newbie and diazepam withdrawal

[joy2u]

Hiya
I`m wondering if anyone else is going through diazepam withdrawal or has gone through it and can please help me with some advice.

I was taking temazepam 20 mg for about 8 yrs. Then last yr I was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid (Graves disease) and one of the symptoms is insomnia. Before I had the diagnosis I was awake almost all night so ended up taking 30 mg and then my prescription would run out early.
During that time I would wake with terrible night sweats and dry retching. I came clean with my Dr about my over using the temazepam and he realized I was in withdrawal for so many days a month. I never knew you could get withdrawal from these. During this time I had my thyroid treated with RAI (radioactive iodine) that basically killed my thyroid gland and was put on levothyroxine a thyroid med- so for a time I was never sure if my malfunctioning thyroid was giving me problems or the temazepam?
Anyway at last my thyroid meds kicked in and I asked my Dr to help me withdraw from the temazepam. He crossed me over to diazepam and I`ve been trying to reduce them ever since.

I started with 10 mg diazepam but that made me so tired the next day- so reduced to 9 mg and the same happened.
I got to 8mg and held for one month and sort of coped.
I`m now down to 6mg and not coping at all.

I`ve taken the 6 mg for two weeks and am having nausea, night sweats, muscle aches, and terrible anxiety. I`m spending days in bed as I`m so tired too. I cannot face people and dread even my family coming to visit as it all seems too much. I`ve now developed dizziness as well.

I don`t know whether to hold at this dose or reduce a tiny bit further? Will my body eventually get used to the 6 mg if I stay on this amount and then it would be wiser to reduce after that?
My Dr has been very supportive and gave me Cymbalta as I was so depressed but I haven`t taken them as I really don`t want another drug to have to withdraw from.
I also take tramadol 5 x day and I`ll have to wean off these sometime too.
I take them for oesteoarthritis in my hip but they`re not helping the pain at all now- so I`m only taking them so I don`t have withdrawal from them too.

I would value any help in getting off the diazepam easier or even to hear other people`s experiences and what worked for them.
My Dr arranged a lot of blood tests and thank goodness nothing serious is wrong, he said I`m in withdrawal.
I looked on benzobuddies but to be honest that site has scared me to death.
Thank you sooo much anyone who replies and sorry for such a long post.

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya joy2u and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[joy2u]

Thanks for the welcome venusbluejeans. I`ll have a look around the site
Joy2u

[Gee-SP]

Hi and welcome. I'm not sure if it's available but perhaps you could ask your Dr for the liquid version of Diazepam and reduce by 1 or even 1/2 an mg at a time,this should make the withdrawals less severe. Hoping you are well soon and good luck. :hugs:

[joy2u]

Thank you Gee
I`ll ask my doctor about the liquid

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Have a look on the medication board for threads by Hemps because I think she has just withdrawn from Diazepam, either that or it might have been Zopiclone.

There are people on here who understand this. SADNoMore for instance, who has been through it years ago and talked about it on here. I'm sure she (Marie) will be helpful to you, she always is to everyone and she's on here most nights.

Just a tip though, this board doesn't get as many replies as the others so it would be worth copying a load of this to a new thread on the medication board and see what advice you get.

I would also advise caution on the Duloxetine. I don't know what others may think but I am on this and you taper up and the 60mg can cause anxiety due to its norepinephrine dose kicking in. It doesn't always affect everyone and mine only lasted 8-10 days but it was intense and given what you are experiencing I think it's worth mentioning.

Good luck!

[joy2u]

Thanks for the welcome Terry. I`ll copy my post and move it to the medication board- thanks for your help.
Joy

[nicola1980]

Hi joy, i think some of the problem may be that you were taking 30mg of temazepam and that's more than 10mg of Diazepam so your probably in more withdrawal than you thought, your Gp should have given you the equivalent of 30mg of temazepam in Diazepam. I withdrew off 10mg of Diazepam by cutting the tablets into quarters, it was alot harder when I got down to a small amount of Diazepam but I made sure I was stable on that dose until I reduced any further. Good luck XX

---------- Post added at 16:18 ---------- Previous post was at 15:51 ----------

I've just had a look and 10mg of temazepam is equivalent to 5mg of Diazepam so ideally your Gp should have put you on 15mg of Diazepam throughout the day and then when you were stable reduced you by at least just 1mg at a time XX