Anyone make a substitution taper FAST?

I've got a lot on my plate medically. I am continuing with a prednisone taper (started at 20mg over the summer/4 years, I'm currently at 12mg. YAY).

 

Prednisone taper intensifies my muscle pain significantly (which I've tried literally everything at my disposal) so I am switching to Valium in hopes it helps relieve the pain, but also will be easier to taper later.

 

My Klonopin history is 1.5 years, 0.25mg three times a day. I substituted the PM dose to 2.5mg of valium per doctor two days ago ( I know this is less than the Ashton recommends). I've been stable on 100mg of Zoloft for 6 months. started Zoloft a year ago.

 

I have the option to go to 10mg TOTAL in a day. I am going to go to 5mg of valium tonight, then hope to substitute the two daily doses soon.

 

I NEED to keep up with my prednisone taper, but doing two "things" at a time never ends well for me. I need to get switched over to V quickly...

 

So, how quick can I go? Ideally I'd like to be at a tiny dose in the am, and the largest dose PM.

 

Any ideas?

What have you felt since you substituted 2.5 mgs Valium for .25 mgs Klonopin?

A bit tired/groggy in the am. Nothing too bad though! A little more dizzy than normal, but I’m prone to dizziness.

The trouble with Valium is it takes awhile to feel changes which is good if you're tapering but not so good if you're trying to pick up the pace.  You can add in the Valium and eliminate the Klonopin a little quicker but will this leave you without coverage while the Valium builds up?  The only way to know is to give it a try but really, tapers are all about experimenting on ourselves so this is standard practice unfortunately.

 

I'm definitely no stranger to the experimentation. 

 

I appreciate your feedback! I'm going to up the V a tad to 3.75 tonight to see how I tolerate. Still doing K 0.25 am and noon.

Please let us know how it goes, the only way we learn is by good people like you sharing your story and hopefully helping the next person. 

Absolutely right!!!! So far so good. I took 3.75 last night and slept well, feel relaxed this morning. Increasing to 5mg valium tonight. May cut half off the mid-day dose of K tomorrow. I will see how today goes. Then give it a bit more time before I switch out the am dose. I need to get on another prednisone drop in the next few weeks so I have to plan accordingly. But most importantly to how I FEEL.

 

 

This is good to hear, your challenges with the prednisone taper and pain are enough to have on your plate right now.