Some questions regarding 10mg diazepam taper

[[Buddie]]

Dear Benzo Buddies,

I am hoping you are all doing as well as can be expected!

I am relatively new here. Living in Derry, Northern Ireland.

I have been maintaining (stabilising?) on 10 mg of diazepam for about 8 months. Hoping to start tapering soon with a sympathetic GP.

One question I have is based on current sxs (I have loads) at this maintained dose, am I likely to have an horrific ride from this point (in your experience)?

Also I’ve felt so much more wave than window since my belly started bulging 3 weeks ago. Could this possibly be affecting absorption of diazepam?

Finally any Irish / Northern Irish folk on here?

Best wishes

Brian

[[Buddie]]

Link to my background in all this craziness:

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=272754.msg3437338#new

(Not sure if this works)

[[Buddie]]

Hi Brian

I've read your story and you've been through a lot! There's no way to predict how your taper will be. That said, there's also no reason to think you'll have a horrific taper. I had a horrific start to my taper (bedridden and non-functional) and after the first four months when I stabilized my taper was manageable and I was functional all the way to jumping. I do believe if you take it slow enough it gives you the best chance of success. If you have loads of symptoms you just want the intensity of those symptoms to be manageable when you taper. Many people report feeling better as they get lower. Unfortunately benzo withdrawal is a very unique individual experience. You'll only know how yours is once you start.

[[Buddie]]

Hi [...],

I hope you are well!

Many thanks for the advice. Spoke to my GP today who wanted me to start going from 10mg diazepam per day to 7.5mg. I said absolutely not. I wanted to do 0.5 mg to start to see how my tolerance would be and she said she couldn’t support that. We negotiated 1 mg every 1 to 2 weeks (this seems in line with Ashton). She said she had de-prescribed lots of patients from benzos, but her initial reduction makes me think she isn’t benzo-wise. My hope was to have a benzo-wise doc. My additional concern is that Ashton advised 0.5 mg reduction from 5mg onwards. I wanted this to be a patient / experience led withdrawal and worried it won’t be.

Nervous and apprehensive.

BW,

Brian 

[[Buddie]]

Oh gosh I'm so sorry. I'm glad you didn't settle for the 2.5mg reduction. Some people can tolerate the 1mg cuts but for others it's too much. I would definitely not make these cuts weekly but rather every 2 weeks.

Would it be possible to get a different prescriber?

[[Buddie]]

i went off 10MG valium 10 years ago. For me, i went down 1MG every 10 days. I believe the symptoms if they were to happen would come on around 2nd or 3rd day after cutting. Its all a crap shoot man. Sometimes id take the cut and not feel a thing. Other times id go down 1MG and id feel like i had the flu and every symptom in world would occur, i wouldnt sleep, eat, high anxiety and depression up the ass. Id just kept going. I would cut every 10 days. I figured if i could go about 5-7 days stable that was good enough for me to keep going. Thats how it was for me though, everyone is different. iM starting my 10MG taper this friday, same plan 1MG down every 10 days. Ive only been on it for 3 weeks now, and honestly im feeling great (after a cross over of being on xanax for 4 months) but as far as im concerned i want off this crap...any of it. I dont want anything to do with benzos ever again. So im willing to go through the pain to get to the end result instead of hanging out on this crap forever.

[[Buddie]]

Pamster, thanks for the advice. My family are insisting I start tapering tomorrow. So scared as my anxiety is feeling unmanageable. Not sure what to do. I know I’ve reached tolerance so hoping it won’t be a significant initial period. Part of my issue is I feel my family are fatigued from my lack of ability to not go into extreme panic all the time. They are my current only support as I really can’t articulate my experience to friends (or family as they just think I’m organically anxious & can’t accept that drugs are doing this to me.

My other issue is my fear of the effect that Seroquel (quetiapine) or (less so) mirtazapine will impact on my taper.

It feels like I’m jumping into a void that I’m convinced will be the end of me. That’s why I wanted to start slow (0.5 mg) so I could try and feel more in control.

[[Buddie]]

[...],

Thanks so much for taking the time to give me a detailed account of your experience. It really helped to give me some information on what to expect. Due to start tomorrow and significantly apprehensive.

I had to Google “crap shoot” as I’m (O)Irish and needed to work out the Americanism. Great phrase. I might start using it to confuse other Emerald Islers.

Good luck with your attempt no. 2!

[[Buddie]]

Pamster, thanks for the advice. My family are insisting I start tapering tomorrow. So scared as my anxiety is feeling unmanageable. Not sure what to do. I know I’ve reached tolerance so hoping it won’t be a significant initial period. Part of my issue is I feel my family are fatigued from my lack of ability to not go into extreme panic all the time. They are my current only support as I really can’t articulate my experience to friends (or family as they just think I’m organically anxious & can’t accept that drugs are doing this to me.

My other issue is my fear of the effect that Seroquel (quetiapine) or (less so) mirtazapine will impact on my taper.

It feels like I’m jumping into a void that I’m convinced will be the end of me. That’s why I wanted to start slow (0.5 mg) so I could try and feel more in control.

I'm sorry you're experiencing pressure from your family. I'm sure it's coming from a place of love and care even though they don't understand what withdrawal is all about. Maybe it can help to show them this? https://www.benzoinfo.com/2022/12/05/supporting-an-adult-child-in-benzo-withdrawal/

What reduction are you looking at?

[[Buddie]]

Hi Pamster,

Been on 9mg (1mg reduction) since Monday. Feeling pretty rotten but not that much different from before Monday.

Thanks for the family advice also.

Brian