How to crossover from 1mg xanax xr to valium

Looking for some guidance on switching to Valium. Been on xanax xr for about 8 years. Can’t seem to find anything in regards to switching from the XR to Valium. Only IR.

Hey Tylerj1096, I’m sorry no one responded, do you still need help?

No worries! I do!

 

Thank you for reaching out!

Do you already have a prescription for the Valium, and how often do you take the Xanax?  I’m not the best person to help you since I don’t have experience tapering or taking Xanax so lets talk about the basics then I’ll try to find someone to rescue me, okay?

 

 

According to this link

https://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm

1 mg xanax is equal to 20 mg of valium.

 

I am not an expert on switching.  It might make sense to do convert slowly over a period of 8 weeks.  This is a mess.  So many variables due to the lifetime of the drug.  Do you think you can cut your xanax 1 mg into 1/8 mg doses?  If so, each week reduce xanax by 1/8 and increase valium by 2.5 mg.  But I do not like any of this.

 

Look, I have seen many people try to switch their benzo to valium and I do not recall anyone ever being happy with it.  It seems like they have symptoms during the switch over and then the actual taper is NOT any easier.  You must remember, whatever you do to taper, you will have symptoms. 

 

Would you reccomend just switching to the normal xanax instant release and take .25 4 times throughout the day and let my body adjust for acouple weeks and then start tapering that?

 

My doctor wants me to do .25 Xanax IR morning, lunch, afternoon and then 5Mg valium at night. He then said every 3 weeks taper 1Mg from the valium until we get down to just .75 of Xanax and then repeat the process until all im on is 5 mg of Valium at the end of the process.

I have not filled the valium yet, as of now I am still on the Xanax XR 1 mg just in the morning.

Wow, hold on. 

Your doctor's advice looks really good to me.  Always follow the doctor when you have a good one.  This one has a good plan.

No, I would not do the switch you talk about - unless that was also in the docs plan.

 

Sorry to butt in here, but I feel I need to say something. Bob, I'm sorry about this:

 

ook, I have seen many people try to switch their benzo to valium and I do not recall anyone ever being happy with it.

 

I switched/crossed over  . . . as in I followed Ashton's Slow Withdrawal schedule and gradually replaced my Ativan with valium. And I was happy with it. For me, trying to taper from a fast-acting benzo was impossible.

 

Again, sorry to butt in but I think the OP's doc's recommended plan is not sound. I'm not going to suggest an alternate plan (not qualified), but maybe the OP and you, could look at Ashton' schedule for crossing over from xanax to valium and try to develop something similar, given the different dosages. It's here, Schedule 1:

 

https://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm

 

I do think replacing the Xanax XR with an immediate release version is necessary, though. So that part of the plan is good.

 

Just my two cents' worth as someone who did a successful cross. I wish the same for the OP.

 

Best,

 

Katz

 

 

Well Katz - the reason we write on the open forum is to get all advice - different points of view are important.

 

I am glad the cross over worked for you.

 

I wish there was a survey for the number of people who tried it and the results.

 

Perhaps people only talk about it when it fails.

I am someone who had great success switching from Klonopin to valium.  I think there are quite a few of us on the board

 

I switched from Xanax to Klonopin directly when I was having rebound anxiety with the Xanax.  That switch was good for a bit over two years, then I started having the same problems with the Klonopin.  I was on 1 mg of Klonopin taken twice a day in 2 .5mg pills.  I switched directly to 20 mg of valium a day and all of my interdose withdrawal problems went away because valium has a much longer half-life than Klonopin.

 

Dr. Ashton recommends a gradual switch, which it turned out I did not need to, but I would suggest it to most people.  If your doctor is telling you to switch from Klonopin to Valium in a specific amount I would follow his directions.  He is actually a gem of a doctor, since most doctors are not familiar with this.

 

When I was having the interdose withdrawl problems with the Klonopin, my Dr. wanted to increase the Klonopin to get me stable and then have me taper.  I presented him with the Ashton taper plan and he agreed to let me do it. 

 

I found valium to be much better to taper with since it has a longer half life and because of its equivalency.  You can get valium in 2 mg pills.  2 mg of valium is the equivalent of  .1 mg of Klonopin.  These pills are easy to cut in half, giving you .05 mg of klonopin.  I don't know how you could cut a .5 mg pill of klonopin to 10 equal parts. 

I took Xanax XR 1mg in the morning and 1mg in the evening for approx 17 years and crossed over to Valium am so glad I did!  I could not taper from Xanax, even the XR is not really XR and the lowest dose it comes in is .25mg or 5mg Valium. 

Your Doctors plan sounds good- I did a direct switch from Xanax XR .5mg to 10mg of Valium then tapered 10% every 2 weeks.  Then I repeated this with my morning dose- I am still tapering!  Be careful with the 1mg cuts as you get lower- they are fine at 10mg, but as you get lower, they become very large cuts. 

Perhaps you can talk to your doctor about this.  Here is a very handy tool to calculate your taper amount, I got this from a very wise buddy on this forum.

 

https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/algebra/percent-change-calculator.php

Thank you guys for all the help.

 

Cooper, Did you not slowly incorporate the valium? or you just completely switched?

I did slowly crossover to Valium, but did it a bit different since I was taking the XR version. 

 

First, I did a direct switch to my evening dose of Xanax XR .5mg.  I just switched to Valium 10mg in the evening. 

So, I took 1mg Xanax XR in the morning and 10mg Valium in the evening. I held here for 2 weeks to get my body adjusted to the Valium. Then, I tapered 10% every 2-4 weeks as my body tolerated. 

 

For the morning dose-after I tapered the evening dose: I did another direct switch and took .5mg Xanax XR and 10mg Valium.  Then tapered the Valium dose in the morning like I did the evening dose.

 

Then from there, I just did a direct switch to all Valium and tapered from there.  I eventually switched to just taking an evening dose of Valium once I got to 8mg Valium. 

 

I did a lot of experimentation and switching my doses around to make things work.  I also tried a DLMT, but went back to cut and hold. I have been prescribed the liquid Valium, so I am able to experiment a bit more. Everyone is so different and you have to figure out what works for your body and take things from there.  I am not saying the way I did it was right or the only way.  I am just sharing how I am tapering.  Your plan from your doctor sounds great, he sounds like he gets tapering from this evil drug.

 

I based my taper on 1mg Xanax XR being equal to 20mg Valium.

 

 

Hugs to you!