What helps with Valium withdrawal (no Xanax !)

[Valium10rx]

I have been off Valium 100 days or so after 14 years of 20-30mg a day, is there any natural otc products to help with the pain , sweating, shaking, anxiety, aggraphobia, and general flu like symptoms, I belive what a doctor said that I could face a year up to two of lingering effects, electrical shock feeling hyper sensitive nerves and sences in a bad way etc.? after all these days its not getting better yet, I am only taking Centrum multi vitamin and a few beers at night and odd smoke of weed (very odd these days) to easy the pain, no real help !.
The doc I called wanted to put me back on them and said I should taper, but with **** insurance this will cost me $150.00 per month and then the scrip cost 40c a pill !, having gone this long I feel I should stick with it but, Iam afraid of the seizure thing I have felt close at work a few times.
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated, and any haters or chicken s***s hiding behind their computers can shut the hell up, I'm not in the best of moods. :(

Thanks

[Zeuss]

You were dropping about  milligrams a week, which any Dr. who has any knowledge of Benzos will tell you that is way too fast. And I have had a couple of Drs. try and tell me the same thing. I flat out told them no way and also told them if there going to dispense this medication for people who truly need it then they better equip themselves with much more knowledge in the Benzodiazepene class of medications.  I told one Dr. for her to try and take them for just 6 months and then go off of them like she suggested I should and she would definitely change her mind and she could Take that to the Bank. Everyone on the forum knows benzos must be withdrawn slowly, But again it can be very painless if you do a long taper. If I did your taper with my ten to 15 milligrams in 5 weeks, I would be in a straight jacket. It would be so beneficial to you to go back up to a dose that you feel stabilized at and then start your taper. There is absolutely no sense in a person such as yourself or anybody that has to feel that miserable because of a Drs. saying so, when it could be avoided with a slow taper, You wouldnt even notice a milligram or two a month. Go to Benzo.org and print off some of Dr. Heather Ashtons pages, and this lady is a Guru when it comes to tapering off of all benzos and show it to your husband or Dr. and if they disagree tell them to Kiss your behind and find a Dr. who is willing to help the right way, and there are sympathetic Drs. out there who will help you. Anything I can do to help in my own way I will. And these are just my opinions but believe me there are thousands and thousands out there who will agree.
                              Zeuss

[SuzieeQ]

Boy, I wish I could get my doctor and husband on board with that.  I don't know why they want to rush me so bad. A one milligram reduction seems much more appropriate than what I am doing. Lets see if I was taking sometimes 40 mg aday 5 weeks ago and am now taking 10mg, thats quite a taper. Know wonder I feel like I am going to crawl out of my skin and can't concentrate, can't sleep and can't eat. I can't even figure out how many mgs a week that would be.

Can anyone do the math? :)

[Zeuss]

I have been on Benzodiazepenes for 9 years for chronic anxiety and panic disorder. For 15 years before that I kept having anxiety and panic attacks constantly, even at night when I was sleeping I would wake up and think I was having a heart attack. Every Hospital and Dr. I went to did every test imaginable and said your heart is great. It took a Psychiatrist and a Physician to realize what was going on. In 1999 they put me on Xanax .5 milligrams, three times a day for a total of 1.5 milligrams. I never had to increase the dose in 6 years. I never got high off them and they made my life so much better. But one time my Dr. was out of town and he usually wrote my prescriptions with 5 refills, well I went two days without them and those electric jolts and everything were not pleasant.  I did extensive research and wanted to go to a longer half life benzo with active metabolites. They all agreed Valium was the way to go especially if I wanted to taper off of them. I take between 10 and 15 milligrams a day. Never had to increase the dose. i have actually missed a day at a time and because of the long half life, I had no problem.  It is very easy to taper off of Valium, Dont rush it. A 1 milligram reduction every month, or three weeks if you like and you will come out of this with very minimal WDs. You have been on them for years, so what is a year to come off of them. Again, I milligram reduction a month and your brain will adjust to it. I think you did a quick taper and that is why you are feeling why you do. Just my opinion.Long term research on Benzo tapering has been very succesful, especially with Valium as it comes in 1 milligram tablets. And as your Dr.said, A one year taper. Now that is a Dr. who knows about Benzos. Follow his instructions. It wont be near what your mind is thinking its going to be. You will be just fine, stick to his taper plan.        Zeuss

[SuzieeQ]

I have tried some of the SSRI's and they made it worse. I did find one Remeron that worked pretty well but I'm not sure if my doctor will write a script for it or not. I guess all I can do is ask.

[wannawean]

Just wanted to throw the idea of taking an SSRI's like prozac, paxil, wellbutrin. These help anxiety. Serotonin reuptake inhibitor's are for depression but do help w/anxiey. I had luck w/ zoloft and have heard good things about wellbutrin? Takes awhile to wk not immediate like xanax/valium...I've also tried buspar (for anxiety) in the past. It didn't help me. When possible esp. when dealing w/lg doses tapering is prob the best way to go!!
Best of luck

[SuzieeQ]

So how are you doing now with the tapering off?  I am still having anxiety with taking just the 10mg.  I hold out as long as I can before I take my first .5. My back is killing me and that isn't helping things at all but the doctor will not give me any narcotics even though I was not abusing them.

I'm thinking of getting some weed and see if that helps with my pain and with the anxiety.  Any thoughts on this?

[Valium10rx]

Re the last message from Suziee, I have found since I went to the doc following Tup's advice that 15mg a day is the perfect #, he said start with 10 and see, I tried and , I took another 10mg  after lunch, I regretted it, probably because id been clean 3 months, it hit me hard and I had a bad headache, also passed out when I got home, forgot who I talked to that eve, had to check my cell next day, had a few beers tho 3,
today 1 in morning as he advised, and a half at lunch as I told him I had done prior to quitting if i needed, which i did, my boss is an ahole with issues himself  he likes to stress people out, these help me deal with my fast paced job in general,  so my doc said we will cut the amount by a 1/4 a day to a 1/2 a day over 12 months, eventuallyt down to a 1/4 a day for the last month or 2, I sbelieve that the w/ds will be less than I expeienced cold turkey but still feel I will be nervous and lacking in confidence when I am totally off, I believe some of us need these but need to keep them in check, even if that means quitting for durations here and there. rather than ramping up.
Thanks to everyone who answered me, I feel pathetic starting again but I feel human again, not high, human.
I will taper down slowly, my doc seems not to be a quack but concerned and also wants me to taper off smokes too, and my 3 lite beers a nite, they want to take away all my comforts!!!!.

Oh well, it is great to have support on here, thanks again Stu.

[SuzieeQ]

Okay, I've had a rough couple of days, terrible anxiety, can't sleep, no appetite.  I held off taking my .5 mg untill this afternoon, it was hard but I stayed busy on the computer. When I did take it I think it ramped up my anxiety. Its like my brain receptors said hey thats not enough, give me more. I actually think it made it worse.

Now I'm thinking maybe I should just bite the bullet and not take anymore. That scares the heck of me though. I'm so tired of this drug controlling my life.  Jeez last week I seemed to be doing pretty good but I think thats when I was still at 15 mg.

I would really like to go back to 15 for a while but my husband say's that's just taking a step backwards.  I hate this feeling.

[SuzieeQ]

Oh my gosh, that's not what I wanted to read. I had been taking them for several years. Up until last summer I was just taking 10mg a day but I ramped it up and the last year had been taking 10-40 mg a day.

You said your doctor said it could take a year or more to start feelig normal.. Shoot now that gives me even more anxiety. I was hoping I would be feeling better by now.

Its been a month since I started weaning myself off and even at the 10 mgs. i still feel horrible anxiety. My husband and doctor want me off of it soon and are pushing me to cut down some more. I feel like I need to go back to 15. I went from 20 to 10 rather quickly.

Addict 3, what kind of tapering off plan are you doing?

[tuptup]

No, I agree, if you got this far off of them, I believe what you are experiencing is your nervous system repairing itself.  And that takes a long time to repair from benzos.  Sorry I misread your statement that you had already quit for 3 months!  I believe you will be fine, I just know it take forever to get back to normal, but just keep going.  You are definatly on the right track.  Sorry for the misinterpretation...!

[addict3]

3 months off? and you are considering going back on them? I don't think a siezure is in the works that far out. I take them also but am down to 1-2 per day from 4-5 per day 4or 5 months ago. I dont want you to jump thru the screen and grab me by the throat, but if I were you I would not go back on them and then have to w/d again.
Good luck ......I wish I was 3 mo. out from them.

[Valium10rx]

Thank you very much Tup, I will visit the site in a minute, wow seizure, its been about three months now do you think it would have happened by now?, I guess I will go and see the doc, I hate the idea of having to withdraw again down the road but the idea of more valiums makes me feel happier, but I really want off them, they have always been my drug of choice.

[tuptup]

If there is anyway possible that you could obtain another prescription of valium and stick to a slow taper plan would be (IMO), a good idea.  Otherwise, you could have a serious seizure which may be life threatening.  I say this because you have been on valium for a very long time, and like your doc said, it may take a year to feel normal again.  I realize that it costs money for them, but weighing the potential seizure, it maybe a good idea to get one last prescription and then slowly taper down by breaking them in half etc.  I hope this helps..!  This is a great website for tapering and what to expect:  http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/