ambien & valium

hello people..

I got so despearte about my problem that i found this website.i hope this will work out..

I started taking abien(zolpidem) in may 2007 as i could not sleep in the night due to anxiety.I started with 10mg nightly just before departing to bed..I realised i have a heavy head in the mornin with that dose..but was able to sleep well..I continued this for the nxt 2 months when i realised I had to cut down coz the hang over was really unbearable.So i switched to ambien 5mg + valium 2.5mg nightly..It was really comfortable & i managed well..

& i continued it for the nxt 7 months (late jan 08)..

I had realized by jan 08 that this was making me lethargic & i had lost my interest in my activities.I became more irritable & was low in energy...I have a heavy head through out my day & feel sleepy..

so i decided to cut down..Iam now taking ambien 1/3 of 10mg & 1.25 valium..I have developed some withdrawal symp like irritability & insomnia ..but iam continuing this regiem...

plz guys my story doesnt seem that depressing but i do feel low right now I want to be free of these medicines ..let me know any specific regiem for my problem coz i could not find one for the dose of drugs i take...

plzz help out...

 

Hi sleepless,

 

Welcome to BenzoBuddies.  It's a smart move wanting to get off the drugs, I believe you are having some wd symptoms.  I am not experienced with tapering (and that is highly recommended) but someone will be along shortly to help you.

 

Hang in there.....you can do this.

 

Ts

Hi sleepless,

 

Welcome to BenzoBuddies! 

 

If you want to get off ambien and valium we can certainly help you. I would recommend you do one at a time.

 

If you start with ambien first, you can go down to 1/4 tablet first. After few days (maybe a week), you may be able to stop ambien completely.

 

With valium, we recommend, roughly, a 10% cut of the dose every week or every 10 days. (Again, you will be the judge.) Can you do this by splitting your pill?  Titrating your tablet (crushing it, mixing with milk or water) is always an option, also. By this method you can make slow, gradual reductions, if you need to.

 

Did you have a chance to look at the stepping off table we have? That might be helpful to you also (you can use it as a guide for getting off both meds, one at a time) .

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/buddiesguide/tables/stepping-off

 

I agree with you that these meds start making us feel worse... so, eventually we have no choice but to get off of them. That is a good thing, in my opinion!

 

There are some natural remedies that our members recommend to aid in sleep. We can help you there, too.

 

Don't worry... You will feel better again and you can learn of natural ways to deal with your anxiety.

 

tanya 

 

Hi Sleepless,

 

Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

 

I agree with Tanya, it is usually better to taper off the shortacting benzo first (Ativan), and then taper off the Valium. From the sounds of it, you take the 5mg Valium tablets - it would help if you obtained the 2mg tablets (you will be able to make smaller reductions to your dose). The chances are that with 2mg tablets, you will not need to resort to titration, but the option is there is you need it.

hello tanya & everyone..

I tried 1/3rd of 10mg ambien & 1.25 valium last night but could not sleep well.I did not get up early in the morning & tried to compensate my night sleep which wasnt a good idea al all.

As for the morning Iam feeling a bit heavy in the head & have fine tremmors..when i walk I feel the center of gravity of my head has kinda shifted that makes a part of it heavy.. 

 

earlier when I had started my dose reduction I had trouble falling asleep & i did take an additional 10/3mg of ambien so that I could fall asleep..I dont do that now..But that gives me sleepless nights..

 

yes I went through the standard reduction table.The valium dose suggested is 3/8th tablet as i was taking 1/2 tablet i.e half of the 5mg tablet or 2.5 mg..It means that i need to take a little over 1.25 mg..

 

so fm now on i will try to stick to 1/4 of 10mg ambien that is I will get a 5mg tablet & devide it into 2.+ take a little over 1.25mg of valium..as suggested by tanya  also bcoz its the standard..

tanya plz let me know if there is online consultation available??

Iam a working student & I havent disclosed this to my parents.They believe that whatever iam doin is all manufactured bcoz they cant imagine what iam into..Is it wise to tell them.I just feel they r too much into their own problems...

plz help out guy

 

Hi sleepless,

 

I don't know of any online consultation. I know how hard it is when your family doesn't get it. I couldn't tell my parents anything when I started meds. They also think it's in people's heads, just because they never had to deal with it. Now, after so many years, they try to understand", but they really don't.

 

I would point them to this site and all the info at the home page. It's worth a try...

Hi Sleepless,

Seeking understaning will be pretty tough unless you talk to former benzo users or of course to people on this forum. My niece has the highest IQ in the family and even after reading the Ashton Manual, she still thinks it's mostly "upstairs" and that as long as I follow the proper taper I should experience very minimun symptoms. WRONG!

My case is not as bad as some members on this very forum, but I know that it's not nearly as good as those users who never even need a support group to get rid of benzo addiction.

Withdrawal symptoms are to be expected, but if you follow a slow and steady taper you should be able to have tolerable symptoms. If you feel you have hit a wall in the process, that's fine and you can either hold your taper for a bit longer (maybe another week or two) or make another small reduction or do both.

 

You have some advantages build in such as that you aren't taking too much and also found out about these meds before you were on them for years at a much higher dosages.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Jarocho

guys iam trying to get rid of ambien & valium.First iam trying to quit ambien.

Iam taking 1.25mg ambien & 1.25mg valium im having a few problems plz let me know if this happens to most,,can i continue.I take both drugs nightly..

I feelfine tremmors all through the day & night..

sometimes I cant sleep at night even when iam tired.the sleep just hangs in my head .I never cross fm being sleepy to real sleep.

have become a bit more irritated & jittery..

have panic attacks..

feel bored & drugged..

plz read my history ,i.e my first post..

plz help me out..Iam trying my best to get a normal lie..

Sleepless,

 

 

Hang in there.  I'm sure a mod will reply to you shortly.  Keep checking back. 

 

Sandy

Hey sleepless,

 

All you are going through sounds like withdrawals to me. However if you keep on tapering off these drugs the withdrawals will go away. It takes time. When I had these feelings, I reminded myself that my body and brain were looking for the drug that wasn't there; since it wasn't there, my body and brain started manufacturing its own GABA again. I even told my brain to start making GABA! LOL! I probably sounded nutty but it made me feel better and my brain did start making its GABA again. I've been off all benzos for over a year now and doing pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

So hang in there. If the sleeplessness gets too bad, you can try a benadryl or melatonin for a couple of nights to see if that helps. 

 

rufus

looking for the drug that wasn't there; since it wasn't there, my body and brain started manufacturing its own GABA again. I even told my brain to start making GABA! LOL! I probably sounded nutty but it made me feel better and my brain did start making its GABA again.

 

I like that, rufus!! Very proactive! 

hi rufus...

thanks for the support..

I saw your post.You had a quick taper fm 15mg Benzo.How many days did you take & how did you respond to the bzd taper??I mean how was your withdrawal??

One of my mates was on Valium 10mg for one year & then he switched over to Ambien 10mg every night without any taper for valium..He has been on ambien since 6 months now....If he wants to leave it, does he need to taper for valium aswell as he was earlier on valium...or sine he is only on ambien now he can just taper that??

Iam encouraging my mate to join this forum though...

plz help

 

Do you mean that you friend takes both Ambien and Valium? If so, how much and how regularly of each med? Assuming he takes both regularly, he will need to taper off both. Depending upon his exact circumstances, he should probably taper off the Ambien first.

Hi sleepless,

 

Let me see if I can remember. I was put on xanax reguarly on Oct 31 (how appropriate) '06, and moved over to diazepam on Nov 21. I was at 15 mg diazepam at that point. My doctor wanted me to go from 15 mg to 10 mg in one week, then down to 5 mg the next and off the next but I thought that was a little fast.  However I hadn't been on benzos long and I didn't want to develop any more of a dependency than I had (the xanax started giving me interdose withdrawals almost immediately) so I went as fast as I could -- meaning I had no withdrawals or any kind of reaction-- down to 1.25 (I had told my doc I wanted to down further before getting off and he was amenable to the idea) where I had my first w/d symptom, mostly anxiety. I reached 1.25 sometime before Christmas. I then crept down to .25 and sat on that dose for 21 days to let my body and brain catch up with my dose cuttings. I'd found this site by then and decided not to jump at .25 mg but to go as low as I could.  I started using a milk titration for the diazepam and dropped .01 a night. When I got to .01 I decided to go a little more and got down to .0005, which is where I "jumped", although it was more like a roll off.  This was March 11 '07.

 

Note: my doc switched me straight over to diazepam, no week or so adjusting from one to the other benzo. I had no problem with that probably because I hadn't been on it long. My symptoms were mostly anxiety, agitation, and stomach tightness. I was also having to taper off methimazole, an anti-thyroid medication, and that may have played into my symptoms as well.

 

Hope this helps!

 

rufus

thanx rufus..u really did move swiftly off the drugs..

I just one qus for you like i told you I have been on ambien5mg & valium 1.25mg for about 7 months & i have just started my taper..

It sounds a bit stupid but fingures criossed if i do well, can I be drug free in a months time???I will have to travel abroad in 1 & a half months time so i want to be relaxed by then..

 

 

colin as i had said my friend took valium 15mg earlier for 6months or so.Then he stoped the drug gradually & started ambien 5mg/nightly with some valium 2.5-5mg nightly..So he is quite like in my state of affairs.Only difference is that he DID START WITHV ALIUM 15mg & then moved on to ambien without a taper & I had begun with ambien & valium...

so what can he differently do go off the drugs???

 

 

plz help guys..

wish u all a drug free life..

 

Hi Sleepless,

I'm not sure what rate you are cutting at, but to be off of 1.25mg valium in a months time doesn't seem unreasonabe. Though you still may possibly be having some symptoms after you are off.

Hmm, I don't know about being off in a month's time, esp. if you want to be relaxed. You can be off but you might not be as relaxed as you want to be.  It took me several months to go from 1.25 to off -- and I hadn't been on benzos as long as you have.  Plus I was tapering only one benzo, not two.

 

Generally the idea is to taper off the benzos cutting 10% of your dose every 10-14 days. If your body lets you, you can speed that up a bit-- or if your body protests, you can slow down the rate somewhat. However what you want to have happen is to go slow enough that your body starts producing the GABA that you've taken away in a smooth enough manner so you don't have too much anxiety or any other w/d symptoms.  I went as fast as I did because benzos made me extremely agitated and obsessive/compulsive.

 

rufus

thanx again.

what i relly expect that I atleast get out of ambien(in 1 month) & drop the valium to 1-1.5mg nightly...if that dose gives me sleep I can then taper the rest in some more time...

 

How is the plan ..plz advise.

 

 

Sounds like a good plan!

Sounds like it's worth a try!!! Good luck!!!

 

rufus

guys in trying to taper off ambien & valium I am experiencing insomnia since 2 nights...i get tempted to take more when i have been ther inthe bed for 2-3 hrs or so...

But i realise 1 thing, that even if have not had any sleep at night but I dont take any more drug after my usual I still feel a lil better than being drugged....

its difficuilt to paas the night though...

let me know what you guys do when you cant sleep in the night???Things that can make you relax or sleepy...

 

(On ambien 2.5mg & valium 2.5mg-taper since 3 days)

 

One thing more my body movements have been a bit jerky(shiverry) sine 1-2 months..what can i make out of it???

help

The jerks and/or shivers are normal for withdrawing. Many of us had them when we were tapering.

 

As far as insomnia, yeah, that's normal too. Insomnia seems to be the number 1 withdrawal symptom. A lot of folks try benadryl or melatonin and find it helps somewhat. Sleep will come in fits and starts for a while, but it will return. Just ride it out and hang in there.

 

rufus