Xanax to valium? please help.

[[Buddie]]

Ive been on benzos, xanax mainly, for around ten years. The last couple of those years was hovering around 8 to 12mg's a day. I was also a heavy drinker. Tried a stay at an inpatient rehab where I was basically white knuckled  off. They did give me phenobarbital. That proved to have been a very horrible and expensive, in all sense of the word expensive, trip. I have never felt quite the same since. After that I did some research and found out about the Ashton Manual. I then was determined to find an Ashton friendly doctor, turns out not an easy task in the U.S sadly.I was blessed to have done so within a few days of non stop searching. I dropped straight to 6mg xanax about one day before seeing him 6/8/09. I chose 6mg simply because that's where the Ashton taper schedules began. It was instantly noticeable, the abrupt cut I had made, but bearable. Well that brings me  to today. I'm taking (.5mg xanax 20mg valium in the morning), (10mg valium at midday) And finally (20mg valium at night). I'd like to know if anyone has done a similar taper? I know the valium are keeping me functionable , but they are definitively a different drug. I don't expect this to be easy or anything but I felt a lot better on this 6mg of xanax,I understand this is a high dose but still low for me. I also read about stabilizing. Would this be possible to determine when I'm cutting every 14 days? oddly, or perhaps not, the best I feel is the first half hour of my day.Just no rhyme or reason I guess. And finally has anybody tried taking the doses at different times? Maybe take more in the morning than at night. Or perhaps more evenly over a 24hr period.......I realize these are a lot of questions, any feed back would be much appreciated. Hardest battle of my life and its for my sanity.    Thank you all and may we all find peace within.......Abe                             

[[Buddie]]

Hi abe,

I can tell by your writings that you did a lot of research before doing your crossover to Valium. I am curious how you came up with 50mg of Valium? As you may know, Dr. Ashton recommends 1.0mg of Xanax equals 20mg of Valium for substitution purposes. How long did you take to achieve the crossover? It can take a few weeks to stabilize after crossing over. So if you were stable on 6.0mg of Xanax before your crossover, that would equate to 120mg of Valium. What kind of symptoms are you experiencing? You don't sound as if you are having a lot of difficulties?? I have heard of some people experiencing more depression with the Valium and it does have more of a sedating effect that Xanax does. Hopefully, others that have made the crossover can give you some of their experiences.

T2

[[Buddie]]

 Hi T2, I found the taper schedule on the benzo.org .U.K sight. She does suggest .5mg Xanax and Ativan to be equivalent to 10mg Valium. The schedule has a person titrating 3.5mg of the fast acting benzo and introducing 10mg slow acting benzo weekly. After five weeks you end up at at 50mg val and 3mg xanax, equivalent to 110mg Valium weekly. My 14th day on the xanax  is Sunday and that'll be it for them. Afterword the valium taper begins right away. Ashton, I believe, says ten percent of people simply can't take the valium and have to try something else. I don't believe i fall into that category. My difficulties are many but I believe only time can heal the majority of them. I do have great anxiety, headaches, fatigue, depression, pretty bad agoraphobia. The only of which I had before were anxiety, and some depression. Time and work will heal those.  The panic attacks are unbelievably strong now. This is my main concern right now. They're ten fold worse than ever! Did any others experience this. It literally feels like a seizure, mind goes blank, and feel like I'm going to black out.Its extremely strange........Abe

[[Buddie]]

Do you think you have crossed with enough Valium equivalency? If yes, that's what's important. You seem to know what you're doing. I'm not quite understanding what you are doing.

I can't think of anyone right now who did a cross from Xanx to Valium but hopefully they will see your post and stop by. I hope things settle down for you soon! 

[[Buddie]]

Hi T2, I found the taper schedule on the benzo.org .U.K sight. She does suggest .5mg Xanax and Ativan to be equivalent to 10mg Valium. The schedule has a person titrating 3.5mg of the fast acting benzo and introducing 10mg slow acting benzo weekly. After five weeks you end up at at 50mg val and 3mg xanax, equivalent to 110mg Valium weekly. My 14th day on the xanax  is Sunday and that'll be it for them. Afterword the valium taper begins right away. Ashton, I believe, says ten percent of people simply can't take the valium and have to try something else. I don't believe i fall into that category. My difficulties are many but I believe only time can heal the majority of them. I do have great anxiety, headaches, fatigue, depression, pretty bad agoraphobia. The only of which I had before were anxiety, and some depression. Time and work will heal those.  The panic attacks are unbelievably strong now. This is my main concern right now. They're ten fold worse than ever! Did any others experience this. It literally feels like a seizure, mind goes blank, and feel like I'm going to black out.Its extremely strange........Abe

Hi, Abe. Nice to meet you.  

Congratulations on your plan to get off the xanax.  Some people can taper off it directly but if you are doing okay with the crossover, it should be easier on you to taper off valium.   (BTW,  for others reading this, Ashton uses 1mg ativan = 10mg valium; you might have been thinking of klonopin for the other benzo that has the same strength equivalency as xanax).

I think the anxiety/panic and sleep problems are the most common physical w/d symptoms.  We even have separate board for Anxiety and Insomnia where people post their problems and what works for them.  One of the threads on the Anxiety board with a lot of good suggestions is here:

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=13001.0

I know I couldn't be around other people much or listen to music or do a lot of things I used to do when I was feeling so out of control.  Just the simplest stimulations - a loud ad on TV (are there any other kind?) - could set it off.  I used controlled breathing and walking a lot; also took Tai Chi which is a wonderful, gentle exercise routine.  All these techniques continue to serve me well, though I must confess, I've gotten lazy about the Tai Chi.