How To Taper Off Temazepam Completely (Page 2) (Top voted first)

Please help; doctor doesn't want me as a patient anymore, reasons are ridiculous and too long to get into, but now she has put me in a jam. I was taking Clonazepam 2mg. 2 tablets 2x per week(for anxiety & sleep), & Temazepam 30mg. 2 tablets 2x per week(for sleep). I have been on both these drugs for 2 1/2 years & want to get the heck off them. I noticed the last couple months; neither appeared to be helping the anxiety/sleep issues I have had; so basically I just want off both. I have been Clonazepam free for 11 days now. I CANNOT believe how I feel--like I could crawl right out of my skin; anxiety ridden, non stop talking,completely wired,nerves jumping in arms & legs, more and more and on and on. Bad idea to go cold turkey, but did & now out of them. So I have to deal with the withdrawal with that one I guess.... But like I mentioned, I also want to get off the Temazepam. Am not going to go more crazy & quit cold turkey on that one too. My tablets are 30mg. & I normally took 2-30mg. tablets on Mondays & Fridays. Since I don't have a doctor anymore--can anyone suggest how to taper till completed weaned off? I want to get off this crud asap. (as you probably notice, I have a high tolerance). Thanks everyone!!!

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Hello, I am an on and off insomniac. I am just going to share my experience with temazepan. It worked for me when Lunesta failed. I only took 15mg each night and was able to get OK sleep 5-6h. After a month I cut my dosage to half, then to quarter, then stopped all the way. No withdrawals at all. Thank God I started sleeping without pills and sleep better than ever. Good luck all of you. Life is no fun without sleep, i've had my share.

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Sorry: "Some physical problems (e.g., hypothyroid condition...) cause insomnia."

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Now I wonder if Crickett already succeeded...

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You don't want to switch to ambien from temazapam. They are different types of drugs. Valium is much better for the switch. Ambien will just make it hell. I've done it. Benzos are the most difficult to come off therefore you need another benzo.

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Sarah, read all my posts; #4 addresses your question. An example: Cymbalta has an enteric coating because if it comes in contact with stomach acid, the reaction can poison you. The coating may be damaged if the capsule is opened. To find out if it's safe with Temazepam, read the product information sheet (which you should anyway) and ask a pharmacist. As near as I can tell, Temazepam is also available in tablets, which are normally safe to break; but ask a pharmacist.

Your doctor didn't warn you because he/she probably doesn't know (record the time it takes you to find out everything Temazepam or any other psychoactive drug does, doesn't do and can't do, and how it should be used, and you will begin to understand only one of the many reasons doctors prescribe them. If you've taken Temazepam for longer than 10 days, you've taken it too long. (You'll also find that if you're still alive, you're among the lucky majority.) It's not a secret that benzodiazepines (one kind of sedative) are for short term use only, don't work long term, create dependence, and may be addictive; but for some reason, doctors don't hesitate to prescribe them long-term.

The trouble with psychoactive drugs is that the brain seems to assume that the body's systems for regulating excitation and calm are working properly, and if you interfere with either system by giving it a drug, the brain changes itself to compensate for the interference. The result is that after you take a sedative for a while, your brain decreases its ability to keep itself calm, so that if you stop taking the sedative, withdrawal symptoms may include worse anxiety and/or insomnia than you started with. That's also why if you take an antidepressant long enough for your brain to adjust, one withdrawal symptom may be worse depression than you started with. How bad the effects are depends on your body, so one person's withdrawal may be horrible, while another may barely notice it.

If you had trouble sleeping, or were having anxiety attacks, how would you react if your doctor prescribed whiskey, beer or temazepam (Restoril), alprazolam (Xanax) or diazepam (Valium)? If you were depressed, how would you react if your doctor prescribed cocaine, LSD, mescaline or bupropion (Wellbutrin), mirtazapine (Remeron), fluoxetine (Prozac) or sertraline (Zoloft)? Now look up all those medications here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_drug (reuptake inhibitors, releasers and agonists have similar effects to each other). Sleeping pills and anxiolytics are downers and antidepressants are uppers. A drug called medication is still a drug. Whether you have a psychological problem or a physical one, a drug wont make it go away, and if the drug makes you feel better, its only temporary and may end up making you feel much worse and dependent or addicted. If you can't find and fix the cause, be aware that modern drugs are not tested for long-term safety.

Medical dictionaries and articles may use dependence and addiction interchangeably, but the origins of the words suggest a difference. Dependence originally may have referred to physical dependence (you may end up feeling lousy taking the stuff, but worse if you stop taking it, without necessarily knowing why if you didn't make a logical connection between the act of stopping it and how you feel). Addiction may originally have referred to the development of a physical craving (you like the feeling it gives you, and if you stop taking it, your body craves it, or if you develop tolerance for it, your body craves more. When drug companies say their product isn't addictive, be sure they're not using the probable original meaning to fool doctors and patients into thinking the product doesn't create dependence. A drug that causes your brain to change itself to compensate, has created dependence. That's not the same as psychological dependence or addiction.

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Graham, sorry to hear (read) what has happened to you. That's a long time to take a high dose of a psychoactive drug that hasn't been tested for long-term safety. Have you read and understood all the below posts, including those on the next page?

How well or if your brain will be able to heal/restore itself is probably unknown, but the brain is pretty amazing, so you won't know if you don't try. However, you'll need a lot of self-discipline, patience, motivation, and faith in yourself to do it; because it won't be easy. It can take years and it will be very unpleasant for an unknown amount of time. You say you don't know what to do, but no-one can tell you what will work best for you (or if anything will); because your body is different from everyone else's, so no-one else will react to withdrawal the way you will. It would be misleading to tell you otherwise.

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Most doctors only know what drug reps tell them. Do your homework. It's your life they are screwing with. I didn't and my wife is suffering now.

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Kelly, "you have nothing to fear but fear itself". Reading this entire thread should help you understand what you, your doctors and our medical system have gotten you into. Can't think of any reason your age should prevent you from stopping. A therapist I know got off by:
1. stopping until she couldn't stand the withdrawal effects anymore
2. starting again until she could
3. and repeating 1 & 2 until she was off.

That requires the discipline to make sure that each time off is longer than the previous one. Tapering is fine, too, but probably takes longer. From what I've observed, I'd say the brain heals from the effects of drugs more slowly than it damages itself, but how long getting off is going to take can't be predicted for anyone.

Eat and drink a healthy diet, get plenty of exercise and rest (don't worry if you can't sleep or learn CBT-I), and keep your mind occupied, preferably with things you enjoy.

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kelly

Fundamental to anything having to do with psychoactive drugs is that they affect everyone differently. That means that someone else's withdrawal symptoms, taper schedule, doses, how long they took them, and other experiences won't necessarily apply to you and could actually discourage you or give you unrealistic expectations for your own situation.

I have noticed that people who have been through withdrawal are not always happy to talk about it, probably for the same reasons veterans don't like to talk about their battle experiences. Don't be surprised of you don't get answers to your last 3 inquiries, and if you do get answers, be thankful; but remember that they don't necessarily apply to you. You have been taking a psychoactive drug for a long time. The fact that you are hooked is proof that your brain has changed itself to compensate. The brain has amazing healing powers, and can undo what it did to compensate. The issue is what you can psychologically deal with during the process, and only you can determine that. If you haven't read all 60+ posts to this thread, do so.

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Your wrong temazepam does now come in tablet form 10mg and 20mg ones,it's the eggs that have been withdrawn!

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Temazepam only comes in a capsule. Anyone who takes two 30mg pills plus other bezos, etc is needing a reality check. Wean yourself way down over time. 30, 22.5, 15 & 7.5mg. I've read so many comments on here, that it scares me to think someones shrink would tank them up on pills that will send you outer space! I have SEVERE, CHRONIC, NON-STOP RELENTLESS PAIN. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet to get thru to your next decrease. You can do it.

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I started a Temaz taper about 2 months ago. Went from 30mg and now I am 7.5mg. I hold a taper for about 10 days then move down. It's tough with the withdrawals but you need to hang in. And yes, I have been making my own doses...my wife and I cut the capsules and measure(eye ball)and pour into blank capsules that you can get at a Vitamin Store. Because 7.5mg is minimum capsule size, we will be making more as I taper from 7.5mg. As a rule, I have been tapering about 15-20% dosage each time.

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Crickett: You might want to read my previous posts below for general info. I have no experience with tapering Temazepam, only antidepressants. I also don’t understand why you would be taking something with such a short half life (8-10 hrs) twice a week; theoretically putting yourself through some withdrawal twice a week. Whoever recommended that doesn’t understand how the level of the drug in your blood varies with time.

I recommend getting completely over Clonazepam withdrawal first; otherwise, you won't know what to stop doing or adjust of you have a problem coming off the Temazepam. If the Clonazepam withdrawal symptoms stop changing, I wouldn’t be surprised if what’s left is from Temazepam withdrawal. You and your doctor got yourself into this situation because neither of you did your homework, so read and understand everything you can find about Temazepam, including finding out if it's safe to cut or break the tablets (the product info sheet or instructions will say if you shouldn't), and/or ask a pharmacist if you have questions.

I’m not a doctor, so I can only tell you what would be a mathematically rational approach, based on what I've heard and seen with antidepressants. You’re going to have to decide what you want to try; but I strongly recommend you not try to withdraw from anything without having someone around to watch over you and intervene if something goes wrong. You must remember when dealing with psychoactive drugs that they all can affect your thinking, including during withdrawal, and the effects increase when you’re changing doses. That can lead to dumb thoughts followed by dumb actions that can look like (or be) suicide attempts.

Based on its half life, if you take 60 mg twice a week on Monday and Thursday; then on the following Monday before you take your dose, less than 1% of it is left in your blood, making you almost drug-free. Unfortunately, withdrawal symptoms aren’t necessarily related to how much is in your blood, so just stopping after a Thursday dose could still be rough. I can think of a few mathematically sound ways to “taperâ€; but because of the bumpy ride you’re on already, and because I don’t know anything about you, I don’t know which would be better, so I’ll describe the one that essentially gives you complete control over and all the responsibility for your progress. Remember that you’re essentially experimenting with drugs on yourself (but your doctor was doing the same on you).

If it’s safe to cut the tablets, *decrease your dose by a half tablet and see how long you can tolerate that dose. If it get's too rough, go back to the previous dose until it’s tolerable again, and then continue with the reduced dose again. With luck, the time between going back to the previous dose will increase and the time on it will decrease until you're sort of comfortable without the previous dose at all.* Then repeat everything between the asterisks, until you're off. If you find reducing by half a tablet is too much, reduce by a quarter tablet instead, etc.

If it's not safe to cut the tablets, you wouldn’t have much choice. In that case, or if you feel strong enough to quit faster, reduce by one tablet at a time the same way.

While you’re doing this, eat a healthy diet; force yourself go to bed and get up at the same time every day, regardless of how little you sleep, but give yourself 8 hours; don't worry about not sleeping, let your body take whatever sleep it can within the time allotted; make sure you’re getting enough Vitamin D-3; learn from your experience; and good luck.

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I would stay away from the seroquel - bad stuff.
Go to non-benzodiazepines.org.uk/temazepam.html for guidelines on quitting temazepam (also bad stuff). After 10 years of usage I am sure you need to taper off gradually. Find a good doctor who will work with you and follow the program on the link.

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My names also graham. ive been on temazepam for 17 years and am taking 80mg per night. i need to get off them badly. am having panic attacks an cant eat. i am a mess an its my own fault but dont know what to do.

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Turdger,

If you're looking for someone to tell you wha to do differently from what your doctor is telling you, why do you have a doctor? Read and understand this entire thread if you haven't already. You'll also see that you're lucky to find a doctor who'll help you get off; appreciate it.

A doctor patient relationship should also be two-way. Talk to her. If you feel like she's weaning you too quickly, tell her and tell her why; but don't do it in a way that sounds like you're accusing her of not knowing what she's doing. Psychoactive drugs affect everyone differently, so there's actually no way anyone can possibly know what's the best way to stop for you or anyone else. A doctor that prescribes a psychoactive drug is experimenting with that drug on the patient, with our without knowing it, like it or not.

She may be weaning you at a rate appropriate to the half-life of the stuff, without concerning herself with how fast the brain is able to adjust to the reduced dose, which will vary from person to person. Based on the the mechanism, I wouldn't expect it to take less time than it took for you develop tolerance and dependence (e.g., someone stopping after taking Cymbalta for years may have withdrawal symptoms for years after the amount of Cymbalta in their bloodstream is essentially nil). If your doctor understands the problem you're having she might be willing to slow the weaning down...or be able to explain to you why she'd rather not.

Just remember that the longer you're on the stuff, the more your brain will adjust to it. That's what creates dependence in the first place, so the longer you're on it, the harder it is to get off. Also remember that when you change drugs, the new ones can cover the withdrawal symptoms of the previous one(s), so even if you've taken the latest ones only for months, withdrawal symptoms from the one you took for years could be with you long after you're "clean" of all of them.

To avoid getting yourself into the situation again, learn about and find someone to train you in CBT-I (cognitive behavioral therapy - insomnia). It doesn't create dependence or withdrawal, it doesn't stop working, and it doesn't give you inferior quality sleep like all sleeping pills do.

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Ken, I am sorry about your wife. How is she doing now?
It has occurred to me that I may be having side effects from 30 mcg of temazepam per night. So sleepy all day long. I want to get off but am worried that the doctor won't even know how to do this safely. Waiting to hear from him. Anyone have any real luck weaning off?

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I decided I would have to take the long way to get off it. I cut the dosage in half and took half for five months. Then I cut it into thirds and did that for a few months. Then into fourths. It is taking a long time, but this is the only way I can still get some sleep.

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I took 30mg for about five years before I started tapering off about 8 months ago.

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The problem with staying on temazepam alone is that you cannot reduce the dose beyond 10 mg. Valium doses go down to 2 mg tablets, that you can halve, so you can slowly reduce your dose. This makes a big difference in helping your body adjust to the withdrawal.

It worked for me. I was able to eventually wean myself from 30 mg nightly temazepam habit by following the Ashton taper (look it up online, there is a detailed schedule of doses.) The key is to be patient, go slow, let your body adjust. As Ken points out, it is not ideal to be on two different drugs. But it is not ideal to be hooked on benzo's either. Using Valium in a taper can WORK to get you off the pills, so I'd suggest you consider it.

After finally getting off the pills, I started a 2 month treatment with a CBT therapist, and that was very, very helpful. Got at the root of my anxieties about sleep, and helped me set up better sleep habits. For the first time since I was a teenager, I am now sleeping fairly normally! So there is hope. But it was a long, difficult struggle. Good luck to Ricky, and all who are struggling with it. You'll get there.

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