My Story

Im 33 male , been using diazepam 5mg once or twice every day for the last year at least. It started off for my anxiety as i have EUPD and Complex PTSD. I want to try stop taking them but heard you can die and lots of bad stuff by just stopping. Even though i feel nothing from them like i used to. I Never take any more than 2 a day. Any advice would be great. Thank you

Hello Crawfty1989, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

 

Yes, these drugs need to be tapered and the weird thing is, they’re only recommended to be taken for no more than 2-4 weeks by the drug makers but that doesn’t stop them from being prescribed for decades by some doctors.  What happens is what happened to you, the drug becomes less effective at the dose we start out at and we have to either increase it or taper from it.  You’re wise to want to taper off.

 

We suggest reducing by about 5-10% of your dose every couple of weeks but what is better is to use your symptoms to guide you, this will hopefully keep you functional. 

 

One thing to know, for most of us when we become tolerant to our dose, the drug actually begins to cause anxiety, the same happens when we taper from it and it’s worse than normal anxiety so I want you to be prepared.  That drug fueled anxiety leaves when we recover, and what remains is our original condition but compared to the benzo stuff, many find it manageable.

 

I’ll provides some links to get you started but please let us know how we can help you.

 

Pamster

 

Colorado Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidance

 

Planning Your Withdrawal (Taper)

 

Ashton Manual symptom list

 

The Ashton Manual

 

Withdrawal Support (during your taper)

Thank you so much