Good days and bad days

I'm doing a slow taper on Valium, still at 24 mg a nite.  I notice that some nights I sleep pretty good and others I'm up ever hour or so.  I also notice that some days I'm more anxious and other days I'm more relaxed.  Is this normal?  Does anyone else experience this?  What are your symptoms on bad days and how do you deal with it?

Just needing support so I don't feel so alone in all of this.

 

Thank you,

Maggie

Hi Maggie

 

I am on 30mg of Valium at the moment and can tell you that i have similar relaxed and then anxious days. I am not in anyway qualified to tell you "this is why"

 

I just find that at certain times it becomes regular for a while, say 4pm, I'm highly anxious until i go to bed and then of course cant sleep. This happens to me more than the relaxed state.

One thing I have noticed is the things i do during the day contribute to my anxious feelings,as soon as i start to feel nervous i get more nervous-snowball effect!! The thing is to keep busy and not to put too much thought or emphasis on how feel-tough one i know!!!

if you repeat this over and over your body will relax,I'm not saying your anxious moments will never return, but they will be maintained.

 

Try and see if there is a pattern to your sleep and what you did that day...may help

I know what you are going through and its hard...but there is always,always a place like this.

 

Dena

Thanks Dena for the feedback.  It's comforting to know that all of these feeelings are a part of the recovery process.  Also, I know that I do have control to manage my anxiety if not make it go away completely.  May I ask you if you are doing a slow taper right now and when you started.  I started off taking 30 mg Valium a little over a month ago.  It's rough but feels so good to know that I am making progress, even though it's slow. 

Hi Maggie,

 

when i felt highly anxious during my taper i did a long run. It helped me every time.

I'm off now for more than 8 months and i feel great, nearly normal.

You will get there!

 

Patrick

Hi Maggie

 

I am just starting my titration now, i am at 30mg Valium, so you are quite a bit ahead of me.

I am anxious at the thought of getting lower and lower in my dose, although i so badly want to. What I am trying to say is silly little things can give you a sudden nervous reaction, and if its in the day as Patrick suggested maybe a run would do you good, i dig holes in the garden....which will eventually be a proper garden(hopefully).

Something that exerts you physically so you get that adrenalin out..you will feel a whole lot better.

Hey, if you are feeling relaxed at anytime, enjoy it!!

Would you be so kind as to tell me how you felt dropping those 6mg?

Hang in there, you are doing great.

Cheers

Dena

Hey Dena,

 

I am doing a slow taper as advised by Dr. Heather Ashton, an expert in the UK on benzos.  I started at 30 mg and stayed on that for about a week.  I then dropped to 28 mg.  After another week, I dropped to 26 mg, but I believe I was rushing my taper.  I wanted to get off those benzos as fast as I could! (WRONG ATTITUTUDE...)I wasn't sleeping well and was very anxious. So I had to re-read what I already read about withdrawaling. Dr. Ashton recommends to stay on the dose for 1-2 weeks or until your body adjusts well to it, maybe longer depending on stressors in your life or whatever. I then stayed on 26-25 mg for several weeks until my body seemed to adjust and then went to 24mg.  I've been on 24 mg for a week and a half and I'm in no hurry to drop my dosage again.  It may be another week and a half until I go down to 22mg or I may go to 23mg since I also have 2 mg tablets.  My Dr. gave me 10 mg tablets and lots of 2mg tablets, which is great and allows me to control my taper even 1 mg at a time. Anyway, I think the most important thing is that I listen to my body and as it adjusts, I go lower.  It may take me until September to fully be off them and that's OK. 

 

So, listen to your body.  You may need to be 30 mg for a long while since (from what I read from your other posts) it seems like you should have been put on a much higher dose of Valium in the first place.  Don't rush yourself.  You sound like you are having heavy-duty symptoms of withdrawal now, so just hang it there.  So easy to say and hard to do, I know.

 

I hope your days get better and better...this too shall pass:)

 

Maggie

 

I can see you are doing very well Maggie, hang in there and keep it up. Thank you for sharing how you started to go off the benzo. I must admit that i have done little reseach and perhaps this puts me at a huge dissadvantage.

 

Keep getting better and better

Dena