+1 these are very different things.. anyone can become dependent,, addiction is a whole separate beast..
+1 as well.
I am SEVERELY physically addicted to benzodiazepines at the moment. Specifically - Klonopin. I was switched to it during a recent hospital visit and... it's ruining me. It completely ruins any motivation to do anything at all. I'm supposed to take 2 milligrams twice a day. Once in the morning, and once in the evening
with Temazepam. I already have bad issues with getting up in the morning - so I can't take the Klonopin when I wake up - I'd just fall right back to sleep.
So I've been splitting the morning Klonopin dosage into 4th. 1/4th when I wake up, 1/4th in the afternoon, another 4th in the late afternoon, and the last 4th around 7PM. However... I just recently realized that this... isn't working. I will go into physical withdrawals around 4-5 hours after I wake up. Even after taking the fourths. So I guess I'm going to have to force myself to take 1/2 in the morning and another half in the late afternoon.
Worst of all - I can't take my Adderall because of this dosing regiment. Even MINOR bzd withdrawals make taking Adderall all too dangerous. When I wasn't on Klonopin - I could easily take my prescribed 20 milligrams in the morning and the second 20 milligram dosage in the afternoon, but since I'm experiencing Klonopin withdrawals nearly the entire time I'm awake - taking Adderall makes me feel so jacked up that it completely destroy's any therapeutic value the Adderall had. It makes me feel 'good' for about one, maybe two hours. Then I get manic... instantly.
Adderall never used to do this to me. I could handle it no problem, but since starting this massive benzo dosage - If I want to take Adderall, I HAVE to take a full milligram of Klonopin
with it. Otherwise, I'll get very anxious, and experience bad agitation. Worst of all - when I take the Adderall with the Klonopin - all it does is offset the massive sedation caused by Klonopin. Nothing more. No boost in focus, no boost in energy, no boost in motivation. Just less fatigue.
Fuck me...
Why did I ever start taking the long-acting benzo's?! I hate them. I try as hard as I can to take as little Klonopin as possible without having to experience withdrawals. And while that works - if I take Adderall? I will instantly go into Benzodiazepine withdrawals. Yes - I was legitimately prescribed Klonopin, but how could that doctor think it was responsible to prescribe Klonopin with all the other meds I'm on?!
At the current moment - I'm not psychologically addicted to benzo's at all. In fact - I despise them now and I hate every second of it. But I have no choice because I'm very physically dependant.
Anyways - my point of this post was - I would not say I have an addiction. I take LESS than what I'm prescribed. However,
I am physically dependent. I see my doctor tomorrow - I'm going to tell him that I need to start tapering off this huge benzo dose immediately.