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Tapering off of Oxazepam 10mgs - Need some advice.

Posted , 4 users are following.

Gina1953
Gina1953

I am so new this and my anxiety is getting the best of me, but its time for me to finally come off of Oxazepam. It has come to my attention that the pharamacutical companies are slowing discontinuing this drug. So with that said My Doctor has put me on Diazepam  10mgs. 

I have been on Oxazepam 10 mgs for 15 yrs. 

So today is day one. Instead of taking the 10mgs of Diazepam I started with 5mgs.

I have been reading that we should start slowly!

Has anyone else tried this method. and how long did it take for you to completley come off.

Dr. said 3months.. but I dont think so.. my gut says No way.

Need some real urgent help as I am more anxious then before.

Thank You

 

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • richard70589
    richard70589 Gina1953

    Posted

    Hey

    Whats best for us is hard to know. 

    I know that it was shockingly hard to taper off and that (for me) it was OK for a few days then awful for about a week each time.  Each cycle was about 2 weeks.  I would taper, then do so again when I stopped climbing the walls.  

    I would say that cutting the dose by half is too much.  I would go down by 1mg every 2 weeks to start then maybe less later on when that mg is a larger percenhtage of the dose.  

    I understand that you just want to be off the stuff but for me it was hard.  I got terrible anxiety and insomnia.  Had to go to a psych in the end in despair.  

    Maybe you will find it easier than me.  

    I think it also depends whsat you do.  If you gotta go to work its harder than if you can stay at home.  If I was at home I could maybe have done it quicker and harder.  

    Note that my brain was mush wjhen I was coming off these things, no concentration, no memory.

    Honestly I would consider water titration ( a flashy way of saying dissolving it so you can reduce by tiny amounts at a time).  Get a table from the internet and come down really slow so you dont even feel it.  Target say a year, and when and if it gets hard, just stay where you are, ie dont go backwards, but you dont have to keep reducing if you feel rubbish. 

    Good luck.  

     

    • gina01020
      gina01020 richard70589

      Posted

      HI Richard.

      Can you give me more advice on how to taper via water

      How do I control the dose then

      Cheers

      Another Gina lol

    • richard70589
      richard70589 gina01020

      Posted

      Hello

      If you look at the internet search water titration benzos or similar.  You can find an excel table that helps you work it out and various peoples ideas See http://www.benzosupport.org/the_spreadsheet.htm

      Get a measuring cylinder from a chemist or school lab provider and a syringe  Get a jar that is watertight.  

      When I heard about it I was on about 10mg Diazepam.  THey reckon dont come down by more than 10% per fortnight.    

      Measure say 150ml water in the cylinder.  Pour in the jar.  Shake up till dissolved.  I soak mine each night for the next night as I only take once a day  Then get the syringe.  I draw the liquid in and out of the syringe a few times to mix up, then draw off a bit more than you need.  Draw say 3ml off squirt 2ml back in so you have one ml  in syringe.  squirt 1ml down basin or sink.  Either drink from jar or a glass.  After you finish I normally swill a bit more water round then drink that.  Next day go up to 2ml then 3ml etc.  

      Note it doesnt dissolve that well you can see bits floating in it.  Others say to dissolve tablet in a spirit then water down, eg vodka, but I am off the booze, so I didnt think that was a good idea

      The reason for choosing 150mi is so that you go down by less than 10% over 14 days, but after a while you will find that you will be going down by more than 10% so have to re-evaluate, but you will find the table helps ith this.  

      Basically the slower the better.  Dont be in a hurry.  I am down to less than 2mg now.  I had a break for a while and stayed steady on 2.5mg.  Its not brilliantly scientific, but it does mean you dont need to mess around trying to chop tablets into tiny pieces.  

    • gina01020
      gina01020 richard70589

      Posted

      Hi Richard,

      Thank you very much for all the info...very good advice which I intend to use. I'll download the spreadsheet as i've been writing it on a calender to keep track up til now. I think under normal cercumstances, I'd be ok but because im still dealing with AD stabilizing etc it's been more difficult. It says not to do it while your mucking around with AD's but I'll just try and get down a bit more if I can.

      Thanks heaps for the help, saves trying to work out how many mg in all the tiny pieces lol..

       

  • gina01020
    gina01020 Gina1953

    Posted

    HI Gina

    How have you been going tapering. I have to start too so any advice etc

    Thanking you Gina

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