .....I manage now to get out and drive etc, walk my dog ....I fear getting down to the last 3 or so mgs.    Anyway, hi folks.  Im here  with you.

 

Hi Alycat - So sorry to hear about your diverticulitis and the hospital stay.  I know that is so painful and can take such a toll on the body.  GI trouble can occur with the weaning process of benzo’s because of all the receptors in the gut too, so that is a double whammy for you.  For myself I take a really good probiotic and that has really helped with my GI issues, in fact I don’t have any    It use to be pretty bad, where I had benzo belly a lot too.

 

The half way point is so exciting and a big achievement, so congratulations.  It is hard when we aren’t as active and life seems to kind of be passing us by, your friends might be ghosting you, where I am ghosting my friends  …..Not all of them, but I am no where as social as I use to be, and it is so frustrating, but I know it isn’t forever.  So just hang in there and know you can get through this process too.

 

Have you thought at all about daily micro dosing and not dry cutting?  I just found that to be harder on my system and produced more sx.  Just a thought 

 

Marie

[[ho...]]

Went from a mess of alcohol plus Xanax for 5 months every night all over the board from .5 to 2MG a day plus klonopin to a 2 day cut over to valium at 10MG. Now im cutting 1MG every 10 days until im out. Down to 8 MG in a few days. Yes i am not a very patient person. I know about the weeks were suppose to take to cut over to Valium...i couldnt even make it 3 days. I believe now the 10MG of valium was too little to start on since for 5 months i had basically been taking anywhere from .5 to 2MG a day of a mix of xanax and klonopin. Throw in a ton of alcohol on top of it all. Thats just the way i roll i guess, now though im very stable on my 9MG of valium....no alcohol no other meds. im feeling good. Well see as i go down how i feel but im hoping on getting off this remaining 8 MG in a couple months tops.

 

Hi-  I am truly amazed that you are stable on 9mg with what you shared.  WOW! Congratulations and hopefully you are one of those that can come off with little to no problems.  Because of your fast pace, I only suggest that you listen carefully to your body.  If you start having side effects of benzo withdrawal, it might be prudent to “hold” for a few weeks and let your body/nervous system calm down.  It can really snow ball out of control if not.  Especially at the pace you are going.  Also remember the % are going to drastically change as you keep cutting and this may effect how you feel, so be aware of this as well. 9 to 8 mg is 11.11% reduction, 8 to 7 12.5, 5 to 4 is 20% , 2 to 1 is 50% and so on.  The general rule of thumb is around 5-10% every 2 weeks.  Many of us like the “symptom based” taper and can’t even do 5-10% every 2 weeks w/o getting into bad benzo w/d sx.  So we find a % that works for us.

 

I was just sharing info in case you find yourself in trouble at all.  However, you may just be able to rock this   Good luck…maybe we will get to chat some more.  I will try to hang around and not disappear like I do

 

Marie

[[ca...]]

HI!

 

I'm new here and grateful I found this site! Kuddso to you all.

 

Just wondered if anyone had experienced similar to mine...

 

Saw prescriber 2/14- was in inter dose withdrawals

 

She is familiar with and uses Ashton and seems to be benzo aware. I meet with her gain 3/1

 

She thought step one should be:

 

0.5 CL am, 0.5 CL afternoon, and .375 CL and 5 mg Valium

 

 

I def do feel much better since starting this plan but I cant help but feel it's a step back since it is an increase.

 

I'm assuming next step would be to get to equivalent as Ashton states.

 

Does anyone have this experience or feedback for my next visit with her?

 

Thank you

[[Al...]]

Hi Alycat - So sorry to hear about your diverticulitis and the hospital stay.  I know that is so painful and can take such a toll on the body.  GI trouble can occur with the weaning process of benzo’s because of all the receptors in the gut too, so that is a double whammy for you.  For myself I take a really good probiotic and that has really helped with my GI issues, in fact I don’t have any    It use to be pretty bad, where I had benzo belly a lot too.

 

The half way point is so exciting and a big achievement, so congratulations.  It is hard when we aren’t as active and life seems to kind of be passing us by, your friends might be ghosting you, where I am ghosting my friends  …..Not all of them, but I am no where as social as I use to be, and it is so frustrating, but I know it isn’t forever.  So just hang in there and know you can get through this process too.

 

Have you thought at all about daily micro dosing and not dry cutting?  I just found that to be harder on my system and produced more sx.  Just a thought 

 

Marie

 

Microdosing may be in my future but I am unsure what it means.  Did you find that the lower you get the more symptoms arise?  My surgeon said that Culturelle was the best probiotic so that's what Im taking.  Thanks for your response.

[[ho...]]

Hi Alycat - So sorry to hear about your diverticulitis and the hospital stay.  I know that is so painful and can take such a toll on the body.  GI trouble can occur with the weaning process of benzo’s because of all the receptors in the gut too, so that is a double whammy for you.  For myself I take a really good probiotic and that has really helped with my GI issues, in fact I don’t have any    It use to be pretty bad, where I had benzo belly a lot too.

 

The half way point is so exciting and a big achievement, so congratulations.  It is hard when we aren’t as active and life seems to kind of be passing us by, your friends might be ghosting you, where I am ghosting my friends  …..Not all of them, but I am no where as social as I use to be, and it is so frustrating, but I know it isn’t forever.  So just hang in there and know you can get through this process too.

 

Have you thought at all about daily micro dosing and not dry cutting?  I just found that to be harder on my system and produced more sx.  Just a thought 

 

Marie

 

Microdosing may be in my future but I am unsure what it means.  Did you find that the lower you get the more symptoms arise?  My surgeon said that Culturelle was the best probiotic so that's what Im taking.  Thanks for your response.

 

Alycat- Microdosing is where you cut daily instead of doing cuts every week or two weeks.  You can do this with liquid, or dry cutting with a scale and file.  I do a combo of pill and liquid.  Eventually I will be all liquid after I get under 1mg.  So I cut .001ml every 2 days. 1ml/1mg of v in my syringe.  So a syringe is 100ml, and I start a new syringe every time I would cut (when I started this) and go down like .99 for 2 days, then .98 for 2 days and so on.  This is what I do now, it wasn’t always like that, and it depends on the strength of the liquid.  It would depend if you do it yourself, as some people make there own. I get mine compounded at a pharmacy, but you can get V through RX in the states by prescription in liquid form.  Mine is cheap and it works for me.  Doing it on a scale is different and I don’t know about that, but plenty of people do.  I find this to be the most gentle way to cut the dosing and have the least amount of sx.

 

As far as probiotics and research I found that for myself “Garden of Life” is the best, and I take for women over 50.  They have so many beneficial strains and ones that benzo w/d in particular will help in the gut. It is more expensive and needs to be refrigerated (they all do). Amazon has it and it comes “cold”.

 

As far as my sx/symptoms getting worse. No.  They aren’t worse, but it isn’t easier, it is just more manageable because I am not going too fast (usually) and as long as I try and stay at no more than about a 7% reduction a month, I can stay pretty functional.  So of coarse this means it will take a long time to get to a gentle walk off of the benzo.

 

Marie

[[ho...]]

HI!

 

I'm new here and grateful I found this site! Kuddso to you all.

 

Just wondered if anyone had experienced similar to mine...

 

Saw prescriber 2/14- was in inter dose withdrawals

 

She is familiar with and uses Ashton and seems to be benzo aware. I meet with her gain 3/1

 

She thought step one should be:

 

0.5 CL am, 0.5 CL afternoon, and .375 CL and 5 mg Valium

 

 

I def do feel much better since starting this plan but I cant help but feel it's a step back since it is an increase.

 

I'm assuming next step would be to get to equivalent as Ashton states.

 

Does anyone have this experience or feedback for my next visit with her?

 

Thank you

 

Calisurfing- Welcome to BB’s!

 

Yikes….I don’t really wan’t to go against your doctor’s advice, because I am not a doctor but I too would be concerned about increasing the dose of benzo’s.  What goes up, must come down.  V has a different feeling than K.  I did too fast of a crossover myself and it was horrid.  So please follow the Ashton guidelines, on whatever you choose to do.

 

Everyone here is very supportive and you will find a wealth of information and support.  Hopefully someone with more experience on your particular situation will jump in and can guide you better.  Cheers to making the decision to getting off benzo’s.

 

Marie

[[ca...]]

Hi, how many times!

Thanks for checking in. And I appreciate your input.

What would you suggest happens from here? Perhaps I go down to 2.5 mg Valium at nighttime dose and se howI i do , which would be equivalent? ( I think)

I’m currently doing much better than 2/15 when I first started plan.

 

I think the idea ( from Dr) might have been to get me out of awful inter dose withdrawals. And go down from there. Ultimately, switching to Valium.

 

I would love your opinion on what best next steps might be given my plan? The prescriber is open to do this patient led.

 

Thanks so much

Cali

[[Pa...]]

What would you suggest happens from here? Perhaps I go down to 2.5 mg Valium at nighttime dose and se howI i do , which would be equivalent? ( I think)

 

 

You might give this a try. Ashtons equivalencies are on the high side so you may be able to eliminate the 2.5 mgs fairly easy if you’ve only been on the higher dose for 4 days.

[[ca...]]

pamster,

 

So perhaps try 2.5 mg of valium at bedtime instead of 5 mg? Yes, I've taken the 5 mg of Valium 4 nights now.

[[ho...]]

Hi, how many times!

Thanks for checking in. And I appreciate your input.

What would you suggest happens from here? Perhaps I go down to 2.5 mg Valium at nighttime dose and se howI i do , which would be equivalent? ( I think)

I’m currently doing much better than 2/15 when I first started plan.

 

I think the idea ( from Dr) might have been to get me out of awful inter dose withdrawals. And go down from there. Ultimately, switching to Valium.

 

I would love your opinion on what best next steps might be given my plan? The prescriber is open to do this patient led.

 

Thanks so much

Cali

 

Hi Cali- That sounds very reasonable to me.  Considering that 1mg of k is = to 20mg of V.  From there I would follow the Ashton cross over exactly mg wise….People on here had mentioned how sleepy they were with V, and I didn’t seem to understand that.  However, looking back, I think that compared to the K that it did perhaps make me really tired, maybe not so “sleepy” feeling but definitely much more tired, until I had been on it for about a year and greatly reduced my dose.  Anyway, you “may” experience this, and just something to be prepared for.  With that being said, is there any possible way to work on increasing your evening dose with V, as you cross over and your V dose gets higher (remember it has a longer half life and can make you more sleepier too) and start to eliminate that afternoon dose slowly?  Ashton works on getting rid of the morning dose eventually, and just a PM.  I did this and it worked fine for me.  Now however, I dose my pill portion 1mg at PM and my liquid, today was .80mg sometime in the morning to afternoon, it varies.  I started doing that at some point, because I got lazy with drawing up my liquid at night….lol.  It just seems to work for me now, and I am on such low doses during the day doses, it doesn’t really phase me anyway (now if I missed them for a couple days/few, I would feel it for sure ).

 

I know that was a lot, and you are just starting so just some stuff to think about.  I am sure you will figure out a plan over time that will work for you.  Just take things at your pace and ask as many questions as you need to. 

 

*had to edit. Pamster caught my mistake of the 1mg of K where I originally said it was =to 10mg of V instead of 20mg.  My benzo brain is in full effect 

Marie

[[ca...]]

Hi,

 

wow, thanks for the info. you rock!

okay, so if I go down to 2.5 mg of valium tonight ( along with the 0.375 clonazepam), this would be reasonable bc I've only taken the 5 mg of valium for 4 nights?

and that would be equivalent to 30 mg of valium in total? math is not my strong suit

 

Also, if all goes well, would the next step be to  lower clonazepam to 0.25 and 5 mg valium at bedtime? ( i believe that's what Ashton's manual says)

 

My provider is on board and familiar with Ashton Manual, I think she mentioned many of her patients had a very hard time going from 0.5 clon to 0.25.

 

 

thanks, Cali

[[ho...]]

Hi,

 

wow, thanks for the info. you rock!

okay, so if I go down to 2.5 mg of valium tonight ( along with the 0.375 clonazepam), this would be reasonable bc I've only taken the 5 mg of valium for 4 nights?

and that would be equivalent to 30 mg of valium in total? math is not my strong suit

 

Also, if all goes well, would the next step be to  lower clonazepam to 0.25 and 5 mg valium at bedtime? ( i believe that's what Ashton's manual says)

 

My provider is on board and familiar with Ashton Manual, I think she mentioned many of her patients had a very hard time going from 0.5 clon to 0.25.

 

 

thanks, Cali

 

Hi- I am not a 100% sure on the math, but that sounds about right.  I will check it tomorrow when It is early and my mind is fresh.  Also, I will look back over the Ashton M, and see what the protocol is for this, it has been a long long time.  I only dosed twice a day and most of my dose was at night anyway, so I can’t really remember.  Plus I really screwed it up and went way too fast.

 

I also had a really hard time reducing on K before I finally made the transition over to V.  It seemed like the cuts were just so hard.  Looking back, I liked the way I felt better on K, but the cutting was brutal.  Once my body finally stabilized “some” (long story) the cutting on V, was much easier, it was still rough, don’t get me wrong.  It took me a long time to figure out my process….i am a slow learner  .  I am still making mistakes 

 

You got this!

 

Marie