Planning on using ashton method and have quetions to taper Xanax

Hi Mikeaob, I'd like to jump in to help but I hope you don't mind if I ask a couple of questions first, it will help me understand your situation better if I can update your signature with the latest and greatest information, please be patient with me. 

 

You're attempting to cross over from 1.5 mgs Xanax to Valium and your doctor prescribed 40 mgs?

 

Were you dosing 3 times a day with the Xanax?

 

 

 

Originally I was taking 2 milligrams once a night for sleep. At a drs orders in January I started dosing 3 times a day at .5 which I never really felt “good at” my dr suggested coming back up to a 2mg equivalent. I was showing slight improvement at .5 3 times a day but still in pretty rough shape.

 

Not sure that it’s all related to the withdrawal as there were a lot of external major stressors happening at once. But now I’m trying to cross over and “stabilize”  at 40mg amd then start my taper.

 

The .5 3 times a day was rough. Like not getting out of bed rough. I know it’s a little all

Over the place but I truly was trying to follow dr instructions.

So Mikeaob here's my understanding of your situation as you described. In January you were dosing 0.5mg three times a day but since your cross over you have changed back to twice a day. Your doctor wanted you to updose to 2mg but you didn't. Based on this advice your doctor suggested a 40mg cross over to Valium.

 

In your attempt to cross over for the first 3 days you took 20mg Valium in the morning and 0.75mg Xanax at night. Then yesterday you took 20mg Valium in the morning and at night you took 0.5mg Xanax + 10mg Valium based off this:

As far as mixing It has been a bit if a crap shoot. Yesterday I took 20 mg Valium at 1030 am and after about an hour or so I felt fine for the rest of the day. At night I took .5 xanax and 10mg Valium. And woke up feeling mild anxiety.

 

Before that i was taking about half and half approximately.

 

 

 

You never have to apologize for anything you have done. We are all trying to make sense of a very difficult process and we are trying the best we can.

 

If you can just confirm that my understanding of your situation is correct, we can try and see how to move forward.

 

Thanks for sticking with us! I know this can be frustrating.

I have been taking the equivalent of a 2mg so yesterday I took 20 mg 230 am and .5 mg Xanax and 10 mg Valium at bed time.

Sorry meant 1030 am

Other than that, can you confirm my explanation of your situation is correct?

Yes it’s correct ..

There are a couple of things that stand out to me  that might be effecting your symptoms as all of these things have been happening simultaneously during your cross over:

 

1) You said you want to stabilize at 40mg Valium. 1.5mg Xanax is not equivalent to 40mg Valium it is equivalent to 30mg Valium. I believe your doctor told you 40mg because he thought you were on 2mg Xanax (2mg Xanax=40mg Valium).  So I'm not sure if you are not aware of the conversion rate (because your doctor told you 40mg) or if you are updosing while you are crossing over?

2) You have been dosing three times a day but then switched your dosing to two times a day during your cross over.

3) You have not been able to follow a consistent daily schedule to cross over (no judgment here, just an observation so you are aware this will likely effect your symptoms)

4) You have been dealing with major stress that I believe also has an impact on your symptoms.

 

How have your symptoms been the last two days and what dose of Valium were you thinking of crossing over to? Are trying to updose?

Hey Mikeaob, can you take a look at your profile to see if I've captured accurate information?  This helps members see your situation so they can make suggestions based on your taper history. This helps us just as the journal I hope you're keeping of your reductions and symptom severity helps you make decisions. 

 

Let me know if I need to make changes, sorry I took out a little bit of personal background but I wanted to leave plenty of room for your taper updates.

1. My original dose was 2mg nightly. Spent 2 months at a lower dose .5mg 3 times a day (my decision) So I made an immediate drop from 2 to 1.5 and tried to soldier through I never really stabilized. I was waking with pretty sever anxiety. And having interdose withdrawal pretty much all day. I only felt calm at night. My Dr and I agreed this drop was too fast and with all of my oustide stress he felt it wold be best to updose to 40 mg diezepam total and stabilize and then we would begin my taper.

 

2. I have only had the Valium for 7 days in the first day or two I was interchanging .5mg doses of xanax with diezepam just to see if it would affect me. Can’t say which doses as I just started journaling a few days ago (Experimenting) I had read that some people don’t respond to diezepam. I wasn’t given direct instruction on how to crossover.

 

3. I for the past 2 days have been taking 20mg of diezepam at 1030 am and it covered most of my symptoms for the day. Night 1 of the last 2 I took .5 mg xanax and 10mg diezepam and I woke up with moderate anxiety. Symptoms subsided 1.5 to

2 hours after my 20mg. Diezepam at 1030am.. Last night I tool 20 mg of diezepam and woke up with mild anxiety but I feel numb/no emotion god or bad.

 

4. There are definitely external stressors that are affecting my anxiety levels at this point in my life.

 

 

Thanks for providing such concise information, I noticed you said you weren't given instructions for crossing over, this chart is for 1.5 mgs Klonopin but its the same equivalency as Xanax so its a perfect example of how to cross over.

 

https://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s5