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I was also on 40mg a day, though for not as many years. I would taper, the lowest I could get would be around 3.5mg. It sounds great, but the last few mgs is the hardest as I'm sure you know. Then the pain would be unbearable and I would be go straight back to 20mg! I even ended up in hospital for tapering too fast! This cycle went on for a few years.

I am now off benzos completely and I do have a very useful suggestion for you. That is if you have the time and the money to travel to Peru (the best country for it, Iquitos in Peru being the best place).

Basically, what healed me is the special plant medicine, 'Ayahuasca'. Ayahuasca is an entheogen, not a halluinogen or anything that can be compared to LSD or anything like that. It is very, very different and is not something one takes for fun or to abuse. Ayahuasca is not in any way addictive. Ayahuasca itself is a mix of the Ayahuasca vine and Chacruna leaves which they use in South America. While the Ayahuasca vine is legal in Europe and, I think, the US, the Chacruna leaves are illegal. Hence why one has to travel to Peru where everything is legal and respected.

There are many good healing centres in Peru, a simple google search and you will see for yourself. For myself, I admit I had, in pain, tapered quickly down to 10mg before I arrived. However, I was clean in 3 weeks only! I did drink the Ayahuasca medicine every two days and was given other plant medicines. Ayahuasca with addiction works wonders.

While it would be wrong for me to say which Ayahuasca centers I prefer, as that would be seen as advertising, it is important to pick the right place for you and not just judge by the price or some flashy website. Initially I went to a centre where there was a professional counsellor who was also an ex-addict, (heroin and alcohol). This person helped me a lot, I owe my life I feel, really a true angel! Of course as well as the Shaman who healed me.

One should note that Ayahuasca is not safe to take alone, the need to go to Peru (or Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia...) is so that you have the healing of the 'Shaman'. To be a Maestro Shaman takes around 20 years to learn and that is where they all live.

Shaman call, whistle and sing Icaros to the spirit doctors who come and do the healing to each person. There are 'positive' spirits and also 'negative' spirits. A strong Maestro Shaman can easily scare away the 'negative' spirits and can fill the Maloka (place where the ceremonies happen) full with positive, healing spirits which will heal you. If done alone, you could end up worse than you were before, attracting negative spirits, so for that it is to be taken seriously and done with a proper Maestro.

Anyway, just a suggestion but it has healed me and worked also for countless others. Do your research if interested.