.25mg cuts or liquid from flick

Hi anyone I have been making .5mg cuts every 2 weeks and it was fine for a couple of months but seems to be getting harder as I get close to 10mg. I read that .25mg cuts every week are easier on you but it seems impossible to cut a 2mg crumbly soft pill into 8 pieces with any accuracy. I still have a bottle of liquid diazepam too and could go back to the combo of pills and liquid and do some sort of daily titration. I did that under jana's advice in the 20's and was cutting .1mg a day which is 3 mg a month and this was great for 7 weeks and I dropped 5mg but the rate was too fast for me and i got hit too hard after 7 weeks and had to hold for 6 weeks at least after that. I just cut .5mg today down to 10.5mg and am waiting to get hit. It is getting harder on these .5mg cuts now. i would be willing to try the liquid daily cuts again. just not sure how fast to go. I do have the pretty easy measurements on the syringe so I should be able to cut as small as .01mg a day if i wanted. i have been cutting at 1mg a month but maybe I could even cut at 1.5mg but I feel this might be risky after my first experience of cutting 3mg a month while still in the 20's. any ideas appreciated  flick

HI Flick,

 

It does seem that some people when they get to around 10mg or just under seem to hit a wall in the cutting at .5mg week.  I know I did at around 8-9mg.  I started to cut at .25mg and the symptoms were not so bad at all.  Then I hit another wall around 4mg and had to change again.

Anyway, I used liquid valium for some time. Obviously the amount you cut by is your call, but .25mg week is what I went to when I hit that wall at 8mg.  It makes sense to ease down, and go as slowly as you possibly can, to keep the most painful symptoms at bay. I mean they never went away completely, but I  could at least bear them, and have a little bit of a life in the process.  It took me 16 months to taper 15mg Valium, but I am now 4 months off and though life is still difficult, I am much improved and am starting to live a life again.....oh joy!! 

I actually cut at .25mg every 5 days because it made it easier with measuring the liquid in the syringe etc., So was actually cutting .05mg every day at that point, I found this quite workable and gave me some leeway with being able to slow up to .01mg/day when I needed too.

 

Vicky 

 

Hi Vicky Thanks I am actually cutting .5mg every 2 weeks instead of every week but that .25mg every 5 days you used sounds good to me and I might try it since it will actually speed up my taper a little bit and I might even get less sx. Thanks Flick

Flick,

 

Just for your information, when I went from 10 mg to 9 mg, all Hell broke loose, so I went back up to 9.5 mg, and everything fell into place again. I can't remember exactly when I began my .25 mg cuts, but it probably was when I got down to around 4 mg. It has been a while. My attitude is that, as long as you keep cutting and are making progress, the size of the cut isn't that important. You will probably feel better with smaller cuts, and that IS important. You are very fortunate that your doctor is putting you entirely in control of your taper. My doctor isn't quite as magnanimous, although, the lower I got in the past in dose, the more generous he became. If the .25 mg cuts make you feel better, try that. Heck, I will probably just cut by 1 mg this weekend because I'll be all alone, and I don't want any disaster to happen. I guess I'm scared now coz I'm older and the very thought of doing this again is very daunting. Good luck!

 

love,

Genie