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Please Help: I have been withdrawing from Diazepam (valium) for 5 days now.

Posted , 6 users are following.

hu56144
hu56144

Please help i have been withdrawing from Valium for past 5 days now ... I have been not well but determined to quit taking these pills as i feel I am strong minded and dont need anything blocking how i actually want to feel.

My doctor gave me a script about 2 months ago and have been taking 5 to 10 mg a night depending on how i feel. but  sometimes i would binge on them say eat 5 in the night to fall asleep or just to forget .

Can only say i have binged a few times say like this so not a regular occurance.

It is now 5 days after i have taken my last pill and i am feeling like I can only get to sleep at like 6 am once i am finally asleep i can sleep but as soon as i am woken up it is very hard to sleep again..feels like theres a hole in the back of my brain... also keep griniding the back of my teeth ears are sensitive  to sounds  ?

How long will this feeling last for.??

Thanks 

Hugo

0 likes, 19 replies

19 Replies

  • hu56144
    hu56144

    Posted

    please help
  • pat97152
    pat97152 hu56144

    Posted

    Valium is notoriously difficult to withdraw from even if you've only been on it for a short time..you need to do it slowly ..speak to your your GP...google the Aston Protocol which gives advice...though the way you have been abusing them will not help you ..you need to adopt a sensible regime..sorry to be blunt ..but this is a med not to be messed with 
  • marianne71
    marianne71 hu56144

    Posted

    Hello.

    You're going to be OK, but you need the help of your doctor. Please have a look at the Ashton Manual here on the net and if you can, print it off to show to your GP. 

    Although you've only been taking Diazepam for a few months, you've been sometimes using well above the therapuetic dose so you can't withdraw from them cold turkey. You need to wean off them a miligram at a time, holding for 1-2 weeks (I'd suggest you could handle a 1mg drop a week o evey 10 days due to your intermittent usage and also the fact you've not been on them longer than 3 months - if so you would be classed as a long term user). 

    Right now I would go and take 10 mg of Diazepam and wait until you stabalise, and make an appointment to see your GP as an emergency appointment if possible. Tell the GP everything you have told us here and pass them the Ashton Manual.

    Your GP will switch your meds to 2mg tablets to assist with your sensible withdrawing. 

    Don't go reading all the horror stories on the internet: you haven't got a long term addiction going on here. Your GP will make further suggestions.

    Good luck and please do educate yourself further about Benzodiazepines. Don't freak out, you feel awful now but once you're on a weaning plan it will take around 10 weeks or so for you to slowly withdraw and although everyone is different, you should find it quite a smooth withdrawal as you haven't been using them for over three months.

     

    • marianne71
      marianne71 pat97152

      Posted

      Thanks, Pat! It's sad reading how many people unintentionally become addicted to these drugs. Diazepam and other meds of the same class are very useful when used for short term acute situations and conditions but these serious problems arise when a GP prescribes enough for addiction to occur; and also with repeat presecriptions of Benzos. This has to stop! 
    • pat97152
      pat97152 marianne71

      Posted

      Ironically I am involuntarily dependent valium for 44 years..so I know all about addiction and withdrawal..
    • Jim45991
      Jim45991 pat97152

      Posted

      is it normal not to take 0.5 of diazepam for a week and still feeling unstable ? I've been taking 2mg for a week, 1,5 mg for another week, then 1 mg for a week, 0,5 mg for a week. I'm suppose to stop completely tomorrow....but I'm not sure if I should. I was thinking about tapering to 0,25 for another week and then stop. What do you think?
    • sphrah95270
      sphrah95270 marianne71

      Posted

      why - they are my life line. I take them once a week sometimes twice. I am not physically addicted and I dont experience withdrawels coming off them. Many people have put several postivie stories from benzos - I am aware some people have had problems but thats thesame with any medication. Because you did not agree with it does not mean it should not be prescribed to other people. It has given me a quality to life. I know I am not addicted as I go months without taking it, I never experienced withdrawels. I do think alot people come on line and read these horror stories and get the symptoms phsychosomatically....anxiety returns when you stop taking an anxiety med...hmmm. If you took it everyday I feel sorry for you as Drs didnt know then that that would cause addiction but if you take once a week or as needed and dont develop a tollerece it is in no way 100% that you will get withdrawels. 
  • marianne71
    marianne71 hu56144

    Posted

    Hugh, can you please let us know that you're OK and what your plan is?

     

    • hu56144
      hu56144 marianne71

      Posted

      Thanks alot for the replies and advice  . just took a dose of 10 mg.. will look up the ashton shuffle and make an apointment asap....how long does it normally take to stabalise? I agree it is a very nasty drug... nothing like i had expected

      Thanks again much appreciated,,,

  • hu56144
    hu56144

    Posted

    Thanks alot for the replies and advice smile just took a dose of 10 mg.. will look up the ashton shuffle and make an apointment asap....how long does it normally take to stabalise? I agree it is a very nasty drug... nothing like i had expected

    Thanks again much appreciated,,, 

  • marianne71
    marianne71 hu56144

    Posted

    Hi Hugh,

    Glad you're OK smile

    You'll be feeling better and levelled out by now hopefully; you were experiencing benzo withdrawal after the usual 5 days and will level out again on 10mg a day. Until you see your GP, try to take the 10 mg at bedtime as this is likely what your taper schedule will be, dropping a mg every week or so. And of course you don't need to be advised not to take any more a day than the 10mg.

    Hope you get an appointment soon. Don't be too concerned about your Doc's reaction to this situation as so many people suffering from anxiety/bereavement and so on overuse their prescription and considering they're unaware of the payback (i.e withdrawal and addiction) then that's no real surprise...and the Doc's encounter unintentional addiction a lot.

    Good luck with your taper and let us know how you're doing.

     

  • sphrah95270
    sphrah95270 hu56144

    Posted

    that sounds like insomnia - very similar. look up insomnia threads. I take sleeping pills to sleep. rather that than insomnia.  Also the antidepressant mirtazapine is great for sleep and would help with withdrawels. Look it up on here. Inititally it causes alot of somnulance but eventually it really chills your out 
  • sphrah95270
    sphrah95270 hu56144

    Posted

    I cant believe Drs prescrive them to take everyday - that is sure to cause dependence, just like with anti depressants....if you need to sleep ask for Z sleeping pills. You may become 'addicted' I am but I dont care. Im glad I sleep and dont suffer with insomnia. I have been taking diazepam for ten years and can go three months without taking it with no withdrawels whatsoever - however I have never taken it everyday. I would consider - that if you are too 'on the look out for withdrawels' you may imagine they are when they are not - or may experience the anxiety that you had before you started taking them at atribute that anxiety to withdrawels. That is such an incredibly low dose for such a short period of time I can not imagine you are addicted... even physically. I am telling you the honest truth of my experiences. Please research daily mail articles on valium but instead of reading the article - read the comments, hundreds of people have taken diazepams considered them life saving - one woman got her degree whilst taking them and most said they had no side effects when they stopped taking them. I honestly never knew withdrawel from diazepam was possible until I came on here, and believe me I have taken a higher dose than that for a much longer time.

    blessings

    • jo61533
      jo61533 sphrah95270

      Posted

      Hi. I see this thread is a couple of weeks old so I hope you're sti around to help as I'm lokking for a different view point. First a bit about me. i think,I have a bit of a self destructive streak. I used to have a drink problem although I haven't had a drink for 13 years, I was on prozac for a while and just stopped no worries then I used to take vast quantities of lorazepam that the elderly ladies I cared for used to give me for my anxiety (they has jars full that they never used" I didn't even know what lorazepam was (this was about 25 years ago) and just stopped when I stopped my care work. I think my problem was I was always looking for life to be a little more exciting now I would give the world for drug free and normal!. This time round the pain relief was for genuine needs however I think the anxiety I now have is through all those years of messing my body around. I have been on and off diazepam for the last 5 years never having problems with addiction. This time though it's been about 6 months at 12mg and then abouts a month at the 40 now dropped to 20. I'm wondering if I didn't get withdrawal from lorazepam and diazepam before was because I didnt know it existed and wasn't afraid of it. This time though I have read so many horror stories I'm scared witless!!! One thing I will say though is i withdrew from tramadol after a year and those withdrawals were definately real!!! I don't  want to follow the Ashton manual because it will take weeks and I'm not 100% sure it's  necessary. Every time I cut I obsess about whether I have any symptoms. Do you think a 2mg taper every couple days is too much. I'm seeing doc Monday but he just googles everything anyway!! I keep reading these horror stories of people experience symptoms years later because they built up tolerance so surely the quicker I get of the better. Have you not built up a tolerance to your sleeping tablets. I hope your still following this post because t is good to get different perspectives. Take care Jo x
    • Jim45991
      Jim45991 jo61533

      Posted

      Hey buddy, 

      1- Stop ready all the horrors on the Net. It is surely reliving to know that your not alone but it won't help concretely. 

      2- Focus on YOUR present situation. 

      3. Be smart about your tapering process. Do it progressively, its not fun to extend the process but it certainly makes it more comfortable. It took me 2 months to taper a 2mg 1x/day dosage...I had terrible withdrawal symptoms until I got stable on  0,25mg . Things were easier and smoother. If you want, instead of switching from lets say 5mg to 4 mg in a week, try to do it over 2 weeks : first week, you take 5mg on monday, wednesday, friday, sunday, (so 4x5mg for a week), and you take 4mg on the other days of the week. Week 2, you take less 5mg, so you can try 3x5mg and the rest are 4mg. Week 3, try 5-6 days on 4mg and 1-2 days on 5mg, then see how you feel and ajust. To keep on tapering if you dont feel stable on a dosage. To feel stable, it took me 10 to 14 consecutive days with the same dosage.This is a safe way to get through the withdrawal process. Your not alone, go see your doc, it's not fun, but you will certainly get trough it and you'll be proud of you. 

       

    • Jim45991
      Jim45991

      Posted

      Reading* and relieving*
    • jo61533
      jo61533 Jim45991

      Posted

      Thanks Jim everyone tells me it's a marathon not a sprint. Just so impatient!!
    • Jim45991
      Jim45991 jo61533

      Posted

      I know the feeling! I had at least 20 horribles side effets. They came in waves with different degrees of intensity. And I always had this feeling of not knowing if I was actually stable (or could get) on a dosage. But yeah, I could, after 14 days, eventhough I style had less severe side effects. I felt agitated, zone-out/not myself, etc. What could be helpfull and motivating is to build a flexible schedule where you will see and track your progress, where you'll get to know how sensitive your body is to the medecine, and see what ajustments are needed. Ask your doc for help with it. Be patient and nice to yourself. Self-compassion is crucial here. Keep up buddy!
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