Terry: withdrawing from Xanax and Zoloft

[Terry]

2 hours ago, Frogie said:

You could take 4 mg of diazepam to replace the 0.25 mg Xanax

The conversion charts I've seen use 5 mg diazepam to replace 0.25 mg xanax.

 

2 hours ago, Frogie said:

You want to convert over 3-4 weeks. So you would just take tiny amounts of the diazepam and cut back the Xanax over the 3-4 weeks until you’re no longer taking the Xanax.

Thanks Frogie.  I'll have to figure a way to do this methodically so I don't mess it up.

[Frogie]

10 mg of diazepam is equal to 1 mg of Xanax so you could use 5 mg to convert. I found that between 3 and 5 mg to convert from .25 mg, so I used 4 mg.

 

If you make a solution of both, it shouldn’t be too difficult to be able to make tiny cuts over 3-4 weeks. You were really good getting your husband off of diazepam using the solution 😊

 

You’re really doing well through all of this. You rock!

[Terry]

Thanks, @Frogie, for your help and encouragement.  You are so kind.  I really needed that this morning. 

[Frogie]

I’m glad I could brighten your day, just a little 😊

[Terry]

It's been 3 1/2 months since I quit sertraline, and it feels like I'm still tapering.  WD side effects are still there, and I wonder when I'll ever be able to start my alprazolam taper. 

[Terry]

On 10/27/2021 at 2:22 PM, Gridley said:

The saying is that Valium is the best of the worst. The Ativan agreed with me better than the Valium, but I'm doing okay now tapering with the Valium.  You never know how well you'll do on a drug switch.

If you had had an adequate supply of Ativan, would you have switched to Valium?  Do you regret it at all?  I'm on the fence about switching, hoping the choice I make is the right one.  I like the idea of only having to take one dose of Valium daily rather than three of Xanax.  I'm just concerned that I might be making more trouble for myself.

[Gridley]

12 hours ago, Terry said:

If you had had an adequate supply of Ativan, would you have switched to Valium? 

No.

 

12 hours ago, Terry said:

Do you regret it at all?

I did what I had to do, given my supply issues.  

 

12 hours ago, Terry said:

I'm on the fence about switching, hoping the choice I make is the right one.  I like the idea of only having to take one dose of Valium daily rather than three of Xanax.  I'm just concerned that I might be making more trouble for myself.

I understand.   

[Terry]

Thanks so much for your perspective. I appreciate your help.

 

I'm leaning now toward tapering the xanax.

 

Terry

[Terry]

@Frogie Hi, I think I've decided to taper xanax rather than crossing over to valium.  After reading Gridley's comments, I'm thinking it might be best.  I need to know how you tapered.  Did you taper all three doses at 1/3 of the cut,  or do one dose at the full cut?  Also, I plan to do a liquid taper like I did for Raphael, dissolving the tablet in vodka and diluting it with water.  I believe it was @Shepwho once said to use 2 ml vodka for each mg of pill.  So that would be 0.5 ml for my 0.25 mg xanax (alprazolam).

 

If the above is correct, I would dissolve 1 tablet in 0.5 ml vodka and add 2.5 ml water.  That would give me 3 ml, with a dose of .0833 in each ml.

 

My dose is 0.25 mg, and with a 10% cut would be 0.225.  One third of .225 is .075, so I would measure 0.9 ml of solution to get the correct dose.

 

Do my calculations look correct to you?  If any of the other moderators want to weigh in on this, please do.

 

Thanks, and hope you're having a good day,

Terry

 

[Frogie]

Hi @Terry

 

I’m glad you came to that decision. I was on Valium and Xanax.

 

Your calculations look correct to me, but I’ll tag @brassmonkeyto make sure.

 

I tapered all 3 doses at the same time. But I crushed and weighed them. I didn’t do my own liquid. I started at 5% a month, then moved to 10% a month, and was doing rather well until the dr decided to speed it up and cut me off.

 

Just take it slow and easy. But you did great with your other taper so you’ve got this!

 

Good luck and please keep me posted.

 

Take care,

 Frogie xx

[Shep]

16 hours ago, Terry said:

I believe it was @Shepwho once said to use 2 ml vodka for each mg of pill.  So that would be 0.5 ml for my 0.25 mg xanax (alprazolam)

 

Terry, this is something I posted over in the benzo forum a few years ago:

 

On 10/28/2017 at 4:25 PM, Shep said:

Information on using the Vodka Method:

 

This method is commonly seen in the benzo forums. For 190 proof Vodka, use 1mg benzo with 1ml of alcohol. For 80 proof Vodka,  dissolve 1mg benzo with 2ml of alcohol.

 

Many people find Everclear 95% alcohol (190 proof) to be very effective for benzo tapering. 

 

 

This information is from the benzo forums. I would use as little alcohol as possible to dissolve the benzo. Start out with the smallest amount and see if that works and then round up with water to make your solution. 

[Frogie]

@Terry

 

I was just checking in on you. 

 

Hope you are doing well.

 

Take care,

Frogie xx

[Terry]

@Frogie Thanks for checking on me. Post-sertraline, I seem to be doing better in the last week.  I have bought some vodka and am planning how I'll do my liquid xanax taper.  I'm considering doing a 10% taper on just one of my three daily doses and holding it there for ten days.  Then I'd do the second and third doses in the same way.  That would give me a total taper of 10% in 30 days.  I'm thinking it would be similar to a brassmonkey slide, just easier when dealing with 3 daily doses.

 

I will also need to start a benzo page, but I'm not quite sure how.  Maybe you could direct me on that?

 

Thanks,

Terry

 

[Frogie]

@Terry 

 

Whatever makes you the most comfortable is the way to do your taper. That way you can track any symptoms you may have starting out.

 

To start a benzo page, just go to the Benzo page on the forums and start a new topic. So you could name it Terry: tapering from Xanax, or something simple that you'll remember.

 

Good luck! I wish you well.

 

Take care,

Frogie xx