Need help with etizolam taper

Hi,

 

During this whole covid-19 I started developing high levels of anxiety, becoming agoraphobic, and having obsessive compulsions with cleaning and disinfecting. A few months ago it was terrible and I could barely leave my bedroom but I managed to overcome a lot of it by myself and then with the help of online CBT therapy.

 

Then I discovered etizolam. I have been using it everyday for around one and half to two months now. Doses would range from 2-8mg daily. Recently I've started to wake up in panic attacks and I can feel the dread setting in whenever the drug wears off. I have been dosing just whenever I feel like it, sometimes many times throughout the day.

 

Yesterday I decided to try and get a regiment going, I took .75mg then 7 hours later .5mg, then 7 hours later a couple hours before I went to bed I took 1mg. I felt okay throughout the day but as the 7 hour mark approached I started to feel uncomfortable. Then I woke up far too early in the morning in a panic attack. I need to taper off. I have no other benzos I can use or get ahold of. What would be a good taper schedule for etizolam to avoid withdrawals? I have to go back to work tomorrow after having months off due to my severe anxiety and I'm worried about etizolams effect to my immune system.

 

Thanks for reading.

We generally recommend a nice slow taper with cuts of no greater than 10% every week or two.

 

I doubt if your immune system has taken a hit.  People tend to worry about immune responses if they've been experiencing harsh withdrawal symptoms for months/years.  Even then I think the immune response 'hit' is pretty small.

Thank you any idea how often I should be dosing with etizolam's short duration?

I'm not really sure how you'd taper etizolam.  I'd suggest you open up a separate thread and see what everybody thinks.

 

If you had only used it at night for sleep, I think you'd use a little less each night for sleep.  But you dosed kind of randomly from what I understand.

 

What's the smallest amount that you can take each day and not have strong withdrawal??  You tried 2.25 mg and that didn't seem to work.  Would 3 x 1 mg (or 4 x 0.75 mg) work??  It's OK to feel a little discomfort, but you want to find a level where you're mostly functional.  Once you find a level that works for you, you can begin reducing some or all of the doses slowly.

With 2.25 I'm not sure I really withdrawaled just felt anxious and restless when getting close to redose time. But waking up in panic makes me think maybe I should split it to four doses one of them being right before I get in bed.

Do you still need some help from Etizolam tapering?

I just jumped from my taper a few days ago.

I am free of this drug now, thank goodness.

I will check back to see if you answer.

There are not many who have tapered from this drug here, so I can help if you like.