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Tapering symptoms worse 3 wks out


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Ok, I've done a good amount of reading on Benzobuddies and other benzo withdrawal blogs/sites over the last couple months and have learned enough to know that sx (symptoms) seem to pop up and disappear without warning or good reason!

 

But that knowledge doesn't keep me from being worried about my current sx!  I tapered .125 mg 3 weeks 4 days ago and for the last few days have had increased anxiety, trembling hands (I love to journal but lately it's stressful b/c of unsteady hands :-[) and dizziness, exhaustion, headache, trouble swallowing, higher social anxiety, easily embarrassed by some sx, etc. 

 

I was amazed when I first began this taper, that anxiety was MINIMAL.  Now it's worse. 

 

Anyone else have this sort of experience?  Is it best to wait until sx dissolve before tapering again?  Or is it best to keep going?  I see my psychiatrist in a couple weeks to talk about tapering again at 8 weeks.  Yeah, we're trying a SLOW taper!!  I wonder if it might make things worse to go slower? 

 

I hate feeling great (NO, I LOVE feeling great, ha!) and then feeling really yucky!! 

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Sometimes it just gets harder as we get lower; however, I wonder if the straight 0.125 mg cut is affecting you. Most have to adjust downward to retain a 5-10% of the previous dose.

 

Sorry that you/we are suffering.

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Sometimes it just gets harder as we get lower; however, I wonder if the straight 0.125 mg cut is affecting you. Most have to adjust downward to retain a 5-10% of the previous dose.

 

Sorry that you/we are suffering.

 

Hi, thanks for your response and care! 

So I did a 7% cut...

But why 3 weeks later do I feel WHAMMED?  I totally don't expect you to be able to answer that question.  But it's out there for anyone who may have insight on that!!!

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Sometimes it just gets harder as we get lower; however, I wonder if the straight 0.125 mg cut is affecting you. Most have to adjust downward to retain a 5-10% of the previous dose.

 

Sorry that you/we are suffering.

 

Hi, thanks for your response and care! 

So I did a 7% cut...

But why 3 weeks later do I feel WHAMMED?  I totally don't expect you to be able to answer that question.  But it's out there for anyone who may have insight on that!!!

 

If I am getting this right, you did a 7% cut of your dose in March; however, people often cannot tolerate such linear cuts and have to do 5-10 percent of their previous dose. So, it depends upon if you cut between March and now. Sounds like no.

 

Symptoms can increase and decrease along the way, on their own clock. There is sometimes some predictability, but in all my tapers, it seems that instability was greatest toward the end.

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Sometimes it just gets harder as we get lower; however, I wonder if the straight 0.125 mg cut is affecting you. Most have to adjust downward to retain a 5-10% of the previous dose.

 

Sorry that you/we are suffering.

 

Not trying to hijack the post but we have a very similar experience. I went from 1.5 C to 30mg V as well. Kind of stuck at 24mg V atm. Sent you a PM

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Someone else posted the below and it's absolutely what has hurt me, I do believe - in addition to going too fast at first.  I'm seeing a lot of people who held and now are having a hard time cutting smaller amts......sad.  It's VERY unpredictable, it seems.  Not sure if you can handle a DLMT - I can not but it seems that many who do the best, are able to utilize this as their strategy. 

 

 

Myth 3 and 4: Slow tapers and long holds guarantee an easy withdrawal experience.

 

We all wish that this were true! A slow taper does help to minimize withdrawal symptoms, but it is by no means a guarantee that you won’t experience withdrawal symptoms. Some people have symptoms no matter how small a cut they make. Another myth that goes hand in hand with this one is that if you hold your dose long enough you’ll “stabilize.” That isn’t always the case, sadly. Tolerance is a very real phenomenon. (Dr. Ashton, a leading expert on benzo withdrawal) recommends that for people who are extremely ill from their benzo that they get off as quickly as it is safe to do so instead of holding.

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Someone else posted the below and it's absolutely what has hurt me, I do believe - in addition to going too fast at first.  I'm seeing a lot of people who held and now are having a hard time cutting smaller amts......sad.  It's VERY unpredictable, it seems.  Not sure if you can handle a DLMT - I can not but it seems that many who do the best, are able to utilize this as their strategy. 

 

 

Myth 3 and 4: Slow tapers and long holds guarantee an easy withdrawal experience.

 

We all wish that this were true! A slow taper does help to minimize withdrawal symptoms, but it is by no means a guarantee that you won’t experience withdrawal symptoms. Some people have symptoms no matter how small a cut they make. Another myth that goes hand in hand with this one is that if you hold your dose long enough you’ll “stabilize.” That isn’t always the case, sadly. Tolerance is a very real phenomenon. (Dr. Ashton, a leading expert on benzo withdrawal) recommends that for people who are extremely ill from their benzo that they get off as quickly as it is safe to do so instead of holding.

 

This is very interesting.  Thanks for sharing, Momof7babes.  :smitten: (And I'm amazed you went off and on K in between pregnancies! We really want more children and truth be told, I want to get off this asap so we can get pregnant again!!) 

But anyway, back to topic - What does DLMT mean? 

How do we get our Drs/psychiatrists to consider other options?  Such as, I may be in tolerance.  Slow and steady may not be better?  Any wise advice?  How is one to know if they are in tolerance?  Or is this all a trial and error [cruel] game!?!  :-\  I'm afraid that's the answer.  Praying a lot these days for healing from this drug!!!

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Sometimes it just gets harder as we get lower; however, I wonder if the straight 0.125 mg cut is affecting you. Most have to adjust downward to retain a 5-10% of the previous dose.

 

Sorry that you/we are suffering.

 

Hi, thanks for your response and care! 

So I did a 7% cut...

But why 3 weeks later do I feel WHAMMED?  I totally don't expect you to be able to answer that question.  But it's out there for anyone who may have insight on that!!!

 

If I am getting this right, you did a 7% cut of your dose in March; however, people often cannot tolerate such linear cuts and have to do 5-10 percent of their previous dose. So, it depends upon if you cut between March and now. Sounds like no.

 

Symptoms can increase and decrease along the way, on their own clock. There is sometimes some predictability, but in all my tapers, it seems that instability was greatest toward the end.

 

No, I did a 7% cut in June.  I held my March dose until June, correct.  In March I did a 0.125 cut but it would have been a slightly lower percentage (math isn't my thing!).

Thanks for the heads up about greater instability toward the end.  I didn't even get my dose back to half yet tho.  Is this considered "toward the end?"  Obviously anxious about all this!!  :o

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I wish you the best - this is NOT easy but just keep going, despite the discomfort, just maybe try and do it more gradually and steadily (Ashton says not to hold longer than 2 weeks) and you will have an easier time.  DLMT is daily liquid micro-tapering and there's a few sections about it.  If you are not sensitive to changes, it may be very easy for you to adjust - maybe even just try part of your dose with it first.  Please note that when I went "off and on", I was only on for fairly short periods.  A large dose for a short period and then immediately started tapering after like 1-2 weeks...at 1X per day.  This last go has been completely different.  And I didn't realize my PRN use over the years was impacting me prior to that.  Then I went to daily dosage, which was a HUGE mistake, as was my up and down dosage over the last year, my rapid taper to .5 mg and hold.  I don't want to scare you as many don't have as many issues as me.  Educate yourself now and try to get off as safely and tolerably as you can and then never take a benzo again. 
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Ok, yes, I'm familiar with the liquid tapering.  I asked my psychiatrist about that and she thought it was "better" to cut and hold.  So, hmm... I will have to read more in Ashoton's about that every 2 weeks thing.

Thank you for sharing your story.  :thumbsup: It doesn't scare me - I've read a lot and have heard 'scarier' things, ha. 

And believe me, once I'm off this, I will avoid benzos like the plague!!!!!!

 

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Hi Hope,

 

There are many, many stories of people who have done fairly long holds and done very well.  I would say more did well than didn’t.  I myself did a 5 month hold and feel much better.  It depends on your situation and internal “wiring”, but it seems to me many benefit from holds.  It is recommended to taper very slowly and hold when you need to allowing your body to heal.  This is what dr Ashton, and guidelines here on BB all say.  I would say if you hold for a while (even a month or two) and aren’t seeing an improvement then you would consider just continuing.  In general it is not recommended to continue tapering while symptomatic, you will only suffer more.  Again the exception would be if you find a hold is not giving improvement.

 

Klonopin is a fairly long acting drug and can take a while for symptoms to show up after a cut.  You did a fairly big cut so you may be seeing a wave from that.

 

Hang in there

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Hi there Hope.. :)

 

Anxiety was a sx that came in late for me, and after a cut it took a long time for my symptoms to cycle through, more so at the end of my taper, (several months by the end. -I pill split V)... But it all went well, and most of my healing was done on the way down..

I had other meds and complications, so it soon became clear that Ashton protocols were not for me...

As you mention, these are the things we work out and fine tune along the way...

 

I wish you every success..

:)

 

 

***

I think AZBill sums up well...

Pushing through increasing symptoms is probably not the best way for ones body to adjust to the lowering doses of medication, -Which is the general idea of tapering...

 

Situation probably relates strongly to long holds too.. A standard tapering situation probably has no real need... -And the right tool for the right job would apply.. If one were in tolerance with symptoms, A long hold probably wont help... Infact it might appear to make things worse as tolerance naturally increases... But we have to be careful here because it can be hard to distinguish causation of tolerance sx from WD sx once a taper is underway...  On top of what Bill mentions, I would say its more the persons overall situation thats difficult, not the hold being the problem.. As they say, dont blame the tools...

 

 

 

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Hope97, You could also ask your doctor for the .125 mg wafers and try to cut those as well if the liquid doesn't work. They crumble if you are not careful but you can cut them with a small knife.

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Hi all,

 

I haven't been on here for a while, so I wanted to say I just read these new posts.  Thank you for all your care and insight.  :smitten:

Things have gotten better and I seem to be figuring out what works best for me.  My psychiatrist is seeing me very often and is completely supportive of my getting off this medication (which means more than anything). 

I have found that I can't really go faster than 2 weeks but not much longer than 4.  Switching to Valium now to help taper by slower increments.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Same here, two weeks to level out again.

 

I do get sick of leveling out so I guess that's where the holds come into play. I'd go nuts if I had to just feel symptoms all the way sown to 0

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