how long does valium withdrawal last?

[swivelhed]

I've been using valium for at least ten years on a daily basis. Two months ago I reduced dosage from 10mg a day to 5, and three of weeks ago went down to 2.5mg. Two weeks ago, stopped taking it altogether.

Now, I've got a strange metallic taste in my mouth, fast heartbeat and the world seems to be kind of swimmy, if that makes any sense. A couple of nights ago I was having full on visual and auditory hallucinations.

It is my intention to walk away from this drug, but I'm not sure if I'm going about it the right way. I have no insurance and no Doctor. I understand this may take a while and am willing to suffer through, but am curious if anyone out there might know the real taper off formula? I am 50 years old and in good shape, 5'8, 160 lbs.

Thanks in advance
Swiv

[Robski4013]

Sorry, I didn’t really answer all your questions.  I had been taking between 2.5-5mg of Tamazepam for about a month before the withdrawal symptoms started.

I began taking Diazepam on 15th Feb. When my doctor gave me the Diaz she didn’t mention anything about continuing to take the Tamaz as well, but for the first couple of days I took 2.5mg along with the 2mg of Diaz. But as that wasn’t working, over the course of a few nights I increased to 10mg of Diaz on 18th Feb. I knew that was more than I needed, or was used to, but my plan was to take that larger dose as a one-off and then each night reduce by 1-2mg until I got the dose that I needed, which I thought was 2.5mg. That seemed okay for about 4 nights, but then the withdrawals presented again. Obviously that was the wrong thing to do, but now I’m really confused as to what I should do.

Last night I ended up taking 7mg. I did get some sleep, but it was only a few hours, but as I took the 7mg over the course of about 4 hours I probably didn’t get the full effect of it. I know that while this is going on I’m not going to get great sleep, but as long as I can get to sleep reasonably easily, and get about 5 hours sleep, I’m okay with that. I’m also getting a lot of hot flushes and I’m now wondering if this is a result of the withdrawal, as opposed to menopause, because I noticed last night that after I took the 7mg the hot flashes seemed to settle down a lot.

So now I’m not sure what to do tonight. Do I just start doing the withdrawal from the 7mg or could I try coming down to 5 or 6mg over the next couple of nights?

I will do what you have suggested and do a taper every two weeks.  Thanks for the tip about multiplying by 0.9. That will help me work out what my next dose should be. Obviously I need to take this really slowly, and perhaps more slowly than my doctor thinks I need to, because she said I could reduce every 5 days. I’m going to try to get an appointment with her this afternoon, but it’s not always easy getting a same day appointment if you don’t phone early enough.

Thanks for your advice and help. I just want to get off this horrendous stuff. I wish I had never taken it in the first place.

[Robski4013]

Thanks for your replies. It is currently about 10.30 pm and I'm not able to sleep again. I took 2.5mg a couple of hours ago, and I've just taken another 2.5mg. So I don't know if that is going to work. I'm going to see if I can get an appointment with my doctor tomorrow afternoon, because obviously my rate of reduction just wasn't working. I do understand that I was probably trying to do it too quickly. My problem is also that I get hot flashes, and that doesn't help with the insomnia either.

[carol999p]

I have just reread your first post.  You state that you reduced by 1mg every night!!  Yes you did taper too quickly.  I still would not suggest you go back to 10mg but to the lowest effective dose and hold at that for 2weeks before tapering.  Remember to hold at least two weeks between dose reductions.

[carol999p]

10mg Tamazapan is the equivalent of 5mg Valium as you correctly stated.  I am unclear of exactly how long you were on the Tamazapan for and when you crossed over did you cross directly over to the Valium and drop the Tamazapan.  Valium takes 300 hours to build up in your body.  This means you would have to have been on a particular dose for about two weeks for it to reach its full strength.  Once you reached the 10mg did you wait to stabilise at that dosage before you started to taper?  The rate at which you tapered would also influence your s/e.

If you wish to taper from 2.5mg at the recommended rate of 10% your first cut would take you to 2.25mg and then 2.03mg.  Just multiply your last dose by 0.9 each time.

Remember your taper must suit you and often making smaller cuts (5%) at longer intervals helps to ensure a smoother taper and reduce the consequential s/e.  I would not go back to 10mg and start again.  If your insomnia is really bad - that you have had zero sleep for the last 4nights then maybe you could go back to your previous dosage or to about 3mg - hold at that for about two weeks and then start tapering slowly again.

I hate to tell you this but insomnia is one of the most common s/e of tapering any Benzo or Z-drug so regardless of how slow you taper there is no guarantee that you will avoid it completely during your taper and for a while thereafter.  

Liquid Valium (if its available in your country) makes smaller and more accurate cuts possible.

[Robski4013]

Sorry, I got a bit confused with the doses there. My doctor wanted me to start with 2mg of Diazepam (not 5mg as I said above), but that didn’t work. So I went up to the 10mg. I’ve now come back down to the 2.5mg, and it’s from that dose that I want to withdraw without suffering the consequences of insomnia.

[Robski4013]

Hi There

My problem started with being prescribed 10mg Tamazepam for menopausal insomnia just over 12 months. I took it regularly for about a month and was then prescribed HRT which fixed the problem. However a few months ago the HRT stopped working and I had to start taking the Tamazepam again. I started going to a naturopath and was able to reduce the dosage I was taking down to about 2.5mg.  

However, suddenly I began to suffer the side effects of it not working and needing to take more. My doctor switched me over to Diazepam, but I found the equivalent dose of 5mg wasn’t enough. I kept increasing it each night until I could get to a dose that worked (10mg Diazepam) and then each night I reduced it by 1mg until I got down to the 2.5mg again.

Everything seemed to be going okay. I wasn’t sleeping great, but I was getting about 5 hours each night. My doctor's plan was for me to stay on the 2.5mg for about 5 days and then reduce to 2mg for another 5 days, then 1.75mg, then 1.5 etc, until I got off the hideous stuffed.

However, it's 4 days into the 2.5mg dose and suddenly my insomnia returned really badly and I can’t sleep again. I don’t want to increase my dosage because I feel that would be a backward step. I’m wondering if going up to the 10mg and reducing 1mg per day was too quick. What does everyone suggest?