Advice on Valium Taper under 4 mg

Ive been on 4 mg  (2 x 2mg at night) for 2 weeks now.  Ive been cutting every 2 weeks.  I talked to my PsyDoc and she supports slow taper.  I talked to my pharmacist and she can order liquid valium.  Im looking for good advice on how to proceed with my next cut.  Should I do daily micro taper starting with 3.5?  Should I continue to cut 10% every two weeks?  Im moderately functional today and Im using gabapentin 100 mg about 4x per day and it may be covering some sxs. Also melatonin.  Insomnia, mild anxiety, some anhedonia and loud tinnitus.  I want to walk off as gently as possible but Im horrible at math.  Any advice is appreciated.

I got hit with a huge wave this morning of continuous diarrhea and weakness.  Im wondering if I should hold another week?  Ive not had this before and Im worried.  Please, please advise?  Doctors are of no use.

How are you feeling now, is the diarrhea and weakness withdrawal related?

 

If you decide to go with the liquid Valium, you can continue to use your tablets and only reduce using the liquid until you get lower in dose.  And when you do start with the liquid, its best not to make a reduction right away, give your body time to get used to the new form of medication.

 

If cut and hold has been working for you then you might want to stay with that method. 

Thank you so much Pam for your kind response.  I did end up in the ER bc of dehydration and the most gruesome d******** that totally caught me off guard.  They found no reason so I have to think it was something I ate (lamb) or a wave?  They gave me liquids etc and d/c me after a few hours.

 

My Pdoc who is very kind told me to hold at 4 mg another week.  Im not quite clear on how to use liquids along with cut and hold. Im really dense on that.  Would I cut to 3.5 and add liquid to micro taper? ie. 3.9, 3.8, 3.7 .....  and so on down to 3.5 then rinse repeat?

 

Oh my goodness, what a horrible ordeal, I’m glad you got help, I’m thinking food poisoning. 

 

Let me see if I can find someone to help you figure out how to work this. 

I’ve been thinking about your situation and it looks like you’ve made a 20% reduction in dose in under a month.  That’s a lot, you might want to consider slowing down your taper rate. 

 

Are you stable on your current dose of 4mg, if not, you might consider holding, you don’t want a repeat trip to the ER if it was benzo related.

 

When you feel stable, here’s one way you could proceed.  It would be helpful to ask your doctor if they’d be willing to prescribe both the liquid and 2 mg tablets.

 

Stage 1: switch one-half of dose to liquid

 

2mg in tablet + 2mL in liquid  - hold for at least a week, preferably two to evaluate how you respond to the liquid, if you’re ok then proceed to Stage 2

 

Stage 2:

 

2mg in tablet + 2mL in liquid, taper liquid to 0 as tolerated

 

Stage 3:

 

2mL in liquid, taper liquid to 0 as tolerated

I agree Pamster and I messaged my Pdoc and she agrees to hold @ 4 mg for another week.  I feel fairly stable and have had no d******* since my ER visit.  I also have a Gi doc that I'll call on Monday bc he told me to take Metamucil after I was D/C from hospital in February for diverticulitis.  A week ago my s****s were loose so I quit taking the Metamucil but I also drank a high protein drink the day before the episode.  Something triggered it, either a wave or something I did inadvertently.

 

Nevertheless Pam I going to present your suggestion to my psych and we can do that.  I certainly want to go gently especially at my age.

 

Again, thank you for your detailed and precise response.  You're a lifesaver here in BB.  I try to read all the "good stuff" and you're usually spot on.

 

Regards,

 

Aly

I’m thankful you’re feeling a bit better and it looks like you have a good medical team so I’m hopeful things will go smoothly for you when you feel well enough to begin again.  Thank you for your kind words. 

I’m not sure if this is helpful but I micro taper with quarter compound and supplement in between with liquid. I’m extremely sensitive to tapering with withdrawal side effects and need to be able to function on a daily basis. Anyway, I do get my capsule compounded. The liquid when I first started using it in addition to the pill took a few days to adjust to so I just held those days. I do a .02 decrease using a 1ml syringe two days on one day hold. Currently on 1.75mg compound in AM and 1.50 mg compound + .20ml (1.70mg) in the evening using the 5mg/5ml a liquid diazepam. I’m not sure if this helps.