Benzodiazepine withdrawal schedules

[rocksmokinmachine]

Alot of people on the forum have asked how to successully withdraw from benzodiazepines. Here is a simple withdrawal schedule from 40mg of diazepam (each drop will be 1 week). One can adjust the schedule to meet thier own personal needs. I will be working on some more and posting withdrawal schedules for high dose alprazolam, lorazepam, nitrazepam, clonazepam aswell. Here is a thread on benzodiazepine equivelant doses, from The Ashton Manual. http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/sho...iazepine+chart. It is always best to convert to a diazepam substitution as it is much longer lasting than other benzos. e.g 20mg of temazepam is roughly equal to 10mg of diazepam.

Slow withdrawal from 40mg diazepam

morning dose	afternoon dose	total dose
20mg	20mg	40mg
18mg	20mg	38mg
18mg	18mg	36mg
16mg	18mg	34mg
16mg	16mg	32mg
14mg	16mg	30mg
14mg	14mg	28mg
12mg	14mg	26mg
12mg	12mg	24mg
10mg	12mg	22mg
10mg	10mg	20mg
8mg	10mg	18mg
8mg	8mg	16mg
6mg	8mg	14mg
5mg	8mg	13mg
4mg	8mg	12mg
3mg	8mg	11mg
2mg	8mg	10mg
1mg	8mg	9mg
-	8mg	8mg
-	7mg	7mg
-	6mg	6mg
-	5mg	5mg
-	4mg	4mg
-	3mg	3mg
-	2mg	2mg
-	1mg	1mg
-	-	-

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Fantastic & important work, & much appreciated!
	Usefull Info
	Really nice job! Thanks for this!
	Great work, I'm sure this is invaluable info to users planning to withdraw from benzos.
	helpful and informative
	Very helpful info to have around.
	Very useful information, though adding a preffered timescale column would be a good idea to avoid confusion
	good job. hopefully this thread reaches the people who really need it

[Jatelka]

Nice Job rocksmokin! Extremely useful to have it here (rather on the website that we can't link too because of the forums!)

Personally I'd add a 0.5mg stage (achievable with diazepam liquid) and possibley even a 0.25mg stage

Reputation Comments on this post:

sticky?

[rocksmokinmachine]

Withdrawal from temazepam (30mg nightly)

Intermediate acting benzodiazepines such as temazepam may well be used by physicians as a cure for insomnia associated with anxiety. The diazepam substitution may be a little difficult to cope with at first but after time one will get used to it.

night time	diazepam equivalence
30mg temazepam	15mg
temazepam 15mg, diazepam 7.5mg	15mg
temazepam 7.5mg, diazepam 12mg	15.75mg
stop temazepam, diazepam 15mg	15mg
diazepam 14mg	14mg
diazepam 13mg	13mg
diazepam 12mg	12mg
diazepam 11mg	11mg
diazepam 10mg	10mg
diazepam 9mg	9mg
diazepam 8mg	8mg
diazepam 7mg	7mg
diazepam 6mg	6mg
diazepam 5mg	5mg
diazepam 4mg	4mg
diazepam 3mg	3mg
diazepam 2mg	2mg
diazepam 1mg	1mg
stop diazepam	-

[rocksmokinmachine]

Withdrawal from Nitrazepam (10mg) nightly

Intermediate acting benzodiazepines such as nitrazepam may well be used by physicians as a cure for insomnia associated with anxiety. The diazepam substitution may be a little difficult to cope with at first but after time one will get used to it.

-	Night time dose
Starting dose	10mg nitrazepam
Stage 1 (1 week)	5mg nitrazepam, 5mg diazepam
Stage 2 (1 week)	Stop nitrazepam, 10mg diazepam
Stage 3 (1-2 weeks)	9mg diazepam
Stage 4 (1-2 weeks)	8mg diazepam
Stage 5 (1-2 weeks)	7mg diazepam
Stage 6 (1-2 weeks)	6mg diazepam
Stage 7 (1-2 weeks)	5mg diazepam
Stage 8 (1-2 weeks)	4mg diazepam
Stage 9 (1-2 weeks)	3mg diazepam
Stage 10 (1-2 weeks)	2mg diazepam
Stage 11 (1-2 weeks)	1mg diazepam
Stage 12	Stop diazepam

Reputation Comments on this post:

nice, thx

[rocksmokinmachine]

Wandering if anyone is using/planning on using these schedules or had any success with them in the past?

[clint]

Originally Posted by rocksmokinmachine

Wandering if anyone is using/planning on using these schedules or had any success with them in the past?

Have used something similar. I have been a complete sucker for BZDs for a lot of years and have performed many withdrawals from many different ones. But out of the 38 benzos there are only now about nine or so that are still allowed to be prescribed in England; I can not speak for Scotland or Northern Ireland where he systems and the forms even are different from england and Wales.
WHY a diazepam substitution from zopiclone though? It is not even a benzo, though it acts on the same receptors. I'm no chemist or pharmacologist but it doesn't sound right to me. A straight reduction of a Z drugis probably better than complicating things by introducing benzos. The WD from hypnotics by diazepam substitution is also a bit of a 'bone of contention' with me. There should not be any problem getting used to diazepam if you are withdrawing off flunitrazepam or temazepam but not perhaps the others.
Over the years i have seen nearly all my favorite benzos go. I nearly cry when I think of bromzepam (Lexilium, Lexaurin, Lexotan, they all appear tostart with LEX) which is the best benzo of all for somone who suffers panic attack. It is so fast acting and it acts for about 4 hours giving you the most beautiful calmness of any drug available (in some places now anyway). Prazepam and nordazepam are away though they are still available in the Republic of Ireland. The brand in Ireland of prazepam is CENTRAX, a strange name, for almost anywhere else the drug is branded LYSANXIA and is good at 40mg dose tablets. The only flunitrazepam available in Ireland is the most expensive - Roche's ROHYPNOL. And the only alternative is to get another EU doctor to prescribe ROHYDORM and HYPNODORM because the only strength Roche make are their '542' green 'bullets' of 1mg, and the others are mostly prescribed in a more sensible dose of 2mg.
My point though is that all of theae schedules appear to be based heavily on the ashton Manual, the best guide for benzo addiction. I don't suppose I will ever get over benzos even after the somewhat failed rehab and detox offered by my Dutch insurance at a place in Scotland which is supposed to be the very best rehab in europe. They do not have time in their regular 6week program to address BZD addiction properly or even to complete a proper reduction. That takes at least 20 weeks and i agree with the poster who says that diazepam should be continued right down to 250mcg/day.
I wantyed to say that Lorazepam is the very worstof all BZDs to quit, followed by alprazolam and oxazepam. Don't know why, experience tells me. Wyeth make two strengths of their ATIVAN; 1mg and 2.5mg. In the elderly even a short course of the 1mg which do nothing for me can make life hell when they stop. Anyone know why? My normal dose of lorazepam is two tablets, that is 5mg. Very effective but never to be used like on a regular three/four times a day basis.
Anyway the answer s yes and the whole crux of the thing is the long wd schedule which is necessary since seizures and death are not unknown during BZD WD.
I apaologise for my english which I know is bad but I try.
clint (after Eastwood according to my mother)

[H4U2C]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

Nice Job rocksmokin! Extremely useful to have it here (rather on the website that we can't link too because of the forums!)

Personally I'd add a 0.5mg stage (achievable with diazepam liquid) and possibley even a 0.25mg stage

Try reading the "ASHTON MANUAL" google "Dr heather Ashton, You will find very helpful withdrawal schedules by reading this book online

H4U2C added 11 Minutes and 10 Seconds later...

Originally Posted by roseenglish

No Offence but Horse Sh** to the “schedule"
It’s just NOT that black and white.
The half life of benzos is around 7 - 10 days...more depending on each person’s body chemistry.
Example:
I take a cut and it doesn’t “hit “me for 3 weeks. Then I’m in agony for around 1 week and I need a rest after that.

You need to seriously look into vitamins and nutrients that will support the nervous system and adrenal glands these are the only thing that helped me

I CT off one benzo in total ignorance ( Zolpidem not classed as a benzo but it acts on the same brain receptors so trust me it is! just another drug company trying to convince the doctors that this drugs is safer than benzos..And they always believe it)

And I was in HELL for 18 months I real mess...and again in ignorance I continued to cut from my diazepam. as I was going thru all of that too.

Life was awful...and still is I am unemployable and still addicted to 12.5mg of valium.
I stopped cutting when I developed systemic Candida (no doubt brought on by all the strain on the adrenal glands from long term tolerance and addiction to both diazepam and methadone)

I haven’t taken a street drug in 15 years...sad that the prescription drugs got me in the end.

I’m sorry if I seem angry but I had research this for 8 years and its never as straight forward as " following a calendar schedule" and not only that people are motivated by the light at the end of the tunnel...are cutting religiously according to the "bible" and before they know it all the cuts snow ball into one and knock them on their ass...but they "think" " well if I keep going I will be off them and all this pain will go away.."
But no...because they cut too fast and caused damage to their CNS and developed protracted withdraw symptoms that can last years...10 years I heard by one person.

LISTEN to your body...it’s the best schedule you can follow.

roseenglish added 13 Minutes and 6 Seconds later...

Oh and anyone who reads the Ashton Manual will see she fast tapered a bunch of people in a hospital one committed suicide and others were in hell...I would rather take advice from someone that’s actually " done " it not some nurse who did some experiments in 1980 or when ever it was

The UK are only JUST accepting the addiction issues of benzos.. if you need advice ring the Councillors for Involuntary Tranquiliser Addiction..they speak to thousands of people who are in this mess...
They believe in nutrition support (noni juice was one but I’m not sure that’s not just a business tactic now.. if anyone has used noni juice and found it beneficial I would be interested to hear first hand )
But it all amounts to the same thing...these drugs strip your body of all the nuts and bolts that make it a pain free relaxed body...you need to get your body fighting fight..
Calcium and Magnesium 3 times a day
Vit C 2 - 3 mgs
Essential Fatty Acids
Zinc
A GOOD Multi Vit and additional multi Mineral

Brands to look for are Bio Care off the net
Find a nutritionist who has experience of supporting addictions and with vitamins and nutrients and for Gods sake never assume any schedule is the holy grail of " how to get off benzos by X date "

We are all different.
The only time I took a benzo cut and didn’t notice it was when I was pumped with £100 of vitamins I was taking to treat the Candida.
It wasn’t a deliberate thing. I took a cut and I just didn’t notice it and I am very sensitive i.e.: if I took 5mg more than my normal dose one day I would have a WD period 3 weeks later.

Hope this helps some?

WRONG! The only benzos that have half lives as long as 7-10days are DIAZEPAM, CLORAZEPATE, FLUNITRAZEPAM and maybe 1 more which i cant think of right now, the rest have either SHORT or MEDIUM half lives which dont stay in your body 7-10days

H4U2C added 5 Minutes and 28 Seconds later...

And the "Z" drugs have even shorter half lives- Zopiclone 6hours, zolpidem 2-3hours and zaleplon 1hour respectively

[Micklemouse]

Great work on tabulating these!

A Certain Mouse can certainly testify to the effectiveness of the Diazepam taper, having seen it used in clinical settings many times - it has often had a morning, afternoon & night dose though, rather than just morning & afternoon.

It is worth noting that although these regimes are essential for avoiding the more dangerous withdrawal symptoms, there may still be some "rebound" effects for some time after stopping - these can include anxiety, insomnia, craving for the crutch, amongst others. These symptoms are by no means guaranteed, but are a possibility. And they do pass.

[rocksmokinmachine]

Why thankyou!

Flumazenil (a benzodiazepine antangonist) has been known to alleiviate rebound effects. This is of interest as benzodiazepine receptor antagonists are neutral and have no clinical effects. The author of the study suggested that the most likely explanation is that past benzodiazepine use and subsequent tolerance had locked the conformation of the GABA-BZD receptor complex into an inverse agonist conformation, and that the antagonist flumazenil resets benzodiazepine receptors to their original sensitivity.

EDIT: More withdrawal schedules will be added and tabulated, including high dose alprazolam. If anyone else needs a withdrawal schedule for a specific benzodiazepine, ask and it shall be done.

[Psych0naut]

The withdrawl schedule for chloordiazepoxide would be nice. I know it's hardly used anymore, but my doc has put me on old skool Librium(chloordiazepoxide) to taper down my benzodiazepine usage for insomnia and quit all together.

[rocksmokinmachine]

Originally Posted by Psych0naut

The withdrawl schedule for chloordiazepoxide would be nice. I know it's hardly used anymore, but my doc has put me on old skool Librium(chloordiazepoxide) to taper down my benzodiazepine usage for insomnia and quit all together.

Thanks Psych0naut, it is often used in the UK instead of diazepam for alcohol withdrawal. I will work on posting one up now.

[Micklemouse]

Originally Posted by rocksmokinmachine

Thanks Psych0naut, it is often used in the UK instead of diazepam for alcohol withdrawal.

To the best of my knowledge Chlordiazepoxide (Librium) is the first line treatment for alcohol detox in Britain - A Certain Mouse has not come across a SSA (Sliding Scale Assessment) detox for alcohol done with diazepam, although he has seen it used as a short term measure. This may vary from area to area though.

[Micklemouse]

Lorazepam (Ativan) please! Lorazepam is one of the most common benzo's used in British psychiatry (at least in the Trust where A Certain Mouse has experience), so a schedule for that would be most useful!

[rocksmokinmachine]

This was actually going to be the next one. A certain monkey can testify to how hard it is to withdraw from lorazepam. Will be up by tommorow. Thanks.

[rocksmokinmachine]

Slow withdrawal wchedule from 6mg lorazepam (Ativan) with diazepam (Valium) substitution.

Every drop is 1-2 weeks (2 weeks recommended). This is probably one of the hardest benzodiazepines to withdraw from, along with alprazolam. This schedule will be useful to alot of people. Lorazepam has a very short half life, and gradual substitution with diazepam is recommended.

morning	midday/afternoon	evening/night
lorazepam 2mg	lorazepam 2mg	lorazepam 2mg
lorazepam 2mg	lorazepam 2mg	lorazepam 1mg, diazepam 10mg
lorazepam 1.5mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 2mg	lorazepam 1mg, diazepam 10mg
lorazepam 1.5mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 2mg	lorazepam 0.5mg, diazepam 15mg
lorazepam 1.5mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 1.5mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 0.5mg, diazepam 15mg
lorazepam 1.5mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 1.5mg, diazepam 5mg	stop lorazepam, diazepam 20mg
lorazepam 1mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 1.5mg, diazepam 5mg	diazepam 20mg
lorazepam 1mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 1mg, diazepam 5mg	diazepam 20mg
lorazepam 0.5mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 1mg, diazepam 5mg	diazepam 20mg
lorazepam 0.5mg, diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 0.5mg, diazepam 5mg	diazepam 20mg
stop lorazepam diazepam 5mg	lorazepam 0.5mg, diazepam 5mg	diazepam 20mg
diazepam 5mg	stop lorazepam, diazepam 5mg	diazepam 20mg
diazepam 5mg	diazepam 5mg	diazepam 20mg
diazepam 5mg	diazepam 5mg	diazepam 18mg
diazepam 5mg	diazepam 5mg	diazepam 16mg
diazepam 5mg	diazepam 5mg	diazepam 14mg
diazepam 5mg	diazepam 5mg	diazepam 12mg
diazepam 5mg	diazepam 4mg	diazepam 10mg
diazepam 4mg	diazepam 4mg	diazepam 10mg
diazepam 4mg	diazepam 3mg	diazepam 10mg
diazepam 3mg	diazepam 3mg	diazepam 10mg
diazepam 3mg	diazepam 2mg	diazepam 10mg
diazepam 2mg	diazepam 2mg	diazepam 10mg
diazepam 2mg	diazepam 1mg	diazepam 10mg
diazepam 1mg	stop diazepam	diazepam 10mg
stop diazepam	-	diazepam 10mg
-	-	diazepam 9mg
-	-	diazepam 8mg
-	-	diazepam 7mg
-	-	diazepam 6mg
-	-	diazepam 5mg
-	-	diazepam 4mg
-	-	diazepam 3mg
-	-	diazepam 2mg
-	-	diazepam 1mg

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Thank you so much for all your hard work!
	More good work! Much appreciated!

[rocksmokinmachine]

Withdrawal from zopiclone 15mg (Zimovane/Imovane), once nightly with diazepam substitution

Allthough not a true benzodiazepine, zopiclone is a short acting hypnotic acting on the GABA-BZD receptors (the same as benzodiazepines). Withdrawal is similar over prolonged periods, and so substitution with a long acting benzodiazepine such as diazepam is beneficial.

	night time	diazepam equivelent
starting dose	zopiclone 15mg	10mg
stage 1	zopiclone 7.5mg, diazepam 5mg	10mg
stage 2	stop zopiclone, diazepam 10mg	10mg
stage 3	diazepam 9mg	9mg
stage 4	diazepam 8mg	8mg
stage 5	diazepam 7mg	7mg
stage 6	diazepam 6mg	6mg
stage 7	diazepam 5mg	5mg
stage 8	diazepam 4mg	4mg
stage 9	diazepam 3mg	3mg
stage 10	diazepam 2mg	2mg
stage 11	diazepam 1mg	1mg
stage 12	stop diazepam	-

[clint]

Originally Posted by rocksmokinmachine

Slow withdrawal wchedule from 6mg lorazepam (Ativan) with diazepam (Valium) substitution.

Every drop is 1-2 weeks (2 weeks recommended). This is probably one of the hardest benzodiazepines to withdraw from, along with alprazolam. This schedule will be useful to alot of people. Lorazepam has a very short half life, and gradual substitution with diazepam is recommended.

Yes, this is all very well, but 2mg is not a standard dosage tablet of lorzepam except in Asia and the USA. In the rest of the world, the tablets available are (both the branded Wyeth ATIVAN and all generics) 1mg and 2.5mg, NOT 2mg. Therefore you will find that most people will be using 2.5mg three or four times daily; a total of four tablets and a dosage of 10mg. I think that a taper schedule for the majority is required, not just for those in the three or four countries where lorazepam is available in 2mg tablets, an unusual strength not often encountered. Also, and I AM a health professional, in my experience, 6mg lorazepam daly is quite a low dosage for regular users. 10mg is the norm, and this schedule should really reflect that reality.

[Jatelka]

rocksmokin. Please post the above in Downers

[roseenglish]

No Offence but Horse Sh** to the “schedule"
It’s just NOT that black and white.
The half life of benzos is around 7 - 10 days...more depending on each person’s body chemistry.
Example:
I take a cut and it doesn’t “hit “me for 3 weeks. Then I’m in agony for around 1 week and I need a rest after that.

You need to seriously look into vitamins and nutrients that will support the nervous system and adrenal glands these are the only thing that helped me

I CT off one benzo in total ignorance ( Zolpidem not classed as a benzo but it acts on the same brain receptors so trust me it is! just another drug company trying to convince the doctors that this drugs is safer than benzos..And they always believe it)

And I was in HELL for 18 months I real mess...and again in ignorance I continued to cut from my diazepam. as I was going thru all of that too.

Life was awful...and still is I am unemployable and still addicted to 12.5mg of valium.
I stopped cutting when I developed systemic Candida (no doubt brought on by all the strain on the adrenal glands from long term tolerance and addiction to both diazepam and methadone)

I haven’t taken a street drug in 15 years...sad that the prescription drugs got me in the end.

I’m sorry if I seem angry but I had research this for 8 years and its never as straight forward as " following a calendar schedule" and not only that people are motivated by the light at the end of the tunnel...are cutting religiously according to the "bible" and before they know it all the cuts snow ball into one and knock them on their ass...but they "think" " well if I keep going I will be off them and all this pain will go away.."
But no...because they cut too fast and caused damage to their CNS and developed protracted withdraw symptoms that can last years...10 years I heard by one person.

LISTEN to your body...it’s the best schedule you can follow.

roseenglish added 13 Minutes and 6 Seconds later...

Oh and anyone who reads the Ashton Manual will see she fast tapered a bunch of people in a hospital one committed suicide and others were in hell...I would rather take advice from someone that’s actually " done " it not some nurse who did some experiments in 1980 or when ever it was

The UK are only JUST accepting the addiction issues of benzos.. if you need advice ring the Councillors for Involuntary Tranquiliser Addiction..they speak to thousands of people who are in this mess...
They believe in nutrition support (noni juice was one but I’m not sure that’s not just a business tactic now.. if anyone has used noni juice and found it beneficial I would be interested to hear first hand )
But it all amounts to the same thing...these drugs strip your body of all the nuts and bolts that make it a pain free relaxed body...you need to get your body fighting fight..
Calcium and Magnesium 3 times a day
Vit C 2 - 3 mgs
Essential Fatty Acids
Zinc
A GOOD Multi Vit and additional multi Mineral

Brands to look for are Bio Care off the net
Find a nutritionist who has experience of supporting addictions and with vitamins and nutrients and for Gods sake never assume any schedule is the holy grail of " how to get off benzos by X date "

We are all different.
The only time I took a benzo cut and didn’t notice it was when I was pumped with £100 of vitamins I was taking to treat the Candida.
It wasn’t a deliberate thing. I took a cut and I just didn’t notice it and I am very sensitive i.e.: if I took 5mg more than my normal dose one day I would have a WD period 3 weeks later.

Hope this helps some?

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Calling hard work horse shit, is flaming
	Schedules are important for successful discontinuation of benzos; check your facts

[rocksmokinmachine]

Originally Posted by roseenglish

No Offence but Horse Sh** to the “schedule"
It’s just NOT that black and white.
The half life of benzos is around 7 - 10 days...more depending on each person’s body chemistry.
Example:
I take a cut and it doesn’t “hit “me for 3 weeks. Then I’m in agony for around 1 week and I need a rest after that.

You need to seriously look into vitamins and nutrients that will support the nervous system and adrenal glands these are the only thing that helped me

I CT off one benzo in total ignorance ( Zolpidem not classed as a benzo but it acts on the same brain receptors so trust me it is! just another drug company trying to convince the doctors that this drugs is safer than benzos..And they always believe it)

And I was in HELL for 18 months I real mess...and again in ignorance I continued to cut from my diazepam. as I was going thru all of that too.

Life was awful...and still is I am unemployable and still addicted to 12.5mg of valium.
I stopped cutting when I developed systemic Candida (no doubt brought on by all the strain on the adrenal glands from long term tolerance and addiction to both diazepam and methadone)

I haven’t taken a street drug in 15 years...sad that the prescription drugs got me in the end.

I’m sorry if I seem angry but I had research this for 8 years and its never as straight forward as " following a calendar schedule" and not only that people are motivated by the light at the end of the tunnel...are cutting religiously according to the "bible" and before they know it all the cuts snow ball into one and knock them on their ass...but they "think" " well if I keep going I will be off them and all this pain will go away.."
But no...because they cut too fast and caused damage to their CNS and developed protracted withdraw symptoms that can last years...10 years I heard by one person.

LISTEN to your body...it’s the best schedule you can follow.

roseenglish added 13 Minutes and 6 Seconds later...

Oh and anyone who reads the Ashton Manual will see she fast tapered a bunch of people in a hospital one committed suicide and others were in hell...I would rather take advice from someone that’s actually " done " it not some nurse who did some experiments in 1980 or when ever it was

The UK are only JUST accepting the addiction issues of benzos.. if you need advice ring the Councillors for Involuntary Tranquiliser Addiction..they speak to thousands of people who are in this mess...
They believe in nutrition support (noni juice was one but I’m not sure that’s not just a business tactic now.. if anyone has used noni juice and found it beneficial I would be interested to hear first hand )
But it all amounts to the same thing...these drugs strip your body of all the nuts and bolts that make it a pain free relaxed body...you need to get your body fighting fight..
Calcium and Magnesium 3 times a day
Vit C 2 - 3 mgs
Essential Fatty Acids
Zinc
A GOOD Multi Vit and additional multi Mineral

Brands to look for are Bio Care off the net
Find a nutritionist who has experience of supporting addictions and with vitamins and nutrients and for Gods sake never assume any schedule is the holy grail of " how to get off benzos by X date "

We are all different.
The only time I took a benzo cut and didn’t notice it was when I was pumped with £100 of vitamins I was taking to treat the Candida.
It wasn’t a deliberate thing. I took a cut and I just didn’t notice it and I am very sensitive i.e.: if I took 5mg more than my normal dose one day I would have a WD period 3 weeks later.

Hope this helps some?

If you can come up with something more productive than "horseshit", please let us know. Professor (not nurse) Ashton's work is very respected and is yet to be discredited. She is a leader in her field. By saying the UK are just accepting the addiction issues of benzo's is like telling us the moon is made of cheese and the streets are paved with gold. I've lived in several countries, the UK being the longest, and benzo's have been STRICTLY controlled for as long as I can remember. Benzo addiction is taken extremely seriously, where do you get your information from, or did you just take a wild stab in the dark?

I do not know of a more effective way of withdrawing from benzodiazepines than a slow titration.

rocksmokinmachine added 5 Minutes and 24 Seconds later...

Originally Posted by clint

. However 2mg is not a dosage of lorazepam available in either country, nor, to my knowledge, in any European country, where the normal dosage tablet is 2.5mg.

2 x 1mg of lorazepam.

I can see you're point. Lorazepam being such as a short acting benzodiazepine, needs to be taken around 3 times a day. 7.5mg is a very high dose. The maximum I believe in UK practice at present being 6mg daily, which clinically is a very high dose. You see, these tables are based on that of the Ashton manual. If one is from North America it shouldn't be to hard to titrate down to 3 x 2mg daily doses.

[sweetsugar]

Thanks for posting these are very helpful tables of benzo tapering. Swim would like to know what measures are taken if the patient is on 100mg of valium a day?
If you could post a table about this swim would be very greatfull as the drug sevices in britain are threatining to put swim in hospital for 6 months to reduce swims valium intake from 100mg to 40mg a day.
Swim has had problems with lots of diffrent drugs in the past such as the golden brown and a very large drink problem and swim has kicked these problems with the help of doctors and the drug services in th UK and a lot of self determination.
Never before have they said i need to go to hospital and if i do go to hospital i will lose my home so any advice on this matter will be greatly appreciated,

( posted by a friend of sweetsugar's)

[rocksmokinmachine]

Originally Posted by sweetsugar

Thanks for posting these are very helpful tables of benzo tapering. Swim would like to know what measures are taken if the patient is on 100mg of valium a day?
If you could post a table about this swim would be very greatfull as the drug sevices in britain are threatining to put swim in hospital for 6 months to reduce swims valium intake from 100mg to 40mg a day.
Swim has had problems with lots of diffrent drugs in the past such as the golden brown and a very large drink problem and swim has kicked these problems with the help of doctors and the drug services in th UK and a lot of self determination.
Never before have they said i need to go to hospital and if i do go to hospital i will lose my home so any advice on this matter will be greatly appreciated,

( posted by a friend of sweetsugar's)

SWIM's local drug service (The Junction in the UK), is part of the Primary Care Trusts need for specialist drug clinics. This is a new initiative which has only been set up over the last few years. It will be part of the local mental health trust. This service provides benzodiazepine detoxes, from people addicted (physically) to benzodiazepines. SWIY will be prescribed, on a daily pick up the dose he was taking before. SWIY would be started on 98mg and titrated downwards from there. If SWIY has access to 2mg tablets himself I can do a custom schedule if SWIY wishes?

rocksmokinmachine added 17 Minutes and 48 Seconds later...

Originally Posted by sirdrugalot

is it necessary to switch over to diazepam when coming off clonazepam swims doctor has been tapering him from clonazepam with no mention of been switched over to diazepam. is this safe? swim kind of feels his doc knows not much about benzo tapers as swim cut himself down from 18-24mg a day which he had been taking for 9-10 months to 3mg per day.
when swim went to see his doc he said "try going cold turkey" (which swim was no way going to do) swim said "dont you think its a bit dangerous" he chewed it over for two weeks and then put swim on a straight clonazepam tapper. is this safe?

Try going cold turkey? I think SWIY should consider changing doctors, immediate withdrawal from that much clonazepam is extremely dangerous, as any physician should know. Switching to diazepam (not always immediately) is usually necessary, as it is one of the longer acting benzodiazepines and is easy to titrate from.

[rocksmokinmachine]

Originally Posted by sweetsugar

Thanks for posting these are very helpful tables of benzo tapering. Swim would like to know what measures are taken if the patient is on 100mg of valium a day?
If you could post a table about this swim would be very greatfull as the drug sevices in britain are threatining to put swim in hospital for 6 months to reduce swims valium intake from 100mg to 40mg a day.
Swim has had problems with lots of diffrent drugs in the past such as the golden brown and a very large drink problem and swim has kicked these problems with the help of doctors and the drug services in th UK and a lot of self determination.
Never before have they said i need to go to hospital and if i do go to hospital i will lose my home so any advice on this matter will be greatly appreciated,

( posted by a friend of sweetsugar's)

Sweetsugar would you like a personal schedule making?

[Synesthesiac]

This is an excellent thread. Kudos to all of Rocksmokinmachines contributions.

Someone who isn't me purchased 80x1mg Xanax and 80x10mg Diazepam two months ago to use to relax and avoid anxiety after using CNS stimulants. Which worked great, but since Swim suffers from social anxiety and depression anyway he liked them a bit too much. Swim got rid of the xanax after a month or so after he started using them too much for his liking (he only did about ~40x1mg in total) not really a daily addiction, but in random daily binges here and there, along with the diazepam. So he substituted instead for low but daily use of diazepam. He realized he was getting minor withdrawals about three weeks ago after going for three days without any, mainly uncomfortable muscle tension and inabilty to sleep. So swim waited as long as he could bear and started at a minimum dosage to start to taper off the diazepam. After four days got muscle tension again, insomnia, lightheadedness, stiff raised shoulders, real hot and sweaty and had to lay down, and so popped one final half dose (5mg) to recover, and started from there.

Was able to start at 6mg daily, 2mg in the morning, and then a slight uncomfortableness was beared for a week in the afternoon until 4mg was taken every night to go to sleep. Swims now on 5mg daily, 2mg in the morning and 3mg at night. Only got 45 mgs diazepam left. Should be bearable from now on (right?).

Judging from the high dosages and amount of time some other people have been on them swims at the very lower end of the withdrawal spectrum.

Now swims read this thread, he's probably going to start from the 4mg mark (2x 2mg daily) from the first diazepam taper table here and use that for a week, then decrease to 2mg, then maybe a couple of 1mgs at the end, which should use all of what swim has left. Lucky swim started to taper before he realized his use was beginning to get out of hand or he would have had to take an ashamed trip to his GP (might still have to, we'll see how it goes)

Nice thread anyhow, very useful.

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[xxxSuSHixxx]

So to kick Klonopin SwiPetFish should switch to valium? because of the longer half life right? Usually SwiPF runs out of klonopin in the first week, out of 150, then procedes to eat his mothers prescription ((only 60 0.5 's)) She gets quite angry =x SwiPF just blames it on his addiction/withdrawl and she shuts up =x ((she only uses for mild anxiety/mania like once a week... SwiPF Thinks his mom's Prescriber is TRIPPIN to be scripting an old lady Kpin for mild anxiety......

Anywhoo... SwiPF dont know if this is alot to ask but SwiPetFish could use a guideline ((and will probably have to pay someone to enforce that guideline)) on a tapering schedual to get off kpin permanentley, SwiPF knows that if he tells his prescriber he is switching to valium to get off kpin , she will say ok. SwiPF is used to eating roughley 5 to 20 mg kpin a day till it runs out and he becomes irate/depressed, also starting to get the shakes, cant wait to be rid of kpin and back to the loving arms of my mary jane...((the plant, not the chick))....