Benzos finally going to self-taper from valium. DEFINETLY. But a few questions

[Toz]

Well its been 2-3 weeks since I last took Valium now. And almost a week since I last took Etizolam, which has a MUCH shorter half-life. I'm feeling ok today and will hopefully get a good nights sleep tonight.

And to those suggesting taper plans.....I don't want to take a benzo everyday. I have never really done that, so to do that now would seem counterproductive. Before dabbling with etizolam I would happily go days at a time with nothing. Obviously that caught up with me. But hopefully I've just rode out both the etizolam and valium WD at the same time. IF I don't get a good nights sleep tonight, I think I'll take 5mg diazepam before bed tomorrow and I think that will be the end of it.

Don't do it, even if you don't feel too bad it might trigger the whole process all over again. I did this misstake after being without clonazepam for 2 weeks, almost felt ok, thought I would just have 0,5mg to help me sleep and it set me back to day 1 all over again.

 

[Znegative]

I read the OP and then skipped the rest so excuse me if I missed some additional information.

I have never used Valium for a benzodiazepine taper, though I plan on switching from clonazepam as I prefer it's anxiolytic effects (clonazepam is okay, but I find it numbs me out too much) and the fact that it seems to 'stick' longer is a real plus as I do want to get off this stuff for good in the near future (I'm not too far, I only need 1mg of clonazepam/day to feel completely stable).

In regards to your situation, I first and foremost do recommend going to see a doctor to help you with this. That being said:

1.As for the Seizures:

I wouldn't want to mess around, as I have known some people, alcoholics and benzo users who did quit CT and before even feeling any noticeable withdrawal syndromes wound up having a serious seizure. Now, it seems strange that you wouldn't experience WD first, but who knows, perhaps they did start to feel WD and then bang, had a seizure before they could do anything about it (in these cases, the people I knew were using short acting benzo's btw). I personally think its a dangerous idea to just NOT take diazepam until you feel the withdrawal coming on..sure it's safer with Valium to try this than say with alprazolam or Triazolam, but it still seems like its playing with fire. It's probably better to plan out a taper, maybe jump down to 15mg for 1-2 weeks, and then drop down to 10mg. I would only start skipping days towards the very end of the taper.

IME with clonazepam, another relatively long lasting benzo, I can go 48 hours without dosing and be okay. After that though I start to feel like shit with increasing intensity. Just a week ago I went a very long time without my dose, and by the time I ended up taking some, my hands were shaking and my face was twitching, I don't want to know what could have happened had I waited any longer.
​

2.Does your month of Valium Abstinence Mean you were in the clear?

I would say No, honestly. Diazepam as you know is super long acting, and even after four weeks I feel that its not a stretch to imagine you still had some of the drug lingering in your system. While you probably did get over the most 'acute' withdrawal symptoms, I imagine you would still have suffered from some lengthy PAWS had you continued to not use benzo's.
​

3.Is your plan Solid

I sincerely believe that rather than just dosing the Valium when you start to feel withdrawal, that you should instead set up a taper (preferably with a doctor, though if you refuse to see one, perhaps talk to someone on BL that's been through this and can help you set up a good regiment-But really, being a drug user does not=medical professional-at all) where you dose daily and gradually taper off over the course of a couple of months, or at whatever pace is most comfortable for you. Many people get disgusted with themselves for becoming dependent and want to just be seen with it, to 'man up and just kick!'. This attitude would likely result in a relapse though.
​

4.Etizolam

I don't know much about Etizolam, other than it has a 6 hour half life and is the approximate strength of alprazolam and clonazepam (that is, 10x stronger mg/mg than Diazepam). I know that in a hospital setting, they sometimes used moderate acting benzodiazepines like IV Ativan for inpatient benzodiazepine detoxes, but that doesn't lead me to think that switching to Etizolam would be a good idea.

For one thing, being that it is much shorter acting, as well as much stronger, you're likely to catch more of a buzz off of an even equipotent dose to diazepam, which will likely result in more psychological cravings to redose. This is not the kind of drug you want to switch to for the use of a taper. Also, it would be very hard to come up with an equivalent dosing regimen if you changed to Etizolam as Diazepam is so much longer acting. Sure, at acute dosages, 10mg of Valium is approximately equal to 1mg of Etizolam, but consider the fact that diazepam's half life can be as long as 100 hours, and the half life of its active metabolite can be 200 hours! So its not really like 10mg of diazepam is equal to 1mg of Etizolam, but rather, 10mg of diazepam is equal to 1mg of Etizolam every six hours or so (that math is a total estimate, but my point is its hard to equate long acting drugs with short acting ones, especially when each respective half life is so drastically different).​

Anyway, hopefully this was somewhat helpful, I wish you luck!

 

[WayneRooney]

Don't do it, even if you don't feel too bad it might trigger the whole process all over again. I did this misstake after being without clonazepam for 2 weeks, almost felt ok, thought I would just have 0,5mg to help me sleep and it set me back to day 1 all over again.

Well I suppose I got a slightly better nights sleep. Nothing amazing though. I slept for a good few solid hours until 3am. And then struggled and stressed in bed until the morning.

Feel pretty fine today. I'd say pretty much back to normal. I don't feel tired at all though, which I should do, and wish I did.

I'll listen to your advice though and not risk triggering the whole thing again. Although I don't think it actually would, considering valium's half-life and that I think I got into the mess thanks mainly to etizolam. But I'll try to sleep naturally anyway. I think once I do that I'll be able to properly say I'm over it.

 

[WayneRooney]

Zero sleep last night. But feel perfectly back to normal in my self.

 

[i are spectre]

i always switch to clonazepam for the final round. it has always been the easiest to jump from clonazepam than anything else, especially diazepam.

im talking 2 or 3 years of daily benzos, around 5mg of alprazolam or equivalent. just jump to clonazepam, reduce fairly quickly, and it's a super smooth ride. never fails for myself.