Successful cross from .25 K to 5 mg Valium

Hi Everyone,

 

I just want to share that I am doing very much better after crossing from .25 K to 5 mg Valium.

 

Under K, symptoms were excruciating. I was anxious, depressed and agitated, unable to sit down and just pacing for long periods of time.  I lost 20 pounds in just a few months. I experienced insomnia, and during the day had  many of the symptoms that are mentioned on the board - tinnitus, flu-like exhaustion, no ability to think, etc..

 

Eventually, I found a doctor who was willing to help.  After observing that I just couldn’t get much lower than .25 mg K without  updosing due to increased symptoms, she agreed to consider that maybe it was the K itself that was the problem.  I know that all benzos are considered to be the same by many, but I was desperate and believed it might help. Maybe I was having a paradoxical reaction to K that I would not have to V.

 

My new doctor prescribed liquid diazepam, and as suggested by SG57 on this board, I began a crossover of 5% less K (.0125 mg) and 5% more V (.25) “every few days”.  In reality, I waited a week before I took my second step, and then 4 days and then, by the last 2 weeks, I took a step every other day.

 

I started feeling better by the halfway mark and felt good, as in symptom free and normal, by the end of the cross over.  In fact, on my last step I dropped from .0125 mg K to 0 and did not add the last .25 valium, so my cross was really to 4.75 mg valium.  SG and I had discussed that because I was not stable on the K, I might go to 6 mg V, more than the 5 Ashton suggests. But it wasn’t necessary.

 

I stayed at 4.75 for 10 days, and then began dropping .033 mgs V per day (20%/ month) and got down to 4.0.  But I started to have minor symptoms and one scary 20 minute period where the old mush brain returned. And the next day I had a window of fear for no reason.

 

So I paused for 2 weeks, and  I am now dropping at .02 per day (12%/month  of 5 mg or 15% of 4) with almost no symptoms. I am currently at 3.5 valium per day divided into 2 doses (on K, I took my daily amount in 4 doses)  I am occasionally tired during the day and sometimes mildly depressed, but nothing like before and tinnitus comes and goes.. I am functional, happy most of the time, and believe that I am going through some of the symptoms of a normal withdrawal as opposed to the very difficult time I had with K.  Before the crossover, I drank no coffee and no alcohol. Since the crossover, I do not count the cups, and have an occasional drink with dinner, once or twice/week, no more or less than I used to.

 

I have barely checked the board and not posted since July 8.  I think that part of getting better is, as it becomes possible, to focus less on the disease/cure. I have not posted because I did not want to put out false hope (to myself or others) and my  experience did not seem in sync with what I have read here. I realize that others have had the opposite experience (gotten worse trying to move to valium or other crossover). Also, because K can now be titrated with vodka, which is how I did it, some think  the substitution is an unnecessary extra step. I’m sure this is true for many, if not most.

 

But for me, no matter how slow, the withdrawal was not working.  My own opinion is that  I did not do better on valium because the crossover was an updose.  I believe that there was something about clonazepam that I could not handle.  As everyone says, we are all different in our reactions and sensitivities to benzos.

 

My (new) doctor is not an expert in this area, but she has had enough patients with benzo issues to have seen many different reactions to withdrawal..  She has been entirely comfortable with a withdrawal based on symptoms, rather than a rigid schedule. She has also found helpful some quotes I’ve shown her from the forum.

 

I still have 3.5 mg of V to go, but I have my life back and am doing better because of this forum.  Thank you to those who have helped me directly and those who work in the background to keep the forum going. I’m not very knowledgeable about medicine, but if anyone has any question about my own experience or wants more specifics about anything I’ve mentioned, I’d be happy to answer.

 

Sounds like you are on the right track! Thanks for coming back to share.

JKS

Wow... found this post just by doing a search, and this has given me hope. I am currently struggling bad on .25mg of K, and I feel like I'm reading about myself in this post. I too think that something with the K reacts bad with me. Have been scared to try the C/O, but I think I am going to start it tomorrow.

Congrats 🍾🎉🎈🎊. SG57. Now he’s a blast from the past unless he’s back...

Congrats 🍾🎉🎈🎊. SG57. Now he’s a blast from the past unless he’s back...

 

A blast from the past, indeed!

 

If you're reading, SG, miss you!