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Benzos Long-term Benzo/Lyrica Dependence

B

Blirna

Greenlighter
Joined
Sep 24, 2018
Messages
21
I was prescribed Lyrica 150mg 3x daily, 1mg Klonopin 2x daily, also 30mg Restoril at bedtime for ~10 years, but then came all these new studies, showing that benzos could cause dementia later in life. Most of the doctors I see in the hospital won't give you benzos anymore, especially with a drug abuse history, and it's been so hard to get any relief. I finally found a Dr that would prescribe me the Lyrica 150 3x daily, but when I got back to my outpatient clinic, they took me right back off of it. I'm losing my mind here. I've been off of Benzos and Lyrica for almost 3 years now, with some dosing like once every 4 months, but I just can not get over the rebound anxiety... I can't get any kind of relief from any of the Antidepressants, Buspar, Propanolol, Antipsychotics, Mood Stabilisers, Vistaril, Benadryl, NOTHING. None of it will provide even a small amount of relief. The only thing I've found is this drink called Sippin' Syrup, which contains a whole lot of calming plants, Chamomile, Kava, etc, but I have to drink at least 2 or 3 of those, just for a tiny bit of relief. Neurontin has been the only thing that kept me sane all of this time, but it can only be absorbed in small amounts. I plan to ask for Gabapentin Enacarbil and/or beg for the Lyrica or Benzo, even a low dose of one of them, if I take random drug tests and random pill counts and promise to never do anything other than what I'm prescribe, and in the right amounts. I'm on TASC right now, so I can't do anything for 6 months anyway. Even exercise and trying to be more social doesn't help, as it's GAD

Anyway, what I want to know is: Does anyone have a similar experience with this? When does the anxiety go away? I have anxiety anyway, but the rebound anxiety is bad. What do you do to manage your anxiety? Please, can somebody help me? I'm scared of living the rest of my life like this..
 
I wasn't on either Lyrica or benzos as long as you but that's a long time to be experiencing rebound anxiety. I feel for you. I guess the best advice I can think of is two options. Either find a doctor and stay on gaba type drugs for life. Or stop all the gaba activating drugs and see if your brain comes back to baseline with time. It's possible your resetting the healing by using every 4 months.

Unfortunately long term benzo use has scary outcomes like this. It's really shitty of your doctor's to just cut you off and wash their hands after prescribing for so long though.
 
cj said:
I wasn't on either Lyrica or benzos as long as you but that's a long time to be experiencing rebound anxiety. I feel for you. I guess the best advice I can think of is two options. Either find a doctor and stay on gaba type drugs for life. Or stop all the gaba activating drugs and see if your brain comes back to baseline with time. It's possible your resetting the healing by using every 4 months.

Unfortunately long term benzo use has scary outcomes like this. It's really shitty of your doctor's to just cut you off and wash their hands after prescribing for so long though.
Click to expand...

I know why they did it: it's because I was dirty for Xanax on a random compliance test they gave me. I didn't even know I was taking a drug test. But still, II thought they would be nice enough to give me a second chance, at least... The rebound anxietyis almost gone now., but my anxiety was bad enough to warrant both drugs in fairly high doses, along with Remeron and Doxepin for Depression, which both are for anxiety. too... I don't use every 4 months reallly, anymore. I'm on TASC now, so I can't doanything, but I'm stuck and don't know what to do anymore.. I'm gonna try a new Dr, if they will accept Medicaid. Using Medicaid is a pain in the ass..
 
That's an awful situation. Finding a new doctor is a great idea! At least he can get you on something for anxiety even if it's not Gaba type drugs. I had good luck with propanalal(sp?) It's a blood pressure meds it helps with the physical anxiety symptoms. Of course it does nothing for your phychological symptoms. Some kind of ssri might help a little. A phychiatrist will be able to try a few things at least.

On the positive side the longer you stay off benzos the better you will feel. You had a long high dose addiction so it's going to take a long time but eventually you'll return to the baseline you started at.
 
Hi Blirna,

At the beginning of the year I quit both Lyrica (600mg per day for several years) and valium (30-40mg per day for 7 years). It was mostly pretty horrible for the first 5 months and I could barely leave the house. I felt like a ruined shell of myself and had similar worries. Now I'm so glad I did it as I feel so much better than I did before I quit.

It took about 6 month to start to feel functional and I only felt back to normal within the last 2 months. Right now I'm a little depressed because of the winter mostly but my anxiety is the lowest it's been in my adult life. Hang in there as you will definitely get better. It's a long recovery compared to other drugs. I felt that clonidine was one of the most helpful non-benzo medications to help with the anxiety and to get some sleep. Kratom is addictive too obviously but I think it helped when I absolutely had to leave the house. Definitely stay away from alcohol. I can hardly drink it anymore and it increases my anxiety for sure.
 
If your concerned about dementa, might want to switch to the naturals. Benzodiazepines are serious drugs. You want to use them without scare tactics, use your brain. Use benzodiazepines as light as you can. Don't depend on them,but use them as a tool. Test some well tested brain enhancers. don't believe all the hype.
 
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