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Harm Reduction Tapering Plan Mega thread - community project

How long did you continue to have withdrawal symptoms after you got to zero? Getting to zero was the easy part imo. Now staying at it at......

sorry i took so long to reply to your question.. i didnt even see it cuz i havent looked at this thread lately..

1st off- i wanna say the only time i w/d off clonazepam was in jail.. and it wasn't quite as comfortable as the taper i suggested.. but i was on valium and occasional phenazepam it took 100mg valium to get me high.. but i was prescribed 30mg a day, thats why i had the phenazepam to add to it.. but the clonaz taper i suggested is what i asked for in jail and felt it would be the easiest for me, but they wanted to get me off it quicker than that. But back to the valium.. i just finished tapering off of it last month and i actually dont feel too bad.. but ive started taking more suboxone to help with the feeling of having no benzo.. i still have about 50 10mg valiums which i will use sparingly when i need it.. the reason i got off the valium is because i went back to my old anxiety remedy which isn't addictive and life threatening with w/d's.. clonidine and vistaril.. 100mg vistaril and .4mg clonidine.. it works just as good as benzo's that's why i asked my dr to go back to it.. but clonidine and vistaril also helped with the w/d's so i kinda got off of it easy.. sorry for such a long post but it was a LONG time ago i was on clonazepam.. and i just feel the taper i wrote would be the most comfortable YMMV.. :)
im still on ambien at night which is kinda like a benzo and im also on 25mg zyprexa for being bi polar and a bunch of muscle relaxers and more meds but i dont feel like getting into it.. i have a lot of meds so i have no reason to need to go back to using benzos.
 
would people suggest exercising even when tapering? i did it when i was in pure poppy pod wd and it helped, but when tapering wouldnt it just cause your body to remove x drug (in my case diazepam) faster, making it almost shorter acting, the opposite of what we try to do here? it will help your body produce natural endorphins though, so you wouldnt need as much of drug x, correct? those ski machines are the best (elliptical or whatever) i think, straight cardio for two hours, taking breaks and slamming water helped incredibly for poppy and xanax wd.
 
Just had one more question. I'm going to be coming off of 40mg of hydrocodone a day for a year. How long will the wd last do you think.

A few days should be the length of the intense part. Afterward, you can have post-acute withdrawal symptoms (PAWS), which can last for relatively long times. I recommend tapering since it makes the transition go much more smoothly through both phases.
 
would people suggest exercising even when tapering? i did it when i was in pure poppy pod wd and it helped, but when tapering wouldnt it just cause your body to remove x drug (in my case diazepam) faster, making it almost shorter acting, the opposite of what we try to do here? it will help your body produce natural endorphins though, so you wouldnt need as much of drug x, correct? those ski machines are the best (elliptical or whatever) i think, straight cardio for two hours, taking breaks and slamming water helped incredibly for poppy and xanax wd.

Exercise is great for withdrawal symptoms!

Exercise does impact half-life, it is true. As you pointed out though, the benefits certainly are present from exercising while in withdrawal. Exercise gets your body healthy, which is the biggest service you can do to it while going through withdrawal.

With a drug like diazepam, the half-life is very long to begin with, and thus the exercise you do will not shorten the half-life to the point of causing withdrawal between doses. Also, diazepam and really every other long-lasting drug that I can think of that will cause withdrawals should be tapered. Because of this, you shouldn't really be worried about the length of action (so long as it gets you to your next dose without dropping off considerably), because your levels are determined mainly by your dosing regiment.
 
Hydro taper

Any other suggestions for tapering off hydro. Been taking it everyday for about a year. Last 2 months been taking approx 40mg a day sometimes 50. What would be the best doses to taper times in the day ect. Should I get some benzos for night. What should I prepare myself for. I'm a 22yr old working student and can't take off work or school so want to make this as easy as possible.
 
^I'd say the best advice is to take them only as you need them, as few as possible. It shouldn't be too unpleasant at all if you go at a pace that works for you. Once you get to a low enough dose to drop off (I'd go down to 2.5 to 5mg/ day, then every other day), you won't even be getting high off them and so it shouldn't be hard to jump off completely.
 
Would taking ultram for 4 days bypass withdrawals or just delay them. Like 2 in the morning and 2 at night?
 
^It certainly wouldn't bypass it. It is useful stuff to have in this situation, but I recommend having a few mg of an opiate around as well to assist in the transition.
 
So this morning I took my two tramadol instead of my normal 15mg of hydro. So your saying I will still experience slight withdrawals without my hyrdo. So far I feel ok. My last hydro was yesterday at 4 so it's only been 16hrs.
 
So this morning I took my two tramadol instead of my normal 15mg of hydro. So your saying I will still experience slight withdrawals without my hyrdo. So far I feel ok. My last hydro was yesterday at 4 so it's only been 16hrs.

Well you must not have taken it too often or in high enough dosages to have extreme withdrawals. You may not really notice the difference at all, as some people get really good effects out of tramadol.

Congratulations on not getting WD symptoms!
 
So yesterday I took two ultram in the am and 15mg of hydro at 2pm. I still feel normal even though I took like 50mg everyday for a year. Is this normal
 
since, now OD has a megathread for tapering, why don't you guys make one for withdrawal?

There's SO MANY fucking threads on w/d. they're rather annoying.
 
need advice

Over the last 4 months or so ive cained the hell out of alcohol, gbl and benzos, recently though it was benzos, taking up to 60mg val a night, 120mg temazepams, 3-4mg xanaxs (obviously not at the same time but on different days), i was really scared about going cold turky because i have done before with valium and it was horrible,

(thhe benzo binge was about a month, maybe a month an a half so not long term)

I went to the docs, he gave me a valium taper, this is it:

1st week: 10mg morning - 10mg night
2nd week: 5mg morning - 10mg night
3rd week: 5mg morning - 5mg night
4th week: 0mg morning - 0mg night

Its been ok so far, but this weekend ive been on alot of Pregablin which gets rid of most of the wd's, but i think 20mg valium a day might be too bigger drop if i was used to 60-80mg doses. I take 10mg in the morning, feel slight anti-anxiety effects for about an hour or 2, then get all tensed up, anxious, chills etc and have to wait til night. The main thing im worried about is a seizure, im sure even if this taper is a bit short and drastic i wont seizure because i will have valium in me.

Should i stick to it and just go through it, or go back to the doctors and say i might need it spread out a bit more.

Thanks to any advice.
 
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So yesterday I took two ultram in the am and 15mg of hydro at 2pm. I still feel normal even though I took like 50mg everyday for a year. Is this normal

It's not normal, but don't be sure that you're out of the woods yet. You took a little but of hydrocodone so that could explain why it has been relatively easy. Taking this lower dose of hydrocodone is probably a good idea anyways, though. It will allow you to make the transition go more smoothly like I was describing above.

Keep us updated, and good luck!
 
when I was using a lot of xanax my source ran dry and I needed to quit for other reasons. I took my remaining bars and started with half my normal dose for a week straight then half for another week, and repeated till I had my last 4 quarters and took those every other day till I was done. Withdrawls were minimal... A few night sweats.... lots of REM dreams and some tremors but it wasn't all that bad.
 
^That is a pretty good taper... A little short, but it worked out alright for you. Going slower would have almost certainly made it even more minimal. The every other day dosing at the end is something I have been trying to spread the word on ever since I noticed in myself the impact that it had when compared with just dropping off from the lowest dose.
 
Over the last 4 months or so ive cained the hell out of alcohol, gbl and benzos, recently though it was benzos, taking up to 60mg val a night, 120mg temazepams, 3-4mg xanaxs (obviously not at the same time but on different days), i was really scared about going cold turky because i have done before with valium and it was horrible,

(thhe benzo binge was about a month, maybe a month an a half so not long term)

I went to the docs, he gave me a valium taper, this is it:

1st week: 10mg morning - 10mg night
2nd week: 5mg morning - 10mg night
3rd week: 5mg morning - 5mg night
4th week: 0mg morning - 0mg night

Its been ok so far, but this weekend ive been on alot of Pregablin which gets rid of most of the wd's, but i think 20mg valium a day might be too bigger drop if i was used to 60-80mg doses. I take 10mg in the morning, feel slight anti-anxiety effects for about an hour or 2, then get all tensed up, anxious, chills etc and have to wait til night. The main thing im worried about is a seizure, im sure even if this taper is a bit short and drastic i wont seizure because i will have valium in me.

Should i stick to it and just go through it, or go back to the doctors and say i might need it spread out a bit more.

Thanks to any advice.

I would start at 20mg per week, and lower it by 2.5mg per week.

week 1 - 20
week 2 - 17.5
week 3 - 15
week 4 - 12.5
week 5 - 10
week 6 - 7.5
week 7 - 5
week 8 - 2.5

And then jump off.

You can speed it up/slow it down as necessary. I would split up the "total daily dose" into 5mg intervals throughout the day.
 
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