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Hello All,

 

I successfully tapered all the way down dry cutting.  The taper took 16 months and I am now alprazolam free for three weeks.

 

This can be done…

 

Seasalt congrats for kicking that xanax monster!!! Enjoy your freedom and pray for those of us who have gone through the mills. I'm really so happy for you I'll toast to your freedom with orange juice  :smitten:

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Hi everyone, I don't know how many people follow this group anymore and how many will read but I'll ask a question.

 

First I want to encourage 300 and Fruitypop. Things usually improve for those holding but it does take a few months in many cases when you've reached a bad place in your taper.

 

My question is: how many people do you know that were dry cutters and successfully finished a difficult taper dry cutting? Not short term users or on time users, but long term, kindled user like me. Do we know any of those that could dry cut till the end? I think Stutt and Olive Kitty did? Maybe Esperanza? I'm dry cutting because I can't handle the liquid thing, but I'm scared something can go wrong with these low doses with the dry cutting. That's why I want to know of people who could do the same successfully. Hoping everyone is getting closer to their goals.

 

Hi Valiumnomore,

 

I may not fall in the long term catagory but I was pollydrugged and on benzos twice so I wanted to offer my support.  My brain, going into my last benzo taper was shaky as hell. 

 

I dry cut the whole way down in my benzo using a nail file and scale. (My body could not handle a liquid taper)

 

I did not have an issue with the method nor did I focus on med distribution and the fear around that. I read some research posted by someone I trusted on the SA website about how medication is bound together in tablets.  I decided to accept that research. I was also reassured by someone on this site that as long as I was moving down incrementally, the precision issue would not be an issue.  I'm not talking big swings in measuring but tiny cuts that kept the tapering safe.

 

I focused on doing a combination of a micro and symptoms based taper. I made it all the way to the end using this method.  My taper was 22 months long and I made some mistakes along the way-trying compound pills, trying cut and hold until I found a rhythm.

 

I hope this is helpful VNM.  A dry cut taper is doable and many people I know have been successful. 

 

Final Healing

 

Final Healing, any idea where I could find the posts you mention about the distribution of the active ingredient in the pill not being a big issue? If you know where to find it without it taking up much of your time, please let me know. I hope you're enjoying a better life now.

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Final Healing, any idea where I could find the posts you mention about the distribution of the active ingredient in the pill not being a big issue? If you know where to find it without it taking up much of your time, please let me know. I hope you're enjoying a better life now.

 

Hi VNM,

 

I am enjoying a better life. I am working, have my emotions back, no more medication induced depression and I feel optimistic.  I occasionally have some minor waves of emotions but nothing like the waves in active withdrawal.

 

Here is the link to the post I mentioned. It's from the website, Surviving Antidepressants and written by someone named Brass Monkey, a well respected and trusted moderator on that site.  The post is interesting but if you want to get straight to heart of the matter, go down to the bottom of his post to the section that starts with, It's All In the Mix. 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/22065-myths-about-your-drugs/

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Ok, I need some help!!

 

I’m almost 50 and was quite regular until this mess.

My mom didn’t go through menopause until 59!!

 

So the stupid Ativan/Valium has made everything erratic, so I have no idea when my period is coming.

 

Does anyone else get migraine headaches or just plain headaches that are very bad just before and the first few days after their period??

 

Of course my latest cut coincides perfectly with my stupid period.

 

I was so much better when it was gone for 120 days.

 

Any ideas on how to treat these things?  I can’t take Advil.

 

How I’ll I ever get off…..

 

Hurting Winnie

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Hi Val  and others,

 

Yes, I am one of the dry cutters who made it all the way down. Like FH I used scales and a nail file. I read a line here on BB that really helped me. It said: " don't let the medication get the upper hand - don't give it too much importance once you got this low ..."

I too worried about the distribution of the Valium in the tablet. I fixed that by breaking off and filing the tablet from different sides, if that makes any sense.

 

Like FH,  I listened to my body 's reaction to each daily micro-cut. Sometimes I needed to hold for a day or two.  And then continue.

 

It can be done, Val! Trust your body and mind!

 

At the moment I 'm doing the same DMT of Paxil. Now, at 12 mgs I felt I needed to slow down.

 

THE ONLY WAY TO TAPER THESE DRUGS IS:  .......GO SLOW!!!.......and never give up hope!

 

Best of luck to you Val, and everyone on here.

 

Trochsetter

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So glad you are doing well Troch and that your Paxil taper is moving along slowly.  Pretty soon you will be free of that med as well. 

 

For everyone on this thread, it can be hard to believe that you will get off but you will.  The fear used to cause me to focus on the what could go wrong with either the med distribution, or the accurate weighing of the pills or how often to taper.  And because my brain was injured from the medication, it makes sense that that kind of rumination would happen.  It's not  our fault or due to some character flaw-it's the medication. 

 

Like Troch says, try not to let the med get the upper hand or hang out on threads where there is a lot of focus on "what could go wrong". Tapering is hard enough without obsessing on the horror of it, which is different than having a thread where you can share pain and fear. In my opinion, the space to feel those feelings is important along with receiving encouragement.

 

My goal was to be stable enough to keep going and stable meant, tolerable. I've mentioned before I used a rating scale of 1-10.  If I was in the 5,6,7 zone, it meant I was uncomfortable but could tolerate tapering. If I was a 8,9, or 10, I held until I got back to a 6 or 7. 

 

Wishing everyone a decent day today. 

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Hi, I am planning to do a long hold once I get to .75 mgs K daily.  Looks like it will be around Thanksgiving week.  Holding because I am not at the point where I can take a leave/resign/retire from current job.

I am going to read through all of the posts on this long topic thread...I am wondering if just a partial taper leads to a better life, even if you are still on a substantial amount daily. 

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Hi IvyGibbsville,

 

Good on you to plan a hold at a certain point, it gives you a ' dot at the horizon' - something to be looking forward to. But don't let it control you. Don't get fixated on that point. Listen to your body and mind!

 

Yes, it did make my life better while holding after a partial taper! You have time to breath and prepare for the next step.

Even holding is a step towards completely finishing the taper and regaining freedom. You will make it!

 

Best of luck!

 

Trochsetter

 

 

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So glad you are doing well Troch and that your Paxil taper is moving along slowly.  Pretty soon you will be free of that med as well. 

 

For everyone on this thread, it can be hard to believe that you will get off but you will.  The fear used to cause me to focus on the what could go wrong with either the med distribution, or the accurate weighing of the pills or how often to taper.  And because my brain was injured from the medication, it makes sense that that kind of rumination would happen.  It's not  our fault or due to some character flaw-it's the medication. 

 

Like Troch says, try not to let the med get the upper hand or hang out on threads where there is a lot of focus on "what could go wrong". Tapering is hard enough without obsessing on the horror of it, which is different than having a thread where you can share pain and fear. In my opinion, the space to feel those feelings is important along with receiving encouragement.

 

My goal was to be stable enough to keep going and stable meant, tolerable. I've mentioned before I used a rating scale of 1-10.  If I was in the 5,6,7 zone, it meant I was uncomfortable but could tolerate tapering. If I was a 8,9, or 10, I held until I got back to a 6 or 7. 

 

Wishing everyone a decent day today.

 

This is a great post. Thank you so much!

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Trochsetter,

 

I noticed that you held at 3.0mgs for 6 months before resuming tapering.  Then I noticed that your last milligrams went pretty quickly for you.  How much better did the 6 month hold make you feel?

 

I have taken about a year taper 2.0 mg V to 0.55mgs V.  I have hit a wall at have held about  2 weeks but don’t feel much better yet.  I am hoping holding a few weeks will help me restart my taper.

 

Michael

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So glad you are doing well Troch and that your Paxil taper is moving along slowly.  Pretty soon you will be free of that med as well. 

 

For everyone on this thread, it can be hard to believe that you will get off but you will.  The fear used to cause me to focus on the what could go wrong with either the med distribution, or the accurate weighing of the pills or how often to taper.  And because my brain was injured from the medication, it makes sense that that kind of rumination would happen.  It's not  our fault or due to some character flaw-it's the medication. 

 

Like Troch says, try not to let the med get the upper hand or hang out on threads where there is a lot of focus on "what could go wrong". Tapering is hard enough without obsessing on the horror of it, which is different than having a thread where you can share pain and fear. In my opinion, the space to feel those feelings is important along with receiving encouragement.

 

My goal was to be stable enough to keep going and stable meant, tolerable. I've mentioned before I used a rating scale of 1-10.  If I was in the 5,6,7 zone, it meant I was uncomfortable but could tolerate tapering. If I was a 8,9, or 10, I held until I got back to a 6 or 7. 

 

Wishing everyone a decent day today.

 

Did holds help you to feel better?

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So glad you are doing well Troch and that your Paxil taper is moving along slowly.  Pretty soon you will be free of that med as well. 

 

For everyone on this thread, it can be hard to believe that you will get off but you will.  The fear used to cause me to focus on the what could go wrong with either the med distribution, or the accurate weighing of the pills or how often to taper.  And because my brain was injured from the medication, it makes sense that that kind of rumination would happen.  It's not  our fault or due to some character flaw-it's the medication. 

 

Like Troch says, try not to let the med get the upper hand or hang out on threads where there is a lot of focus on "what could go wrong". Tapering is hard enough without obsessing on the horror of it, which is different than having a thread where you can share pain and fear. In my opinion, the space to feel those feelings is important along with receiving encouragement.

 

My goal was to be stable enough to keep going and stable meant, tolerable. I've mentioned before I used a rating scale of 1-10.  If I was in the 5,6,7 zone, it meant I was uncomfortable but could tolerate tapering. If I was a 8,9, or 10, I held until I got back to a 6 or 7. 

 

Wishing everyone a decent day today.

 

Did holds help you to feel better?

 

I did very minor holds. I found this thread and everyone was so nice that I hung out here for awhile. They were fine that I wasn't doing long holds.

 

In my taper, I would hold for 5 or 6 days when my cuts caught up with me.

 

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So glad you are doing well Troch and that your Paxil taper is moving along slowly.  Pretty soon you will be free of that med as well. 

 

For everyone on this thread, it can be hard to believe that you will get off but you will.  The fear used to cause me to focus on the what could go wrong with either the med distribution, or the accurate weighing of the pills or how often to taper.  And because my brain was injured from the medication, it makes sense that that kind of rumination would happen.  It's not  our fault or due to some character flaw-it's the medication. 

 

Like Troch says, try not to let the med get the upper hand or hang out on threads where there is a lot of focus on "what could go wrong". Tapering is hard enough without obsessing on the horror of it, which is different than having a thread where you can share pain and fear. In my opinion, the space to feel those feelings is important along with receiving encouragement.

 

My goal was to be stable enough to keep going and stable meant, tolerable. I've mentioned before I used a rating scale of 1-10.  If I was in the 5,6,7 zone, it meant I was uncomfortable but could tolerate tapering. If I was a 8,9, or 10, I held until I got back to a 6 or 7. 

 

Wishing everyone a decent day today.

 

This is a great post. Thank you so much!

 

:)

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Hi All-

 

I am back looking for support that I am not so bad I won't recover. After trying a rescue dose and then a few weeks later dose correcting my micro taper back 14 days it brought on a lot of adrenaline and stimulation but also much more fatigue. I have barely lift my head off the bed and only making it to the restroom. Family is bringing me food. I am just so weak and my bones feel crushed as if someone ran them over. POTS is very bad and just standing is very difficult like I will pass out along with extreme electricity type feels no when upright. Has anyon crashed this hard and still stabilized. I worry 2mg isn't enough but I can't up dose the med is stimulating.

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Hope everyone’s fairing well. I just got to day 30 in an hour day 31. Woke up the last few days in panics... gosh. Hate it. Feel sad trying to stay optimistic

 

Hope we all get relief soon

 

 

@winniedog

Yes I’ve been getting headaches. Starts around day 23 or so. It sucks really bad I never have headaches beforee K. Never! I have been having them so badly that I cannot think straight and I feel like my arms and legs are not attached. I take a Tylenol lately because that scares me! I think it might be some Dpdr that amps up do to anxiety / pain from the headache. It’s crazy. Month 6 out now and the last few months  have been headache - this last cycle headache was the worst out of all of them and while in tolerance withdrawal all together. But pms wasn’t as bad as last month still bad tho

 

I’m 32 but the pms I never had before benzos. Only cry a little few times. 

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Is there anyone who got in a bad spot and started waking to adrenaline every 1.5-2 hours through the night and a long hold resolved this?

 

Thank you for any shared experience. I am becoming tired and weary. Hope everyone is comfortable this evening.

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Hi,

 

I had adrenaline surges when I tried to sleep for a long time. 

 

I posted this in my most recent update in Benzo Celebrations. 

 

"I do drink an Adrenal Cocktail, 1/2 cup natural OJ, 1/4 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt and 1/4 tsp of creme of tartar to support my adrenals.  I drink it as needed but when I was in withdrawal and too revved up to relax at night, I drank it 2x a day at 10AM and 2PM. In about 10 days the hyper feeling subsided and I started to sleep better, which at that time was about 3-5 hours a night with many nights of little sleep.  There are versions of this cocktail that use other liquids if you can't handle OJ".

 

I was told, again from a peer support group, that the salt, Vitamin C and potassium, support the adrenals.  It was easier for me to drink the cocktail than figure out the separate supplements. 

 

I also used a sleep mask and kept the room very dark. 

 

It's unfair what these meds put us through.  I hope things start to settle down for you.

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Hi,

 

I had adrenaline surges when I tried to sleep for a long time. 

 

I posted this in my most recent update in Benzo Celebrations. 

 

"I do drink an Adrenal Cocktail, 1/2 cup natural OJ, 1/4 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt and 1/4 tsp of creme of tartar to support my adrenals.  I drink it as needed but when I was in withdrawal and too revved up to relax at night, I drank it 2x a day at 10AM and 2PM. In about 10 days the hyper feeling subsided and I started to sleep better, which at that time was about 3-5 hours a night with many nights of little sleep.  There are versions of this cocktail that use other liquids if you can't handle OJ".

 

I was told, again from a peer support group, that the salt, Vitamin C and potassium, support the adrenals.  It was easier for me to drink the cocktail than figure out the separate supplements. 

 

I also used a sleep mask and kept the room very dark. 

 

It's unfair what these meds put us through.  I hope things start to settle down for you.

 

Thank you! I have tried the adrenal cocktail so many times and can’t handle the sugar and salt concentration.

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I want to jump on this thread, as my cycle is giving me a lot of grief.  I'm about a week late and I feel like I've been thrown into full-on menopause.  I've had perimenopause symptoms for years (I'm almost 46), but before this latest setback, my periods had been quite regular and not terribly bothersome except for the excess blood loss, weakness and anemia.  The longer my period takes to arrive, the worse I feel.  I woke up this morning with scary tachycardia and fear, almost terror.  And I'm so, so emotional!  Everything makes me cry.  I'm having miserable hot flashes which wake me up throughout the night.  I so don't want to be in menopause yet!
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Hi everyone.. I am new victim of this too... Even though I took medicine for very short time it has affected my cycle badly. Less bleeding and for just two days max and very delayed cycle. I don't know when it wil get back to normal or is it going to be same forever.
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Hi everyone.. I am new victim of this too... Even though I took medicine for very short time it has affected my cycle badly. Less bleeding and for just two days max and very delayed cycle. I don't know when it wil get back to normal or is it going to be same forever.

 

How late have your cycles been?  Mine's over a week now and I'm worried I'll never get it back.

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Hi everyone.. I am new victim of this too... Even though I took medicine for very short time it has affected my cycle badly. Less bleeding and for just two days max and very delayed cycle. I don't know when it wil get back to normal or is it going to be same forever.

 

How late have your cycles been?  Mine's over a week now and I'm worried I'll never get it back.

From past two months it's 6-7 days delayed. I don't want to go in menopause at this age  :'( I hate this medicine :tickedoff:

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