Extreme anxiety while tapering

Hi to you all. On November 9 I started the  Valium deduction. I was on 30 mg and on December 13 got down to 20 mg. I was ok the first week. This week it's a nightmare. I experience severe anxiety throughout the day. I wanna scream . Agoraphobia. Inner tremor. Agitated. My heart is pumbing loud. Hyperacousis. I don't know what to do. Why it hits me now so strongly? 2 weeks after...Any thought? Thanks in advance

You're tapering too fast, slow down. Also, there's a lag time, the time from your cut to when symptoms appear. I'm not sure how you're tapering, I'm assuming Ashton which I don't follow.

 

You've over tapered. If you can dose correct ( go back to the last dose you felt well on), I would do that, hold until stable and taper much slower and IMO, daily liquid titration.

Thanks for the reply... but I don't want to go back...

I am tapering slowly and the feel the same as you.  sigh...

Why it hits me now so strongly? 2 weeks after...

I noticed my tapers hit me the hardest about 3-4 days and about 14 days after the taper, with slightly different symptoms. I don't know what your taper schedule looks like, you may be going a bit fast if you dropped from 30 to 20 mg diazepam in a month.

Withdrawal symptoms from long acting drugs like diazepam can take weeks or even a month to take hold, as benzo-off said. I take klonopin, and mine started a week after my big cut (before I knew better) but reached their peak about a month after!

 

I highly recommend you go back up in dose, just not all the way. Your body and brain have already caught up a little bit after 2 weeks, so 30 mg would now be too much, in my opinion. I know you've said you don't want to go up in dose. Just know that you may be symptomatic from this drop in dose for a month or more, and it will likely get worse before it gets better. If your life will accommodate this right now, you can hold at the 20 for a month or two, until you start to stabilize. If not, I would consider partially reinstating, maybe up to 24? Then immediately start a slow taper. You will still be symptomatic for a while from the large cut (33% in a month is a lot), but your symptoms will likely be less severe, and you can be cutting (slowly) while you are recovering instead of holding, so will be getting used to tapering in preparation for the next leg of your journey.

 

Either way I recommend slowing down when you continue your taper, to avoid losing function and life enjoyment. This advice is based on my own experience and the hundreds of accounts I have read here and elsewhere. Obviously the decision is yours, and it is an important one. Good luck with whatever comes next! I'm pulling for ya!

Withdrawal symptoms from long acting drugs like diazepam can take weeks or even a month to take hold, as benzo-off said. I take klonopin, and mine started a week after my big cut (before I knew better) but reached their peak about a month after!

 

I highly recommend you go back up in dose, just not all the way. Your body and brain have already caught up a little bit after 2 weeks, so 30 mg would now be too much, in my opinion. I know you've said you don't want to go up in dose. Just know that you may be symptomatic from this drop in dose for a month or more, and it will likely get worse before it gets better. If your life will accommodate this right now, you can hold at the 20 for a month or two, until you start to stabilize. If not, I would consider partially reinstating, maybe up to 24? Then immediately start a slow taper. You will still be symptomatic for a while from the large cut (33% in a month is a lot), but your symptoms will likely be less severe, and you can be cutting (slowly) while you are recovering instead of holding, so will be getting used to tapering in preparation for the next leg of your journey.

 

Either way I recommend slowing down when you continue your taper, to avoid losing function and life enjoyment. This advice is based on my own experience and the hundreds of accounts I have read here and elsewhere. Obviously the decision is yours, and it is an important one. Good luck with whatever comes next! I'm pulling for ya!

thank you so much for the answer. Currently I am on 17.5 mg Valium. Not easy

Withdrawal symptoms from long acting drugs like diazepam can take weeks or even a month to take hold, as benzo-off said. I take klonopin, and mine started a week after my big cut (before I knew better) but reached their peak about a month after!

 

I highly recommend you go back up in dose, just not all the way. Your body and brain have already caught up a little bit after 2 weeks, so 30 mg would now be too much, in my opinion. I know you've said you don't want to go up in dose. Just know that you may be symptomatic from this drop in dose for a month or more, and it will likely get worse before it gets better. If your life will accommodate this right now, you can hold at the 20 for a month or two, until you start to stabilize. If not, I would consider partially reinstating, maybe up to 24? Then immediately start a slow taper. You will still be symptomatic for a while from the large cut (33% in a month is a lot), but your symptoms will likely be less severe, and you can be cutting (slowly) while you are recovering instead of holding, so will be getting used to tapering in preparation for the next leg of your journey.

 

Either way I recommend slowing down when you continue your taper, to avoid losing function and life enjoyment. This advice is based on my own experience and the hundreds of accounts I have read here and elsewhere. Obviously the decision is yours, and it is an important one. Good luck with whatever comes next! I'm pulling for ya!

 

I agree with waves - go slow and don't jump off but step off - I am personally tapering slowly (daily micro-taper) all the way down to 0. Reading people's stories the conclusion is that people who jump too soon or taper too fast suffer because of it. It's disheartening to think it will take a long time but going slow and steady will help so much while you taper and when you step off. I could NEVER step off at 4mg of Valium...I am going down to 0...to fumes...then stepping off.

 

You will heal  - it's just smarter to go slow.

I'll be holding for one more month at 17, 5 mg Valium and see what happens. T.y.