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Can anyone advise?

Posted , 5 users are following.

emma05893
emma05893

So I've been taking 5mg diazepam for 5 nights to help me sleep. How do I safely taper down the dose without suffering withdrawal? My GP didn't help at all

0 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • tess33005
    tess33005 emma05893

    Posted

    Emma, you shouldn't need to taper at all. If you've only been taking them for five nights, just stop.

    If you DO get withdrawal symptoms, which I think is unlikely, ask your doctor for 6 x 2mg tablets and take 4mg on the first night, 3mg the next, 2mg the next and finally 1mg. You'll have to cut some of the 2mg tablets in half to do this.

    Any problems, post another message.

    Love Tess xx

  • BellaLuna
    BellaLuna emma05893

    Posted

    I take diazepam and have done for years, I have spent many hours researching withdrawal,tapering etc and I have never heard of anyone suffering withdrawal after 5 days of use, the shortest time I have ever heard of addiction being formed is 9 days but more commonly it is at least 2 weeks.

    I think that after 5 days it would be perfectly safe to stop it, you shouldn't feel withdrawal, you might have some rebound insomnia for a while because you are no longer taking a sleep inducing sedative but your sleep pattern should settle down and if you still have insomnia you can look into other ways of dealing with it.

    Withdrawal syndrome is not really about the dose so much but rather the time a person has been taking it prior to stopping, now had you been taking 5mg for over a month I would be saying taper it but after 5 days you'll be fine, you could of course ask to move down to a smaller dose initially but that would mean you will be taking diazepam for longer which is where the problems come in with addiction and the need to taper slowly, as it is you can just stop it.

    • emma05893
      emma05893 BellaLuna

      Posted

      Thank you for your reply. How long have you been taking them and at what dosage? I'm not sure I'm ready to completely come off them as I'm still suffering with severe anxiety in the day which is worse if I don't sleep

    • BellaLuna
      BellaLuna emma05893

      Posted

      I have been taking them for about 17 years now, current dose is 20mg per day although I started on 2-6 mg per day then when I hit a rough spot the Dr would increase the dose, that went on for 7 years then I held my dose at 18mg daily for 10 years straight, had a huge breakdown 8 months ago and that's when they increased the dose again by 2mg taking me up to the 20mg.

      The thing about Diazepam is that you will become tolerant to it, it's sedative effects only last for a matter of a few weeks and it's anti-anxiety effects probably 4-6 months at best then you will need a higher dose to get the same effect.

      I am so tolerant to it now that it does absolutely nothing for my anxiety but I'm just too scared to start tapering off of it because I am so unwell at the moment.

      I would just say be careful, it's great at first but can be a really tricky med if you stay on it too long, do a little research on it and if you want to stay on it for a while longer then you will need to do a gradual taper when you feel ready to stop.

    • emma05893
      emma05893 BellaLuna

      Posted

      Thank you for your reply. I am not using it to control my anxiety so I'm not so worried in that sense. I just purely need a week or twos worth of sleep to recover myself

    • BellaLuna
      BellaLuna emma05893

      Posted

      No problem, I hope you get the relief you need and can recover the way you need to, you might want to consider a gradual reduction if you stay on it for 2 weeks, some people do get withdrawal symptoms after that time, anything less than that and it shouldn't be an issue to just discontinue.

    • emma05893
      emma05893 BellaLuna

      Posted

      Yes I plan on maybe taking 3/4 of a tablet before bed tonight and continue like that for a few days
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