husband in need of guidance

Hi  my wife is currently on 

40 mgs parnate anti depressant

3 mgs rivotril       

6.25 mgs valium

 

we have slowly withdrawing the valium at the moment (only because the valium according to her DNA test said that it could have an adverse reaction)   

we are going ok following the ashton manual    but i would like to know if what is happening is ok

 

my wife is getting good windows of normality for a few days then she will say that she feels a bit off and i know that the next day she will crash waking with panic ,crazy head ect ect

anxiety will stay with her for most of the day and also fear then afew days of this and she will slowly come good where she will wake with no panic or any symptoms  and then the cycle starts again    i will also add that she has agorophobia and doesnt go out at all but when the windows open she talks about going out

 

we have come down from 15 mgs of valium over a year to where we are now

i hope to find out that we are doing this right 

 

 

thank you  Danny

It looks like she's experiencing normal symptoms, isn't it weird that you can almost predict the unpredictable when it comes to the onset of her symptoms?  At what point in the taper does she feel this, is it a certain number of days after she reduces?

 

You mentioned following the Ashton manual for the diazepam, is she tapering 1 mg every week or two?  How do you plan to reduce the Rivotril when its time?

Hi Pamster thanks for the reply,

i need to clarify what has happened for you

my wife SUE has had 2 stints in hospital 1st for 4 months trying to change antidepressant  then 5 months later because the antidepressant didn't work Sue was put in hospital again for another 5 months this was approx January 2022 till July 2022 and Sue was on 7Mg's of rivotril and on valium as needed for anxiety  in that 5 months the psychiatrist withdrew 4 mgs of rivotril  while also changing the antidepressant and using the valium to help with the panic

i knew that Sue was suffering from massive withdrawals so when she had settled enough i had to get her home and stop and let her brain catch up      at this stage she was not having any windows at all Sue could not have any family around had not been out of her room and just functioning    so after a great deal of research we decided (with our daughter who is a nurse) to start to chip away at the valium we were taking out 10% of the valium only so we started on 15mgs and withdrew 1.5 mgs and so on after the first lot came out around 3 days we had a few days of windows we are reducing every 2 weeks some times longer but not much  Sue seemed to have the withdrawals  and then get a few days up then the same cycle would start 

so do i keep taking the 10% out at the same rate?

and also when she goes down she finds it hard to accept that it is the medication that is doing this which i can understand but i keep reassuring her that it seems to be the cycle that is happening to her

as for the rivotril i will take that out the same way i have excess to a compound chemist  but first we will get the valium out

 

thankyou  i hope you can understand this        Danny

It looks to me like Sue is in good hands with you helping manage her taper, I see the expected onset of symptoms after the reduction but its good she's leveling out.  The 10% seems to be working for her and its typical to doubt what we're feeling is because of the drug.  Our mind keeps telling us we've got some horrible disease, the fear we live with isn't rational but it feels real to us. 

So sorry for your wife's suffering Danny and so sorry you're having to witness it. No one can possibly understand how very very difficult it is. I know, I'm right there myself. Thank you so much for being the husband, and the rock, that she needs right now.  Take care of yourself too.

 

With Love from England

 

Diana