Addicted to Valium - how do I get off it?

I hear you and can definitely relate. First, a little background. I abused Xanax which is in the same family (benzos) and unbelievable amounts of every kind of prescribed opiates for a decade. Unfortunately, I have countless injuries and surgeries from sports and car accidents. Thank God I have not used opiates for almost 5 months and completely abstained from Xanax for four months. The amount of Valium your taking is definitely significant. I am also plagued with an Anxiety Disorder, Depression and mild OCD. Nonetheless, that did not justify my 40 to 50 mg (which is equivalent to approximately 1300 mg of Diazepam) a day habit of Xanax and my 3,500 mg opiate habit over 10 years. Crazy when you know that 16mg of Xanax in a 24 hour period can be fatal. In other words, I took a fatal dose every day for those many, many years. It is hard to face, but I died three times from overdoses and luckily was resuscitated. Now I am paying it forward.

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After 4 months I was still going through very bad withdraws from the benzos. They really screw your system up. Even before I started taking them my nervous system was messed up. Note: Going cold turkey off benzos can kill you so do not attempt this at home. Sometimes I do not practice what I preach because "cold turkey" is what I did and it almost killed me (Imagine that). Last week my doctor put me back on 3 mg of Xanax a day because he realized my body was not adjusting. My muscles were twitching, my hands and feet had strange tingling sensations, again I was having panic attacks, sweating profusely from my armpits and had extremely bad insomnia. Obviously, I was placed on this med because of the aforementioned problems. So now there all back. I refused to take 3 mg and only take .5 before sleep. This very little dose has made all the difference for me. I am starting to feel a little better. Not so many panic attacks, the sweating has almost stopped and I can now get about 3 hours of sleep a night. And it is such a small dose. If I miss a day I go through some weird muscle spasms throughout my body, but now I can handle that aspect of the withdraws. Also strange feelings in hands and feet. My goal is to eliminate that .5mg, but for now it helps to keep me functional and able to work. Got to pay the bills.

This was my second time through Detox in the last two years. The first time I was able to kick the opiates for a little over 2 months, but I could not get off the Xanax because of the seizures. Well this time I was determined to get off of everything including cigarettes. Thank God I have been off the opiates and cigarettes for almost 5 months. I feel a little guilty about the .5 mg of Xanax at night, but it is completely medicinal and by no means abuse. Also I have a relative who gives me the med. It is out of my hands and that is a good thing.

Unfortunately, I am a bit of an expert in this area. If you are trying to get off Valium you can tapper off with another benzo called Klonopin (may be misspelt but close enough). One of the side effects is slurred speech. I really hate Klonopins, but it gets the job done. The tapering process takes about 2 weeks. However, your still going to have your anxiety disorder, depression and OCD. Counseling is helping me along with meetings and this forum. But you still have to go "cold turkey" at some point, but hopefully you will be pass the seizure stage. And it is not really cold turkey because you will have been weaned down slowly. Nonetheless, you may experience severe withdraws. I had over 120 seizures even though I was on Dilantin (anti-seizure medication) in the beginning.
So after a few days out of Detox I just stopped taking my Klonopins, Dilantin, Clonodine, and some other psychoactive drugs because they were not working. May case may be rare due to the amount and duration in which I was using and abusing. Man, it was the worst 6 weeks I ever had in my life, excluding the first Detox which was also a nightmare. This time, however, I was literally bedridden for over 30 days. But again, I was coming off so many different narcotics. And like I said I am still going through withdraws after almost five months. Hopefully, you will not experience my fate, but just be prepared. Like I said I can relate. But one thing I have learned, you got to take it one day at a time. Sometimes even one second at a time. "The flesh is weak, but the spirit is willing". You will be in my prayers. If you need to talk just write me and I will respond. Also look up my other replies in which I go into more depth about the details of "Dopesicknes". God Bless.

Dear Shattered,

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I got addicted to Valium after having a car wreck in 1990 and i had a concussion and my brain bled for 6 months. They were the only thing that helped. But after that I began to abuse them, and also would take large amts., that would make me not be able to think or even speak very well, and I would fall down, and drive into ditches, and trip out and buy stupid things that were meaningless, that I just had to have while I was on that trip. They will take you far away and put you on a terrible trip, ... they will control your life... ruin your life..make you lose all your money... make you lose everything dear to you... they were a high as high as any high, and to me, it felt like I was shooting up a drug, and indeed i was, by taking such large amts. each day, that I would sleep and pass out for days after wards, and try to function and think normally while on them. Then I tried to get off, but then I could not sleep. And getting off them is very rough, because, they pull a hell region onto your mind, as any addiction... a demon... and when you get off, you are faced with that demon, and you feel tortured for many days... Your energy centers are ripped, and you have horror dreams and nightmares, that continue during the day, when your awake. you get totally skitzed out, for sure.
I have been tapering off them for a while now, only taking 5 mg. to sleep at night after taking 100 mg. a day to party. But there comes the time, when you have to face the piper, and it is easier to take it, by tapering off, then you just get off the damn things, with will power, because you are tired of looking in the mirror and not seeing yourself. As you get off them, you begin to look into the mirror each day, and you see a new person merging. Its the you, that you once were. Its LIFE coming back to you, for you thought you were dead, because thats how they make you feel after so many years. It feels like hundreds of years I have been on them, but its only been since the car wreck in 1990, so i guess that makes for 20 years.
I could not even remember my age a few days ago, as i was going cold turkey, but i noticed the sky looked bluer, and i started getting a natural appetite, and i was not so weak in the muscles and yeah, I'm still crying and emotional and not all the way back, but I can see I'm coming back... and I can see the damage that was done to my life and my body, from this abuse.
I'm not all the way there yet, because ive gotten off these things before and reused, but this time, my body was taken to the point of death, and i became like a frozen ice cube, and my body would literally not warm up anymore. I had to stop. I was sleeping 14 - 16 hours a day, and still i was tired and exausted, and all i could see in the mirror was this valium devil. It is not a nice devil, and it is not positive.
But as I was looking on the internet today, for the mind wants relief after a week off them, for help... i came across the web page... The Road Back, and after i read it, I knew I had found the help I needed in this book.
If you really want off, I suggest you find this web page, The Road Back, and read it, and get the book, because Valium are harder to get off than Heroin, because they are a mental addiction, not just a physical addiction, ... you need help, and i realized I need more help than just my well power as i read this outline of this book, on the web page today...
I got a really power ful feeling from the Book, and all it displayed, and i once owned a health food store, and i know these things mentioned to take to help the symptoms, work. Good Luck, nothing worth having is Easy, but when you see yourself coming back to life and see another you... Think another You... Feel another you... You need to go for it.
These pills are death, and I have lost so much from using them for so long and abusing them. Its not a fast process. Ive been clean for a week now, and still having pain, and then I read this web page, The Road Back, and it felt so right on, and I know there is a way out now, and the things I'm feeling are not because I need to take more Valuim... but because I need to get off them once and for all, and the symptoms Im still feeling are the withdrawal symptoms of Valiums. REad the web page, as I did... its very detailed, and the best Ive read yet. I have no doubt this book works, as I picked up the energy just reading it. Its the real deal without going to rehab.
take care and don't give up Hope,
Angel