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Is it a bad idea to jump off 1.25mg of Valium?


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Hey all,

 

Yesterday I completed 15 days taking 1.25mg of Valium daily and I didn't take my dose for sleeping.

 

Now I am wondering if my tapering is going too fast or if it's ok given my context. A more or less precise timeline of my daily regimen and tapering would be:

 

Aug/18 - Started using .5mg of Xanax

Sep/18 - 1.5mg of Xanax (2.5mg in extreme cases)

Oct/18 - 1.25mg of Xanax

Nov/18 - 1mg of Xanax

Dec/18 - 0.75mg of Xanax + 5mg of Valium

Apr/19 - .5mg of Xanax + 5mg of Valium

Jul/19 - .25mg of Xanax + 5mg of Valium

Dec/19 - .25mg of Xanax + 2.5mg of Valium

Jan/20 - .125mg of Xanax + 2.5mg of Valium

Apr/20 - 2.5mg of Valium

May/20 - 1.25mg of Valium

Yesterday (16/05/2020) - No benzos

 

There are a few things to consider: Due to taking a bunch of caffeine in the end of my 20s and also in 2019, I am now diagnosed with gastritis and h. pylori. That is a con. But I work with IT and I am able to work from home while the pandemia is happening. That helps a lot cause I can do stuff in my time and if any bad episode happens I can just take a pause from my job.

 

As for the symptoms: I am hypersensitive I guess. Sometimes, after having to think a lot for 2 hours in the afternoon I feel like my brain is "overheating" and I have to stop anything and go to my bed. Most of the times there is no increase in BP or heart rate. But I am also more sensitive to anxiety for online meetings: 3 days ago in a important meeting I had a peak of BP with something as 165/90. These with my blood pressure are only episodic. I also notice that sometimes I feel much better after eating.

 

Its important to mention that in my tapering I kept taking 125mg of Xanax + 2.5mg of Valium for 4 months and I was feeling fine in the first 2 months but then I felt like shit in the end of the third month. I assumed that I developed tolerance so I decided to quit all these benzos as quick as possible because if I am feeling bad after months in the same dosage, why would I feel better after every decrease?

 

I have CBD Oil with me here but I didn't try yet: I stopped taking Valium yesterday and I am wondering if I should wait a few more days to don't get confused with the effects of the withdrawal mixed with the effects of CBD oil. I am avoiding the use of the oil while tapering because I read that it inhibits an enzyme that metabolyzes the Valium so I thought that my best option would be to jump off Valium at this small dosage. Also important to mention that where I live the smallest dosage of Valium is 5mg.

 

Is this withdrawal scheme too risky or there is a substancial number of people who reacts well jumping off 1.25mg of Valium? I assumed that the Ashton Manual is a good guideline so I tried something similar as proposed there. Also, I don't know if the period of time I used is considered long to make me thing of a slower taper.

 

Your opinions and experiences on tapering these amounts would be great!

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Hi fullofdetermination,

 

A couple of questions. 

 

When did you stop taking the .125 mgs of Xanax, or are you still taking it?

 

Is there any reason why you can't go lower in dose of the Valium, if you're unsure about when to stop and you're still experiencing some unpleasant symptoms, I wonder if you might want to keep tapering?

 

To tell you the truth, I'd avoid the CBD oil for now, you're right to consider how you may not know what is what when it comes to your reactions to it.  I've seen some do well on it, but others not so good, so I'd err on the side of caution if I were you.

 

Pamster

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Hi Pamster,

 

Thank you for your answers.

 

I stopped the Xanax in the begining of april of this year. Consider that I was 4 months paused on the .125mg of Xanax + 2.5mg of Valium regimen for 4 months, and I used kept it until 1 month and a half ago.

 

To be honest, there are some reasons, but I am not sure if they are good enough:

 

* I don't like the idea of making my brain used and adapted to benzos usage any longer. I wonder about stuff like slow taper implying in longer period under benzos and then longer influence over me. I would prefer to have a experience that is a little harder, but only if manageable, to quit the meds earlier;

 

* I have some high hopes over the CBD oil. I already have it with me and it was hard to obtain it in legal ways where I live (I needed to import it). But I read that is not a good idea to consume it while tapering, so I don't know if I can use this resource already;

 

* The lockdown is somewhat convenient for me regarding the tapering/wd: I was having bad episodes of hypersensitivity, irritability and anxiety at my job. I was really considering taking a license to stay home or scheduling my vacation just to manage my taper. I don't think I would handle my most recent reductions as well as I did at home if the circunstances were the same of the beginning of the year. As I don't know when I will go back to the office, I want to ensure that I get myself off the benzos as soon as possible to get back well to the office;

 

* I am a bit lazy to try all the titration stuff and I don't think I can trust cutting my 1/4 Valium to a 1/8 part as I already doubt that the subtance is uniformely distributed over the half of the pill.

 

But now I am not sure. I wonder how many did well doing a taper with cuts like this. Everybody posting about the 10% rule and not reading cases with a quicker cut makes me suggest to myself that things won't go well if I jump off, say (if possible in my case), 1mg of Valium.

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Fullofdetermination- Appreciate your will power to end the medication, but don't cause issues unnecessarily. Remember Valium has a very long half-life; you probably haven't hit the low blood level yet from one skipped dose. Most people report trouble show up while tapering V at 4-7 days, with a turn around about day 10-14 of some relief. Just my opinion, 1.25mg is too much to suddenly stop voluntarily. You can drop it down slowly to at least 0.5mg. This is Ashton's threshold to jump.  There are usually many withdrawal symptoms after the final dose; some people for weeks, others months or longer.

 

The point of weaning off the drug is to allow the body's own neurotransmitters to replenish as you decrease the dose. It also allows for a decrease in glutamate, which can play havoc with blood sugars, anxiety, and blood pressure to name a few, as the antagonist GABA returns. As long as on the drug, GABA is suppressed. Unfortunately, it doesn't magically return to normal the day after you stop.

 

All of this depends on what you're willing to endure. You self described as "sensitive." More reasons to go slowly.

 

 

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hohhot made some very good points, there is much healing to do after your last dose so being in a hurry to get off of it only increases your pain as you taper, it does not speed up your recovery.

 

I understand not wanting to be on the drug longer but your body has already shown to be dependent on it, so no matter what you decide, your body knows differently and care must be taken to remain functional as you do this. 

 

Have you considered buying a jewelers scale, they run around 20.00 and can be purchased on Amazon.  You crush your pills and weigh your dose, this is a good way to reduce and its called dry titration. 

 

Finally, the best tapers are those that are symptom based, we're all different and while there are suggested guidelines, this is about you and your body, do what feels right for you. 

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Thank you for your answers. You are right, I don't even know if I am already feeling the full impact of my 1.25mg of Valium regimen after the 2.5mg.

 

So far it's manageable. but I guess it will not be a walk in the park jumping off 1.25mg. I had a strange episode this last night: I hadn't take the pill in the night before but I took 1.25mg to sleep this night. My tinnitus this night was LOUD, and very electric-like. I already had tinnitus that I suspect that Zoloft gave me but the level yesterday was bad to the point that I couldn't mask it even with cricket sounds, something that was possible before.

 

Can a slow taper avoid this effect? Also: this level of tinnitus usually is a new baseline so better get used or it's something more typical in the beginning of the wd?

 

Another doubt: Now that I am seeing that I will need to slow down my taper, is it a good idea to use CBD oil during the valium taper? I read about how one can mess with the other due to the enzyme that CBD inhibits but I wonder what is best to try in practice and how many users had success on using CBD even while tapering instead of just in the wd.

 

 

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Tinnitus affects some more than others, for some it's the last symptom to leave, for me it left fairly early in my recovery.  There is a support group for it if you'd like to ask for opinions, it's just a thread so hit reply and ask your questions.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=96554.0

 

I'm also going to refer you to another support group which discusses CBD and cannabis, perhaps you can benefit from their experience.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=165140.0  When I quit benzo's in 2007 I'd never heard of CBD and cannabis was illegal so times have changed, hopefully you can get some good advice.

 

I'm glad you're rethinking things a bit, this is a long process and you want to get it right the first time because it's not good to jump then have to reinstate and we hate to see up-dosing too although its a fact that it happens to many of us.

 

 

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Tinnitus affects some more than others, for some it's the last symptom to leave, for me it left fairly early in my recovery.  There is a support group for it if you'd like to ask for opinions, it's just a thread so hit reply and ask your questions.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=96554.0

 

I'm also going to refer you to another support group which discusses CBD and cannabis, perhaps you can benefit from their experience.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=165140.0  When I quit benzo's in 2007 I'd never heard of CBD and cannabis was illegal so times have changed, hopefully you can get some good advice.

 

I'm glad you're rethinking things a bit, this is a long process and you want to get it right the first time because it's not good to jump then have to reinstate and we hate to see up-dosing too although its a fact that it happens to many of us.

 

Thank you! I am already checking the threads. I surely will have a more conservative tapering as I notice that even this small dosage have considerable effects on me.

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