Re: Stopping without tapering.. Any experience?
Hi & to NMP!
I too have taken Diazepam on an as & when basis for around 7 years now. During this time I would take perhaps 4-6mg if I had a bad spell of anxiety during any given day, although this was never on a daily basis. Like you it helped me manage my intrusive anxiety very well.
I have had several periods of time over the 7yrs when I have been really bad with anx/panic/agoraphobia and have been prescribed up to 15mg daily, every day for a short period of time, just to 'nip it in the bud' so to speak. Each time, I have managed to successfully reduce slowly and return to the as & when needed dose with no ill effects.
I have now been on it daily since November 2011 when I had a breakdown and became totally housebound with awful panic attacks and anxiety. I started at 15mg daily over 3 doses. Within 3 months I had reduced to 12mg daily, where I remained for around 6 months. I then had a relapse (nothing to do with the diazepam) and went back up to 15mg daily again for another few weeks.
Over the past year, I have managed to taper down to 6mg a day, which is where I am now. I am sure it barely has any effect on me but I know going cold turkey would not be a good idea. There has been a lot of bad press surrounding Diazepam and long term use is frowned upon because of dependency and, I believe, misuse of the drug. Also many GP's will not even prescribe it at all now. I do however, believe it has it's place in the treatment of our condition, and has certainly been a lifesaver for me over the years.
You sound like you have been very sensible in your approach to using it and your goal to stopping it. I am not sure you will have too much of a problem as you have not been taking it on a daily basis. In fact, I have never had any problem tapering off and returning to the as & when use. My goal now is to go back to that, and I know as long as I approach this in a very slow and sensible way, I could achieve this within around 6 months.
I am not sure this will be helpful to you, it is just my experience of diazepam use and to let you know that for as many bad stories you may hear, it is possible to stop if you want to....as long as you do it the right way for you. You have done really great so far and the diary thing is a brilliant idea. You have already reduced from taking the odd 20mg to taking 10mg and you have taken none for the past week. That is fantastic!! If you feel that you DO need to take it over the next few days, perhaps try 5mg next time and then slowly go down to 2mg.
I think the placebo effect has probably taken over for us both now but it is always a good idea to do withdraw slowly. About the worst thing I ever felt on reducing/withdrawing was the brain fog and perhaps a little heightened anxiety. I would then wait until I had 'stabilised' on the reduced dose before reducing again. It was always fairly manageable for me.
Do you feel that you need to come off it completely now? I guess the choice is yours and your doc seems pretty good, not forcing you or making you feel guilty, however, I am sure you will not need rehab, you seem to be coping really well.
I honestly think that I will probably always use diazepam on an as & when basis...sometimes just knowing it was there to take if I needed to was a placebo in itself for me and I was always careful to only take it if I had an extreme bout of anxiety.
I wish you all the best in your journey. Kitti
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