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Hi everyone, need help withdrawing from zolpidem


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Hi, I am 24/f/australia.

 

I have been on ambien/stilnox (zolpidem tartrate) for 7 years now and have gone up to 100 mg a day. I take 40 at night with 20 mg of valium to get to sleep and 40 more when I wake up early. I also take 15-20 mg during the day because of the short 2 hour life of the benzo I start to feel sick without it in my system.

 

Yesterday I had made the decision to cut out the morning dose of 40 mg zolpidem so now I am on 40-50 mg a day. I don't know if that was right cutting down so much too quick.

 

What I would like to know, is if anyone here is experienced enough and able to write me a tapering down schedule for my 100 mg zolpidem with valium, where I eventually cross over to just valium and cut down from there.

 

Is anyone able to help? I really need it.

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Hi,

 

Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

 

I think you know that cutting your dose in half is almost certainly asking for trouble. Generally, our members cut by about 10% of their dose every 7-14 days. Some require an even slower taper, but some can manage to taper more quickly. It is about finding the right rate for you, but avoiding overzealous cuts.

 

In your shoes, I think I would reinstate my regular daily dose and start a sensible taper plan. Your 20mg of Valium is probably equivalent to about 40mg Ambien. So, your daily dose of benzos (or benzo-like substances in the case of Ambien) is something like 70mg Valium or 140mg Ambien. This is a large dose!

 

It would be sensible to taper off the Ambien first, and keep taking the Valium. As you have already mentioned, switching to Valium is an option, and I agree with you that firstly tapering off as much of the Ambien as possible before considering a switch is probably the way to go. You may well find that you can taper off the Ambien without having to substitate any Ambien for Valium. I think that cutting 10mg from your daily dose of Ambien (and keep taking the 20mg Valium), would be a good starting point. Review how you feel after 7 days, and then consider making another cut if you feel things have gone pretty well. Keep doing this (making 10mg cuts), but as your dose lowers, you may well find that you you will need to make 5mg cuts instead. Of course, once off the Ambien, you will then taper off the Valium.

 

There is no magic to tapering. Just keep the cuts relatively small, and you will probably find that you can then make cuts relatively often. Make new cuts when you feel reasonably recovered from the previous cut, and do make sure that you keep the cuts to a sensible size.

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Hi CMS and welcome to BB! You've found a really good place to be at for support and understanding while tapering!

Colin has given you some good advice, hope that you will atleast consider it.

Hope your well.

Amanda  :smitten:

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Hi,

 

Yes that does make sense. I have been feeling sick the past couple of nights since I cut my ambien in half. I still sleep great but my body is used to taking alot because what I do is take 40 -50 mg ambien with 20 mg valium and sleep ok. Then when I wake up I take another 40 mg and go back to sleep, plus taking some during the day from the w/d symptoms.

 

So someone suggested go back to my regular dose, cut out a tablet every 5-7 days (keep taking 20 mg valium at night) until I get down to 40 mg of ambien and do a valium cross over from there via ashton manual. - A slow taper would be much better wouldn't it.

 

**I should also mention I am coming off 1 mg clonazepam that an idiot specialist put me on to get me off xanax and ambien (off xanax now) I got them 19th april and never really took the full dose he wanted me to which was 4 mg a day as I was very suspicious of that drug from the start. So next week I am going down to .5 mg and after 2 weeks I will stop taking it. Needless to say I am not seeing him anymore!

 

 

So yes I will start a slow taper from my ambien and not rush things. Thanks for the welcome and replies.

 

LOL paxton I like your sig line 'a walking pharmacy'...that's what people call me because I have everything stocked from anti-nausea tablets to paracetamol  :laugh:

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Hi CMS,

 

All I can say is thank goodness you are NOT seeing that doctor again! He should be arrested!

 

 

 

T2 :smitten:

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Hi CMS,

 

Can you change your avatar please. It is a rather large file for those on dialup connections to download. Some of our members are also a bit sensitive to flashing images.

 

Thanks.

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Hi CMS!!

 

Welcome to Benzobuddies!!  Glad you found us and got rid of that idiot doctor!!

 

Love,

 

Jen

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Hi CMS,

 

Can you change your avatar please. It is a rather large file for those on dialup connections to download. Some of our members are also a bit sensitive to flashing images.

 

Thanks.

 

Not to mention, it's kind of disturbing.

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Sorry, can you tell me what the usual size of avatars are here? 100 x 100?

 

Is the one I have now ok?

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Hi CMS!!

 

Welcome to Benzobuddies!!  Glad you found us and got rid of that idiot doctor!!

 

Love,

 

Jen

 

Thankyou! There are quite alot of idiot doctors out there unfortunately, I'm glad places like this exist where we can get info without putting up with 'know it all' doctors that just prescribe more things to get addicted to  :idiot:

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Sorry, can you tell me what the usual size of avatars are here? 100 x 100?

 

Is the one I have now ok?

 

Hi,

 

It is not the dimensions as such (they are restricted to a maximum of 100x200 pixels anyway, and will be resized by the HTML if you upload a larger avatar to here). It is size of the file itself. Animated avatars tend to be large files (I know mine is animated, but it is quite modest file size). I recently posted some guidance about images on the forum, but didn't cover avatars - the principle is the same though: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=7925.0.

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So the one I have now should be ok then, it's not animated or anything.

 

Ok I have another question and need advice on this. I'm still recovering from cutting my ambien in half the other night, I have major anxious feelings/butterflies in my stomach and went back up to my usual dose today. I have figured out with all the tablets I am on that I am on the equivalent of 90 mg of valium a day. I am currently tapering off 1 mg clonazepam, next week i will go down to .5 and after a week or two I will stop, so i will just be on ambien and the 20 mg pm dose of valium.

 

My question is, when I get down to say 50 mg of ambien after making the slow cuts, is it possible to have this schedule modified:

 

http://www.non-benzodiazepines.org.uk/zolpidem.html

 

As I will possibly need to be taking more than 20 mg of valium at night when I get to a low dose, so I can do a c/o to valium whilst still tapering down my ambien to make it smooth as possible. Can that be done?

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Yes he suggested that I go back to my original dose of ambien and make small cuts like a tablet every 7-10 days which I am going to do starting tonight.

 

What I wanted to know was (because I am on 100 mg ambien at the moment) when I reach 50 mg of ambien to have that schedule modified because I will only be on the 50 mg ambien and 20 mg valium and I think i will need to be taking more valium to make it smoother, if you look at the schedule you do a cross over and I have no idea how to figure out cross overs. I would like to do a cross over when I reach that 50 mg mark. Hope that makes sense.

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Hi CMS,

 

As long as you do a slow and steady taper off the Ambien, you should be fine with the amount of valium you are currently taking.

 

 

T2 :smitten:

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Wow, I can't believe what your doctor did to you.....Why would they prescribe it during the day when it is a sleeping pill?

So glad that you are taking steps in the right direction....I am so sorry that you are having to do this...

bizi

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I went to a detox centre and stayed one night instead of 5 lol But I'm happy to say I'm off the sleeping pills. I am currently on 60 mg diazepam and that's all and i am doing a taper from that.
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So, you don't consider Valium a sleeping pill? ::):P

 

Anyway, although you will find that we tend to be very against detox centres for quitting benzos, we do understand how desperation can drive people to these centres to quit benzos, even when they know better. If you stayed only one night, then I guess nothing happened because of you time there!? You might do well to give yourself a little time before starting to taper you Valium. You have made large cuts over a short period of time - ollow your GABA system to recover.

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So, you don't consider Valium a sleeping pill? ::):P

 

Anyway, although you will find that we tend to be very against detox centres for quitting benzos, we do understand how desperation can drive people to these centres to quit benzos, even when they know better. If you stayed only one night, then I guess nothing happened because of you time there!? You might do well to give yourself a little time before starting to taper you Valium. You have made large cuts over a short period of time - ollow your GABA system to recover.

 

*sigh*

 

I meant the sleeping pill that I was on for 7 YEARS, the zolpidem. It's been 5 nights now off it and I'm damn proud of myself no matter what anyone else says, I'm not letting anything like you posted bringing me down. I thought you of all people would understand you need to taper off valium regardless whether it's a sleeping pill or not.

 

I've found a forum with better support. I'm struggling day to day and your post both made me angry and feel like shit so I'm outta here, I don't need the negativity. Half the process of getting better is keeping a positive mind and posts like yours don't help.

 

And yes, the detox centre did help in giving me that kick up the butt I needed to take that step of going one night without the zolpidem. If it wasn't for that I'd still be on it. They wanted me to cut 5 mg each day! It was because of the other forum that told me that was insane and helped me get a good tapering plan. I'm on 60 mg for 2 weeks, then 55 2 weeks, 50 for 2 weeks etc.

 

I've got a good tapering plan figured out and will be going elsewhere where there is actual support and not negative posts. I can't believe what you just said without even knowing the full story, way to go. Bye.

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So, you don't consider Valium a sleeping pill? ::):P

 

Anyway, although you will find that we tend to be very against detox centres for quitting benzos, we do understand how desperation can drive people to these centres to quit benzos, even when they know better. If you stayed only one night, then I guess nothing happened because of you time there!? You might do well to give yourself a little time before starting to taper you Valium. You have made large cuts over a short period of time - ollow your GABA system to recover.

 

*sigh*

 

I meant the sleeping pill that I was on for 7 YEARS, the zolpidem. It's been 5 nights now off it and I'm damn proud of myself no matter what anyone else says, I'm not letting anything like you posted bringing me down. I thought you of all people would understand you need to taper off valium regardless whether it's a sleeping pill or not.

 

I've found a forum with better support. I'm struggling day to day and your post both made me angry and feel like shit so I'm outta here, I don't need the negativity. Half the process of getting better is keeping a positive mind and posts like yours don't help.

 

And yes, the detox centre did help in giving me that kick up the butt I needed to take that step of going one night without the zolpidem. If it wasn't for that I'd still be on it. They wanted me to cut 5 mg each day! It was because of the other forum that told me that was insane and helped me get a good tapering plan. I'm on 60 mg for 2 weeks, then 55 2 weeks, 50 for 2 weeks etc.

 

I've got a good tapering plan figured out and will be going elsewhere where there is actual support and not negative posts. I can't believe what you just said without even knowing the full story, way to go. Bye.

 

CMS,

 

You have misinterpreted Colin's post - there is nothing negative in it at all.

 

Best of luck,

Elwood

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