A Slow Diazepam Taper

A small number of people find the last few mg of diazepam tapering particularly difficult, due to an increase in withdrawal symptoms with each cut. When a person is tapering from a high dose of diazepam the dosage cuts can be made smaller, in percent terms. However, when a person has tapered their dosage of diazepam down for example to 5 mg per day by using a quarter of a diazepam 2mg tablet, the percent size of the cuts starts becoming much greater than 10%. The percentage then becomes greater as the dose gets lower. Is there a simple way around this? Yes there is.

Diazepam Liquid Suspension Taper

Once a person has reached a dose of 5 mg of diazepam per day and they find that the reduction process gets harder, then a tapering using diazepam liquid suspension may be the answer to their problems. An individual in this scenario can request that their doctor switches them from the 2 mg sized tablets to the suspension form of diazepam. There are at least two available strengths of diazepam liquid suspension; Diazepam 2mg per 5 ml and Diazepam 5 mg per 5 ml. The liquid suspension strength you want to get from your doctor is the 2mg per 5 ml strength, to allow for the smallest possible dosage cuts. Once you have the diazepam 2 mg per 5 ml solution, the next step is to purchase a 1 ml syringe from your local pharmacy/chemist/drug store. Many such places will stock and sell such syringes to the public for the purposes of measuring out a specific dose of a medicine.

What You Need

So what you need is:

2 mg per 5 ml diazepam liquid suspension

1 ml syringe

The Slow Diazepam Taper

The 1ml syringe is devided into 10 segments which allows for very small dose reductions. For example, someone can reduce by as small a dose as 0.04 mg of diazepam if they really wanted to. This small dose is calculated in the following way:

1ml of the 2mg per 5 ml = 0.4 mg of diazepam.

This dose can be made even smaller as the 1ml syringe is devided into 10 visibly marked segments or devider lines. So you can devide the 0.4 mg sized dose even further to as low as 0.04 mg.

10% of 0.4 mg = 0.04 mg of diazepam.

This method is only generally recommended for those individuals who are experiencing particular difficulty reducing from doses below 5 mg of diazepam and seem to be "stuck" on the lower doses, or those who have been on diazepam for decades or simply people who have a very strong physical dependence on benzodiazepines.

This method is not recommended for doses above 5 mg of diazepam per day. Those on higher doses than 5 mg per day of diazepam should withdraw using appropriately sized tablets. For futher information see this page on DIAZEPAM WITHDRAWAL if you are on doses higher than 5 mg of diazepam per day.

Why does this web site prefer this method over other methods of slow diazepam withdrawal eg, grinding the pill into powder or water titration etc? The method on this page of using liquid suspension for a slow withdrawal is preferred over other methods by this web site, mainly because the dose cuts can be guaranteed to be accurate. One of the few things pharmaceutical companies can be trusted on is their dosage accuracy both in their tablets and their liquid suspension preparations. Diazepam is fat soluble and it is not known whether water or even milk accurately suspends diazepam and whether or not it is dispersed evenly, even after stirring. The method of crushing up a tablet and deviding the powder or shaving bits off tablets also runs the risk of inaccurate daily doses per day, not to mention the hastle of it. Having said that, people do find success with methods of using water titration or shaving bits off their tablets etc. The only time we would suggest methods such as water titration is for people who are on short acting and or high potency benzodiazepines eg clonazepam, alprazolam or lorazepam etc (most benzodiazepines apart from diazepam and all Z drugs fall into this category). For individuals who cannot find a doctor willing to prescribe diazepam, it may be of benefit to read this page on water titration and other methods, for doing a so called direct taper off of high potency and or short acting benzodiazepines.

Below is a suggested withdrawal schedule. The speed or size of dose cuts suggested below can be titrated up or down to suit the individual and is only presented as a rough guide. As it is well known, this organisation only gives suggestions and leaves the decision making and the responsibility of withdrawal method to the individual.

Very Slow Withdrawal from Diazepam 5 mg
Withdrawing from a dose of 5 mg Diazepam per day using liquid diazepam suspension.
Morning	Lunch Time	Evening	Before Bed	Total Daily Dose
At this stage you can start reducing at 0.4 mg sized diazepam cuts which can be calculated on a 1ml 10 segment syringe as full ml.
			Diazepam 5 mg	Diazepam 5 mg
Stabalise for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 4.6 mg	Diazepam 4.6 mg
Stabalise for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 4.2 mg	Diazepam 4.2 mg
Stabalise for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 3.8 mg	Diazepam 3.8 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 3.4 mg	Diazepam 3.4 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 3 mg	Diazepam 3 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 2.6 mg	Diazepam 2.6 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
At This stage you can make the cuts even smaller reducing at 0.2 mg for example. This dosage can be calculated as half a ml of 2 mg per 5 ml diazepam solution (or 5 tenths or 5 segments of a 1 ml syringe).
			Diazepam 2.2 mg	Diazepam 2.2 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 2 mg	Diazepam 2 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 1.8 mg	Diazepam 1.8 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 1.6 mg	Diazepam 1.6 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 1.4 mg	Diazepam 1.4 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 1.2 mg	Diazepam 1.2 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 1 mg	Diazepam 1 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 0.8 mg	Diazepam 0.8 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 0.6 mg	Diazepam 0.6 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
At this stage you can start reducing at 0.12 mg sized diazepam cuts which can be calculated on a 1ml 10 segment syringe as 3 segments (three 10th's of a ml of 2 mg per 5 ml diazepam solution).
			Diazepam 0.48 mg	Diazepam 0.48 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 0.36 mg	Diazepam 0.36 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 0.24 mg	Diazepam 0.24 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 0.12 mg	Diazepam 0.12 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
At this stage you can start reducing at 0.04 mg sized diazepam cuts which can be calculated on a 1ml 10 segment syringe, as 1 segment (a 10th of a ml of 2 mg per 5 ml diazepam solution).
			Diazepam 0.08 mg	Diazepam 0.08 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
			Diazepam 0.04 mg	Diazepam 0.04 mg
Hold reduction for 3 - 4 weeks
Drop Last 0.04 mg dose of diazepam and Never Take Another Benzodiazepine Again
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Very Slow Diazepam Detox Complete