Diazepam Taper - Suffering Awful Withdrawals - Advice Needed!

Hello, I have been taking Diazepam (up to 6mg) for nearly 4 months and am desperate to stop as soon as possible but I am having a really tough time tapering. I was (wrongly) given Sertraline at a low dose in December (25mg) for an existing anxiety disorder that had actually been caused by a vestibular / balance problem. Knowing nothing about Sertraline and trusting my GP I took it for only a week before deciding I HAD to stop as it was having a horrible reaction with my mind and body - dreadful dizziness, night terrors, sweats, tremors, nausea, headaches, it really felt like I was going to die. But when I tried to stop the Sertraline these symptoms only got worse, so bad that I ended up in an emergency appointment shaking and fearing for my life in front of 2 GPs who put it down to "anxiety" rather than anythng chemically related. Knowing exactly what my anxiety felt lke before taking any drugs I knew this wasn't the case. Anyway, at this point I was prescribed Diazepam (6mg to be taken daily) to help me overcome the horrible reaction I had to the Sertraline. Initially this eased a lot of the symptoms mentioned above and I was able to function almost as normal for a week or so. Keen as I was not to be taking the Diazepam for too long I began to reduce the dose inside that first week, from 6mg, to 4mg and then to 2mg at the end of the week. I had no trouble with this as no level of dependency had built up yet. At the end of that week, however, I suddenly got really sick again out of nowhere and spent the day in bed, shaking, nauseus and with a bad stomach. I assumed it was because I hadn't been taking the Diazepam at the level prescribed to me and so the next day went back up to 6mg (I was given a month's worth of Diazepam in my initial prescription). During this second week I didn't get the relief from the drug as I had experienced in the first week and after a few days at 6mg my body and mind was feeling overwhelmed, I became extremely depressive one night and decided I needed to reduce the dose again. I reduced down to 3mg per day very quicky but at this stage noticed that I was craving between dosoes and feeling very agitated. I knew that I was becoming dependent on Diazepam in only my third week despite trying desperately to reduce the dosage (well below what I had been prescribed) and it was a hopeless feeling. I knew I was in for a fight and was determined to get off the drug ASAP, I had cut down to 1.5mg per day by the 6th week but my body just couldn't take it anymore and was in full revolt. The cluster of symptoms I had at this stage (worsening as I had tapered down) included upset stomach/bloating/pain, severe nausea, extreme fatigue, rapid weight loss, lack of appetite (although I forced myself to eat regular meals), insomnia - sometimes total, perceptial discrepancies/vision blurring, extreme sensitivity to temperature change, depression, headache, constant dizziness, sweating, severe tremor and extreme anxiety. I had read somewhere that if you experience this 'acute' level of withdrawal from a Benzo it is best to reinstate at the level you last felt comfortable and stabalise before trying to reduce again, at a slower rate. A GP I saw around this time also agreed that this was a sensible approach to take. So, once again feeling on the verge of death I put my dosage back up to 2.5mg per day for a couple of weeks and sure enough the cluster of symptoms eventually subsided, not fully, but enough to be tolerable. I decided I must have tapered too hard and fast and that a slower approach would see me through okay this time. So I began to drop steadilly every couple of weeks, from 2.5mg to 2mg with no problems, and then from 2mg to 1.5mg/2mg alternate days (unable to split the tablet to create an in-between dose) and it was going okay, in fact I was gradually feeling better the lower the dose became. Then 12 days ago I started taking 1.5mg every day (as opposed to 1.5mg/2mg alternate days) and pretty soon I developed that 'craving' sensation again, similar I imagine to how someone feels when they are quitting cigarettes. No matter, I continued to take my 1.5mg per day but soon started developing other unpleasant feelings such as feverishness at night. I still felt pretty well and functional during the day for a while until last Friday it hit me all over again. The whole cluster of withdrawal symptoms are back. I have near constant tremor, feverishness / burning skin sensation around my head and neck, extreme nausea, dizziness, complete loss of appetite, insomnia and night sweats, worseing visual disturbances (floaters, blurriness), the rapid weight loss is back (I'm like a skeleton now), general weakness, mental confusion/slowness and worst of all right now complete and utter fatigue. It is a challenge for me to sit myself up in bed or walk to the kitchen and back to get a drink. I haven't reduced the dose of Diazepam now for 12 days and was tapering slowly to a strict schedule I had planned for myself but now find that I am completely bedbound, with all of my previous withdrawal symptoms and more, without the ability to perform simple tasks or do anything at all. I keep thinking I will stabalise at this dosage and things will improve but each day and night I am just feeling worse. The GPs I have seen have very little knowledge about the withdrawal from these meds (I usually end up telling them what I have learned through research and exerience while they reach for the textbook) and I really don't know what to do or where to turn from here. It seems to me that the severity of symptoms I am experiencing are unusual for someone who has taken Diazepam for the length of time that I have and at the level I have. The first (failed) taper I can understand that I probably tried to cut down too quickly but now I am going at a much reduced pace and have run into the same troubles. I am desperately hoping it will level out but I only get worse each day and am afraid what will happen next. So really my question is - where do I go from here? What is my best course of action? Can anyone provide advice based on their own experiences of tapering and how did you overcome problems like the ones I am facing? I have now been prescriped liquid Diazepam so I am able to recduce dosage in 0.1mg intervals, but this will take until November at least. I cannot put up with that if I am feelikg like this, it will kill me before then! My only plan at the moment is to try and tough it out at 1.5mg and pray that things improve... Any help or advice really would be very much appreciated. Martin

2 likes, 8 replies