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.

 

[fermonos]

If you aren't exercising much, try 1-2 hours daily. Gym, running, you know? Could work wonders. Also it could be your diet, stuff like coffee close to bed time and sugary foods instead of slow releasing energy rich foods throughout the day.

 

[Dieselsack]

Fermonos,

Im actually a competitive bodybuilder so my diet is pretty damn good and im getting a good 2 hours of weightlifting/cardio a day. I might have to quit the pre workout because i workout very late and that could effect my sleep. Any thoughts on prescriptions? or just try and taper off everything in an ideal world?

Thanks a lot i appreciate the message

 

[T. Calderone]

Ambien didn't work so great for me so my psych doctor gave me temazepam/restoril. The trouble with medications is they seem to be effective early on and then not so much. I hit a wall, too. My blood pressure has been high so I asked my GP for clonidine which she kind of looked at me funny about. But it really does get me a few good hours of sleep when used with temazepam. With your tolerance though, I'm not sure if this would work for you.