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14
TAPERING CHALLENGES
• If you experience challenges with tapering, your healthcare
provider will first recommend slowing or temporarily pausing
the taper. If this is not effective, your healthcare provider
may recommend additional treatments, including counseling,
therapy, or other medications. In general, your healthcare
provider may try to avoid other medications that impact
benzodiazepine receptors.
• Try to avoid skipping any doses during the tapering process,
as this can worsen withdrawal.
• Some patients may experience withdrawal symptoms between
doses depending on how quickly their body processes the
medication. Talk to your health care provider if this is
happening to you. Your provider may recommend switching
to a longer-acting benzodiazepine or more frequent dosing to
prevent withdrawal symptoms between doses.
Not all health care providers have specialized training or
experience managing challenging benzodiazepine withdrawal.
The guidelines and this patient pocket guide can help you
advocate for your needs.
If you are experiencing tapering challenges you can consider
working with a specialist such as a medical toxicologist, addiction
psychiatrist, addiction medicine doctor, or psychiatric pharmacist.
