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Getting off 2mg Valium daily (per night) need help! Passion Flower

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victor76
victor76

Hi guys!I am living in China now and I have been on Valium for about 2 years. 2mg (which it’s the minimum small pill) 1 time at night, every night. If I forget to take it, I could fall asleep but just for a couple of hours, after that I will be awake for the whole night and overthinking, next morning will be hell. Headaches, weakness, dizziness, kind of depressed, anxious…. JUST BECAUSE I FORGOT 2MG ONE NIGHT. I am crying for help of how to withdrawal from this evil drug that my #@#$%#^$ “therapist” gave to me just for normal anxiety. What he was thinking! I got passion flower tablets and I would like to know if this could help with the withdrawals. Also how difficult and terrible could be to withdrawal from 2mg? step by step I mean. Please help! thanks!

0 likes, 21 replies

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  • nigel45109
    nigel45109 victor76

    Posted

    i saw my pysc a couple of weeks ago, and had a dose increase, asked him about how to come off 5mg of diazepam when my anti depressant is fully working. he completely dismissed the idea that it would be a problem, as dose is so low. said it would only be a pyschological issue. this may be the case with people taking anti depressants, as i had no issues coming down from 12.5mg to 5mg myself, over a couple of months. didnt notice any issues at all. think its a much bigger issue if you are only taking a benzo. i would reduce to 1.5mg for a month, then 1.0mg for a month, then 0.5 for a month, then if possible 0.25 for same, then 0. you need to reduce the dose gradually, over a long period of time.
  • ann55375
    ann55375 victor76

    Posted

    Yes i am attempting this but 5mg at night.  Have reduced by .5 so far.  Ashton manual goes a bit faster but i understand where youre coming from.  The lower younget the harder it is so go very gingerly and small drops over long periods and you should have success.  I wish you luck. This is a very hard problem, there is a website specifically formthose who are trying to get off and that maynhelp you.  What really gets me down is the attitude ofmthe staff saying dont worry, they keep telling me im on a low dose but its still a problem for me, not them. I just wish i had never taken any.
    • jackie74804
      jackie74804 ann55375

      Posted

      Hi sorry to butt in but those are my views too. I rue the day I took this stuff. I am off now some 11 weeks ago but recovery can take a while as we know!! However I have spoken to people who were on them for a great number of years , came off and are now healed. Personally I am a firm advocate of these drugs being banned. They are now only allowed to be pres for 2 to 4 weeks at a time, drs are saying it should be a one off dose .x
    • ann55375
      ann55375 jackie74804

      Posted

      I also endorse what you say. Are you able to say how slowly you went and the lapse of time between drops, it would be helpful to me.  I am having a few nasty side effects already and wonder if you had these
  • victor76
    victor76

    Posted

    Thanks guys for your replies.

    Went to see my Psychiatrist today and she told me to reduce from 2mg per night to 3/4 per night for the next 2 weeks, she gave me also sertraline (Zoloft) (take 25mg per night for same time alongside with Valium) because she said it can help the withdrawal symptoms. So that's what's going to happen from ... tonight. Hopefully everything goes as good as possible. Any opinions?

    • ann55375
      ann55375 victor76

      Posted

      Sounds like your gp listened to you and has given an alternative.   See how you get on but if you have side effects do not hesitate to go back as there are others can be given. I wish you luck

      ..

    • victor76
      victor76 ann55375

      Posted

      Hi guys. 

      Ok so what happened in these 2 days.......

      2 days of not having a full night sleep. I can wake up 4 am or so and that's it. I have big headaches that can be reduce by taking 300 mg tylenol in the morning after breakfast. The rest of the day I feel really sleepy, little dizzy, I feel i  don't want to do anything.... and I have a bunch of creative work to do (I'm a design director) I don't want to even watch a funny movie or funny videos or something to cheer me up or feel good. I feel tired, like really tired. Appetite is ok, I eat mostly veggies, so I eat pretty healthy. All of this from taking 3/4 from 2mg of valium + taking sertraline (Zoloft) 25mg.. doc told me try for 2 weeks... well.. let's see because my mayor problem was insomnia = to headaches because bad sleep = to feeling weak because bad sleep. I don't have any depression problems, well, some kind of depress moments like anyone, nothing to worry about.

      I asked another doctor about what should I do now? He told me to stop sertraline (Zoloft)  and back to valium 2mg but didn't tell me how to start reducing it.

      I may have a guess of what's going on here.... I think because I just started reducing valium and also adding 25mg of sertraline (Zoloft) the withdrawal symptoms start showing up. As far as these 2 days, no scary withdrawal symptoms or something to really worry about.

      If any of you are a health care professional or have this  kind of experience, please give me your opinion about this case.

      Cheers!

  • nigel45109
    nigel45109 victor76

    Posted

    hello, the sertraline was a good idea, it was a very low dose, and it should allow you to come off valium. remember, you had anxiety issues before starting valium, they still may be there, so you might need a long term solution. anti depressants work and are pescribed for anxiety as much as depression. they are a more positive approach than benzos, and if needed, can be taken long term. their issues are they can initially make you worse, and they can take a very long time to work, 12 weeks or more. when they do work, they work well, and you can use them long term. if and when you come off them , you slowly amd gradually reduce the dose over a long period. i would say its the likely best option for you. however, either your pysc made a mistake, or you misunderstood them. 25mg of sert is a very low starting dose. you needed to be taking sert for at least 8 weeks, give or take, for the sert to start working, before you started gradually reducing valium. theres no way sert would help you with withdrawal, until sert was working, and youd got over any initial side effects, which make you initially feel worse. most people get side effects from starting an anti depressant, and it takes approx 3 to 4 weeks for them to die down

    some people are lucky, and dont get any. its unlikely to be too bad on a low dose of 25mg of sert. you could have another go with sert, but you dont start reducing valium, until sert is up to strength in your system and starting to work. seems like a long time and hassle, but thats how anti depressants work. same goes for how they also work on anxiety, as in your case.

    • nigel45109
      nigel45109

      Posted

      starting sert, and immediately reducing valium would have made you feel worse. possible initial side effects from sert, and valium withdrawal, because sert will take 6 to 8 weeks, to start working.
    • victor76
      victor76 nigel45109

      Posted

      Hi nigel45109

      Thanks for the info. Very useful indeed. What my doctor told me was to take the .25mg sertraline and Valium 3/4 before go to sleep. Initially she wanted me to to take .25mg sertraline and valium 1mg (half) for 2 weeks but I told her that one day I tried to reduced to 1 mg of valium and first I didn't sleep at all and second the next day was a really terrible day, so she agreed to reduce only 1/4. 

      I don't really know if my side effects are from the valium withdrawal and the start of sertraline (which also have side effects) or just sertraline alone side effects.

      Today is day 3 and it has been the worse so far in these first 3 days. I had a terrible headache (has been reduce by taking 300 mg tylenol 1 in the morning and one around 6pm. I had been super sleepy , little dizzy, this feeling of like I don't want to hear anyone or do anything, it's like having the flu but kind of different and worse because I also have brain fog. This is terrible because my job, I need to be focus on doing creative work! The worse part is that I am living in China and now is the national days holidays which last for 7 days, so I must wait 7 days to see my doctor again... yes, here is like that, just the emergency doctor is on duty... crazy. I asked another doctor about this issue and he just told me back to valium but didn't say stop sertraline. But I am really confuse because I actually don't know where these side effects come from.

    • nigel45109
      nigel45109 victor76

      Posted

      hello, im not a doctor. however, everyone knows

      anti depressants take a minimum of 4 to 8 weeks, to START to work. for the first 4 weeks, you get initial side effects from an anti depressant, then they die down. theres no actual positive benefit from them until about 5 to 10 weeks. it does vary from person to person.

      so, first few weeks slightly worse, benefits start from 5 to 8 weeks, anti depressant is working fully 10 to 14 weeks.

      you cant start reducing benzo until the anti depressant is fully working. when it is, stopping the benzo will be easier.

      currently, you are getting withdrawal from benzo, no help from anti depressant, and initial side effects from anti depressant.

      show your doctor this post, you may have misunderstood timings.

    • nigel45109
      nigel45109

      Posted

      basically, you need to wait until the anti depressant is fully working, 8 weeks, give or take, before starting to reduce the benzo. the method your doctor recommended is widely used, its just the timing of the reduction thats wrong. i started a new anti depressant 5 months ago, i had just started taking 10mg of diazepam per day. once my anti depressant started working, i reduced diszepam to 7.5mg and then 5.0mg myself, with no side effects. im getting to the point now, where i will drop again. its a lengthy process, but does work.

    • victor76
      victor76 nigel45109

      Posted

      hi! thanks for the more detail info!

      Today was my 4th day. I woke up around 5-6am and kind of back and for sleeping and waking up finally at 8am. What I can say from today is that I was a little "tired" and a little foggy but nothing like the days before. Also no headache at all. Went for a hike to a mountain close by and ai had a nice day. I don't know if this is normal or not. I know that some people when reducing benzos get some nice days and bad days, I don't know if this is what it's happening to me now or just I'm lucky. At the moment I can't do anything for at least the rest of the week until my doctor comes back. ummmm

       

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