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Benzos Etizolam Taper - Confused Help?

psaxxon

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 4, 2010
Messages
53
Hi All

Not a regular poster here (or anywhere) but am asking here as this is the place I trust the most.

I have been on this stuff for about five years, I ended up on 4mg/day for the last year (1mg midday, 3mg to sleep) and about two months ago I decided it was time to stop, so I got hold of some weed (Indica dominant Kush) for night-time use and decided to see what chopping out my daytime dose entirely would do. I only felt slightly edgy, not enough to really bother me so that night I cut my night-time dose in half (1.5mg) and smoked some (a little) weed, I slept fine.

I kept the same dose (1.5mg night-time only) for 6/7 weeks before chopping that down to 1mg a night, a week or so ago, still sleeping fine and not smoking weed every night, only maybe 2 nights per week and drinking 2 nights per week.

I have understood etizolam W/D is hell on earth, I believe that to be the case which is what is confusing me and what I am asking about. Is the hell going to catch up with me during the process of tapering this final 1mg or have I somehow dodged a bullet through my physiology? Is that even possible? It can't be surely?

I have been wary of posting this as I know how much hell is suffered by people coming off this and I didn't want to 'rub' anything in, I'm obviously hoping it'll somehow be easy for me but I'm not that lucky which is making me think I have it to come.

I never really smoked weed before due to paranoia, I have been a heavy drinker in the past drinking the best part of a bottle of whiskey in a sitting but that is now stable at weekends only and rarely exceeds four beers. The only other drug I've regularly consumed is codeine which has been at about 120-180mg levels which I've done 3-5 times per week irregularly, never had a problem stopping that for weeks on end so I don't think an addiction has ever formed, I've held that pattern for years. Stims are a very occasional thing for me and haven't done much the last five years as the etiz took too much of the edge off.

I think I'm going to be told the final 1mg is where the problems are going to start but regardless I'm still confused. The etiz was good, all coming from the same 'respected' vendor. I'm going to have to switch though as I can no longer get etiz, was thinking of metizolam.

Thanks for any replies.
 
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I've been told this countless times, unfortunately I'm not able to but getting hold of a longer lasting Benzo, i.e. Diazepam can help a lot.

If not then I would even suggest going to 0.5mg per day if possible to end your taper, depending on supply of course.

Personally smoking weed or consuming Codeine during the worst of my WDs (1st & 2nd day without Etiz.) Made everything a hundred times worse, the anxiety was almost crippling. Your experience may differ of course.

I wish you the best of luck and trust me life is better without Etizolam, it just won't seem that way for a while.
 
Cheers man, appreciate the reply.

What's confusing me is going from 4mg/day taken 1mg/3mg to 1mg just at night without any real W/D, I was expecting hell (and still am TBH). I was wondering if this is unusual or normal with the pain yet to come.

As far as I can tell metizolam is both longer acting and weaker than etizolam, I have two of the latter left and 100 of the former due tomorrow, I cut it fine I know. From what I can tell there are a few longer lasting ones on the UK market but some of the half-lives are scary long and I'm not sure I want to go there. I'm going to take it as slow as I can though from here, I'm just happy I managed to cut 75% of it out so quickly. It kinda crept up on me, I kept putting the sleepless nights off and bang, I was stuck on them but I've never really used them to get a buzz from.

I'm not sure from your post whether you're off them now or still in the process but good luck whichever way mate, I'm guessing there are a lot of us in this boat..
 
You are extremely fortunate in that you are not starting off at a super high dose. You have also done a very good job tapering and your time ahead will, hopefully, not be too painful. If you can get ahold of some Valium, taking 10mg per day for a couple weeks, then drop to 5mg for a couple weeks, then down to 2.5mg for a couple weeks then drop off.

Doing this should result in minimal withdrawals as long as you keep to the program.

If smoking weed helps, keep smoking! But as the above poster mentioned, quit smoking if it gives you anxiety. Drinking during benzo withdrawals is not the best idea - it can stretch out withdrawals and make them more uncomfortable. It is also extremely easy to switch addictions in the process.

You should get plenty of exercise, eat plenty of food and try to get good sleep. Some meds that can help include clonidine, gabapentin and muscle relaxers but use them sparingly.

Notice if you start feeling depressed, anxious or restless that it is all part of the healing process. Exercise, food and sleep will all help with these symptoms.

Good luck and I wish you the best!
 
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