Holding while microtapering — is it OK?

TL;DR: I am tapering off of 7.5mg Valium with 0.1mg cuts (now at 6.5mg). Every 3-4 weeks, I hit a sticking point, probably because of the longer half-life of Valium, and I need to hold for up to 3 weeks to alleviate my symptoms. Is this fine?

 

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I started my Valium taper 2.5 months ago and have managed to shave off 1mg so far. I went too fast the first 3-4 weeks (cutting 0.1mg every 5-6 days) and hit a massive wall. I could barely stand light or sound, speak, was “wired” / tense and trembling to the point that I felt like I was suffocating, and developed mild gastroparesis. I then held for 18 days, and this “reset” my symptoms back to nearly where I was at the beginning of my taper.

 

I have since slowed my taper rate (cutting 0.1mg every 8 days) but fast forward 3 weeks later, I am again at a point where I find myself needing a hold to alleviate my symptoms so that I can continue tapering down. Benzo belly has made its appearance. This likely means that I am still going too fast, even though I am cutting just about 5% per month. (That said, I don’t think I will need to hold 3 weeks again.)

 

Were I in better shape to begin with — I have two chronic illnesses, with symptoms that overlap those of benzo withdrawal, that leave me bedridden —, I would have accepted going faster at the expense of stronger symptoms. However, this is simply not feasible as I need to have bare minimum functionality, that is, being able to eat and to communicate. At this point, I realize that my taper is probably going to take a very long time, but I cannot do otherwise.

 

My questions are:

 

1) Is it OK to hold for a few weeks at a time until the symptoms resolve enough, even though I am microtapering? Or should I rather cut slower, e.g. 0.1mg every 10-12 days, and hopefully avoid the need to hold every few weeks?

 

2) Is there a risk that holding like so stops working as I taper down further?

Hi potatosaur,

 

I think I might know a lot, but then again there's so much I don't. I think many Benzo victims wonder if holding too long might cause tolerance while doing so. I haven't experienced that (yet). So to answer your second question, I really don't know.

 

Personally after having a good spell at 3.5mg. it's been a little rough finding my way forward in terms of mictotapering. I went from 3.5mg. to 3.25mg., failing, going back up to 3.5mg. for two days and now it's been 9 days at 3.4mg., with some nasty withdrawal symptoms. I intend to taper even less when I stabilize, with 0.02mg. (liquid + pills).

 

Back to your first question: yes, I think it's okay to hold for a couple weeks. However, you could consider making even smaller cuts and see how you react.

 

Best of luck.

 

 

TL;DR: I am tapering off of 7.5mg Valium with 0.1mg cuts (now at 6.5mg). Every 3-4 weeks, I hit a sticking point, probably because of the longer half-life of Valium, and I need to hold for up to 3 weeks to alleviate my symptoms. Is this fine?

 

—

 

I started my Valium taper 2.5 months ago and have managed to shave off 1mg so far. I went too fast the first 3-4 weeks (cutting 0.1mg every 5-6 days) and hit a massive wall. I could barely stand light or sound, speak, was “wired” / tense and trembling to the point that I felt like I was suffocating, and developed mild gastroparesis. I then held for 18 days, and this “reset” my symptoms back to nearly where I was at the beginning of my taper.

 

I have since slowed my taper rate (cutting 0.1mg every 8 days) but fast forward 3 weeks later, I am again at a point where I find myself needing a hold to alleviate my symptoms so that I can continue tapering down. Benzo belly has made its appearance. This likely means that I am still going too fast, even though I am cutting just about 5% per month. (That said, I don’t think I will need to hold 3 weeks again.)

 

Were I in better shape to begin with — I have two chronic illnesses, with symptoms that overlap those of benzo withdrawal, that leave me bedridden —, I would have accepted going faster at the expense of stronger symptoms. However, this is simply not feasible as I need to have bare minimum functionality, that is, being able to eat and to communicate. At this point, I realize that my taper is probably going to take a very long time, but I cannot do otherwise.

 

My questions are:

 

1) Is it OK to hold for a few weeks at a time until the symptoms resolve enough, even though I am microtapering? Or should I rather cut slower, e.g. 0.1mg every 10-12 days, and hopefully avoid the need to hold every few weeks?

 

2) Is there a risk that holding like so stops working as I taper down further?

Thank you, Naf1983. Yes, I have experienced tolerance from holding, when I initially switched from zolpidem to diazepam — but I was underdosed. Before updosing to 7.5mg, I stayed at 5mg for 5 weeks and the last 2 weeks, I could tell my WD symptoms were worsening. So, from that, I assume the longest I can hold is 3 weeks, but I’m not sure how reliable that figure is as I wasn’t tapering then.

 

I can cut by 0.05mg decrements. I had thought of saving this strategy for later, but it might be good to switch to it now.

 

Just sharing my experience here.

 

17 years on high dose benzo's, so with me tolerance probably isn't an issue anymore, but

 

Been holding at 1,7 mg V since the beginning of June now. And every week I see a huge difference in healing.

Hello, potatosaur.  Good to see you back on the boards. I do not have personal experience with tapering diazepam so cannot address your specific questions. However, I wish to recognize and applaud the important work you are doing to determine your optimal taper rate. (FYI … we have members who have discovered their optimal taper rate is 5% a month or even lower.)