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Cross-Over to Valium Support Thread


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Scorpio, that is awful that your doctor told you that. I am so sorry you went through that. I agree with Mary that the quick switch from lorazepam to diazepam and the much lower dose of diazepam is likely the culprit. I did a crossover from clonazepam to diazepam over 6 weeks and experienced some withdrawals from the clonazepam still. At least your doctor was willing to up the dose some. It will take time for the diazepam to build up in your system so for now, hang in there and stay at the 10 and stabilize. It will probably take some time, but you will hopefully start to feel better soon.

What

 

kind of withdrawals did you have? Mary, how was diazepam hard for you

 

S71, I am off for bed but will definitely get back to you tomorrow  :).  Hope you sleep well  :sleepy: :sleepy:

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Scorpio, that is awful that your doctor told you that. I am so sorry you went through that. I agree with Mary that the quick switch from lorazepam to diazepam and the much lower dose of diazepam is likely the culprit. I did a crossover from clonazepam to diazepam over 6 weeks and experienced some withdrawals from the clonazepam still. At least your doctor was willing to up the dose some. It will take time for the diazepam to build up in your system so for now, hang in there and stay at the 10 and stabilize. It will probably take some time, but you will hopefully start to feel better soon.

What kind of withdrawals did you have? Mary, how was diazepam hard for you?

 

Increased anxiety and head pressure. The anxiety gradually subsided over a month of being on only diazepam and the head pressure took 2 months to resolve I think.

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I took 12.5 mgs of diphenhydramine and 2 extra strength acetaminophen at 9:30 pm and supposed to take 5 mgs of Valium at 12am. Will I be ok. Will I stop breathing?
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I am sorry Scorpio, I don't know what that is?

 

I had a hard time crossing, I was on Xanax and the V just knocked me out.  I was on 2 mgs of Xanax but worked my way down to 1.25 before trying to cross, that would have been 25 mg Valium.  Couldn't do it, added back some Xanax and dropped some V and held.  Then slowly started tapering again.  Valium and I have never gotten along.  I was really drugged, have had awful muscle pain, and many more symptoms.  I am down to 7.7 mgs of V now, but it has been a long slow road.  V is so different than the newer benzo's.  But in saying that, everyone's reaction is different, so there is a good chance your brain and body will adjust much quicker than mine.  Hope so.  Hope you are feeling some better today.    :)

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Scorpio, so sorry for what you have gone through.  You likely have a very sensitive nervous system, which is why you reacted badly to all those meds.  I know because I have the same issues.  Almost all meds give me bad side effects and the antidepressants, when I have first started them, all made me feel nutso.  And this includes the ones that "Genomind" said I would do well with.  These docs are really just taking a shot in the dark.  Your doctor is lucky you didn't have a dang seizure by telling you to stop the lorazepam.  What a dumb a**. 

 

Anyhow, it's not surprising that you are feeling withdrawals.  Like everyone said, you were given about half the equivalent dose that is recommended PLUS, because of the short half life of lorazepam, you went into quick withdrawals but the Valium takes a while to build up....why a slow crossover is recommended.  Hopefully, that will eventually settle for you soon.  I crossed over from Klonopin and took like 5 weeks and did it in 5 steps.  I still had withdrawals - very painful burning muscles throughout my body, especially in my shoulders, back.  I had bad head pressure, very different from my regular headaches and meds would only touch it a little.  This all eventually settled down for me but it took a few weeks.  Then, it took me a while to stabilize but it got better and better from there.  I do know of others that stabilized on less of the Ashton equivalent (a lot less) but it definitely would have been better to start higher....however, you are not necessarily doomed and God willing, this will be enough.  I would stick with at least 2 doses a day.  I still take 3. 

 

I'm a mom and wife so I can completely empathize with what you are dealing with.  Hang in there and praying it all settles for you soon. 

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Anyone know anyone or know how to cross over from zopiclone to Valium? It's not for me. I'm asking to help another buddie

 

I'm sorry, I don't know what that is? 

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Anyone know anyone or know how to cross over from zopiclone to Valium? It's not for me. I'm asking to help another buddie

 

I'm sorry, I don't know what that is?

 

It’s a z-drug.

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New member to group here.  A few months ago, I "hit a wall" and crossed to Diazepam. At first I got drowsy, which actually was welcomed as I'd not been getting sleep. However as this has progressed the drowsiness is gone and just deal with maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep/night. 

At higher doses of Diazepam the taper was relatively smooth (some rough spots), but now that I'm at 8.5 mg V/day..... the pins/needles flare just before the next dose (morning and evening).  It's possible that I need to slow down or dose 3x/day - currently I'm apprehensive about taking a midday dose.

Any feedback is welcome.

Breck

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Yes a Z drug.

 

Thanks to you and kit for asking. Looks like I’ll just have to dive in the deep end of the pool and find out for myself. Not many people have done it by the sounds x

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Hi Breck nice to meet you. I think you could benefit from asking in the taper help thread. I'm not familiar with anything but Ambien ( Z drug). I wish you the best in your taper.
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Breck, I think slowing down or holding will do you a lot of good. Valium has a sufficiently long half-life that dosing 3x a day is really unnecessary unless you are an ultra-rapid metabolizer (the only way you would know is through genetic testing).
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New member to group here.  A few months ago, I "hit a wall" and crossed to Diazepam. At first I got drowsy, which actually was welcomed as I'd not been getting sleep. However as this has progressed the drowsiness is gone and just deal with maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep/night. 

At higher doses of Diazepam the taper was relatively smooth (some rough spots), but now that I'm at 8.5 mg V/day..... the pins/needles flare just before the next dose (morning and evening).  It's possible that I need to slow down or dose 3x/day - currently I'm apprehensive about taking a midday dose.

Any feedback is welcome.

Breck

 

Hey Breck, just looking at your taper history with the V, imo, you probably need to slow down.

Valium has a long half life, so you could add another dose, but I really am not sure that would help.  You have been tapering at a pretty fast clip and I think it has caught up with you.  Try holding and giving your brain and central nervous system an opportunity to stabilize with your taper.  It may take awhile but it will eventually make your symptoms tolerable and hopefully you can start tapering at a slower rate .  I know you may want to get off this as fast as possible, but you really need to slow down, how you end your taper is very important.  If you fly off, having rough symptoms, you are probably going to have a rough time afterward.  Taking the time now can help you even that out and hopefully have an easier time when you come off the benzo.  Good luck no matter what you decide.

Mary 🍀

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Apparently I'm an "get off this stuff ASAP guy", thus all of last year wasn't pleasant.  By going too fast last year, it threw me into a 6 month stalemate until stabilizing.  By crossing over to V, in general I feel better, the cuts aren't as harsh (as K). However even diazepam doesn't come without challenges. Slowing down certainly is a better idea than spending several months holding on one dose (again).

I appreciate everyone's input. You guys are great !

Breck

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Hi everyone, I hope to get to know you all better because I'll be in this thread a lot.  I took ALprazolam for 2 months and CT (almost died).  Found a doctor to put me on 20 mg of Diazapam (no not really a cross over).  Most of my symptoms went away except for underlying anxiety (waxas and wanes).  I also have this weird Pots thing. I will not be going as fast as the ashton manual for sure: Here is my question:

 

I'm on 18 MG    4 am    4 1:30 pm  10 at night 

Heather Ashton cuts the am out first, then the afternoon second and leaves the evening dose to be cut last 

 

What are your thoughts on this?  I do sleep like a baby at night. But is it better to have even doses throughout the day?  Thanks for your thoughts on this. 

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Hi everyone, I hope to get to know you all better because I'll be in this thread a lot.  I took ALprazolam for 2 months and CT (almost died).  Found a doctor to put me on 20 mg of Diazapam (no not really a cross over).  Most of my symptoms went away except for underlying anxiety (waxas and wanes).  I also have this weird Pots thing. I will not be going as fast as the ashton manual for sure: Here is my question:

 

I'm on 18 MG    4 am    4 1:30 pm  10 at night 

Heather Ashton cuts the am out first, then the afternoon second and leaves the evening dose to be cut last 

 

What are your thoughts on this?  I do sleep like a baby at night. But is it better to have even doses throughout the day?  Thanks for your thoughts on this.

 

Valium has a long half-life so most people don’t need to dose 3x a day unless they’re an ultra-rapid metabolizer (genetic testing is required to know this for sure). Most people are fine with once daily. I dose twice daily personally. During my taper last year I followed Ashton’s suggestion and cut the morning dose out first and did pretty well. If I were you I would cut the 4 am dose first or split it and include it in your other two doses and start tapering those.

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Hey TG, the one good thing about Valium is the long half life.  I certainly wouldn't be waking myself up to take a dose.  Are you?  I took 3 doses until I got down in the 8's.  Sleeping good was great.  So it really depends on you.  What makes you feel best?  I started on the afternoon dose because I wanted the morning dose to keep my anxiety down, and the evening dose to sleep.  So I cut the afternoon dose , I don't remember how many cuts I made now to get rid of it.  Take your time, pay attention to your symptoms, don't let your taper outrun those symptoms.  Keep them as tolerable as you can  ;)

Good luck!!  Mary 🙋🏼🙋🏼

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Thanks so much for the replies.  I think I will keep my am dose and cut my afternoon dose and keep my evening dose.  I think the sleeping is helping with the healing.  Keep in mine I totally just started this but I've been keeping a journal:

-I cut

-days7-9 are bad

-today is day 14 and feeling so much better 

 

I think I will cut every three weeks instead of every two weeks.  I want to feel just good enough to cut to the next level.  and I"m doing 5% instead of 10%. 

 

Can I ask you all another question: When you were at the higher doses  14-20 mg.  Did you do more of a cut and hold. Or did you microtaper the entire time.  I bought everything to microtaper just in case 

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Thanks so much for the replies.  I think I will keep my am dose and cut my afternoon dose and keep my evening dose.  I think the sleeping is helping with the healing.  Keep in mine I totally just started this but I've been keeping a journal:

-I cut

-days7-9 are bad

-today is day 14 and feeling so much better 

 

I think I will cut every three weeks instead of every two weeks.  I want to feel just good enough to cut to the next level.  and I"m doing 5% instead of 10%. 

 

Can I ask you all another question: When you were at the higher doses  14-20 mg.  Did you do more of a cut and hold. Or did you microtaper the entire time.  I bought everything to microtaper just in case

 

Then I was cutting and holding, wish I had been using Liquid Diazapam, like I am now.  So much easier, and you can easily take smaller doses when it's time.  Sounds like you have a good plan.  Keep in mind , you can stretch that out or lower your cut, or hold at anytime, if you begin to be more symptomatic  ;)

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Thanks so much for the replies.  I think I will keep my am dose and cut my afternoon dose and keep my evening dose.  I think the sleeping is helping with the healing.  Keep in mine I totally just started this but I've been keeping a journal:

-I cut

-days7-9 are bad

-today is day 14 and feeling so much better 

 

I think I will cut every three weeks instead of every two weeks.  I want to feel just good enough to cut to the next level.  and I"m doing 5% instead of 10%. 

 

Can I ask you all another question: When you were at the higher doses  14-20 mg.  Did you do more of a cut and hold. Or did you microtaper the entire time.  I bought everything to microtaper just in case

 

Diazepam’s metabolites have a half-life of around 8 days I believe, so you having symptoms then makes sense. At the higher doses I did cut & hold, microtapering isn’t really necessary until the lower doses with diazepam. I switched to a microtaper around 8 mg.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Scorpio,

 

I came across your post because I was searching iron infusions.

Since coming off benzos, I have extremely low iron and B12 but am nervous to take either. My hematologist is suggesting iron infusions and I am really scared. Have you had any bad reactions to them while in the midst of all of this suffering? Thank you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Breck!

I’d like to ask some help, because I’ve red your posts and your signiture. I ‘ve did a Ct accidentally (because of my doctor) the last summer of 1 mg Klonopin and tried to reinstate 1,75 mg. I couldn’t stabilize, so I’ve crossed over 0,25 mg K to 5 mg Valium. It was a bit better, so I started to taper. I was never stable, but I’m near to 0,5 mg Klonopin and on 5 mg Valium now.

I ‘ve hit a wall and want to change something. I’ve red, that you have hold, then updosed, then hold again. Your next post was much more later, when you have switched to Valium. I just would like to know, that what happened after the updose. Have you stabilized? Why have you decided to CO ? I have to make some decisions: CO back to Klonopin, make a long hold and try to stabilize or continue the CO to Valium. I’m afraid of trying everything, because the last year was terrible. What is your advice?

Thank you

Enikö

 

Apparently I'm an "get off this stuff ASAP guy", thus all of last year wasn't pleasant.  By going too fast last year, it threw me into a 6 month stalemate until stabilizing.  By crossing over to V, in general I feel better, the cuts aren't as harsh (as K). However even diazepam doesn't come without challenges. Slowing down certainly is a better idea than spending several months holding on one dose (again).

I appreciate everyone's input. You guys are great !

Breck

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Hey everybody!

I’m in trouble and I’d like to get some help.

I ‘ve did a Ct accidentally (because of my doctor) the last summer of 1 mg Klonopin and tried to reinstate 1,75 mg. I couldn’t stabilize, so I’ve crossed over 0,25 mg K to 5 mg Valium. It was a bit better, so I started to taper. I was never stable, but I’m near to 0,5 mg Klonopin and on 5 mg Valium now.

I ‘ve hit a wall and want to change something. I have to make some decisions: CO back to Klonopin, make a long hold and try to stabilize and then taper or continue the CO to Valium. I’m afraid of trying everything, because the last year was really terrible. I’m barely functional with two children.

If anybody has an idea, that how can I stabilize a little and continue my taper or stop it for a while, because of this terrible covid situation , please share with me!

Thank you

Enikö

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