Valium Taper Plan

I finally received some pharmaceutical valium. Up until now, I had been abusing pressed etizolam pills, so I had no idea how much I was actually taking an was tapering based purely on the number of pills I took in a day. I've only been on them for just under a month.

 

My dosage the past 2 days has been approximately 25 pills, involving around 20 etizolam and zopiclone before bed. The zopiclone did absolutely nothing for my sleep so I'm not going to use any more of those and find some more natural techniques to improve it. Special thanks to a member for suggesting that I would be able to taper this fast because I haven't been using for very long; I was taking 50 when I started.

 

Anyways, what should my taper plan be? Can I begin to taper solely off the valium now? I'm going to take another 7 before bed tonight which should put me at my usual dose, and work my way down from there.

I will follow the ashton manual, but perhaps a little quicker as I understand the longer I stay on these pills, the worse it will get for me down the road. My withdrawal symptoms have been mostly manageable and I think I could possibly get down to 150mg per day within a week.

 

Also, should I include or will I ever need the etizolam in my taper at any point or would it be best to throw them away now? I'm planning on saving them for in case I have an anxiety attack or terrible bouts of insomnia again, but obviously I don't want to be mixing pills or unnecessarily adding to my dosage.

I'm sorry, I'm not quite clear on your dosages, are you still taking the Etizolam pills or have you completely crossed over to Valium?  If so, how are you feeling?  If you haven't started the Valium yet, I would suggest stabilizing on the lowest possible dose before you begin your taper.  You may be able to do a rapid taper from the Valium because of your short time using it but we won't know until you get started.

 

I'm concerned about you keeping the Etizolam and the Zopiclone around, reaching for pills isn't your answer and if you have enough Valium to accomplish your taper, I feel it would be advisable to dispose of them.

I've completely stopped taking Etizolam (going to flush them down the toilet) and finished yesterday on only 40mg of Valium. I'm going to get rid of the Zopiclone too, as I was able to fall asleep naturally last night. Incredibly thankful my path to recovery has been this fast and managable.

 

I've taken 10mg today and am going to try my hardest to avoid a redose. I'm gonna make it.

Very good to know you're on the Valium now and that your dose is less than you expected to have to take and it's you're going to dispose of the other drugs.  You're on the right path but pay attention to your symptoms and adjust your doses accordingly, it's better to taper slower than to have to updose, your brain is craving consistency.

I've taken your advice and am currently stabilising at 20mg.

 

Something interesting I've noticed is that once I make it to about 6pm, the anxiety seems to go away almost completely. I usually have no need to redose and can fall asleep naturally. Is this something other people have experienced with withdrawal? I used to need a dose at night to fall asleep but not anymore.

 

I think it might have something to do with the fact I took a megadose of Etizolam after waking up with the worst anxiety of my life one morning, and I'm constantly fighting the rebound anxiety from that at the moment.

Happy to report a week later I've successfully cut my dose down to 10mg, and am going to try to reduce to 7.5mg today. I've found success in cutting 5mg from my doses after stabilising for 2-3 days, but I imagine this is the part I should be taking the slowest. With a little willpower I should be Valium free by the end of the month. Every day I find myself waking up with a little less anxiety.

 

Thank you Pam for getting me off the Zopiclone early. Once again feeling blessed my path to recovery has been relatively fast and pain free. Currently my worst symptom has been a major lack of appetite - I've been having to remind myself and almost force myself to eat each day.

You sound wonderful, I'm thrilled you're feeling so well!  There are those who can do this with relatively little problem and while I wish we were all like that, I'm happy to see this for you. 

 

Please keep us posted and continue to pay attention to your symptoms and slow it down if you need to. 

Really happy to say that I've now stabilised at 2.5mg!

 

My anxiety is manageable enough that I can leave the house without a dose. I feel like I'm at a point that I would be comfortable enough to get through a full day without dosing with proper precautions. Going to stock up on food, chamomile tea and alcohol-free beer for tomorrow.

 

I think I'm at the finish line 

Ecstatic to report that I am currently going on 4 days without any benzos whatsoever! The first day was a little rough, but a walk in the park compare to some of the earlier days in the taper. It's such a strange feeling to suddenly go from NEEDING these pills daily, to returning back to the person I was before.

 

My Final Valium Taper To Completion:

 

• Started at 200mg Valium equivalent
  
• Reduced to 40mg over 3 days (lost my diary at this stage - think I made 100mg -> 50mg -> 10mg cuts
  
• Got stuck around 30mg, had to adjust with dosages and timing a lot. One day 3x5mg doses sort me, the next I remain bedridden for hours on 10mg and have to re-dose 5mg just to get out of bed and eat something. Updosed a few times out of stress. Got through this by strictly sticking to twice-per-day (one morning, one midday) and tapering 5mg every couple of days
  
• Once I got down to 10mg I further slowed the taper to 2.5mg cuts
  
• Stabilized at 2.5mg before jumping off. First day had marked anxiety and hot flashes, but each day since then has been much easier.
  

 

I can confidently leave the house without needing to be on a benzo. I've never been so happy to be 'normal me'.

 

A friend of mine is having a party later this week and there's a good chance I'll end up drinking. Probably a ridiculous idea, but I want to celebrate this milestone with friends.

I do feel confident it won't rekindle me, since my stupid self survived dosing 30mg and drinking 9 beers when I should've been tapering to 10mg (TERRIBLE TERRIBLE IDEA - but it only ended up putting me 2 days behind my taper.)

Just going to take it slow and avoid going overboard.

 

I'd like to sign off this post with a thanks to everyone for all their genuinely kind words and advice. There's no way I would've been able to recover this fast without the support and techniques share on this forum (to whoever suggested I could survive cutting my initial doses in half - you saved me a month of my life  )

You sound terrific, I'm happy to hear you've done so well and now you're benzo free!  To tell you the truth, I thought you were going to hurt pretty bad but you've surprised me, a good surprise.

 

I hope you'll remember this episode in your life and take heed of what could happen down the road if you tempt fate again and yes, I know I sound like your mother! 

 

If you wouldn't mind, I hope you'll come back and let us know how this weekend goes for you, most here caution to stay away from alcohol so I'll be interested to hear what your experience is. 

 

 

I ended up going a little overboard at the party Underestimated how low my tolerance would now be; I took a 10mg Valium the next day to deal with the hangover anxiety, but was perfectly fine without one the next day. Looks like I'm back to normal.

 

Going to be more cautious with alcohol going forward, but I can happily say I haven't rekindled and am no longer dependent

Thanks for checking in, I'm glad to hear your celebration didn't cause any real problems for you, not sure I like the use of Valium for a hangover, hopefully that won't become a habit.

 

I'm very happy you're doing so well, I celebrate when anyone has an easier time of it than the thousands of members I've seen who can't say the same.

Yeah, I'm very very lucky that I managed to nip this in the bud before it grew into a bigger problem. I'm going to avoid using Valium to manage my anxiety in the future.

 

I'm thankful for this experience. It's shown me that drugs are not the way out and helped me to prioritize my mental health in the safest way possible.

 

I almost feel guilty that my withdrawal experience has been so smooth compared to the horror stories I've read.

 

All I can say is that anyone reading who is currently using benzos should get off them ASAP. The only reason I've managed to clean up is because I made the choice to quit using them within a month.

 

Once again, infinite love to everybody who's helped me during this. I might make a success story thread in a months time detailing what I personally went through.

I figure I should come here to mention that I have relapsed a few times since completing the taper - but it hasn't rekindled my addiction at all.

 

I took 50mg of Valium one night after a rough day just to see how it would make me feel; it just made me really sleepy and gave me rebound anxiety the next morning. Never doing that again.

 

Aside from that, I'm free from all physical dependence. I still have work to do managing my social anxiety, but I'm really glad to say that I've gotten off these pills.

Thanks for letting us know about your experiment, I have to tell you I'm kind of glad you felt anxiety the next day, there's nothing like a negative reaction to help us make the right choice the next time. 

 

Isn't it wonderful to be free of addictive substances?  I'm forever grateful I don't have to drink and drug.