hi. looking for some help

Long time off and on benzo user, alcoholic, now in my 30's. I am in a real, stupid pickel. A friend of mine passed away a few months ago, and in my mourning started using a bit of valium to deal with things. I was careful, never exceeded 10mg in a day, usually more like 5mg. I thought "surely this won't be a big deal" .... more than a little wrong, fast forward 2 mos I was just halving dosages etc when I started getting the MOST INSANE blood pressure reactions. I mean 160min to 180 - 200 / 70 - 95. Obviously i got scared, went to ER (I still can't conceive that 5mg of valium is causing this), i thought my heart or kidneys were in trouble  -- there they give me 1mg loraz IV, stuff evens out and I start to get the picture.... Sigh.  I have never wanted a benzo habit. I know how difficult they can be, I just never thought that 5mg of val could do this to me.

So I'm sitting somewhere around 1-3mos on 5 - 10mg val daily. Today, now that I know what is up, I started day w 2.5, hopefully it will cover 12 hours til nighttime 2.5 and i can establish a fairly stable baseline there. My questions are -- do other people experience this from similar doses?? what is best BP med to assist during taper, and from such a small dose what type of reductions are reasonable? 0.5 mg in a day and then settle a few?? Its particularly stupid because I know all of this, grief can be a powerful distractor. Thanks in advance for any help, I have referred many people to this community and am glad it is here now that it's my turn.

I have access to clonidine, propranolol and terazosin (alpha blocker) which i take at night. I am thinking during the taper of slowly adding clonidine to comp for increasing BP. (that is my main symptom, the BP).

Have a great day,

Sadly Medicated on West Coast

Hello xkrx1axx Welcome to Benzobuddies!

We are very glad you joined our community and thank you for referring others to BB.  I am sorry for the loss of your friend.    Are you off the alcohol?  alcohol and benzos are a lethal mix.  You have made a great decision to taper off these drugs,    It doesn’t take long for the body to become dependent on benzos, they are recommended for short term use  (2 or 3 weeks).  We can help you with support, encouragement and taper/withdrawal information.  Please feel free to browse the boards and post questions to any of the dedicated threads.

In general it’s advised to cut your daily dose by somewhere between 5% and 10% every 10 - 14 days.  It’s okay to taper slower than this, whatever feels comfortable, the aim is to try to keep symptoms manageable.

The Ashton Manual is a great resource for understanding the effect benzo’s have on our body, I suggest you check it out.  It provides both taper and withdrawal information, it also includes a list of common symptoms 

I'll leave you a few links:

The Ashton Manual. 

Planning Your Withdrawal(TaperPlans)

I'll give you a link to the Other Medications Board. You can start a topic and ask questions about your other medication

Other Medications     

If you would like to add a signature (history of meds/doses etc) to help members give you relevant advice.  Go to the top of the page and select PROFILE then choose forum profile then insert drug history into the text box and remember to click change profile

Welcome aboard

Magrita