Benzos etizolam taper - switching to diaz to complete ? or not necessary ?

[mydrugbuddy]

I am making fast headway with my etizolam taper; so i am now down to 9mg of etizolam.

After scanning The Ashton manual i gather it would be best to soon start replacing my etizolam doses with diazepam, dose by dose, until eventually i am using entirely diazepam.

Im cutting down 1mg every day, but i think after my 8mg tonight that rate will need to slow down, and perhaps start substituting diaz for etiz, as diaz is longer lasting Ashton recomends this. so for example i could soon start taking 7 mg of etiz and 10 mg of diaz (10mg of diaz is meant to - 1mg etiz), and over the courde of 4 weeks, 8 weeks, ? swiutch entirely to dizepam.

Maybe i dont need to do this until i am down to 3 or 4 mg of etrizolam ?

at what point do you think i should stop tapering daily, and make it weekly, some time around now ? I hear that things only tend to fuck up if you rush it too much,. so i could even take a fortnight for each dose.

so 2 weeks on 8mg etiz
2on 7, 2on6, 2 on 5mg, 2 on 4mg and then perhaps at that stage consider switching dose by dose to diaz?

I wont go on any more yet, i see my self as being kind of halfway through my taper, as i have been on stupid high doses for brief periods. So I'll stop on 8mg for 1 or 2 weeks and then reduce to 7.

Could anyone who knows about this stuff let me know your thoughts or perhaps devise a taper schedule for this middle stage. I dont know if its that critical yet and i can still keep cutting 1 mg a day, but something tells me its time to slow down now, after my 8mg tonight, and that i should stick on that for a week or 2 ?

 

[tricomb]

I would strongly advise you switch to diazepam, I don't know enough about etizolam to know how safe it is for the purpose of discontinuation.

 

[lolwhatzdrugs]

I would strongly advise you switch to diazepam, I don't know enough about etizolam to know how safe it is for the purpose of discontinuation.

Yeah, most benzo/gaba tapers seem to be done with diazepam. I think it's due partly to it's one day half life effect, and due to that it's probably easier to dose than a longer acting one.

How long have you been on that dose of etizolam?

 

[belfort]

i have found that etizolam is quite easy to get off..i was using 3-4 mgs a day for months and i got off with very little withdrawals..i basically just went back to my normal anxious self, maybe with increased insomnia..

 

[tricomb]

Just to be safe, I think it's better to treat this situation to avoid any of the many possible "worst case scenarios" associated with tapering off benzodiazepines safely especially after extensive elevated dosing periods. I'm not a healthcare professional I'm just giving you my best advice on how to minimize any chance of serious fatal withdrawal symptoms especially since you didn't specify how long you've been taking etizolam, it also will save you a lot of discomfort and severity of rebound anxiety, insomnia, etc. When you're taking a stable diazepam dose, like methadone it will accumulate in your body and in doing so creating the smoothest transition possible off the drugs completely. One of it's main metabolites, nordiazepam, has a halflife of like... 750 hours? or so? So you can take an equipotent diazepam dose or a even I've found, a slightly lower one. I'm not sure if this is due to it's (I'd imagine exponentially) stronger anti-convulsant properties in comparison with etizolam, which I don't think is known for being a good anticonvulsant out of all the benzodiazepines/thienodiazepines.

 

[zzz101]

Etizolam has been around for a while and prescribed in few countries. I think detoxing from this alone would be okay. Though if one would want help with Valium -- I think that this would be a good choice but only because of its longer half-life. Like xannax - valium taper.

Also note it is hard to determine your dose. Looking at it - 8mg of Etizolam would = 80mg Valium. I don't think so!

Max valium you would start with is 20mg. I mean; Etizolam is not even a benzo, Valium could have a very strong effect on u. be careful

No one would know what safe method to use is, but the way i would want to do it is tapper from Etizolam. then start valium once Etizolam has stopped.

Though i've never done them enough to feel withdraw, yet.

 

[DickTate]

If you have access to the needed amounts of Diazepam (is that a problem?) definitely do it that way as tricomb stated. When I remember correctly you have been pretty long on the Etiz with some massive dose-spikes so this is the way to go and you already have tapered some amount down.

But I also think the conversion rate is not exactly 1:10mg. Is there exact data out there about this? I'll take a look.

Best regards and stay strong.

 

[Le'Mix]

I would not advise it. But as much as anything that is because I have w/d from them before, it's not too bad really. That said I was only using 3-4 nocturnally and yet they supposedly have a half life of 5-6 hours, so I'm a bit baffled as to why I could go all day with no desire/need to pop any more.

Now WD from Diazepam ? I'd for sure find that more difficult.

 

[Le'Mix]

If you have access to the needed amounts of Diazepam (is that a problem?) definitely do it that way as tricomb stated. When I remember correctly you have been pretty long on the Etiz with some massive dose-spikes so this is the way to go and you already have tapered some amount down.

But I also think the conversion rate is not exactly 1:10mg. Is there exact data out there about this? I'll take a look.

Best regards and stay strong.

I class it as about 1:4mg possibly 1:5mg. But I have not tried the blister pack ones which I believe are said to be the better ones.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

Thanks for all the replies, ive been on etiz for 2 and a half year with some occassional huge spikes (great choice of word) thrown in as Mr Tate mentions. I cut down from 22 to 8mg by 1 pill per day with no problem atall. It wasnt helping me sleep anyway and my anxiety levels havent worsened. I heard its not so crucial at the high end as you dont really feel 40 much more than 30 if you see where im coming from.

I figure its time to start slowing down now though, maybe reduce by 1 pill per week or fortnight for the next 2 or 3 and then start tapering by halves until i get to 2 mg of etizolam. Then would be the time to switch to Diaz. This is my understanding of what you good people have told me, and my consequent plan of what to do next.

 

[lolwhatzdrugs]

Thanks for all the replies, ive been on etiz for 2 and a half year with some occassional huge spikes (great choice of word) thrown in as Mr Tate mentions. I cut down from 22 to 8mg by 1 pill per day with no problem atall. It wasnt helping me sleep anyway and my anxiety levels havent worsened. I heard its not so crucial at the high end as you dont really feel 40 much more than 30 if you see where im coming from.

I figure its time to start slowing down now though, maybe reduce by 1 pill per week or fortnight for the next 2 or 3 and then start tapering by halves until i get to 2 mg of etizolam. Then would be the time to switch to Diaz. This is my understanding of what you good people have told me, and my consequent plan of what to do next.

Uh, at those doses and that duration of use seizures are a possibility! You honestly just need to talk to a doctor, it's your best bet to design a good taper as well as staying safe.