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I have recently started tapering Oxazepam(oxascand) again after sucessfully tapered 600 mg Lyrica. I did taper the oxazepam last summer, and it was awful, but manageable. This time it is unbearable. I started at 20 mg this time, and tapered 2,5 mg. It has been almost ten weeks, and my anxiety and intrusive thoughts are awful. I don't know what to do right now, I even have suicidal thoughts(not serious) some days. It seems like there is no way out of this. I am talking to my psychiatrist this friday, and hopefully he is familiar with substitution taper. Maybe switching to diazepam would be a way to make this easier? I am having interdose withdrawal in between my daily doses and the morning before my dose kicks in is horrible. Right now I am taking oxazepam three times a day:

Morning 7,5 mg

Lunch 5 mg

Nighttime 5 mg

 

which equals 17,5 mg a day.

 

Does anyone have any experience or advice on what to say to my doctor to convince him? And maybe I could also need a plan on how to switch from oxazepam to diazepam.

 

Sooo grateful for any advice

 

Best

MAVO

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Hi MAVO, so happy to see you here. Congrats on tapering 600 mg Lyrica to 0. This explains the increase in anxiety. But this WD sxs will fade away with time.

 

You now take the equivalent of 8.75 mg Valium in the form of Sobril. 1 mg diazepam equals 2 mg oxazepam. I think it’s safe to switch directly to Valium.

 

It would be a very good decision, since oxazepam’s half-life is only 4-15 hrs, while diazepam’s half-life is 20-100 [36-200] hrs. So you need to switch to 8.75 mg Valium, and take your doses in the following order:

 

Morning: 3.75 mg diazepam

Afternoon: 2.5 mg diazepam

Night: 2.5 mg diazepam.

 

Here’s a recent thread I found on switching from oxazepam to Valium.

 

You taper diazepam according to this Ashton WD schedule. Which means reducing the dose by 1 mg every 1-2 weeks.

 

I think maybe if you took more Valium at night instead of the morning, then the morning anxiety would be more bearable. Like 3.5 mg at bedtime and 2.75 mg in the morning. Valium has a very long half-life and the nightly dose would reduce the morning interdose WD sxs.

 

I’m wondering whether it wouldn’t be better for you to get rid completely of either Anafranil or Prozac first. I’m afraid of the interactions between these two psych meds. I think it could be sensible to completely eliminate one of these ADs first and then to taper the BZD, following a crossover. You currently are on three ADs (including mirt).

 

You should have no problems convincing your pdoc to switch to diazepam. It is the only reasonable thing to do under the circumstances. Besides maybe getting rid of one of the ADs. For me, Prozac works better than Anafranil. But it depends on the individual. Take care.

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Thanks for your reply, and happy to hear from you again!

 

Of course my psychiatrist was sick, so I got an appointment more than two weeks from now. So frustrating when I am in this situation. I am considering contacting psychiatric emergency room, and ask if they can help me on the phone. they probably cant. I cant understand why it is so hard to give someone who has been taking oxazepam for this long a prescription for diazepam. But they might be able to give me an input on the three different ADs I am taking and how that is affecting me.

 

Otherwise I just have to wait.

 

Is it common to get withdrawal symptoms while switching to a different benzo? I understand that it is individual, but do you know if its is common?

 

I hope that you are doing well :)

 

Lots of hugs

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No, they cannot take the responsability of switching you to diazepam, MAVO. Please think about these two ADs: Prozac and Anafranil. Which one did you start taking first? Sorry, I forgot.

 

I’m doing more or less well. Got addicted to a social site for 1.5 month, which was a disaster. Luckily, gave it up and came back to BB.

 

Some OCD still remaining, like 10% of what I had on BZD. Social anxiety as well. It was worse on BZD. I got sick at 14, that’s when it all started. Prozac is helping me with the OCD, insomnia, depression and social anxiety.

 

Trying to reduce the Prozac dose a bit, as I was very drowsy on 20 mg. Maybe down to 10 mg. I believe the so-called subtherapeutic dose also works. It all depends on the individual. The most important thing is that I’m off BZD now. I struggle with motivation and time management. Wish I had more energy. But some energy seems to have returned after the Prozac reduction.

 

Please post updates of how you’re doing. Hugs.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got a hold of my psychiatrist. He gave me Diazepam. So now I'm trying it out, changing one dose every week. I really hope that this will help some.

 

I was on Fluoxetine for a lot of years, it did not work when my OCD came back. I have no idea if Anafranil is working because I had hit tolerance with the oxazepam when I started it. I think it helps a little though.

 

The problem is I want tto get rid of the benso as fast as possible. The longer I wait, the harder it will get. I am scared about the side effects though. My psychiatrist does not think it is a problem that I am on three different ADs. I don't know if I should get a second opinion.

 

Glad to hear your OCD is better. Are you able to sleep better with the Fluoxetine?

 

Give my best to Kitty! Hugs

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Got a hold of my psychiatrist. He gave me Diazepam. So now I'm trying it out, changing one dose every week. I really hope that this will help some.

 

I was on Fluoxetine for a lot of years, it did not work when my OCD came back. I have no idea if Anafranil is working because I had hit tolerance with the oxazepam when I started it. I think it helps a little though.

 

The problem is I want tto get rid of the benso as fast as possible. The longer I wait, the harder it will get. I am scared about the side effects though. My psychiatrist does not think it is a problem that I am on three different ADs. I don't know if I should get a second opinion.

 

Glad to hear your OCD is better. Are you able to sleep better with the Fluoxetine?

 

Give my best to Kitty! Hugs

 

Hey MAVO. I’m happy the pdoc has agreed to the crossover to diazepam. It should be easier for you to taper the diazepam. The half-life is so much longer.

 

My OCD is a lot better. Both clomipramine and fluoxetine have been helpful for my OCD. Valium made it a lot worse. And that hospital stay in Feb. 2016. I probably developed PTSD as a result of all that happened then.

 

I remember very little about clomipramine, as I took it at age 18. Only that it stopped the OCD completely. However, it had lots pf terrible sxs and didn’t help my anxiety. It’s possible that Anafranil works better for you. Clomipramine was shown to be more effective for the treatment of OCD than fluoxetine and fluvoxamine during clinical trials.

 

Prozac helps my sleep, OCD and dysthymia. I will be trying to go down to 5 mg and stay at that dose. Just to have some of it in my system. I’ve been on 10 mg for 9 days and feeling much better than on 20 mg. The sxs of Prozac are tiresome. I may always increase the dose if I’m unwell. I don’t feel like I have enough energy on Prozac.

 

Pdoc told me last Wednesday that the 10 mg subtherapeutic dose is effective. I felt more or less okay on 5 mg of Prozac in 2013. The problem was that I went down to zero in 2014, cause of the sxs. I cannot tolerate any other AD.

 

I always took small doses of ADs. I guess everyone is different.

 

Thank you for remembering Kitty. She’s fine. She keeps me going :)

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