Chapter Eleven

How to Taper Off Benzodiazepines, Anti-anxiety,
Anticonvulsant, and Sleep Medication

Now that you have completed your pre-taper program, you are ready to start the reduction of your medication.

As incredible as it might seem, this step is the easy part of The Road Back Program.

This tapering is slow and gradual. Please do not be letdown because I use the word slow. Most people have been trying to get off their medication for months, if not years, and they had no hope in sight before finding this program.

You will also find within the drug manufacturers drug description, a statement suggesting you gradually reduce the medication.

The Taper

If you have tried to taper off these medications before and suffered withdrawal side effects, definitely start the taper slowly. Successfully lower the medication by 2% every 14 days for three reductions, and then try increasing the reduction by 5% every 14 days. If all goes well for you, then continue with the 5% reduction every 14 days. If the 5% reduction makes withdrawal side effects begin and they are unbearable, move back to the 2% reduction and continue at that pace for the rest of the taper.

Make sure you work with the prescribing physician before changing the dosage of your medication.

Ask your physician to write a prescription to accommodate a 2% reduction. Use a compounding pharmacy to fill this prescription. Compounding pharmacies exist all over the country. You can look in your local phone book to search for a compounding pharmacy near you or use the Internet.

If the medication you are taking is a time release or called a sustained release drug, you will need to switch to a form of the medication that allows for an exact and slow reduction. When you make this change-over, count that change as a reduction and do not reduce the dosage until 14 days have passed.

Important Points for Tapering

• Only reduce the medication 2% every fourteen days for the first three reductions. The 2% reduction is based on the original dosage of the medication. The 2% reduction is based on milligrams.

• Never skip any days of taking the medication.

• Always take your medication at the same time each day.

• If you take your medication more than once each day, make sure the total reduction of the medication is no more than 2%. It would NOT be a reduction of 2% of each dosage taken during the day. If you are reducing by 5% make sure the total reduced during the day is no more than 5%.

• Take each supplement at least half an hour apart from the drug, but ideally, 1 hour apart. It is much better to take the supplements 1 hour after taking the drug, instead of before the drug.

• Continue with your supplements at the same times and amounts established during the pre-taper.

• Continue taking your supplements at least 45 days after you take the last dosage of your medication.

• Remember to fill out your Daily Journal each day and keep taking all the supplements exactly as you did at the end of the pre-taper.

After 3 full reductions at the 2% reduction rate you can increase the taper to a 5% percent reduction of the medication every fourteen days.

What to Do if Side Effects Begin

Withdrawal side effects can happen, but addressing them early and knowing what to do will usually make them short-lived and keep them mild as well.

If Withdrawal Side Effects Turn On During the Taper:

Do not reduce the medication again until the symptom goes away. This usually takes a few days or less, and then you can resume the taper.

Do not start making wholesale changes to your daily routine.

• If you are having anxiety or insomnia that will not go away and you have tried adjusting the Body Calm and Body Calm Supreme as described in the pre-taper, this would be the time to use the Essential Protein Formula and biotin.

• Take 1 scoop of Essential Protein Formula every 2 hours during the daytime and 2 scoops at bedtime.

• If you are having depression or a feeling that depression is starting, take 5,000 mcg of biotin in the morning and 5,000 mcg of biotin around noon.

Sometimes, increasing a supplement the day before you reduce the medication will be all that is needed. If you are taking 1 Body Calm every 2 hours during the daytime, the day before lowering the medication, increase the Body Calm up to 2 capsules every 2 hours. Stay at that level for 3 days and then reduce the Body Calm back down to 1 every 2 hours again. The same can be done with the Body Calm Supreme during the daytime or at bedtime for sleep.

If these options do not stop the side effects, you will need to go back up to the last dosage of the medication before the side effects started, stay at that level for 14 days and then begin reducing the medication again, but at a reduced amount from there forward.

If you were reducing at 5% and that is when the side effects started, go back to reducing by 2% again.

Tapering off the medication can be this simple. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 1-866-892-0238 or
info@theroadback.org.

Once you are completely off the medication, follow the chapter Once Off All Medication.