It's Been a Long, Difficult Journey

Before I begin, I'd like to thank the BB community for all the help you've already provided me. When I began my taper in August, I began to visit the site and forums and found a lot of helpful information and advice, although I haven’t felt ready to join until now. I underwent a 5-month at-home taper and crossover from 4.5 mg of Xanax (or more) per day to 30 mg of Valium (with a lot of help from my very supportive new doctor and my family and friends), and I have been Xanax-free for 13 days. As I’m sure a lot of people can understand, it has been (and continues to be) one of the most difficult periods of my life so far.

 

My problems with benzos began around 8 years ago when I was prescribed 0.5 mg of Ativan 3 times per day (as needed) for my extreme anxiety and panic attacks, and since they were so frequent, I ended up taking them every day and quickly becoming addicted and developing a tolerance. As my dose increased over the next two years without much luck, my psychiatrist decided to switch me to a higher dose of clonazepam which also slowly increased, and that period of time was such a blur I don’t even remember any of my dosage information. During that time, I was also given oxazepam for insomnia. Shortly after that, my psychiatrist took a personal hiatus, and I spent awhile without a mental health professional while my GP continued to fill my benzo prescriptions. A few years ago, I finally found another mental health professional, who prescribed me 4.5 mg of Xanax per day, and over the next few years I became worse than ever, and sometimes took 10+ mg, which resulted in running out of prescriptions and constant excuses for refills on my part.

 

Finally, this July I decided I had to do something about my problem, and in August I began seeing my new GP, who helped me develop a successful tapering process, during which I decreased my dose of Xanax by 0.5 mg every two or three weeks (depending on my state at the time) and gradually crossed over to 30 mg of Valium per day (in increments increased by 5 mg during most of my decreases in Xanax) until I took my last 0.5 mg Xanax pill on December 13.

 

I begin gradually tapering my 30mg Valium dose by 5mg increments on January 8, and although I’m extremely excited about my benzo-free future, I’m admittedly also very nervous about the idea of life without them. Due to many withdrawal side-effects, I haven’t felt like I was ready to join your community until now. Since I’m not attending any type of drug counselling because of my anxiety, I decided that it could be very helpful to interact with others who have been through or are currently going through benzo addiction treatment, because sometimes I can feel pretty alone, even when surrounded by extremely supportive people. If possible, I would also be more than happy to provide support for others who are currently tapering or withdrawing because I know how powerless it can make you feel at some points.

 

I look forward to interacting with everyone, and I hope I can be a good addition to your community. Thank you very much for reading. Happy Holidays everyone!

Hello Corman

 

Welcome to benzobuddies, happy holidays to you too, well done so far crossing over from Xanax to Valium, I am glad you found BB helpful so far, you will get plenty of support here, If you could read through Professor Ashtons Manual you will find It is a valuable resource for learning about benzos and how to taper off them, the general rule of thumb is to reduce between 5/10% every 10/14 days

 

Please feel free to check out the forum and post to any of the dedicated boards, you'll find a great community of people who are here to support and encourage you. You might like to post to this Diazepam(Valium) Tapering Support Blog we have a lot of knowledgeable members who will give sound advice.

 

Here is a link to the  General Taper Plans and If you wish to add a signature (history of meds/doses etc) it will help members give you relevant advice this link will show you how to Create a signature

 

Please let us know If you have any questions.

 

Welcome Aboard

 

Magrita

 

Thank you Magrita! All of the helpful information and links are greatly appreciated. I'll definitely be sure to read through everything and create a signature for myself as soon as possible.

Your Welcome, look forward to seeing you around the forum

Hi and Welcome Corman

 

Congratulations on becoming an official BB member.  You'll find plenty of online support here, with dedicated threads for anxiety, tapering off valium and heaps of other useful info.

 

Good luck on your journey. 

 

Staffy

Thank you very much, Staffy. It's greatly appreciated.