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Valium taper help


[Ho...]

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I am currently taking 14mg of Valium daily . I need to decrease by 2mg in 4 months .

I am 71 and am very sensitive . I am going to cut down one of my 2.5 mg doses . Yes it’s a long story

 

I got this taper and it will take 4 mos to decrease 2mg . It says 2.5mg because that 1/2 of a 5mg and that’s all I have . Md says this will work

 

This is the taper!!!!!

I am using 2.5mg weighs 0.085g

I want to decrease by 0.5mg every 30 days.

You wish to decrease  20% of 0.085g = 0.017g

 

Three lots of 10 days gives decreases of 0.006g, 0.006g, 0.005g

 

So basically it looks like this . This is 2 month example

 

Start from​​​0.085g

Day 1 to day 10 inclusive​0.079g

Day 11 to day 20 inclusive​0.073g

Day 21 to day 30 inclusive​0.068g

 

Day 31 to day 40 inclusive​0.062g

Day 41 to day 50 inclusive​0.056g

Day 51 to day 60 inclusive​0.047g

 

My 5mg pills weigh 0.170 gm so 2.5 mg is 0.0.85g

 

I hope this is not too confusing and someone can give me some confidence that it will be ok

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Hello, Holly12d.

 

I do not have personal experience with titration using a digital scale and tablets so hope other members who do will stop by to provide input on that aspect of your taper plan. (What technique are you using — pill-shaving/weighing?)  However, what I can offer is that the math in the above plan appears to be correct.  I can also share the following:

 

(1) The above plan uses a fixed amount reduction in dose (i.e., 0.5mg per month).  One of the disadvantages of this approach is that your taper rate will increase over time.  For example, in Month 1, you will be reducing your total daily dose from 14mg to 13.5mg — a 3.57% reduction. in Month 4, you will be reducing your dose from 12.5mg to 12mg —  a 4% reduction.

 

(2) The only way to learn if the above plan will work for you is to try it. There are no ‘one size fits all’ tapering plans or techniques.  Instead, each of us has to discover through self-experimentation what works for us.  Moreover, what works during one phase of our taper, may not work in another.  Consequently, we have to be prepared to make adjustments in our taper plans as needed.

 

Given that we are both the scientist and the guinea pig in our unique tapering experiments, we strongly encourage members to keep a daily taper log. This log will give you data to evaluate how you are responding and, if needed, make adjustments in your taper plan (e.g. rate, interval, technique, dosage form).  Examples of key data to record and review on a regular basis include:

 

- The date

- Time(s) and amounts(s) of drug ingested

- Daily global rating of your withdrawal symptoms (e.g., 0 = no symptoms; 10 = intolerable symptoms)

- Daily global rating of your functionality (e.g., 0 = able to perform all essential daily tasks; 10 = unable to perform any essential daily tasks)

- A brief note about anything that might have had an impact on your taper that day (e.g. stressful event; health issue; change in medications or supplements; starting a new batch of your medication)

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Hello ,

Thank you for your extensive reply.

I am weighing my pills. Should I be doing a different way ?

I was wondering what the percentage would be per month . Actually 3.5-4% is pretty good.

I am hoping that this will be the right amount per month.

I wanted to stay under 5% .

Reducing 2mg in 4 mos seems slow but I won’t know until I try it . I will say I am very sensitive. I also am scared as I have heart issues and that’s why so slow .

Do you think a water taper would be better ? The issue with thise is the percentage really goes up fast.

Now I am confused . I guess I can always adjust . .

Thank you for all your time. Please reply if possible

Holly

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You are most welcome, Holly12d.

 

Tip of the hat for discerning my main message — one of the keys to a successful taper is monitoring how you are responding and making adjustments if needed.  Taper planning is an iterative process not a one-time activity.

 

PS Given your goal of reaching a maintenance dose of 10mg diazepam/Valium and assuming all goes well with the above fixed amount reduction plan, your last month’s reduction will be from 10.5mg to 10mg — a 4.76% reduction.

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Hi ,

Just one last note . I am only going down 2mgs total so maintenance’dose for now will be 12 mg total .

I am going from 14mg to 12mg then stop .

So I will not be going down that low.

I hope that helps .

Thanks again !

Holly

 

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