Need help w a taper plan from Xanax to valium, talking to my dr. tomorrow

I have been on 2.o (sometimes 2.5) xanax per 3 yrs now, I stopped CT for 1 week but the SX were too strong to handle. My Dr was out of town so another Dr suggested I start 1.5 xanax until my Dr. came back from vacations. I was on xanax 1.5 for 4 days, I went to my appt w DR and I told her I wanted to taper off w valium. I guess she had no clue how to do it because she gave me 5mg of valium which after i came to this site found out on time it was way too low.

 

I left the Dr. a message to call me and I was told she will call tomorrow and I need to have a plan in place for her to see if she can understand and help me.

 

So I need a plan to taper from the 2.0 mg xanax to valium per week so I can copy and send it to her. Hopefully if I do it this way she would consider it if not...Im fried!

 

Anybody?

 

 

I have been on 2.o (sometimes 2.5) xanax per 3 yrs now, I stopped CT for 1 week but the SX were too strong to handle. My Dr was out of town so another Dr suggested I start 1.5 xanax until my Dr. came back from vacations. I was on xanax 1.5 for 4 days, I went to my appt w DR and I told her I wanted to taper off w valium. I guess she had no clue how to do it because she gave me 5mg of valium which after i came to this site found out on time it was way too low.

 

I left the Dr. a message to call me and I was told she will call tomorrow and I need to have a plan in place for her to see if she can understand and help me.

 

So I need a plan to taper from the 2.0 mg xanax to valium per week so I can copy and send it to her. Hopefully if I do it this way she would consider it if not...Im fried!

 

Anybody?

 

 

 

If you type up Ashtons plan ( 4mg ) and cut her doses by 50% because your on 2mg, you have your taper plan laid out for you to take to doctor.

Hi Nin

 

Saw your post on the other strand and a bunch of advice, including mine.  Take a copy of the table from Ashton that shows V at 20 to 1 over X and the written part about crossover.  You also could copy that from the homepage of this site.  Present that to the Dr.  Otherwise switch to another cheaper MD who "gets it" or do the Xanax taper.  Right?  Good luck.

 

J.

Thank u I did what GMAN tod me with th4 4mg and start from the 2 mg, She havent called me yet...I really dont think shes gonna help anyways.

I hope your not starting at 2mg part of her taper.  You start at week 1 and alter the dosage to fit 2mg of Xanax. Which is 50 percent of her recommended dose. Also reduce her Valium dose by 50 %.

 

Just making sure you don't start in middle of taper schedule. Start at week 1.

 

Good luck!

ok now totally confuses..lol

Do you need help Nin?

Nin is not at 4 mgs but at 2 mgs so is not going to cut in half.  The 4 mgs refers to the chart that Ashton has that starts at 4 mgs and the plan is to start at the correct 2 mgs point to taper.  Right?

Nin is not at 4 mgs but at 2 mgs so is not going to cut in half.  The 4 mgs refers to the chart that Ashton has that starts at 4 mgs and the plan is to start at the correct 2 mgs point on that chart to taper.  Right?

I thought to ignore the chart until the point where it starts on 2 mg..is that right?

You can follow the plan Gman gave you on your other thread for the first month and we will help you with the rest of the plan after that.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=23202.msg350652#msg350652

OK spoke to the Dr. She is giving me 30mg Valium to take 10 morning 10 midday 10 night, my concern is I was taking 1.5 xanax mg to sleep, how would this work if I need it only to sleep?

 

Can I start a slow safe taper with this amount?

Some folks cross over right away from Xanax to Valium (I did once and then again did crossed over in 12 days which was quick another time) and then taper but I think both this site and Ashton in her article recommend that you switch over slowly while you are tapering.  There are charts for that too in Ashton's article. 

 

Glad the Dr. is being reasonable.  I should say though that sometimes Drs do not understand taking 2 benzos at once during that type of switching (cross over) so that could be an issue if you brought that up.

 

Good luck!  By the way, I sure am no expert and hope I am not sounding too much like I think I am.  I just have been at it for a bit and having some success.

well I believe she is just switching me over not really taking 2 benzos at a time, but I need to come up w a plan to do it correctly and slowly, also I really never take the med during the day so can I take the 30mg at night?

Yes, you can take all the valium at night.  I do think it would be a better idea to crossover to the valium, though.  Did you get a month's prescription for 30mg/day?  Any refills?  How are fixed for xanax and what strength tablets do you have?  Maybe we can suggest a quick crossover schedule but it would be nice to know if there are any constraints regarding the availability of the valium and xanax.  The reason for the crossover is because valium takes as much as a week to build up in your system while the xanax can leave your bloodstream in a matter of hours.  Since you only take xanax at night now, it should be relatively easy to replace a little xanax with valium over a few weeks time if that's the way you want to go.

Total of pills I have:

 

40 1mg Xanax

 

30 5mg Valium

 

90 10mg Valium

 

How can I do it with this, I will see the Dr. in about 2 weeks, but she discontinued the xanax.

You can get started like this, Nin:

 

Week 1: 1 1/2 mg ( 1 1/2 tablets) xanax + 10 mg valium each day

 

Week 2:  1 mg xanax +20 mg valium each day

 

Week 3:  1/2 mg xanax +30 mg valium each day

 

Week 4:  40 mg valium each day

 

At this point you should have about 20 10 mg valium and all 30 of the 5mg valium left to taper with.  That really isn't enough for the kind of slow taper we recommend but you won't have to do a cold turkey.  Still, it would be best if you can get valium refills as needed further down the road.

 

If I understand your previous posts, you take your xanax all at night so you can do the same thing with the xanax/valium combos.

 

It's possible to spend a longer time crossing over and sometimes that's better but you seem to have a limited number of pills, so I went with a schedule of substituting every week.  If you can go slower because you can get more valium, you can wait more like 10-14 days between each step. 

 

For the time being, you can just get started with the "Week 1" amounts.

 

Hope this makes sense.

 

 

I know I could get more Valium w my Dr. but not the xanax...so is that enough? w the xanax?

Hi nin, I started at week 1 of Ashtons taper plan for you. I only used 2 mg total benzo use in my calculations for your crossover. It is over the amount of your available Xanax. 

 

It looks like beeper has 40 pills covered for you.

 

Good luck with the taper and crossover. Keep a log so you don't lose track.. You can start a thread in Progress Log: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=87.0

 

to keep track here on BB

 

 

Gman, I think we had it wrong.  Nin is at 1.5 Xanax rather than 2 which is better it seems.  That is what Beeper started with for Nin and seems to have a sound plan.  It is gratifying to see such help coming from folks in the know on this site.

Good luck, Nin.  It looks like you are on the right path now.  Just remember that Valium can make you feel real sleepy for awhile and may cause some depression.  I know once I had a plan in place I felt so much better.

 

Patty  xo

so this is my plan:

 

Week 1: 1 1/2 mg ( 1 1/2 tablets) xanax + 10 mg valium each day

 

Week 2:  1 mg xanax +20 mg valium each day

 

Week 3:  1/2 mg xanax +30 mg valium each day

 

Week 4:  40 mg valium each day

 

 

1st week tonight I am adding 10 mg of Valium thats not too much right? I used to take 1 1/2mg xanax...

Nin -

 

That schedule I gave you and which you reposted here was assuming you were still on 2mg xanax which is what you had said earlier.  If you haven't been taking that much then the schedule is not right for you.  The idea is to reduce your dose by 0.5mg xanax and add 10mg valium to make up for it, not to add 10mg valium to your exisiting dose.  Then keep doing that every week or two until you are done with the xanax and nothing but valium.  If you are only taking 1 1/2 mg xanax, that is equivalent to 30 mg valium which is where you would end up when you complete your crossover.

for 3 years I was taking 2.0 (sometimes 2.5) its been only a couple of days that I started w 1.5 of xanax, so Iguess Im ok with this schedule. I feel good so far but just started last night.

 

I hope Im one of those that dont feel any sx cuz I dont want to go thru that again..

Nin - It is likely you will feel some w/d symptoms but nothing you can't handle.  Try not to let your mind go back to the past and just deal with what's going on now, one day, one hour at a time.  You can do this.