Hi Katt - sorry for the delay in responding. I don't visit as much as I used to.
The tapering went fine, but the final jump was scary. I increased my exercise by nearly half again what I was doing, hung out on the boards more, and went to almost back-to-back meetings for a few days. I talked a LOT about it, to friends, AA/NA folks, my counselor, and it helped a lot. It felt a lot like how I dealt with PTSD trauma, actually. It's very much about staying IN my experience of the moment and NOT making up a story about it ("Oh god I need something or I'll go crazy", etc.). Just staying IN THE MOMENT with what was going on was paramount.
Strenuous exercise, EBT/CBT, Cymbalta, Triletpal (which slows the electrical impulses of the brain) and Seroquel (helped with nightmares and insomnia and agitation) all helped a great deal.
I don't know if this is true for you, but even the thought of experiencing withdrawal again was frightening; the above things (for me), helped de-fang the tiger and I got through it. If that's your experience, too, I'd say to be careful of the weird anti-struggle letdown after the fact - that kind of took me by surprise.
I keep saying this, but I'll say it again: support, support, support. And service - that's starting to really make sense to me. Feeling useful makes me feel strong, less a victim, less fearful, less prone to using. And it doesn't have to be just in a 12-step program. If I make it sort of a mind-set each day, putting others first, it just makes me more receptive to my "higher self", my "strong self" - my AUTHENTIC self, my BEST self.
HTH (and makes sense!).