Benzo Frustration. Please Help..

[Dieselsack]

Hey y'all, new to the sight but have been reading for years. Did some searching around but cant find a forum that's answering my exact question.

Im currently prescribed 4mg a day of xanax and 10mg of ambien by my psychiatrist. Ive been taking the xanax for about 4 years now through med school so its safe to say im addicted. My biggest trouble is with sleep, that's why I was prescribed these to begin with.

I only take my xanax at night and usually the full 4mg, never during the day. I also usually burn through my ambien in the first 8-10 nights. Taking 40mg of ambien on top of my xanax dose is not unusual for me as my tolerance is very high and I'm also abusing the drug.

I have expressed my concerns with my psychiatrist and he "suggested" a tapering plan. Hes a hired gun and will pretty much prescribe anything i ask. I dont want to be on these drugs forever but feel completely dependent on them to sleep. We tried Propranolol but it did nothing for me.

I have an appointment with him in a few days and am wondering what anyone in the community can suggest I specifically ask for in terms of a new prescription drug. I need something for the psychological effects not the physiological effects which is why the propanolol did minimal for me. He did say he wont prescribe more/another benzo on top of my xanax so I'm looking for something else that will help thats outside of the benzo category.

Thanks for taking the time to help me out its much appreciated.

 

[Bearlove]

Welcome to the site, I have moved your post over to our 'Other Drug' forum where you may get a few more replies.

 

[SKR]

Hi Larkaya, You're a doll, I love your enthusiasm and attitude but this may not be the site for you.

Dieselsack - Try Ativan for a change. I alternate between Valium and ativan. You get used to everything if you're on it long enough and I find once I'm out of Ativan (Taken for Panic) then Valium comes to the rescue. Try asking for Ativan, It's a quick acting Benzo that melts in your mouth and not in your hand. Kinda like Larkaya I suspect lol.

 

[barada]

I just came off of a 4 year Xanax addiction myself. I was substituted Klonopin as a taper med and tapered relatively fast over 6 weeks and I was at roughly your dose of 4mg Xanax a day. I have been off Xanax (and Klonopin) for 4 months now.

I imagine your doctor will prescribe Klonopin or Valium to taper with as they have a longer half-life compared to the short acting Xanax. I would suggest taking your time with the taper.. I don't feel I gave myself enough time with 6 weeks and I now suffer a slight affliction of Parathesia (pins, needles, bugs under the skin). I started with 3mg Klonopin a day and did not feel the parathesia until the last 1mg. That should have been queue to slow the taper however I was in a hurry to detox from the menacing Benzos. I have not been able to consult a single doctor that knows what I am experiencing however I have read dozens of cases of benzo detox stating they have this affliction and Gabapentin or Pregbalin are prescribed to alleviate the symptoms.

Best of luck to you.. Stick with it, it is hard to kick but is obtainable. Just use me as an example of how to NOT taper and take your time.

 

[steewith2ees]

Some good answers here, but the commonality is that you will have endure further benzodiazepine prescriptions to taper you safely off Alprazolam. We do not use Clonazepam for this purpose in the UK but as a long acting derivative I would imagine it is fit for purpose.

In the UK and we almost exclusively use diazepam or chlordiazepoxide for alcohol, barbiturate and benzodiazepine withdrawl, the second of which has an advantage due to its relatively low abuse potential compared to other benzodiazepines and its availability in tablet form at extremely low doses.

You may already be aware of this so my apologies if I am stating the obvious, but Professor C Heather Ashton DM, FRCP is one of the worlds leading experts on benzodiazepine detoxification and should give you soe good insights into the mechanics and best practises in this area.

Link: benzo.org.uk (AKA 'The Ashton Manual') >>>>http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/

Good luck!

 

[JBrandon]

I am in a stunningly similar position OP, and I switched to a diazepam taper. I highly recommend it.

 

[DoctorMolecule]

I am in a stunningly similar position OP, and I switched to a diazepam taper. I highly recommend it.

Valium, the quick acting long half life 'too Narcotic' benzo. Anxiety relief rolls into the next day

 

[EscapeFromFreedom]

Yes, a lot of doctors in US prefer Clonazepam to Diazepam due to Diazepam's bad reputation and a perceived "safety" of Lorazepam or Clonazepam. I still believe that a diazepam taper is the best way to go. Clonazepam is a very potent benzodiazepine and has a very powerful physical dependence profile compared to Diazepam. However, it is sometimes impossible to switch people from Alprazolam to Diazepam because of such difference in potency. Per equivalency tables 1mg Alprazolam is 20mg of Diazepam, so that's why it makes sense to switch someone from 4mg Alprazolam to 4mg Clonazepam instead.

However, someone who is on 1mg Lorazepam can more easily switch to 10mg Diazepam and taper off from there.....

http://www.benzosupport.org/
http://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm

Yes, a lot of people use Gabapentin for tapering, and it really helps some people, but not everyone. I'd caution against heavily relying on heavy psychotropics such as Depakote, Risperdal or Lamictal and would also stay away from Z-drugs as they are cross-tolerant with benzodiazepines. I also think that Zyprexa/Olanzapine can be very dangerous.

 

[Anyx]

Hey, Afobazole, Selank, Phenibut, Kava Kava, Honokiol would ease your pain strong !

With Afobazole you can also upregulate your gabaa receptors. Selank is maybe the most powerful anxiolytic, i find i stronger than benzos

 

[Dieselsack]

Wow, Thank you everyone for the replies. I feel better knowing I'm not alone in dealing with this. Its tough to talk about sometimes and can leave you feeling a bit isolated.

SKR- Thank you for your input I will be sure to look into this before I go see my doc again as a possibility. Thank you.

Barada-This was actually a technique me and my psychiatrist talked about but I was semi hesitant because Im worried about the longer half life spilling into the next day. I dont want to have the "benzo" feeling in the morning. Whats your thoughts on that?

Steewith2ees- I actually did not know that and will be sure to talk to my doc about what you proposed. My only concern is with the longer half life. I just need the calming feeling to go to sleep. Im worried ill wake up with it still in my system. Ill be sure to check out the link you provided me with as well.

JBrandon- Its tough man but knowing someone else has done it successfully lets me know thats its possible. Thank you for reaching out I appreciate it.

EscapeFromFreedom- I like the idea of bridging between clonazepam to diazepam. Your rational seems very logical and ill be sure to bring that in with my notes for my visit next week. Thank you.

Anyx- Im not sure about looking for something stronger Ideally im looking to come off completely. Thank you for your input though.

 

[Dieselsack]

steewith2ees- Thank you for that website it has some great content for properly coming off and a tapering schedule. It gives great morning, noon, and night breakdowns but I only take my xanax at night. Would you think just tapering down the xanax at my usual nighttime dose over the course of 20-25 weeks would be wise?

 

[steewith2ees]

steewith2ees- Thank you for that website it has some great content for properly coming off and a tapering schedule. It gives great morning, noon, and night breakdowns but I only take my xanax at night. Would you think just tapering down the xanax at my usual nighttime dose over the course of 20-25 weeks would be wise?

I would personally er on the side of caution here Dieselsack and get this properly assessed by a physician experienced in this area before you do anything. You have been on a seriously high dose for a long time and I would be wary about making any adjustments but this is a perfectly manageable and well understood problem and as you were Rx'd into this position by your health care provider you should be entitled to receive the full and proper care to withdraw safely from the same.

They may advise this very course of action but again (and these are my personal thoughts only) while withdrawing from any benzodiazepine can be dangerous if not done with care, it can be particularly hazardous with short / intermediate duration of action drugs. As they eliminate themselves from ones system so quickly, the patient may be more likely to experience serious problems with little to no warning as opposed to those with long half lives which generally give some indication that serious problems are coming. The withdrawal effects while equally as serious , tend to increase at a slower rate and manifest themselves at a later stage giving the patient an opportunity to access help to prevent further deterioration.

Based on your original post you appear to have a quality psychiatrist who will be prepared to listen to your concerns and preferences and assess what would be the best course of action, including altering your prescription if necessary. Although its easier said than done with the anxious patient, you should not be overly concerned as you obviously have good insight and a responsible approach to the mechanics of this process and it appears that you have the best possible support and access to treatment for this problematic but extremely common and well understood prescription medicine dependence.

 

[Gorillaboy21]

I just tapered and quit an almost 2 year Xanax addiction I picked up on the streets never prescribed to me ...
I was using it to try and quit opiates 2 years ago, and after caving in one way or another and relapsing on opiates day 3-4 I'd notice I'm now physically dependent on the benzos (at the time a mixture of Valium Xanax and k pins)

Well after becoming addicted to gabapentin which I have a thread of here, I realized the dangers if I were to have become arrested and detox cold turkey in jail seizures or if my benzo connect disappeared what would I do? I was so sick of being a slave and fearful of that... I'd kiss my connects ass and wait hours if i have to cause, well, you guys know how bad benzos are when u need them .

So I was taking about 1-3 mgs Xanax a day usually 1.5-2 mgs the 3+ was rare , but anyways I began the taper by cutting in half the dose immediately and taking 300 mgs gaba at night and morning (600 total ) to adjust .
Once I was good with .5 mg Xanax 2-3 time a day I started breaking off .2 pieces

So 1.5 became like 1.25 and my method was to switch a benzo if I could every few days, I had a theory maybe the metabolites would change or some shit lol.

So for 2-3 days I'd take 12.5 mgs Valium
After that 1 mgs Xanax a day
10 mgs Valium
.75 mgs Xanax
7.5 mgs Valium
.5 Xanax supplement 300 mgs gaba if needed
And down to 2 mgs Valium with gaba twice a day for a week and quit jumped off after staying at 2 mgs Valium , I smoked weed a lot it helped and the gaba did too.

Now if my guy disappears or I get arrested I'm not so scared of the benzo withdrawals but rather the opiates withdrawals lol