Benzodiazepine Withdrawal support

[nick222]

Thanks for your words of support @Charon. The support I have received here has honestly been one of the things that have kept me going.

[quickfix]

@ nick222 Good to hear that your feeling good, your most probably right the metabolites will still be in your system for about a solid 8 days after your binge.

As the levels drops (you will feel it on which day the wd start to kick in) take the lowest possible dose where you can function but the withdrawals are still in effect. Otherwise if you take a dose where your feeling good again it's just stabilizing and not tapering I'd certainly switch over from klon to diaz and taper down from there.

2mg klon is a rough equivalent 40mg diaz so take it slow switching over a period of 4 weeks minimum Id say. I would switch over by reducing 0.5mg klon and introducing 10mg diaz for each 0.5mg of klon reduction. Take it slow if you can and don't rush it, once you switched over to diaz and klon out the picture. Reduce your diaz dose by 5-10% per week (assuming your starting diaz at 40mg)

I had to taper from 80mg diaz, the first half was quite easy at about 5mg reduction a week for 2 months.
Then 40mg to 20 which I am at now has been a little slower I was reducing 2mg a week, now I am at a plateau where I feel the need to get used to the current dose before going lower which is fine but just don't updose what ever you do.

You can stay at a certain dose for a while if your finding it difficult and God knows It's been hard before starting to reduce again. Please stay away from Alcohol and caffeine if you consume any of them, I can't tell you enough how much of a difference it has made this time round tapering down. Before it was just a roller coaster I thought i'd never come off. For now I will stay at 20mg for a week or two before going further down.

Please keep us updated on your journey, best of luck
QF

[Glousck]

I'm past the initial BZD withdrawal stage and into PAWS (Post-Acute Withdrawal Symptoms). Except I don't know if I'm actually going through Paws or if this is just depression/anxiety that has returned even worse from before I started taking the buggers. After all we are all self-medicating here for something. I know after 3 months, 6 months a year...thinfs will feel better...but right this second I feel simultaneously so numb and so low. My relationships are becoming stilted with friends and family because I struggle to even talk to anyone at the moment, it's too anxiety inducing to mess age people, reply to people or even leave my house to see people. I went to the gym earlier and worked out first thing this morning but I didn't get any 'feelgood' dopamine hits I would usually get. Aside from. That I'm just going through the motions of going to work the two days I'm there, getting the job done and coming home. I know if I take a benzo right now I would be able to talk to friends and family, I would be able to have an active social life like before, I would be able to live without fear. And that would be great. For a month. And then mental instability would arise again and I'd be at square 1, or even square - 1. With withdrawal from benzos you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. I feel like I'm trapped in my own mind and the clock is ticking so slowly for my prison sentence to be up.

Sorry for the rant, just having a pity party. I wish I'd never discovered how amazing benzos are because if there were because if the side effects came with much less severity, I would probably be on them for the rest of my days. This isn't a life I have right now.

[Chris5555]

I wish I would have brought this up earlier it would have helped some people. But there is a drug called Librax. It prescribed for stomach discomfort issues discomfort acid reflux etc. It has ("chlordiazepoxide" and clidinium bromide) and it is not a controlled substance. Chlordiazepoxide is Librium okay, and its in such a small quanity that there is no recreational or mood altering value. But it it can help tremendously to get you off of benzos. Chlordiazepoxide and diazepam were the first benzos synthesized and are both very long acting in terems of half life and plasma concentrations. It can really help you gradually come off the benzos safely, and the other option is Fioricet without codeine. It has a mildly small amount of butalbital in it which is a barbituate but I would stronly recommend the Librax first choice. Matter of fact Im fixen to start a thread to bring awareness to people who are unaware of Librax and how it can help them wean off. Another taper tool.

[MoJim]

It's the short acting benzos which hit harder and faster, benzos with long half-lifes (kpin, diaz) take much longer to wear off but the symptoms are just as bad. I've been on both types for  few months now.

For the xannys and halcion poppers out there, it's the anxiety which hits the next day and keeps on building. Switching to a longer-acting benzo will quell the symptoms (for me anyway- but i feel stupider after switching lol).

For all the kpin, valium lovers (myself included) symptoms start with a nasty cold but manageable anxiety in the start.

I've never finished a taper successfully. Heck, i barely lasted 3 weeks at best: one quarter of the ashton tapering schedule. Well if you are a light benzo taker (<1.5mg alp per day) the duration and suffering will be shorter and sweeter. Myself am not so fortunate so I'm in this for the long haul. The tapering schedule can be done with prep, discipline, and as am discovering, lots of self-compromise but I'm quite certain i can quit eventually. But I have no idea if i can deal with the crippling anxiety. That's what frightens me the most.

Ah well. Que Sera Sera

 "but I have no idea if i can deal with the crippling anxiety. That's what frightens me most" I'm in the same boat. I'm not in a true tapering regimen, just trying to reduce. But you're right about still dealing with anxiety after getting off bezo's Will we just be back at square one? I think when I'm truly off all bezo's, I'll need to make a complete lifestyle makeover.

[nick222]

To be honest I have fallen off the wagon again. It hasn't been as severe as last time (I don't remember 2013 happening at all), but I can see it coming to an end badly. At the moment I am only taking at night time because a couple of weeks back my work bestie asked me if I was drunk. I can't risk losing my job, but I'm popping a pill the moment I'm on the train home.

TBH I am scared about whatever happens either way: the physical withdrawals (I've had seizures from withdrawals in the past) or once again hitting rock bottom, cleaning up and spending 3 years getting my life back on track. My dream is to create a taper plan, stock up on exactly enough and stick to it perfectly, but I know myself too well to even pretend that's going to work.

I have never told anybody, never once, that I have a problem. The ultimate irony is that I get anxious and panic any time I pick up the phone to call a counsellor.

Thought I might give you guys an update since it's been a while- I made it through alright, managed to keep my dog and house. Did a very rapid taper dropping down to 0.5mg clonazepam a day and then making do with a small supply of Lyrica. Managed about 3 months off drugs before I work stress started piling up and I relapsed- a bit harder to get them now than logging into that 5-letter website, but I am doing alright. 

I have taken a short break from work, started taking anti-depressants again. Neither of those things are negatives in my eyes. I certainly feel a lot more optimistic about the future now.