It's been 30 days of daily valium at 20 to 30 mg per day. Is it too late for me to just cut down on a faster taper? I am tired of daily use of diazepam.

I had an extremely bizarre physical PTSD-like episode for two weeks where I eventually needed to be on apx 30 to 40 mg of valium for the first two weeks daily in order to help my body to sleep, eat, stop shaking etc.  
The doc said my stress hormones were at the max.  After the first two weeks at 30 to 40mg, my body seemed to calm down and I began feeling overmedicated and actually anxious from being so out of it at these doses.  In week 3 and 4, despite my psych encouraging me to over medicate rather than undermedicate, I just couldnt do it, so I averaged about 20 to 30 (mainly 25mg) the 3rd and 4th weeks.

Today was day 31 of valium being taken daily in any dose.

I no longer feel it is necessary to be on even this much valium (25 to 30 mg) and I am tired of having to take it on a daily basis.  Prior to this scare 6 weeks ago, I had managed my anxiety without medication and without much anxiety actually for several years.

I dont see the doc for another week, and I am worried that as I cross the 4 week threshhold, I am going to become physically dependent on daily valium that I dont even want to be on, and have to stay on it the next 6 months just tapering safely , slowly off it.

Is there a faster taper I could suggest next week?  Do I even need to taper?  It hasnt been that long.  Will anything bad happen to me if I just took my doses this week down from 25 mg on average to 18 mg or soemthing like that?  Is it too soon for me to have to worry about physical dependency anyway?

I dont want to feel anxious, but when I took xanax as a teen for a month and a half no one told me to taper off it, and I just stopped taking it.  In my early 30's, I was on .5mg klonopin every day for 4 months and then just stopped taking that because again, no one had ever mentioned tapering to me.  Shouldn't valium, if anything, be even easier to get off of without all this tapering fuss because of the longer half life?  I really hate feeling drunken and I am covered with bruises from falling over.  

On the other side of it, after my first four days on the 40 mg, the doctor was going to switch me straight to 15 mg a day because i was doing so much better after the scare, and this totally backfired. I got a lot of PTSD return physical symptoms and he said we jumped the gun on taking me off.  But it's been a month and I feel like my body is SICK of being doped up now and that is at only around 25 mg.  I wouldnt dream of taking 40 mg now-- it would knock me unconscious.  

Can I just take less as I feel like it for this week and ask his recommendation next friday or is this dangerous to me because I have been on valium for 4 weeks now?  I really dont understand the slow gradations of tapering seen on charts online.  Some days, I take 10 mg, some I take 22mg, some I take 30mg.  I've tried to keep within 5mg of the day before just in case this is dangerous somehow too, but I really dont understand whether I should be this concerned about reducing doses I dont feel are needed.

[my_mayberry]

well as someone already said.....can't give taper info here. however, generally these meds are consider safe for use for 4 to 6 weeks straight. beyond that, tapers become more important. that isn't to say they AREN'T important if you've been taking it less than 6 weeks, though. just follow your docs advice on the taper end of things. it shouldn't be hard at all considering you haven't been on this drug long and it's also got a very long half-life. can you just stop? ask your doctor. if they say yes, then go for it.

i'm all about a taper and then taper some more......but when you've used it for such a short time, there's no reason to get elaborate unless your dr thinks its important...but always ask your dr first!

[gnarly_1]

hi wish I could give you a taper plan but its agenst the guidelines of the forum your best bet with benzos is to listen to your doctor you may just have to come off gradually but maby just a month of weening since you werent on it that long ask your docvtor b/4 you do anything seizure are no fun
better to error on the side of safty....I came off xanex but was on it several yrs and it was a ruff detox mabe a short term run on valum wont be so difficult good luck and God bless......Gnarly  

[snakejones]

Hi there--I'm so glad you are feeling better! We really aren't allowed to tell you how to taper at our forum, but your doctor can. It's possible to have a seizure coming off Valium if you stop it suddenly, so that's why I recommend talking to your doctor and making him/her part of the solution. The amount and the time you've been taking it isn't awful; the weaning-off just needs to be done slowly for your comfort and safety. You don't want to suddenly get panic attacks again!  Write back and let us know how things are going!

[oregonshell]

Thanks for replying.  It gives me hope the idea that maybe i'll wind up being off daily doses in as little as a month.  I talked to my doctor on the phone today and agreed to stay at a minimum dose for the next week.

[oregonshell]

Hi, thanks for replying.  I am encouraged that the doses and time doesnt sound too awful to you.  I am taking a consistent minimum dose of 7.5 mg 3 x's a day according to phone call with my doc.  I definitely did feel a little bit more amped up today, but I also didnt experience any moments of wooziness and feeling like I was doped up.  Since it takes a few days to see how adjustments really hit you, I will have to see if this works as is, needs to be increased, or can be lowered further when I see doc next week.

It's strange because anxiety is less of the problem as is this weird physical hyper-vigilance my body has going on.  It's not like panic attacks (Lord knows I have had years of knowing how that goes), its like I'm on speed or too much caffeine.  The valium is to combat that, and it has definitely improved over the past 6 weeks, but it's still there like something went out of whack hormonally from the scare episode.  Maybe it takes more like a few months for hormones to calm back down in some instances.

[snakejones]

Hi, again---Welcome to Insomnia Land! I'm the mayor......
It sounds like you are well-informed on the subject of Valium and well-spoken, too. You and your doctor are going to be a good team!
Will you be getting repeat bloodwork done? It'd be a good idea so you can see if the stress hormone levels have leveled out or even dropping. Valium has a half-life of 20 to 100 hours (depending on different factors/variables), so it's best to wean slowly to keep a steady-state level of medicine in your system instead of being aggressive with the taper, crashing or being uncomfortable, and then having to build up your level again. How did you feel today? Still speedy? I wonder if going off caffeine for a little while might help you really see how the Valium is working. Caffeine is a drug, too, and it can add to your hypervigilant or anxious state. I think I'm going to go to bed at 3AM instead of 5! So good night for now. Please write and let me--and all of us---know how you are doing. Take care!

[oregonshell]

Thank you for the recommendations.  To answer your questions:

1- I dont ever drink or use caffeine (for like 3 years) because it makes me jittery which is how I feel naturally nowadays

2- I've kept at (agreed over the phone with psych doc) a daily minimum of 7.5mg x 3 a day, and I can see his point that he wishes I'd be on more because I have trouble getting myself to eat and I am in a state of high tension all day.  It also takes me longer to get to sleep and I wake up more at night.

On the plus side though, I can eat, sleep, and function without visible shaking or having a constant state of dread like I was 6 weeks ago.   I can drive my car and I dont keep falling down from being overmedicated anymore.  Also, the feeling of being drunk or high gives me major anxiety, so the tension is probably a little easier to handle.

3- I agree about having my hormone levels rechecked.  That was originallly through my general doctor, and I havent talked to him in about a month now.  I thought I'd see how much more the valium regimen and time continue to reduce the symptoms, and if I get to a point where the symptoms still are present, then I thought I'd reschedule with him and ask for every blood test known to man again.

[my_mayberry]

well as someone already said.....can't give taper info here. however, generally these meds are consider safe for use for 4 to 6 weeks straight. beyond that, tapers become more important. that isn't to say they AREN'T important if you've been taking it less than 6 weeks, though. just follow your docs advice on the taper end of things. it shouldn't be hard at all considering you haven't been on this drug long and it's also got a very long half-life. can you just stop? ask your doctor. if they say yes, then go for it.

i'm all about a taper and then taper some more......but when you've used it for such a short time, there's no reason to get elaborate unless your dr thinks its important...but always ask your dr first!

[oregonshell]

Yes, I talked to my doc and unfortunately I have some sort of physiological fight or flight response being constantly activated in my body around the clock.  It's not panic attacks which are short lived, it's constant except when I am laying completely still.  

Since I am taking the valium in the hopes of "resetting" my stress hormones, and they are still overactivated (though much much less so than originally) the doc doesnt want any sort of tapering going on.  After taking less than I had before during the past few days, I can see his point as the weird physiological symptoms of adrenal overactivity are manifesting more again.

I dont have any sense of real hunger, and it's getting harder to sleep.  I have mild anxiety moments, but mostly just constant vigilance and alertness except when i take the blasted valium.  Then, I am loopy and stoned feeling for about an hour unless I take the doses about 8 hours apart.

I also wake up shaking, but this has become much more mild than a month or two ago.

The worst thing lately has been the sinking feeling that this is going to push me into a depression just from adrenal exhaustion.  My life was going awesome right before this attack happened, and it's upsetting for me to think that I am not just bouncing back to a good place.

I'm feeling happiness less and less and a few other early warning signs of depression, but I swear I will be so angry if that happens.  I battled depression for 15 years, and finally got past it and had been completely able to cope without depression or meds for depression for the past ten years.

I just hope my body chemistry can find a way to reset itself fully, not just this weird half life I am living-- caught between feeling doped up part of the time by valium and high strung like I'm on speed the other part of the time.

[gnarly_1]

HI  you need to get a hold of your doctor its the size of the dose that has me consirened its not  like you where just taking 1 pill at a time here you where taking several make a quick call to the doctor he/she will stear you right
my gut feeling talls me your going to have to taper off because of the size of your dose will see......good luck and God bless.......Gnarly

[my_mayberry]

Well if you need it...dont worry about tapering yet. The stoned feeling will eventually go away. Problem is, when you no longer feel that way when you take it, it usually means you will def need a taper to get off. Dont worry about that, though. You need it and arent abusing it...so take your docs advice and keep taking it. What about an ssri to help?