Benzodiazepine Withdrawal support

[willie33]

I hope this is okay to post here. I have my own problems with benzodiazepine addiction.

www.benzobuddies.org

Lots of information on benzodiazepine withdrawal

[willie33]

Hi Willie. I looked at the site, first time for me.

Do you know what titration taper is? I have just never heard of it.

http://www.benzobuddies.org/benzodiazepi...titration/

This website can explain better than I can.

I do know that it is a method to slowly reduce your dosage use even when the pill cuts get too small to make.

For example, when you are withdrawing from diazepam and you just feel like you can't stop taking that one or 1/2 of one pill a day. You can mix the pill in a liquid base and drink a measured amount every so many hours reducing the dosage even further by drinking the equivalent to say 1/4 or even 1/8 of one pill each day. This is very slow tapering that makes it easier for some people.

Hope that makes sense and answers your question.

Willie

[Popster]

Chill........sounds to me like you've got everything under control and have a good idea about pill breaking.
Your already way, way, on the road you want if your breaking 5 mg valium....that's pretty small quantity.
You've won already......IMO.

Good for you and good luck.

The only reputable place I can find with convenient payment methods for my 2mg valiums is my pill clinic.  But I just got a thought about how to taper from 5mg pills, without needing the 2mgs - I could break it in 1/2 and then put it into a pill crusher and try to adjust my dose from that powder.  I haven't tried it yet though.
Does anyone know how to use liquid valium?  I know an IOP that has it, but I believe it's IV and I'm no nurse, so I don't know if that could be used for oral admin.  Also, my pill clinic doctor sounded open to the idea of scripting it out to me, but I never bothered as the 2mg pills worked just fine and were much easier to taper with.

[Acmilan171]

Good post! @willie33. I am a benzo guy and one of worst experiences I have ever encountered was from a benzo withdrawal. At the time I didn't know I was withdrawing, I thought I caught a horrible bug. But my symptoms were crazy it was like a migraine had a baby with the flu and toss spasms in that mix. Good thing I had knowledgeable friends who pointed it out as withdrawals - then I was enlightened to that fact that one can actually die from going cold turkey. Didn't know it was THAT serious, but it is THAT serious.

[Zander]

Yeah I went through the WDs for 6 months. It was by choice. I decided to just quit them, thought I was immune to addiction and WDs. Those WDs kicked my ass, but I stuck with it for 6 months, how I functioned I have no idea.

The scary part is that after 6 months the WDs were still getting worse until I cried "Uncle!" I feel nothing from alprazolam. I have a tolerance like everyone who has been taking them for long periods, and the only way to feel them would be take a big dose at once which I won't do.

People oft talk about which alps are better, and if they have a tolerance such as I, then I don't see how they can possibly tell. I take them now for one reason, because I'm addicted and to keep the WDs away. It doesn't take much to keep the WDs away. I was taking 4mg a day as a doctor once prescribed them to me at that dosage for a long time. I have cut the dosage in half of what I was prescribed and soon to cut it in half again to 1mg a day.

Good luck All.

[Allegory]

This should go without saying, but just to have it written:

DO NOT STOP BENZODIAZEPINES COLD TURKEY

YOU MAY NOT LIVE TO REGRET IT

I come from a background of severe familial and cultural alcoholism.

Alcohol is the other habit whose withdrawals will kill you, in a method of action similar to benzos.

I have seen too many people die from good intentions and strong resolve.

There is nothing weak about a taper.

[Caróg liath]

Insomnia_Sucks with at only 10mg a day and dropping by .05 every fortnight you should be grand.

I'm not saying you won't feel it (there's an emotional connection too), but it is a very reasonable taper for the small amount you were on.

However, everyone is different, some people feel little others feel a lot.

Wishing you the best of luck. CL

[Nonoo]

Its true nothing exceeds excess like excess . Can't remember who said it but it was some famous guy like Oscar wilde . Or churchill

[Nonoo]

Its amazing i need my med but.i can go a day without but if any longer than two days i start.
But i don't wake up withdrawing .i slowly build up to the crescendo .first its anxiety belly churning in the end its spasms and sever social skill breakdown and trances . I call it a mind melt with a little physical dysfunction. Alot really nothing little about it.
When my doctor suggested meditation i laughed out loud and suggested he stop taking what ever it was he was taking of course i put it in more poetic words . But he got the message . He.s a cool man anyway and is always straight up and i with him .

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Good for you zander that's great on your own

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I got that quote wrong its
Moderation is a fatal thing
nothing succeeds likes excess Oscar wilde

[barq2]

Many of you will know the Prof. Heather Ashton manual for tapering benzos, but I'll post the link for anyone who hasn't encountered it before: http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/

One of the complications with reducing in 0.5mg steps is that towards the end those reductions will be proportionately larger steps. 10mg down to 9.5mg is a 5% reduction. 1mg down to 0.5mg is a 50% reduction. Some people are ok with that because 1mg is such a small dose anyway. Others find the last steps, especially to zero, more challenging. I suspect there is a large psychological component to that - but that doesn't mean it is trivial! So I can totally understand why some people titrate the final stages, or take their time with the last few reductions.

I was chatting to a pharmacologist a year or so back and his argument was that tapering isn't a race. If a reduction feels particularly difficult then plateau for a while before making the next reduction. Sit at the reduced level for as long as you need to adjust - it doesn't matter if it takes longer than your ideal taper schedule. The golden rule is not to increase the dose (with the obvious exception of people who cut too fast and put themselves into withdrawal).

Good luck Insomnia_Sucks and anyone else going through this!