Taper advice sought...

Hi. Been using between .25-37.5 mg. (for sleep) of Brotizolam for six years. I now live in a country where Brotizolam (a powerful short half-life benzo analog) is not available. I have only twenty .25 mg. tablets left. Went to see a GP about tapering with this supply. She suggested 25 percent reductions every two weeks until I get to zero (six weeks total). With all I have read, this seems fast but have no access to supplies. Began the taper as suggested two days ago and have medium headache throughout the day. Thoughts???

How did it turn out? I am in a similar situation.

Hello John Hunter,

 

How did it turn out?  I'm sorry you didn't receive any answers to your question so long ago, is there anything we can help you with now?

 

Pamster

Thank you Pamster! I find myself in the same situation as I was in Aug. 2017. I never tried the taper as I was able to access a regular supply of Brotizolam. Now here I am again with only 60 .25 mg. Brotizolam tablets remaining with no access to a new prescription. If I reduced by 12.5 percent every two weeks over a sixteen week period would this be a sound strategy? I use them to sleep. Any advice on how to sleep during the taper? I do have access to Ambien. Can I use this for sleep during the taper? I know it is a substitution but I can’t afford to take time off work.

Hey John, I'm sorry you find yourself back in this situation but with the added pressure of wondering if you'll have enough pills to do a slow taper.  We like to see a much slower, longer taper but if this is where you're at, then you do what you have to do, right?

 

I don't feel you'll be in any danger doing it this way, but it will probably be uncomfortable.  Having to work may actually be a good thing, I had to work all but the first three weeks after my cold turkey and although it was difficult, it provided distraction which is one of the key coping techniques we use to get through this. 

 

Confession time for me, I started using Ambien a few months after my cold turkey from Klonopin and it helped me sleep so I could go to work but I feel it also keep me from a full recovery until I quit it too.  The half life is so short for Ambien that I would start to experience inter-dose withdrawals by mid-afternoon on top of my symptoms from stopping the benzo, it was a nightmare.  But, again, we do what we have to do. 

 

We'll be here if you need us for support, but I sure wish you could find another source for you Brotizolam so you could do this right.  You may need to start dosing more often since it's so short acting. 

 

Keep talking to us, we want to help you.

 

Thank you Pamster. Ran out of Brotizolam and switched to 1.5 mg of Etizolam and 1mg. of ambien at bedtime. I thought the Brotizolam and Etizolam would be quit similar but I feel all the symptoms associated with benzo withdrawal. Mornings are okay but get hit midday quite hard. I’ve had to resort to taking 2 mg. of valium on rough days to make it though the afternoon. I’ve managed to survive about five weeks with this strategy and do feel like I am getting marginally better. My hope is that I can stabilize on this combo and taper from there. Not ideal but I am not in an ideal situation. Thoughts?

I am also tapering from etizolam. Be warned it is strong and you need to taper slowly... I didn't last year and had awful withdrawal from 3mg per day. The symptoms lasted for 5 weeks in a bad way. The half life is quite short so you would naturally get some withdrawal in the afternoon and evening. I am not working at the moment but I do look after my elderly mother( sometimes harder work than working for an employer!) so I can sort of manage the breakthrough anxiety at the moment. I was wondering about substituting to Bromazolam, which has a longer half life but also very strong. the trouble being that there is no dosage equivalents and very little information on it, so I am persevering with etizolam for the time being. I will keep posting so I will watch out for your posts, good luck.

Some have advised on splitting the etizolam dose into two to avoid the afternoon breakthrough. I took some ubiquinol last week, which is a supplement I used to take for cell function and vitality. I found that it gave me irregular heart beat, increased panic and dizziness. I had to take just a little dose of etizolam to calm everything down as the symptoms were terrifying and lengthy. About 0.2mg worked at the time to get me out of that state. Luckily I could make the connection to the supplement. The point I am making is that a split in dose could work for you in the afternoon if you felt like the symptoms were getting a bit funky.