Recovering Valium addict

Hey guys! I’m a Swedish guy in my mid twenties recovering from a Valium addiction. It started with benzo sleeping pills last spring when I was working a lot. Last summer it developed to a Valium addiction. I probably peaked at around 50 mg per day. Tried to get clean several times and in early March I started my successful tapering. It went relatively fast, around 7 weeks starting with 30 mg and cutting off 5 mg per week. I mostly had psychological withdrawals like anxiety and depression symptoms, but they only lasted for about a month. I’ve been clean for exactly 30 days today. Registered for the forum to understand my withdrawal better. Have found it very ensuring during the tapering to read that I’m not alone and that my symptoms are indeed very common. Unfortunately the support and information from the addiction clinic has been scarce.

Hello swedishbenzo,

 

Welcome to BenzoBuddies, I am glad you are joining us!  A huge congratulations to you for letting Valium go from you life.  Many of us used benzos for sleep or at least started that way.  Are you sleeping well now without them?  I'm glad to hear your mood problems did not linger.  You can join others who got off benzos quickly like you did on this rapid withdrawl link:

 

Cold Turkey, Detox & Rapid Withdrawal

 

You can read about benzo withdrawl symptoms in Chapter 3 of the Ashton Manual, the source we reference for this process:

 

The Ashton Manual

 

Look around and get familiar with things here and when you are ready, you can start a thread.  Let us know how we can help.

 

Again, welcome,

 

Kate