Benzos Diazepam taper at ~2.5mg and need to jump off very soon.

[JBrandon]

Hello! Key facts bolded for TL;DR convenience.

This is my first real round of true-blue benzo dependency. I've read the Ashton manual and I've UTFSE, so I'll be honest and admit I'm mostly just looking for friendly guidance here regarding what I'm about to go through.

I went through 350mg of Etizolam over a 3-6 month period. I can barely remember any of it, and I wasn't paying any attention to my Etizolam use until I started to have problems so the time frame is somewhat unclear. The use was daily and at it's peak was around 4-6mg/day. I tapered it down to 1mg of Etizolam a day fairly rapidly as my supply was running out. I was anxious and had WD symptoms but was managing.

When I finally did run out I assumed I'd be okay, but 24 hours later I had some of the worst withdrawal symptoms I've ever experienced from any drug ever. I miraculously acquired 10 more etizolam and held steady on them at 0.25 and 0.5mg doses while I ordered some diazepam to perform a proper taper.

I've been at 2.5mg of diazepam in the evening for about 3 or 4 weeks now. On a few occasions I've been able to skip an entire day before feeling a creeping dread, on a few other occasions I've had to take an additional 2.5mg to make it through the day. Overall though, I'd say 6 days out of 7 I've been at 2.5mg. I'm a daily stimulant (ab)user (dexedrine, ephedrine, caffeine) which exacerbates the problem. I cannot stop the stimulants entirely but I can keep the dosage as low as possible during this time.

I need to pee clean in the nearish future. I've got six or seven 10mg Diazepam left. I'm tempted to drop the dose to 1.25mg a day until they run out and attempt the jump.

I can live with moderate anxiety and a little brain fog, but I cannot handle the incredible full-body muscle cramps, SEVERE cognitive impairment, panic attacks, and all the other fun things I went through jumping off the Etizolam.

I am trying to figure out if I need to order more Diazepam right now or if I can handle this taper. I'd rather not have any extra drugs around me unless they are absolutely necessary. If I have an excess of Diazepam as a safety blanket for this taper, I'm just going to wind up using them.

Can anyone with Diazepam tapering experience tell me if this is much too rapid?

 

[Coolwhip]

Sounds like you are on the right track...if it comes down to it and you won't piss clean get some synthetic like quick fix or pure clean(they still it at headshops but its cheaper online) and I promise it works.

 

[JBrandon]

Well for once this is a drug test that isn't monitored by a cop, doesn't have my entire career on the line, and isn't mandatory. However it will wind up costing me about ~$60 a month for the entire rest of my working career if I don't do it. So this is easily the lowest-stakes drug test I've ever had bar none.

However it is providing me with a strong motivation to truly get clean again and I'd really like to use that to get off the benzos for good. Then I can start thinking about tackling this stimulant problem, which isn't an issue for the drug test as it is prescribed.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

 

[JBrandon]

Just took the jump today. Really sweating the fact that I don't have a reserve in case this is worse than anticipated, but if I also know if I had that "reserve" I'd just drag this out.