Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Stopping without tapering.. Any experience?

  1. #1

    Stopping without tapering.. Any experience?

    Hello,

    Firstly I'd like to say how grateful I am to have access to such an informative and supportive community. I can't imagine how people would have dealt with such problems 20 years ago without this breadth of knowledge and experience. It's a good time to be alive!

    I'm 30, male and pretty healthy apart from a brain that sometimes seems to be working against me instead of for me. Around 7 years ago I started taking diazepam on an "as needed" basis. in the last couple of years I would say I get through a 50x10mg packet in around 40 days. Only recently did a nurse raise concern about the amount I was taking, and so instead of just getting the prescription signed I made an appointment with the doctor. He apologetically told me that he shouldn't have given me access to so much of this drug, that I wouldn't be able to get off it without a spell in a rehabilitation center and that, if I chose to stop (he said he wouldn't force me to) he would pay for the rehabilitation from his own pocket (an offer which still stands).

    This was quite a shock for me, I knew that that there were risks with this drug, I didn't realise how serious it could be though. I also thought "well thanks for telling me all this now!!"

    I don't take valium every day, and when I started, I was only taking 5mg and getting strong and total relief from my anxiety. Over the years my tolerance seems to have crept up, and the effects of 10mg are barely perceptible, and sometimes I take 20mg (although this doesn't often happen). I usually try to take 2 consecutive days off after using it for one day, but again this doesn't always happen.

    I decided to keep a diary of my usage, each day is a separate number. The last 18 days look like this:

    0
    0
    0
    20
    0
    20
    0
    10
    0
    0
    10
    0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    0 <----- Today, so far

    The first 7 days are probably quite representative of a normal week, perhaps a little less than average, I was consciously trying to take less before I started making the diary. I decided to try not taking it until I started feeling bad, at which point I would take 5mg at a time until any withdrawal effects went away. The strange thing is that I don't feel that bad, even though it has now been a week since my last dose. I have noticed a few things which I could probably attribute to withdrawal, i.e. sweating at night, digestive grumblings (all of which I had before starting with diazepam) a snappy temper and a bit of mental fog perhaps, but not much worse than when I quit smoking. I thought I would have to take the week off, but again, that hasn't happened so far, I've worked just like I did when I was taking it. I am still less anxious than I was before I started taking the medicine (I was extremely agoraphobic).

    I'd really like to hear from anyone who also took diazepam on a similar basis to me and stopped taking it. Were you hit with the symptoms a week later?

    I know that it's dangerous to stop this way, but there have been other times during my 7 year usage when I have taken none or very little for several weeks, oblivious to the dangers of withdrawal syndrome. When did the withdrawal kick in for you? I've read that the elimination half-life can be up to 200 hours, which would be about 8 days.. Has anyone here stopped taking it suddenly and only had bad withdrawals a few weeks later? Has anyone stopped taking this drug without suffering horribly? I guess I'm just nervously anticipating the storm.

    I know the rules of internet forums are usually no problem, no post, but since this isn't entirely a forum about withdrawal, I thought I'd ask.

    Thanks for reading this far!
    Last edited by billypilgrim; 02-12-13 at 14:16.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    , , United Kingdom.
    Posts
    1,746

    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
    __________________
    "Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn"

  3. #3

    Re: Stopping without tapering.. Any experience?

    Hi Kitti,

    thank you very much for your quick and informative answer!

    Yes my doctor has been very good (even though I wish he'd warned me sooner) and I'm happy he doesn't treat me like a junky, from what I've read, some of the drs must have skipped a few semesters of medical school.

    Ideally I would like to not need it at all, but I know I'll have to use it again this month for the one time I really need it, which is flying.. and with christmas coming up I'm going to need to fly soon. Realistically I think my only option, for the time being, is to take it when I need to and try not to take it too often. At least my tolerance should drop by not using it, and I won't have to neck enough to daze a bull before getting on the plane!

    I agree with you about this drug having bad press, that's also part of the reason I want to stop, at least taking as much as I was. As I told my doctor, I'm not as scared of withdrawal as I am scared of my life going back to how it was before I was prescribed diazepam, which was being an unemployed reclusive insomniac. I've pretty much built a life for myself since starting with it, and I want to keep it how it is. The problem with diazepam is that it works too well! It's like "life with a pause button" which is why I've been carrying it in my pocket since I decided to cut down. I don't drink alcohol at all (more than a handful of my relatives are/were alcoholics, which is enough to put anyone off) so I don't have the more "acceptable" crutch that a lot of people have.

    I often take it prophylactically in situations which have aggravated my anxiety in the past. I rarely feel anxious in a lot of these situations now, but I think if I couldn't feel that comforting little blister pack in my pocket, I'd be able to convince myself into having a panic attack. Weird isn't it? That'll be the placebo again! I usually let the tablet dissolve in my mouth, and associate the unique bitter chemical taste with peace and relaxation, and it can calm me down before it's even reached my bloodstream. If only there was something inactive with the same flavour, but then if I knew it was inactive…

    It sounds like you are also doing amazingly at 6mg, I think you're probably right about us both being tricked by the placebo effect, it's nice to know we can sometimes "pull one over" on the harder to control parts of our brains!

    Anyway thanks again, your info was very insightful and comforting, having only read horror stories about the withdrawal it's nice to know that it doesn't have to be a nightmare. Maybe someone else in the same situation will also be helped by it. If I do start feeling terrible, I'll take 5mg and then wait until I next need it. There's no point in being too harsh on ourselves!

    Good luck with your own path!

    Bill

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    2,009

    Re: Stopping without tapering.. Any experience?

    i would reduce 10% per month the slower the better

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. What was your experience stopping Fluoxetine?
    By ChristopherT in forum Fluoxetine / Prozac
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 18-11-13, 19:32
  2. Stopping drinking, stopping caffeine.
    By Em.ma in forum General Anxiety / Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 29-07-13, 09:34
  3. Tapering Off!!!
    By neowallace in forum Diazepam/Valium
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 03-04-12, 15:39
  4. Stopping Citalopram - My experience - Help me to help you!!
    By daffodil7 in forum Citalopram / Celexa
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-08-10, 23:03
  5. Stopping mirtazapine without tapering
    By ElizabethJane in forum Mirtazapine /Zispin
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 25-09-08, 22:17

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •