Hitting a wall

Hi Everyone, so my taper has been going relatively smoothly with a few bumps along the way. But I just reached the mark of half my original dose. And it feels horrible. My symptoms are intense. Is it normal to hit a patch in your taper where it feels like everything intensifies? Does this get better?

It's very normal to hit a wall.  It could mean you've reached the reached the point in your taper where your body is no longer getting what it 'demands' (due to tolerance/dependence).  You might want to slow down the 10% cuts or even hold for a while to give your body a chance to catch up.

Hi Everyone, so my taper has been going relatively smoothly with a few bumps along the way. But I just reached the mark of half my original dose. And it feels horrible. My symptoms are intense. Is it normal to hit a patch in your taper where it feels like everything intensifies? Does this get better?

 

For sure. Looking at your signature you’re gong kind of fast. I would do .01mg per day. Which is about .3mg per month. That seems to be my sweet spot. Valium cuts catch up after a while.

In my taper I noticed once I hit under 2mg, each cut was more challenging.  Many on the forum report similar experiences. (There's a 3,2,1mg thread with loads of entries.) I have had to hold for these reasons, and did 1mg for a month. I also did a strategy of transitioning a cut by alternating for a week or more. Expl: 3.5mg one day, then 3.0mg the next.  Due to the max 8 day half-life, this made a smoother blood level drop. You've cut fairly quickly and sometimes the effects take longer to show up.  In order to help the body heal, may need to add some support items.

 

From this group you can pick and choose helpful items depending on your symptoms. I took most of these daily, but did extra vitamins and supplements when I had a hard time dropping.  Liposomal vitamin C and niacin are great anxiety reducers and have an overall benefit in wd. (Niacin will cause flushing so be aware.  There's a non-flush form too.) Taurine works wonderfully for muscle twitches and shaking, but you need to take it with food as it drops blood sugar. Ashwaganda is an adaptogen, and stabilizes the thyroid and has calming effects. Helps sleep. Molybdenum is a trace mineral essential to make enzymes that get rid of acetylaldehyde. It's a by-product of the liver tearing down alcohol or meds.

 

None of these gave me any rebound or adverse reactions, and I'm very sensitive to meds, etc. Hope it helps.  Merry Christmas and here's to a better New Year.

 

Thanks so much for all your replies, I really appreciate the input and support.

 

Reading everyone's input I think I've been going a little too fast. But it is because I just want to get off this medication as soon as possible. It will be 4 years soon on this drug. That being said there is no point in pushing so hard through each cut that I end up not coping. So I am going to go a little more slowly until I feel I'm stable and I can manage each cut better.

Hi Everyone, so my taper has been going relatively smoothly with a few bumps along the way. But I just reached the mark of half my original dose. And it feels horrible. My symptoms are intense. Is it normal to hit a patch in your taper where it feels like everything intensifies? Does this get better?

 

For sure. Looking at your signature you’re gong kind of fast. I would do .01mg per day. Which is about .3mg per month. That seems to be my sweet spot. Valium cuts catch up after a while.

 

Thank you, I appreciate the input tremendously. From your signature I see that you tapered off of lexapro. I am going to need to do the same once I am done with the Benzo. If I may ask how did you taper the lexapro? Did you follow the same process as the Benzo? I am not sure where to go for support or info regarding anti-depressant tapering. Any guidance will be welcomed.