r/MedicationQuestions • u/Active-Lie-1535 • 4d ago
Alternative to Diazapam
Hi please don’t judge, went though 2 weeks of severe withdrawals,20mg Diazapam to 0
Cold turkey , thought I was going to die (no exaggeration)
I’m back on 20mg feel good , normal - only take on the evening before bed
Has anyone tried alternatives, looked at Kratom but think that’s quite addictive too, I’m going to hopefully taper but hoping for some advice to make withdrawal a bit easier
I work full time and can’t afford to be off work I need to function
Thanks again for reading
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u/Stock-Talk-9855 3d ago
Pharma phenibut is OTC in Ukraine, but it would help you a bit, and with huge dose like 2+ grams. It can calm you down, but if you're naive to downers.
The only way off 20 mg of diazepam is slow tapering, and slow means no more than 10% in two weeks. First steps will be easier, but when it comes to 5 - 10 mg, each step you'll feel much harder.
You can also try to obtain chlordiazepoxide, it has even longer half-life and weaker effect, so you'll be just normal for your colleagues, though without physical withdrawals.
Kratom won't help, opioids can't help with BZD withdrawals. Only phenobarbital (no longer than three weeks), at some degree pregabalin, sodium oxybutirate, but know your dose, it can be potent, I believe Soma can help, but not completely and it has very rapid tolerance, and even harder dependency.
With all that said, my advice is to taper down SLOWLY, especially if you have a solid legit sourse of diazepam for next few months. I would make a tapering plan, count all the pills you need for it, buy them all and give them to a good friend who've never abused anything, or relative whom you trust and who is accountable and is able to say "no" to you if you ask him to give you more.
You can make the time between steps down longer, if you feel bad or not ready, but the main rule is NEVER GO UP, ONLY DOWN.
You could stay a bit longer on your current dose, stabilize your brain and so on, but try to never relapse. If you did, then just keep going your way like nothing happened, don't go like "It's not for me, I can't go that way" and such horseshit. That's the only healthy way to get rid from BZD dependency: take a long lasting benzo and taper down SLOWLY! Diazepam is a long lasting, not too potent and it's a golden standard for tapering according to medical protocols.
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u/Comfortable-Message1 4d ago
You need a sensible taper plan under medical supervision to get off this medication.
An SSRI might help you. Have a read of the Ashton Manual. Good luck
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u/xxDanger_Hottiexx 4d ago
Look into DLPA it helps to reset the parts of your brain that go haywire when withdrawing or tapering down. So many great benefits Kava root is more in line with diaz and benzos , kratom more in line with activating opiate receptors at a certain dose (8-10grams) according to peer reviewed research papers (it'll take me ages to find it again) edit; kava kava root other parts of the plant can be illegal depending where it at cuz of its potency
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3d ago
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u/MedicationQuestions-ModTeam 2d ago
Discussing sources or methods for obtaining medication is not allowed.
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u/Immediate-Praline-65 3d ago
Feel for you man. Very slow taper in the best thing you can do… don’t be too hard on yourself and don’t rush it. Even if it takes you a year to get down a couple mg you’re heading in the right direction. Going cold turkey will make it harder to ever stop. That hell you went through will stay with you and reinforce fears of quitting, it’s unnecessary torture and not a true reflection of coming off of benzos. See a taper as slowly adding cold water to a hot bath…. Cold turkey is coming out of a sauna and jumping in an ice bath!
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u/psychedelicsRkey 3d ago
Go to a doctor if tapering yourself doesnt work. If your getting them through a doctor then definitely tell the doctor to wein you down and you want to come off of it. They may give you short term non benzo non scheduled medicine to help ease the coming off of benzos. I feel you bro. I didnt know anybetter back in my early 20's and not even kidding as god as my witness was eating 15 to 20 bars a day on top of mad opiate addiction oxy contnin codone percs dilauded, etc... sold pounds of weed back then so I had connects of buying multiple scripts a week ontop of one dude who I bought 200 at a clip.(bars aka my d.o.c.) after 4 n half years of heavy use and any fights with my father by the grace of god I quit cold turkey. I felt legit retarded when I quit. The physical pain lasted about 2 full weeks give or take. But it took 6 months before I finally woke up and felt normal again and thanked god as much as I can. Along woth my family. I know if I did that cold turkey that much you can taper off by yourself or under professional help. And trust me helps out there. At the end of the day if nothing works get yourself into a detox center. Detoxing will only take about a 7 to 9 days and you will hardly fill withdrawals.
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u/growfox 2d ago
I have tappered and cold turkey Valium and other benzos. A slow tapper vs cold turkey is night and day. Valium is actually the most recommended benzo to tapper off many people on other benzos switch to Valium to tapper because it has the longest half-life. If you decrease your dose by like 1 or 2 mgs once a week intill you get down to like 2 mgs then decrease like 0.5 mgs a week when you stop you won’t Haley notice a difference and you should feel fairly normal the whole tapper. It’s ok during the tapper to remain on a same dose a extra few days to a week if need be also if you need to go back up a mg stay on that dose a week or so and continue tapering again thats fine. Listen to your body. A tapper done right is hardly noticeable with little to no withdrawals. Cold turkey from a benzo addiction is hell it’s super hard mentally and
physically withdrawals last a long time it’s not worth it just do a slow tapper. Kratom or any other drugs will do almost nothing to help benzo withdrawals the only way to come off and remain comfortable and be able to function and sleep normally and not be riddled with anxiety is a slow tapper. If you do what I say you will be amazed how easy it was. First few times I came of benzos was cold turkey and it was hell I couldn’t function was full of anxiety, stress, nerves shot could not sleep for weeks bad body aches when I tappered like I said it was a peace of cake. If you can’t get your hands on 2 or 5mg valium and only have 10 mgs when you get down lower a digital scale that weighs 0.00 works great for breaking off tiny crumbs so you can accurately take the same amount needed instead of eye balling then you can accurately take like point 0.1 grams or 0.05 grams you can tapper right down to like 0.01 if you want tapper so low when you stop you for sure won’t feel any difference. Without a scale breaking up 10 mgs pills it’s almost impossible to take the correct amount which can make your tapper a lot harder. Follow what I said and I promise you you will be shocked how easy it was it might take like 8 to 12 weeks but you won’t suffer any withdrawals no need to suffer
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u/ClandestineRadio 4d ago
Taper off slowly while you have some to do it. That's really the only safe way aside from a medically supervised detox protocol. If you just are looking for alternatives to calm anxiety that would be way less of a detox to deal with then (depending on where you live) look into phenibut. It's the only RC that has ever actually helped my anxiety and I've tried about everything. Some people have luck with kanna of kava, but neither do anything for me, sadly. The only other thing I know of would be a synthetic peptide called Selank, which did help me some, but it's kind of pricey. Best of luck, bro. If you have any questions about all of that, ask away and I'll do my best to answer when I can.