Don’t even attempt to get off Valium until the opiate wd’s are gone. They have overlapping symptoms and you’ll probably hurt yourself trying to figure out which pill you need to take when it gets really bad.
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Positive The Tapering Support Thread v 2.0
- Thread starter Jerry Atrick
- Start date
Great that you have a good Dr.
Look up “The Ashton Method”. A safe taper off Ativan or Valium can take a whole year.
Heck, it took me well over a year to taper off of methadone. Can't imagine the pain of a benzo taper. Don't think I'd have the stamina for it. Lucky to not be hooked on one. But it's totally possible to do. I believe that entirely. I suppose I'd be game for it if I was on a benzo. Yeah, kind of saying conflicting things but oh well lol.
Nothing is wrong with you.
Start writing your meds down, every time to put something in your mouth. You’re confused and it’s easy to forget what you have taken and how often.
This is withdrawls. Oxy or Morphine wd’s will scramble your brains. The transition from Ativan to Valium will scramble your brains. You’re not broken. However… this time of your life is breaking you a little bit.
Get some rest and start over tomorrow. When the sun comes up, go read through the advice we have given you and create a plan. Write it down. Research “The Ashton Method”. And pick only ONE medication to taper off of or you’ll go crazy…. the kind of crazy where the neighbor calls the police and you end up in a hospital.
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Nas47
Road-Weary Traveler
I didn't count time of my tappering just because i don't hurry,but it could be a month.from 4-5mg bupr to 3now.diazepam from 20-30 to 10 now.everything goes smooth.diazepam taper wreck havoc in my dream patterns,but even on dose 20mg it was disrupted sleep.headaches and stiffness pass quickly.sleep around 3 hours at night and ,if i have possibility to sleep afternoon-i got one more hour.so till now have not some problems with this.just have a pill lyrica 75 mg a day.it help me with ocassional tensions.if my spirit is ok-then also this go well.that's it.nice and productive day to all and God bless u
spyfish
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2016
- Messages
- 31
Thanks allot
Yeah I will do that. She knows, im planning on marrying her. After a night of intimacy the pain went from a 3 to a 9 so not really much choice now. But wish i had 5mg oxys, i get significantly high from just 10mg slow release, halfwould be plenty. I guess I could try and split them in 4.
really appreciate the advice.
Nas47
Road-Weary Traveler
it depends.the book said as i remember,than around 30 percent of people using regularly benzos having severe withdrawl...so it is not so curious.10mg valium is nothing.most grannies here pop more.i remember one shrink in rehab(the best and only one i have ever met)told me -"10mg valium?That is a two weeks to nothing.....ofcourse he gaves me some options of meds....most of them were shit,but i agreed on-Neurotop(carbamazepine),which is dibenzoazepine...an anticonvulsant.it has calming and also sleep inducing properties....well I quit this really small dose without a problem and have a couple of months remission after that.Also quit valium on my own...just tappering every time with 5mg and wait till my body acostumize to a new dose-it could be two or even three weeks.....but that is only about diazepam.Had use in the past various benzos,but never have got dependence to other,than valium......just because i prefer valium,toke it from a long time and it is normal to gain some level of physical dependence...it is even not addiction per se
If you’re getting the pills that are like a piece of plastic (can’t even chew them up), they dissolve really well in Coca Cola. It takes 12 hours. You could dissolve one pill into 10 ounces of Coke, wait 12 hours, stir it a little just to make sure it’s all gone. After that you can measure out 1mg per ounce. It will change it to instant release but your dosage can be exact.Thanks allot
would be plenty. I guess I could try and split them in 4.
really appreciate the advice.
Real Coca Cola is the only one that will for sure work. It’s the same exact ph of a healthy human stomach. That’s why it tastes so good when hungover. It causes the pill to dissolve in the same process as what happens in your digestive tract. It’s the way that addicts can get their fix instantly instead of getting a slow release of the medication.
Yes exactly. There’s a huge difference between wanting to get high and needing it to avoid wd’s.
spyfish
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2016
- Messages
- 31
Thanks again
They are cheap generics (Teva), so definitely chewable. But volumetric definitely more accurate anyway. I’ll give it a try. Just took my morning dose and get unnecessarily intoxicated.
Yes. Changing quickly from one benzo to another will cause some wd’s.
Ativan works very fast, but also quits working fast. Valium works much slower, but also lasts a lot longer. The Ashton Method outlines a transition over to Valium that takes a few weeks because the goal is to avoid exactly what you’re feeling right now.
You’ll feel better in a few days. You’re basically in withdrawals off Ativan but the Valium is stopping them from being very bad.
The dosage for each is different too. So 10 mg sounds like more than 2mg, but it really isn’t. Imagine an espresso vs a coffee. The little espresso has as much caffeine as a whole cup of coffee.
I’m not sure what would be a good equation for Ativan = Valium. And every situation is unique. It sounds like your Dr is on the right path with your new prescription.
What’s really important here is that you don’t give up and you educate yourself as much as possible. Even good doctors make mistakes. The last thing you need is for him to say that you’ll be fine when you won’t.
Have you looked up ‘The Ashton Method’ for tapering benzos?
Nas47
Road-Weary Traveler
I have never tried Ativan,but as i remember one mg Ativan is around 10mg diazepam.....if my memory did not lie to me Ativan was Lorazepam
I am planning to taper off Adderall.
I get my prescription Monday 2x 30mg/daily or 60mg/day.
If I could just take as prescribed it would be about half as much as I have been doing... less than half as much when I have it, I do so much I run out.
Right now I have some generic and they are nasty to insufflate, so I have cut back a lot since Saturday (3days ago).
Using much less than I usually do has shown me that doing 10 a day is not 10x as effective as doing l or 2 30mg caps.
I enjoy the actual sniffing part but I am going to stop, I know it is stupid, and after reading some of the stuff I have read tonight I am pretty alarmed.
When I don't have it I tend to buy beer throughout the day (and actually these days I am buying alcohol too.. the progression, right? ) I try to go to sleep for the night at about 4pm.
I feel really bad without it. This makes me angry, I didnt really start using it until about 5 years ago, or actually it was 6, before that if I wasn't struggling with alcohol I was alright.
So I want to give my prescription to somebody and give me the prescribed amount daily but I have no idea who to ask.
I get my prescription Monday 2x 30mg/daily or 60mg/day.
If I could just take as prescribed it would be about half as much as I have been doing... less than half as much when I have it, I do so much I run out.
Right now I have some generic and they are nasty to insufflate, so I have cut back a lot since Saturday (3days ago).
Using much less than I usually do has shown me that doing 10 a day is not 10x as effective as doing l or 2 30mg caps.
I enjoy the actual sniffing part but I am going to stop, I know it is stupid, and after reading some of the stuff I have read tonight I am pretty alarmed.
When I don't have it I tend to buy beer throughout the day (and actually these days I am buying alcohol too.. the progression, right? ) I try to go to sleep for the night at about 4pm.
I feel really bad without it. This makes me angry, I didnt really start using it until about 5 years ago, or actually it was 6, before that if I wasn't struggling with alcohol I was alright.
So I want to give my prescription to somebody and give me the prescribed amount daily but I have no idea who to ask.
Ashton Method. Look it up.
It’s a road map to tapering Valium without withdrawals. It’s how you stop being scared of what to do.
That’s probably the best plan. Morphine wd’s will be extremely unpleasant but benzo wd’s can kill.
You’re not in a situation where you need to stop everything, and you’re not in a situation where you need to stop anything (except that you want to). The morphine is the likely choice to work on…. but it’s not going to be fun.
Is there any one person in your life that you would call first if you got arrested for something embarrassing? That’s the person to ask first.
Whoever you ask for help, it needs to be someone who can give you one pill at a time. At or close to the time of day that you are scheduled to take that pill. And someone who is just enough of a bastard to watch you swallow it instead of sniffing it. And this needs to be every day for the first week. Even if you need to drive across town twice a day to get your pill. Gas is cheaper than rehab.
You have bad habits that can be broken. It only takes a few days to create new habits. But you already know that if the person you choose is going to give you your pills for “today” or for “this week”, you’ll cheat.
Have you looked up “The Ashton Method” for tapering benzos?
I promise that it will give you hope and some real guidance.
The Gabapentin can be tapered off in a couple of weeks. The oxy should take months to taper. The Valium needs to be a whole year or longer.
Pick only one. Stabilize your daily doses on EVERYTHING. Then pick one and start working on it. You have pain, depression, insomnia, etc. Right now you don’t know what is causing what, and you’re never going learn (these things that I learned the hardest way) what you can do to get away from this mess. It can only be baby steps or you’ll give up every time and die because of this.
Everyone who is reading this needs to read this several times.
I have done this more than once. Oxy wd’s from 150mg per day (cheating and taking up to 450mg per day), Ativan/Lorazepam 2mg x 3 per day. Gabapentin 300mg x 3 per day. Lyrica 150 mg x 4 per day. Even gave up caffeine. Every one of them was months or years.
I got away from them all.
The ONLY way to do it is attacking it one problem at a time, unless you’re going to a treatment center with Doctors (who probably don’t really understand physical or psychological addiction anyway).
You’re here because you’re trying to keep your life from falling apart. You’re searching for a fast solution but there isn’t one. It took years to get to the bottom of this rabbit-hole but here you are, and it’s going to take a long time to get back.
First: Stabilize on your current dose per day on every drug you put into your body. This includes caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. Do it for at least 7 days. And don’t cheat on that schedule. Take a week off of work if necessary. But you’ll fail if you try to figure out why your back hurts right now or why you can’t sleep. Do I need to take more Valium? Is this oxy wds? I think I might have missed my Gabapentin this morning? Maybe just an espresso will help me wake up, right?
After all of those questions…. you’ll have the coffee, smoke the cigarette, take the oxy and the Valium (maybe two of each), and an hour later you’ll feel like you can get up and go to work. THIS JUST BECAME YOUR NEW SOLUTION AND ITS SCREWING YOU. You will run out of your whatever, exactly like you did last month.
Stabilize first. It takes about a week. Ask for help if you can. Doctor, spouse, child, sister, who cares! Be brutally honest. You’re stuck in a place that nobody should be, and there’s someone who might be willing to help. Asking for help makes people want to help. It’s embarrassing but it’s also endearing. Do you want to be the person who fell on the sword and asked for help, or the person who spent the next 10 years of YOUR life waiting for “next month I’ll make better choices”?
If there’s nobody you can ask for help then buy a calendar and a notepad. Pencil and paper is the only thing that might work. NO DIGITAL IPHONE CRAP. You will need to write this down. Train yourself to write down the pill you took and when you took it, every last pill. It will become your reference library.
If you’re reading this then you already know that this is the fight of your life, but you’re hoping for an easier way out. There isn’t one. Life is going to suck tremendously for a short time (weeks to months), or it will be uncomfortable for a long time (months to years, perhaps several years)
Pick the easiest one first. Gabapentin and Lyrica go pretty fast. Ativan and Valium are harder (all benzos are really difficult). Opiates are quick to leave your body 90% within a week. But everything you quit will have withdrawl symptoms that effect your brain and body in ways that aren’t going to be clear to you unless you have done it several times. Just pick one today.
An addict is someone who wants to get high. You are not an addict because you made it through my rant. You have become physically or psychologically dependent on the drug you have been putting into your body. You want to stop. This is how you stop.
I have done this more than once. Oxy wd’s from 150mg per day (cheating and taking up to 450mg per day), Ativan/Lorazepam 2mg x 3 per day. Gabapentin 300mg x 3 per day. Lyrica 150 mg x 4 per day. Even gave up caffeine. Every one of them was months or years.
I got away from them all.
The ONLY way to do it is attacking it one problem at a time, unless you’re going to a treatment center with Doctors (who probably don’t really understand physical or psychological addiction anyway).
You’re here because you’re trying to keep your life from falling apart. You’re searching for a fast solution but there isn’t one. It took years to get to the bottom of this rabbit-hole but here you are, and it’s going to take a long time to get back.
First: Stabilize on your current dose per day on every drug you put into your body. This includes caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. Do it for at least 7 days. And don’t cheat on that schedule. Take a week off of work if necessary. But you’ll fail if you try to figure out why your back hurts right now or why you can’t sleep. Do I need to take more Valium? Is this oxy wds? I think I might have missed my Gabapentin this morning? Maybe just an espresso will help me wake up, right?
After all of those questions…. you’ll have the coffee, smoke the cigarette, take the oxy and the Valium (maybe two of each), and an hour later you’ll feel like you can get up and go to work. THIS JUST BECAME YOUR NEW SOLUTION AND ITS SCREWING YOU. You will run out of your whatever, exactly like you did last month.
Stabilize first. It takes about a week. Ask for help if you can. Doctor, spouse, child, sister, who cares! Be brutally honest. You’re stuck in a place that nobody should be, and there’s someone who might be willing to help. Asking for help makes people want to help. It’s embarrassing but it’s also endearing. Do you want to be the person who fell on the sword and asked for help, or the person who spent the next 10 years of YOUR life waiting for “next month I’ll make better choices”?
If there’s nobody you can ask for help then buy a calendar and a notepad. Pencil and paper is the only thing that might work. NO DIGITAL IPHONE CRAP. You will need to write this down. Train yourself to write down the pill you took and when you took it, every last pill. It will become your reference library.
If you’re reading this then you already know that this is the fight of your life, but you’re hoping for an easier way out. There isn’t one. Life is going to suck tremendously for a short time (weeks to months), or it will be uncomfortable for a long time (months to years, perhaps several years)
Pick the easiest one first. Gabapentin and Lyrica go pretty fast. Ativan and Valium are harder (all benzos are really difficult). Opiates are quick to leave your body 90% within a week. But everything you quit will have withdrawl symptoms that effect your brain and body in ways that aren’t going to be clear to you unless you have done it several times. Just pick one today.
An addict is someone who wants to get high. You are not an addict because you made it through my rant. You have become physically or psychologically dependent on the drug you have been putting into your body. You want to stop. This is how you stop.
Nurse Ratched
Bluelight Crew
^ Truer words were never spoken. Only someone that has clawed their way out of compulsion and addiction can realize this.