Quitting diazepam cold turkey after 10 months usage- am I doing the right thing?

Hello, I have decided I wish to discontinue diazepam and would really appreciate some advice: to taper or not to taper?  My story:

 

I started regular diazepam usage 10 months ago to help me with insomnia.  I used it intermittently for 2 months, but then daily for the following 8 months.  I also used 10mg Zolpidem intermittently in this period, and I am aware that it is cross tolerant with benzos.  I have been using a varying dosage each day, with dosages up to 40mg on occasion (not a good idea, I know), but generally my daily dosage has been 2.5mg – 10mg.  My average daily dosage over the past 4 months according to my drug diary is around 4.5mg, but I also had intermittent Zolpidem usage on top of this. 

 

Recently, I decided that I no longer wish to use this drug and stopped cold turkey, and I am now clean for 9 days.  I am now trying to determine if cold turkey was the right thing to do. I thought it was because my daily average was only 4mg. 

 

Now, I believe I am going through a moderate case of withdrawal symptoms.  I am anxious, irritable, paranoid and socially avoidant, and physically I have heart palpitations and shaky hands.  I am using OTC sleep aids to sleep and the insomnia is not too bad.  The symptoms are not yet improving. 

 

Judging by how I feel, I don’t believe I am likely to have a seizure or anything – I would say they are just about manageable.  I am in full time employment but work from home a lot, so my feeling right now is that I can probably rough it out and handle quitting cold turkey, but I just want to be sure I’m doing the right thing.

 

So now my question: Given that my goal is to exit this drug as quickly as possible, am I doing the right thing by quitting cold turkey?

 

Also, given the usage I have outlined above, does anyone have an opinion on how long the symptoms will last?

 

Many thanks, I hope someone can help.

 

So now my question: Given that my goal is to exit this drug as quickly as possible, am I doing the right thing by quitting cold turkey?

 

 

This was my goal also. I did not know about tapering and did a c/t from the equivalent of 10mg valium. It has been hard. I am nowhere near healed at 4 months off, but do see improvement and know deep down healing is taking place.

 

A slow taper of 6 months or 1 year would probably just have added to my torture, so decision to do cold-turkey was a good one for me. I may be healed by the time the taper would have been finished, and many times people still suffer well after a taper. Good luck whatever you decide, c/t can be very rough!

Thank you, although it is a little disheartening to hear of others suffering for months after discontinuation.  I guess my best hope is that my dosage has been fairly low compared to other dosages I am seeing here.

 

The most important thing for me when quitting things has been to get it done as quickly as possible - I think I am just psychologically wired that way.  I have quit alcohol and cigarettes both cold turkey and I am thinking that, providing I don't start feeling really bad or ill, I will continue with the CT for the diazepam and ride the storm. 

Yes I have quit cigarettes cold turkey. I have quit 10 or more psych meds cold turkey. It was super easy in hindsight to grit out those withdrawals, so short and painless. For some people benzo w/d is quite the ultimate beast. Could never have imagined such a withdrawal was possible. Hope you're one of the lucky people who breeze on through!

Well, today I am 29 days clean.  And I believe I am getting better already - the first 2 weeks were rough, but I am starting to have more good days than bad now.  I'm finding it hard to determine if I'm through the worst of withdrawal just yet as I am suffering another medical condition which heightens anxiety, but I can say for sure that stopping this nasty drug CT was the best thing for me.

C/T did not work out for me.  Keep An eye out for symptoms not improving and getting worse. In my case I hung on for 8 months waiting for the s/x to pass and they only got worse.  I'd say a taper can't hurt unless you have had a toxic reaction to the benzo's.  Better safe then sorry.  I got lucky and jumped back on a low dose and am tapering from there.  If you choose to taper you could try a lower dose and start from there.  It all depends on how much stress you can take without cracking under the pressure and if your s/x are manageable.

xil,

 

Just wondering how you are doing.  I am 6 weeks c/t off of Ativan and doing fairly well.  I have some issues with depression that don't last for more than hours at a time.  Insomnia is still an issue but manageable.  No Physical symptoms whatsoever.  Hope the best for you going forward.

I was taken 30 mgs and decided to get off Valium and I cut 10 mg pills into quarters of 2.5 mgs and reduced my dose by 2.5 mgs every two weeks until I was at 5 mgs. I was so sick of beings on the pills that I quit cold turkey at 5 mgs.

 

I was OK for a few days but got hit with w/d symptoms at about 10 days and they lasted until about 6 or 7 weeks. Anxiety, tinnitis, depersonalization, derealization, tight jaw -- all the usual crap. It all began to fade at about 6-7 weeks and now I am just over 3 months and I'm feeling alot better. OK maybe not alot, but I don't feel like I am going crazy anymore.

 

I can do some basic thinigs like drive and go shopping. I may be driving to a cousins houise in Missouri from Wisconsin in about a week or so if my wife kicks me out, like she is threatening to do. I have a good tent and he said I could stay on his small farm and camp out as long as I need to until I am feeliing up to driving back to my hometown in Houston. Me and my wife came up here in July because I couldn't work and this is where she's from. I have my truck and some things for camping out, so I'm cool with maybe having to leave.

 

Welll I am getting off the subject. I think you can do 4 mgs of Valium cold turkey. If I can anyone can! It won't be fun but its possible.

EDIT... started as a new thread instead of updating this old one.  Post here:

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=95615.0

Why don't you just let this thread die? It's confusing! I saw the other post and didn't make the connection that it was the same as this...

 

You have to make things simple here. Some of us, myself included, can't quite wrap our brains about following a link to get to your most current thread...yikes!