Increasingly, I'm beginning to think that life, long term on benzos is better than not. I just jumped back on the train after 9 months off after 1.5 years ago. That said, I tried seroquel, I tried kava, I tried etizloam (didn't work that well actually), and I tried gabapentin. Gabapentin worked the best, but I still found that it negatively affected my cognition, but not as bad as seroquel. Kava in high doses works well, but doesn't last very long and it gets really expensive ordering the good stuff. Seroquel caused incredible cognitive decline. My job is fairly complex finance, and my ability to write, accurately enter data, create financial models... all was absolutely terrible. I could barely even speak without stuttering. But, I didn't feel anxious and slept great. I tried some black market ambien a bit, and it helped with sleep, but that's about it. No anxiety reduction during the day like seroquel. Ambien will prolong withdrawal.
Ask yourself why you want to quit. If you're a hardcore junkie and popping 10mg a day of xanax, maybe it's best to stop. I used 10mg of diazepam a day, and I had zero side effects. From the research I've been able to discern, you either can get off benzos easy, or you can't. If you can't, it might just be wise to accept the fact that your brain chemistry is just ill-suited to modernity.
