I titrated down from 30 mg of temazepam I was on for 2 years (and starting to get tolerance withdrawal symptoms) to around the 8 or 9 I"m at now for the last two years. It took me quite a while to titrate because I had NO IDEA I was so addicted. I still think the drug saved my life, as our building at the time was undergoing demolition/renovation by a developer, 150 of 268 apartments were gutted completely (floors, walls, you name it), the lobby was basically torn down and rebuilt, the basement walls were jackhammered out for picture windows and a glass atrium (burning out five jackhammers a day sometimes). The amount of noise, and floods, leaks, workers, dust, was so horrifying and I was on the second floor in back, they'd start at 6:30 am under my windows and it would go on for twelve hours a day sometimes. The benzo put me to sleep at 10:30 so I could get 8 hours of sleep, and besides, it calmed my shattered nervous system.
Even so, I don't think they're necessarily good drugs--they are really addictive, and over a certain level, can be toxic, I think. At the level I'm at now I tolerate it really well, but stopped titrating when we moved and began to travel and our lives became uncertain. If I can settle down, I'll continue to titrate but may choose to stay on very low doses such as maybe 4 mg a night as I think its good for my physiology and genetics, but that's a personal choice.
Temazepam is said to be half as strong as valium. I'm not sure how they figure that out. It's fairly short acting compared to valium. I think klonipin is said to be 10 times as strong as valium. Anyway.
I felt my body had become accustomed to temazepam and my intuitive feeling was I did not need to switch to a different drug. They all have somewhat different molecular shapes that your receptors adapt to. In addition I personally did NOT want valium which has a really long half life. So I just stuck with what I was taking and titrated using it.
The reason I titrated at all was when I went from 30 mg to 27 mg, thinking that 10% was nothing, I was thrown into serious withdrawal and had insomnia for THREE months as a reaction...even when I went back up to 30. I then realized my particular vulnerability to this drug and began water titration.
Water titration can get ANYBODY off of a benzo but it requires patience and listening to your body. All you need is a glass or plastic cylinder (they recommend 250 but i use 100), a syringe without needle (in the beginning I was only taking out a few millileters, so I used a small syringe. Later I was taking out so much, I used a bigger 35 or 60 ml syringe). You need a small battery operated portable blender. And I use the same two toddler cups one red one blue. The red is for "refuse" ie the waste water and the blue is what I'll drink later that night.
My pill is a capsule/powder. If your pill is not you also need a mortar and pestle to grind the pill into powder.
You put it into the 100 (in my case) ml of water you had measured in your cylinder, which you had then poured into the blender. You blend for about a minute. It does not dissolve into the water but instead remains in suspension for about a good 30 seconds. So that's all the time you have. You then pour it into your cup and then put the syringe in and siphon out how much you are going to throw away and then drink the rest. In the beginning, I just threw away a few milliliters. I could go down therefore a fraction of a dose. I found my body tolerated going down about 0.3 milligrams, that would be 1%. I'd stay at that dose for a week then do the next. It was fairly smooth sailing with a few bumps in the road as at some points, you have reached a plateau where your brain actually has to adjust to the new lower dose you're at, and you will feel it, but if you stay at that for a few weeks until you stabilize and have no symptoms of withdrawal, you can then continue titrating down.
It's a really great approach, just be patient. A
