Flying across time zones - adjust dosing times? Any help.

Hi All

 

I am UK based, and in 2 weeks I will be flying to the US east coast for a 3 week vacation.

 

I currently dose my Valium at about 7am and 7pm split. The time difference for me will be 5 hours behind when we arrive in new York.

 

What should I do with dosage times please? Stay the same or stick with my UK times?

 

Any help or advice from anyone who has had to do this mid taper would be greatly appreciated. My taper is going okay and I am scared to mess it up.

 

Thank you.

 

Maa xx

Hi MAA, good to see you!

 

Let's see.  If you remained on the UK schedule you would dose at noon and midnight in the US for three weeks.  And if you converted to US time you would dose at 7am/7pm US time, which would be five hours early to your body clock.

 

First, I'd say it is not a big deal either way.  It's just five hours and is a one-time blip.  But a key thing here is that if you switch to US time you would be dosing earlier than usual, not later.  So you will have slightly more of the drug, not less.  For this reason I don't think the UK-to-US switch would be any issue at all.  But, in three weeks is when the kicker would happen.  When you return to the UK you would be dosing five hours later than your new US time (which your body would have gotten used to) so you will be slightly short.  But again, I don't think five hours is going to matter much either way.

 

Still, I think if it were me I'd just remain on UK time and dose at noon and midnight for three weeks.  If those dosing times were not convenient I'd just make the jump to NY time on the front end (since you will be ahead of the game on this switch) and shift your dose time gradually back to UK time when you return home...maybe an hour or two a day.  But again, don't sweat it.  None of this is a big deal.

Hi SG - how are you? 

 

Thank you for the reassurance, I know I am over thinking it, but best to check 

 

I worked it out that I would have to dose at 2am and 2pm new York time which was not appealing to me 

 

Maa xx

Hmmm...If you currently dose at 7am/7pm and there is a five hour time shift, doesn't that mean noon/midnight in the US?

 

But anyway, another wrinkle to this is you could also choose something in between.  No need to jump all the way to 7am NY time.  For example, if 9am was convenient you could make the jump directly to 9am on the way over and then on the way back you would only have a three hour dose time difference to make up instead of five.

 

But what ever you do I really think you can't go wrong on the way over as no matter what you are dosing early or on time.  It is only on the back end that you end up dosing later.

Hey SG

 

In the UK I am five hours in front of East Coast US, so 7am UK time would be 2am New York time.

 

I like the idea of something like halfway, but as you say I should be okay anyway.

 

Maa xx

Doh!  I had it backwards

 

So it is the other way around.  The late dosing comes on the UK-to-US leg and the switch back is the one that could be done in one jump.

 

Sorry for all the confusion.  It all made so much sense when I was thinking about it.

I did the same trip going the other way. Split the time difference. Would do 3 hours earlier - other option is to shift your dose an hour earlier for a few days then again, etc before you go.

 

Hi Mark,

 

How are things going post jump? Feeling as good as when your taper ended or feeling better the longer you are off? Was wondering if any of the old stuff was creeping back in, or if you were having any waves.

 

tryin'

Thank you SG and Mark!

 

Take good care of yourselves xx

Hi Mark,

 

How are things going post jump? Feeling as good as when your taper ended or feeling better the longer you are off? Was wondering if any of the old stuff was creeping back in, or if you were having any waves.

 

tryin'

 

Hey thanks for checking in. Things going well - huge relief to be done...didnt think it was possible when I started.  Was pretty good at end..and seem to be even better now.  I guess I am feeling better since I don't think about it much anymore:)

Hope things are going well for you!

Hi All

 

Well I am back from a fabulous 3 week tour.

 

Now I need to start microtaper again as I held during my holiday as didn't want to mess with finding milk and fridges on the road.

 

I currently take 1.5mg pills about 7am and 2mg 6pm.  Not sure how to best proceed from here? Put the .5mg in 50ml whole milk and draw out from there. Uneven dosing seems okay for me.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Maa xx

Hi MAA,

 

Welcome back.  Sounds like you enjoyed it.

 

Can you remind me...what pill sizes do you have?

Hello SG

 

Hope you have been keeping well?

We had the best time, new York, Washington, west Virginia, Niagara falls, Boston, cape cod then back to JFK and home phewee

 

I have 2mg diazepam pills.  Thank you.

 

Maa xx

I'm in Maryland, sorta near all that stuff.  You covered a lot of ground in three weeks.

 

Okay, 2mg V pills and a dose of 3.5mg.  You might put the 2mg pill into 20ml whole milk so that each ml will contain .1mg V.  Then dose the other pill dry.  If you want to keep your dosing uneven you could take...

 

AM - 1mg dry+1mg wet (10ml)

PM - 1mg dry+.5mg wet (5ml)

 

Or you could even things up 50/50 across the board.  A cautious cut size to start would be .015mg (.15ml).

Yes I saw a lot of Maryland plates whilst driving around. Maybe one was even you )

 

Thanks for the details - I am just wondering how I will make small cuts with only 20ml milk daily? Sorry, maths not my strongest subject 

 

Maa xx

2mg into 20ml is a .1mg/ml strength so a full 1ml syringe will contain .1mg V.  That means every .1ml (one tenth of it) will be .01mg.  So if you use a 1ml syringe and reduce by .15ml per day it will be an accurate .015mg cut.

Gotcha

 

I have only 10ml syringes I think and I bought about 50 of them on Amazon, so I could put 2mg in 200ml milk and do it that way with the 10ml syringes? Does that work out?

Yes, you got it   2mg in 200ml would be a .01mg/ml strength which is a good match for a 10ml syringe.

I do get there eventually (albeit a LOT slower than I would like) but I blame it on age and benzo brain of course 

Hi SG if you are still around

 

I just wanted to drop in and say hi and let people know that you can recover whilst tapering very slowly

 

I am down to .5mg of Valium, titration very slowly, I will be off in the new year I went back to work full-time about 14 months ago and do a 50 hour week with travel and manage my 2 teenagers as well.

 

Keep the faith and take a day at a time - I will post again when I am done with the last 1/2 mg

 

Thanks to all that helped me when I started the titration and had so many questions.

 

Take care all - lots of love and hugs xxxx