I slipped: Do I need to reset to a higher dose? major wave of symptoms

Hello all,

 

Its been a rough few years. Very rough...... But I've been tapering from 15mgs to 5 mgs since March 2020. Maybe this was way too fast......

 

I thought I was safe at 5mgs for the last two weeks but then I crashed again. On Monday I took 10mgs and today (Saturday) I took 10mgs. The other 5 days are 5 mgs. So it seems I am not stable at 5 by any means as this week was a huge wave and I double dosed on two days......

 

MONDAY = 10MG

TUESDAY 5

WEDNESDAY 5

THURSDAY 5

SATURDAY 10

SUNDAY 5

 

TOTAL = 45 MGS / 7 = 6.4 MGS PER DAY

 

so in reality if im honest with myself two things become evident: I crashed this week even on an average of 6.4 mgs per week. Thus...is it wise to continue a 5mgs and risk more crashes or more double dosing or should i go up and stabilize at 7mgs every day?

 

I was at 15 mgs per day - on average prior to March 2020 - but I never journaled and I used extremely. for example I'd use 5-10 mgs per day for 7-8 days and then use 30 mgs in a day or 20mgs 2 or three days straight...sometimes I'd get depressed and use 25 mgs 2-3 days in a row. I wonder id my emotional instability is poor valium management as much or more than my situation I'm experiencing?

 

Thoughts? Maybe I need to go back to 10 mgs per day and start keeping a journal..... I have no idea how much I'm really at in terms of a baseline. I never use it consistently...

What symptom(s) caused you to increase your dose?

I think journaling is good. I’ve been keeping a journal of all of my symptoms. Every time I feel a symptom I write it down along with the time I feel it so I can start to see trends.

I agree it would be better for you to get on a consistent dose and keeping a journal sounds good too, we have a progress logs section you can use if you care to. 

 

I didn't know benzo's had to be tapered when I quit cold turkey but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to taper because I would have taken more to feel better, I don't have it in me to invite the pain like others do. 

Thank you all: the symptoms hit me like a brick wall suddenly a week ago:

 

dizziness

exhaustion

discouragement

fogginess

anxiety of course

poor sleep with alot of night sweats

sinuses acted up

major vision issues - blurry / couldnt focus

 

It was a wave. I feel so much better today but yesterday I doubled up to 10mgs (as did I last monday) so If I continue with 5mgs consistently again I expect another wave.

 

journals!!

I don't think you can predict a wave but it will be interesting to see what your journal indicates.  What is your plan for your dose?

Hi Pam,

 

I'm unsure. Last week was a wave indeed. a brutal wave. Yet the last two days have been very good days in terms of symptoms.

 

So......I'm going to continue at 5mg even though last week was closer to 6.5 mgs / day (the previous two weeks were solid 5mg / day for the fourteen days......

 

So as long as my body is ok with the 5mgs I'll continue this way. I'll stay on 5mgs for a solid month at least to establish a solid baseline...

 

Only time will tell. The journal is crucial - absolutely crucial. If I wave again. I'll go up to a 7mg baseline. Once a person levels out a dose - in my case 5mgs and I stay on 5mgs for awhile, can i experience multiple recurring waves? thanks!

 

Thank you

I believe you can get hit with a wave even if you're on a consistent dose of 5 mgs because so many other factors play into a wave.  Stress is a huge contributor to increased symptoms so if I were you I wouldn't automatically assume you need to go back up to 6.5 mgs. 

 

Other medications, health challenges, sometimes foods or supplements can set us off so record all of these as well as your doses and don't go up in dose unless you absolutely have to.  Oftentimes members will increase their dose and it doesn't calm things down so they'll increase it even more.  This is the fallacy of thinking it's the dose that's causing the increase in symptoms, sometimes it's just life and the nature of benzo tolerance and withdrawal. 

I believe you can get hit with a wave even if you're on a consistent dose of 5 mgs because so many other factors play into a wave.  Stress is a huge contributor to increased symptoms so if I were you I wouldn't automatically assume you need to go back up to 6.5 mgs. 

 

Other medications, health challenges, sometimes foods or supplements can set us off so record all of these as well as your doses and don't go up in dose unless you absolutely have to.  Oftentimes members will increase their dose and it doesn't calm things down so they'll increase it even more.  This is the fallacy of thinking it's the dose that's causing the increase in symptoms, sometimes it's just life and the nature of benzo tolerance and withdrawal.

 

I agree with this. I have had two accidents since I have been tapering and both caused huge waves for weeks. I held my dose and waited for things to improve. They do improve with time.

I’m basically right where you are.  Was at .5mg of Klonopin (8mg of Valium equivalent) and cut down to .25mg and it was way too much at once.  Felt absolutely horrid for a week but started restabilizing after past 2-3 days..  Just got switched to Valium this week and am currently at 4mg.  Going to hang tight here for a few weeks and then drop to 3mg. 

This is a great post.  Your not alone .I cut to a dose that was low, and have been struggling with it for a while. 3 days ago it stopped working. I think this is the worst wave I have ever had. Waves of acute panic for hours and the full range of withdraw symptoms.

 

I am not strong enough to continue with the current dose for each of my 3 doses. Maybe I am. The am panic attacks are unbearable. I know up dosing rarely helps, but I can't function like this. I have been gritting my teeth and getting through it. Considering upping dose 1 by 9% when panic is at it's worst, but scared it will make me feel worse.

 

I had just started to feel a bit better before this wave hit 2 days ago, and was getting enough benefit from my doses to keep going.

 

Tapering is the hardest thing in the world for me. I can't find a physical cause for my current situation, unless it's just a revisit of the wave created by the "bad," medication I was on my last wave was caused by a medication, took me a week to figure it out.

 

Benzo's make absolutely no sense. Unpredictable, vicious, paradoxical, ineffective, essentially "torment pills."  With draw is never linear ever.

 

Pam, as always is spot on:

I believe you can get hit with a wave even if you're on a consistent dose of 5 Mg's because so many other factors play into a wave.  Stress is a huge contributor to increased symptoms so if I were you I wouldn't automatically assume you need to go back up to 6.5 Mg's.

 

Other medications, health challenges, sometimes foods or supplements can set us off so record all of these as well as your doses and don't go up in dose unless you absolutely have to.  Oftentimes members will increase their dose and it doesn't calm things down so they'll increase it even more.  This is the fallacy of thinking it's the dose that's causing the increase in symptoms, sometimes it's just life and the nature of benzo tolerance and withdrawal.

 

Try and stay as close as you can to your goal dose. I am going to up dose just 1 dose, and just get through the other 2. That will leave me some consistency. Going up and down and all around day after day confuses our nervous system. So, if you have to up dose, make it consistent. And try to keep it low. Doubling a dose is a lot, I am adding 9 % to my first dose, maybe. Haven't decided yet.

 

I have learned that a wave can settle down, but sometimes the withdraw and symptoms are so acute, you have to be flexible.

 

Whatever you decide, I think being as consistent as possible is your greatest ally right now.

 

You can do this.

Great advice Baddove