My Diazepam withdrawal

[steveo]

I tried to stop a while back but due to a lot of SSRI changes I stayed on them longer than I planned.

I've been Diaz now for just over 2 months on a constant basis. Mostly been on 2mg morning and 2mg evening for the last month. For the last week I cut that down to 1mg morning and 2mg evening.

Today I cut down to 0.5mg morning and 2mg evening.

I understand that diazepam has a very long half life so that confuses me about the withdrawal process. Also, all the guides I have seen tend to be for people who take ALOT of diazepam and have done for ALOT longer than me.

If someone could suggest a good taper guide for me then that would be fantastic or at least advise me a bit. I'm not as well informed on benzo's as I am SSRI's.

Also, because I'm a natural worrier and have high anxiety anyway, I'm not sure if cutting down today to 0.5mg has increased my anxiety or whether I'm just getting myself anxious.

Because of the long half life, I would imagine thats why I'm now feeling slightly more anxious rather than this morning.

Just very confused on the whole thing and it's worrying me slightly. I never wanted to start taking it but it has helped loads. I would like to be off them completely and just have them for an emergency basis.

Any help or advise would be more than fantastic!!

Thanks guys :) xxx

Steven

[bernie1977]

Hi Steveo your scrabble buddy here!

This link may be helpful as it contains a table showing a reduction schedule

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

[kittikat]

Steve, you are right you are only on a low dose but I believe you are going in the right direction...the main thing is to take it slowly or you will experience some rebound anxiety.

As you know I have been on a higher dose for a lot longer. When I first started to reduce I went from 12 mg to 8mg a day in 8 weeks (reducing 1mg every 2 weeks) this is when I got the rebound anxiety. This time I have taken it much slower 1mg every month and I an now stuck at 8mg daily again. I have been on this dose for 2 months now.

I have just increased my Venlafaxine so once that all stabalises I will continue my reduction at about 0.5mg every 2-3 weeks.

The Ashton manual is helpful but again it gives a table for long term/higher doses. My doc said just take it slowly and at a pace I feel comfortable with. I think you will know the difference between worry anxiety and rebound anxiety (if you get it).

http://www.ashtonbenzomanual.com/

All the best with it, Kitti :)

[steveo]

I will take my withdrawal nice a slowly then!

1mg every 2 weeks seems to be a good rule of thumb to stick to!! I think my anxiety is me over thinking all this!!!

Thanks guys :) xxx

[steveo]

I don't know what happened to my withdrawal but I'm going to be trying again!

So I don't know how long I tried my last withdrawal attempt but I must of given up on it due to increased anxiety (whether it be anxiety from just me or withdrawal symptoms).

I think I was in a crisis one night and my doctors kept telling me to take more Diazepam.

Well I do want to come off it now!! For good! I want it there as a 'emergency crutch', but not a daily med. I don't feel I need it as a daily med and I don't feel any effect from 2mg tablets anymore. Upping would be a silly idea I feel.

So all this last week I've gone from 2mg AM and 2mg PM to 1mg AM and 2mg PM.

I've experienced very very bad vivid dreams and today I'm very anxious. I feel very depersonalised and unreal.
I'm basically very scared.

How long do withdrawal symptoms last for?

I need help with this!!!

Steven

[kittikat]

Steven,

When I started my first taper fron diaz I was on 12mg a day and reduced by 1mg daily every 2 weeks. Once I got to 8mg, I had rebound anxiety and stayed there until I had stabalised again which took about 3 weeks. Unfortunately, I did have a relapse due to some ongoing work issues so I had to up back to 15mg a day.

Anyway, I have been tapering now since just after Christmas and I am back down to 8mg a day, this time I have reduced 1mg every 3-4 weeks. If you can manage the increased anxiety for a bit, say 2 weeks, you should stabalise again by then. You may be as well to try cut the tablet into quaters and reduce by 0.5mg every 2 weeks or so. As I said before, it must be done slowly. I plan to reduce by this amount now every 3-4 weeks until I am back to 'as and when' use only. Please don't rush it, you will get there much easier the slower you go. I hope this makes sense.

Good luck with it all. Kitti :) x

[steveo]

What were your withdrawal symptoms?

[kittikat]

What were your withdrawal symptoms?

Mostly increased anxiety and the shakes, a bit of DP/DR, upset my sleep a little and a couple of night time panics. It took a couple of weeks to stabalise, but I did resist the urge to increase back up. Remember I had been on diaz daily for about 9 months at that stage...hopefully it wont last so long for you.

[steveo]

I just had a massive panic attack and just taken 4mg Diaz instead of my normal evening dose of 2mg.

Bleedin set backs.

I had terrible DP/DR all day and I'm having the worst vivid dreams at the moment ever. They are really making me tired all day. Today hasn't been a good day. Been very Depersonalised.

That was a nasty panic.

[kittikat]

Not sure if you recently decided to change your meds after seeing the psych? Could this be the reason for the dreams? I have these from my Venlafaxine. The diaz really didn't affect my dream situation. Just a thought anyway...

Sorry you have had a bad panic. I too, under those circumstances would have taken an extra 2mg. I hope it helps you. Take it easy Steve, all the best. x

[steveo]

No. He wanted to switch me to Seroxat which I said NO WAY to and then he prescribed me an anti psychotic, Quetiapine which I haven't and won't be taking.

So apart from that I've just been on a steady dose of 10mg Escitalopram for nearly 40 days. Just the dreams have been really really bad the last week or 2. More vivid than normal. It seemed to have coinsided with me dropping a 1mg of my morning diaz.

I think I've read too many withdrawal horror stories and I got myself into a panic tonight.

Hate being like this.

[michaelp]

The dreams are typical of SSRIs. Possibly reducing your benzo sleeping aid has made you more aware of them by waking, but it's more likely to just be the timing with the SSRI.
You cannot go too slowly reducing benzos. Remember - in all this talk about 0.5mg per 2 weeks and the like - that 1mg is just 8% of a 12mg daily dose but 25% of 4mg.
The half-life of diazepam is up to 4 days but it has a metabolite with a half-life of 8 days. I've always reckoned it's there for 10 days myself!
I'm taking 7 or 8mg diazepam basically every day since 2009, and I'm quite comfortable about it. I think there is massive paranoia in this country about these drugs - which were the subject of the largest class action in British legal history.
They are listed in the WHO top 10 essential drugs for a basic health care system.
They are different with everybody. You definitely do NOT want to be escalating, but my Psych said if they help, take them and stop worrying about them - as long as you don't keep escalating the dose.
However I also know I can stop them and reduce them; because I have. Some people can just stop them cold turkey, and some people have to go incredibly slowly. Anyway they only cost the NHS 90 pence/packet so who cares:)