HELP! Been on 5mg Valium for 2 weeks. Taper or cold turkey?

Hi.  I went to the ER a couple weeks ago because I was having interdose withdrawal from Ambien.  They gave me 5mg Valium which calmed right down.  Since then I've been taking the 5mg Valium almost daily.  3 nights ago I went down to 4.5mg and tonight I'm hoping to go down to 4mg.  I know with the long half life I may not feel the cuts for a while.  I hate that chemical anxiety feeling so I'm really apprehensive about cutting too fast but since I've only been on it for a couple weeks I'm unsure of how fast I should taper.

 

I should also note that I've been taking Ambien 10mg for the last couple months.  During the last week I added 2mg Lunesta to this toxic stew, but I cut that out after a few days.  Last night I took nothing but the 4.5mg Valium and aside from some pretty bad insomnia and some slight warm ears I feel ok.  My question is:  How fast can I taper?

 

Also, see the following thread for more info.

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=202651.0

Anyone?

Hi SleeplessInPNW

 

I'm really apprehensive about cutting too fast but since I've only been on it for a couple weeks I'm unsure of how fast I should taper.

I did not have the same chance because I stayed with benzo for 3.5 years . When you go thru the different boards in here it's NOT frequent to see people asking for help after 2 weeks of benzo use. I understand they don't need to because there's no need to.

 

Use benzo for 2-3 weeks is known as short term use. There is high chance that by stopping it quickly you still have a margin to be symptoms-safe. In my humble opinion, you may taper Valium off by cutting .5 mg each night so after 9 days you will be off. If the symptoms are unbearable, and I do not believe it, they will be felt only after 4-5 days due to the long half life of Valium that is particularly long (20-80 hours) but then you are already half way out. But even if I know that (mild) symptoms will occur I'd rather continue this way to avoid having this poison in my body one day more.

 

Hope you have a smooth successful quit.

 

Hi sleepless-

I am completely with you on not liking insomnia! It's the absolute worst! Frustratingly, the only thing that seems to help me is to not care about it. You actually dont need as much sleep as you think you do. You might need to push off a few critical decisions until you are sleeping better, but most things that need to be done can be done. I found that once I stopped thinking "oh, tomorrow is going to suck" then it got easier. Try some breathing exercises or a mantra when you are in bed. I found the advice to not stay in bed awake longer than 20 min to be useless, because then I would be up and down all night. Instead I tell myself to just make myself comfortable and rest. Sometimes you are getting light sleep without even knowing it, it is one of the hallmarks of coming off these drugs. Some find exercise during the day to be helpful.

 

SO that's the mindset stuff out of the way. I put it first because it actually IS important and it actually DOES help. So give it a try. Congrats on dropping the lunesta. I dont think adding more drugs is a good option. You may well have been experiencing withdrawal from the ambien that the valium helped buffer. Even though you havent been on the valium long, you might want to try a reasonably paced taper to let it continue to cover the ambien withdrawal a bit. I'm not clear on whether it is actually helping you at this dose though? If it seems like it is helping, consider staying at 4.5 for another week or two to see if you can stabilize, and give yourself a break from worrying about tapering. Then when you feel stronger, cut another 0.25 or 0.5 mg, and go from there. It does get better, and you are doing the right thing to find new ways to manage insomnia without meds!

 

 

JKS

Hi Jim-

even though sleepless was only on the valium for a couple of weeks, it seems like ambien withdrawal was already established. This is like a superfast substitution approach- at least to an approximately equivalent valium dosage. I would continue to take the valium daily (not almost daily) and taper at a rate that feels comfortable, perhaps after a little more time to stabilize. I dont see a need to rush with ambien withdrawal in the background.

Take care,

JKS

Yes, I'm basically dropping my Valium dose by .5mg every 3 days.  I'm hoping that being on it for such a short time (2 weeks) that I won't get hit with withdrawal sxs.

Hi SleeplessInPNW 

 

Thanks to keep us informed on how things evolve. It could be a school-case that can teach many things.

 

All the best!