Wanting to get off of Oxazepam

Hi, I have been on 30mg of Oxazepam a day splitting my mg at 10mg morning, 10mg afternoon and 10mg at bedtime. I have reached tolerance which is causing me to feel the same way I did prior to starting it 15 years ago. I want to stop taking it and do not and will not want to up the dose. I had started at 45mg a day 13 years ago and then for the remainder of the 15 years have been at 30mg. I take capsules so the Ashton method is really confusing to me to taper. Can anyone help me out? Thank You

Hello TundraBrena!

 

Welcome to BenzoBuddies.  Thanks for joining us.

 

I can understand how dealing with a capsule instead of a pill might seem confusing, but you certainly can taper using oxazepam capsules.  All you need to do is to open the capsule and use the contents packaged inside.  You can do this using a liquid formulation or by weighing out the contents of those capsules on a milligram balance.  Oxazepam is one of the benzos that's water-soluble (not many are).  So you can dump out the contents of a capsule into a certain amount of water, then remove a little of that water each day in order to do a taper.  Alternatively, you can simply dump out the contents of the capsule onto a scale, remove a little and swallow the rest.  A third alternative is to switch over to a different benzo (something like valium).  Personally, I'd opt for option 1 or 2 if it was up to me, but I'd encourage you to post your question to the Withdrawal Support section of the forum to get additional input.  I'll put a link to that section below.

 

We generally recommend a nice slow reduction in your dosage during your taper.  No more than 5-10% every couple of weeks.  The Ashton Manual is an authoritative source on what to expect in withdrawal and recovery.  Dr. Ashton is an expert in the field. Section III explains and describes symptoms, and there is also a section with suggested taper schedules.

 

Here's a link for the Withdrawal Support section of the forum.  As I said above, this is probably a good place for you to re-post your story.  More people read those posts than read the introductions.  Withdrawal Support (during your taper)

 

Please take some time to Create a Signature. This will help other members understand your history so they will be better able to support you.

Go to the top of the page and select Profile, then choose Forum Profile, insert drug history/timelines into the text box and click Change Profile.

 

Again, welcome!