Relapse and tapering again

[[Buddie]]

Hello folks, as some of you may know I had a severe relapse of symptoms, most likely due to drinking alcohol too soon after tapering.  I've ended up back on 2 mg of diazepam, and the terrible anxiety, twitches, and depersonalization/derealization seems to be lifting a bit.  I don't want to get into tolerance withdrawal, so I'm wondering what a good tapering schedule would be now? The last time I think I tapered too quickly, I was cutting 1 mg of diazepam a week, which may have lead me to drink and relapse.  I'd like to take it a little slower this time. Does perhaps 10 or 15% a week sound good? Does anyone have any experience on what symptoms were like tapering at that rate from 2 mg?

[[Buddie]]

Hi SE,

I"m glad you are feeling a bit better!
Well, When you are at this low of a dose, it's a little hard to stick to a 10 or 15% rate. Really, I think you would be ok tapering by making 0.5mg cuts. I assume you have 2mg pills, so this would be 1/4 pill. The only way to go slower than that is liquid titration of your pill, and this is unnecessary with 2mg valium pills in most cases. My suggestion is to cut by 0.5mg every two weeks. This will give you plenty of time to adjust to each cut.

Why don't you give it at least a few more days before you start though, to let the valium stabilize in your system. You won't get into tolerance if you wait just a few more.