Help..Planning a taper..

[[Buddie]]

Hi All ~
I am in need of help bad here. I am going to my Dr. tomorrow ( wish me luck ) to talk to him about the Ashton Taper. I do have soem of it printed out. I believe he will not want to listen to this but I have to try..does anyone have a Asghton schedule from tapering off .5 Xanax doing the crossover to Valium..PLEASE!
Thanks, Donna

[[Buddie]]

Hi [...],

Are you going to cross over to valium? Do you take your .50 xanax once a day now? I can tell you that Ashton's equivalency is .50 xanax is equal to 10mg valium, but I do not see a cross over schedule for that amount. Someone else may be able to tell you how to cross over by slowly substituting the valium for the xanax. Unfortunately, this is not my expertise. Hopefully, someone will be by to help you, but I don't think they will have anything to print out. You may be able to print the xanax crossover schedule from the Aston Manual and your doctor may be able to follow from that.

T2 

[[Buddie]]

Hi [...],

Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

Switching from one benzo to another is not so mysterious. If you do not already have a prescription for the 0.25mg Xanax pills, I highly recommend that you do so. You should be able to split these pills in half. This means that you can split your daily dose of 0.5mg Xanax into four parts. You will also need 2mg tablets of Valium. To substitute, simply replace one-half of a 0.25mg pill (0.125mg) for an equivalent dose of Valium - Ashton would equate 0.125mg Xanax to 2.5mg Valium. Stick at this dose (0.375mg Xanax and 2.5mg Valium) for one week (or longer if you think you need the time). Then switch another half-pill for another 2.5mg Valium, so that your daily dose is 0.25mg Xanax and 5mg Valium. Again wait a week or more. Keep doing this until you have completely switched to Valium. At the end of the process, you should be taking 10mg Valium.

A variation on this would be be to obtain some 5mg Valium tablets in addition to the 2mg tablets. If you can quarter your 0.25mg Xanax pills, you could swap a quarter of a 0.25mg Xanax pill (0.0625mg) for 1.25mg Valium (a quarter of a 5mg pill). Again, wait a week, and then switch another quarter pill of Xanax for a quarter pill of 5mg Valium (1.25mg). Again, once your switchover is complete, you would be on 10mg Valium. You will still need the 2mg Valium  tablets, as the 5mg tablets are too large when tapering from 10mg Valium.

[[Buddie]]

Thanks [...] ~
I take .50 3 times a day..I cant find one anywhere either. I was hoping to have something to print out to show my Dr. I fear her will not be very responsive to this.
Ugh..

[[Buddie]]

Thanks [...] ~
Sorry but that still sounded confusing to me! I take .50 3 x's a day...what is the equivalent dose to that nad how would I proceed?
Sorry for sounding so ignorant.
[...]

[[Buddie]]

Hi All ~
I am in need of help bad here. I am going to my Dr. tomorrow ( wish me luck ) to talk to him about the Ashton Taper. I do have soem of it printed out. I believe he will not want to listen to this but I have to try..does anyone have a Asghton schedule from tapering off .5 Xanax doing the crossover to Valium..PLEASE!
Thanks, Donna

I crossed over from .5 mg K to 10 mg Valium. In your case you'd only need 5 mg Valium. It can be done!

Tony

[[Buddie]]

Thanks [...] ~
I take .50 3 times a day..I cant find one anywhere either. I was hoping to have something to print out to show my Dr. I fear her will not be very responsive to this.
Ugh..

Oh, this changes things somewhat.

Break these 0.5mg pills in two, so that have doses of 0.25mg. This means that you can split your daily dose into six parts. So, you can switch just a sixth of your dose at a time. Perhaps starting with your evening dose, swap half of a 0.5mg pill (0.25mg) for 5mg Valium. Stay at this daily dose (1.25mg Xanax and 5mg Valium) for a week or longer if needed. Then switch another half pill (from another dose during the day) for 2.5mg Valium. Keep doing this, stepwise, every week or so until you have exchanged your daily dose of 1.5mg Xanax for 30mg Valium. After a week or two of being on 30mg Valium, you would begin your taper. We will help you devise a schedule at the time.

Edit: corrected my figures.

[[Buddie]]

Thanks [...] ~
I take .50 3 times a day..I cant find one anywhere either. I was hoping to have something to print out to show my Dr. I fear her will not be very responsive to this.
Ugh..

Wait! You're taking 1.5 mg per day then?

Tony

[[Buddie]]

Hi All ~
I am in need of help bad here. I am going to my Dr. tomorrow ( wish me luck ) to talk to him about the Ashton Taper. I do have soem of it printed out. I believe he will not want to listen to this but I have to try..does anyone have a Asghton schedule from tapering off .5 Xanax doing the crossover to Valium..PLEASE!
Thanks, Donna

I crossed over from .5 mg K to 10 mg Valium. In your case you'd only need 5 mg Valium. It can be done!

Tony

I think you have misunderstood (unless I have misunderstood) - [...] takes a total of 1.5mg Xanax per day. This is equivalent to 30mg Valium by Ashton's equivalents.

[[Buddie]]

Thanks [...] ~
I take .50 3 times a day..I cant find one anywhere either. I was hoping to have something to print out to show my Dr. I fear her will not be very responsive to this.
Ugh..

Wait! You're taking 1.5 mg per day then?

Tony

Yep, that's how I read it.