I've been on 1mg of a benzo four times a day for over ten years. I'm so upset that my pdoc didn't say how bad it is to get off them.
Ive never abused them - but he wants me to jump down to 3x a day. I drink no alcohol and use no drugs other than prescribed. I don't know if that is too fast, he didn't say what, and I don't know if he knows what he's doing. I have bipolar disorder, chronic pain (benzo has muscle relaxing properties), C-PTSD, OCD, GAD, Social Anxiety and Panic disorder. Geez....I'm terrified. Plus, I'm disabled from all the foregoing.
I know now it is best for almost everyone to get off Benzos, but I think I may be an exception. Especially as there is only dependence, not addiction, and he has been a good pdoc....certainly he's written those scripts out for ten years for a reason. They aren't even PRN. Take 1mg every six hours. I was on Xanax but asked to be switched to Klonopin.
Any worlds of insight or just hope, I appreciate! Please PM me if you prefer. I appreciate the support.
Stopping benzos doesn't have to be a horrible experience if you do a nice slow taper. It's great that you switched to Klonopin as that lasts longer than Xanax, and in a way you are already familiar what a taper will feel like as Xanax tends to be the most recreational of all of the prescribed benzos. You have a couple of options; you can switch to diazepam now as this is the easiest benzos to taper [long half-life] or you can taper more off of the Klonopin and then switch to the diazepam when you are at lower doses of the Klonopin. Seeing that you take it every six hours you may want to just switch to diazepam. Diazepam is also much more convenient to get in smaller units, and most compounding pharmacies will be able to mix a 1mg solution for you. This is important as you do not want to rush the taper, and having to cut/break pills gets to be difficult depending on the dose. Also, cutting/breaking pills is not consistent so your doses are variable, and ideally you want to know exactly what you are taking.
I think decreasing Klonopin by a pill at a time is too fast, but you can negotiate that out with your doctor. I am going to include the link to the Ashton Manual at the end of my post which details how to do a comfortable benzo taper - it is the Gold Standard of stopping benzos. If at any point you begin to feel bad in your taper you can always slow it down more. The reason why you read about people having horrible experiences when stopping benzos is because they either stopped cold turkey or they tapered too quickly. Physiologically when that happens the body is unable to regulate the neurotransmitter glutamate which causes excessive glutamate which ultimately does neurological damage, which is why people feel terrible for so long as it takes a long time for the body to recover and heal from that condition (
Excitotoxicity. Once that process initiates very real damage is happening which will take time to heal which is why it's important to not go too quickly with the taper, particularly at the end. This is why I mentioned the diazepam as there is no good way to measure pills accurately when you are breaking/cutting them, and you don't want to just quit when you're down to a quarter of a Klonopin, that is still too high to just stop comfortably. Please let me know if you have any questions. I know you're nervous about tapering but if done correctly it does not have to be an uncomfortable situation. Also, feel free to message me any time. Take care and good luck!
Here is a link to the Ashton Manual - you may want to share this with your doctor and come up with a decent taper schedule.
Ashton Manual
This post is about abuse/withdrawal and I don't want to hear how bad they are. I understand.
So I recently got into benzos in june of 2016. I wanted to try them because most recreational drugs that I use give me anxiety and these were amazing when I first started taking them. I also have an anxiety disorder but a VERY well understanding on drug abuse and what It looks like and what It can do. I've tried every drug but I only like weed and I drink now from time to time. BUT I'm very self aware and I like to kill problems before they become too big.. xanax is one of those things that you can't take for granted. Knowing the dangers of addiction I thought I was smart enough to fuck around with xanax (yes, I know..) Over the course of a couple months I have been on and off using/abusing xanax sometimes I will give myself a week inbetween sometimes a little more. Sometimes days in a row. It's wierd. And I have experienced minor withdrawls after abuse but they shodtly subside after a couple days. I don't know a good amount about benzos, and Because I'm not getting them pharmaceutically, I don't know which benzos I'm taking. Like why are greens bars so much more expensive than white bars when they are the exact same chemical and same amount of milligrams but different pharmacy? And how fast am I building a tolerance when I'm taking these? Who know's if they're 2mg's or pressed. I love the high. Hate dealing with this.. I guess my question is how many mg's of xanax is needed over how much time to experience those nightmarish withdrawals??? Trying to keep it chill. Don't wanna end up regretting this.
Ps I'm 19
Zaravoth1 -
1.
Like why are greens bars so much more expensive than white bars when they are the exact same chemical and same amount of milligrams but different pharmacy?
It could be a number of reasons - profit margin, cost to the pharmacy, generic or name brand, ingredients, etc. Some differences between name brand meds and generic meds are that the name brand med uses a more expensive more bio-available ingredient where as the generic uses a cheaper less bio-available ingredient thus making the generic less expensive and less functional for the users. Are you certain the ingredients are exactly the same? Do you know the manufacturing companies for each?
2.
I guess my question is how many mg's of xanax is needed over how much time to experience those nightmarish withdrawals?
One the surface it may seem like there is a quick and easy definitive answer but what you are asking is very complex, especially with benzos. There are many variables such as which benzo specifically because their half lives are different and this is a big influence in tolerance and addiction. It's much easier to get addicted to Xanax than it is to get addicted to diazepam because the half life of diazepam is longer so it stays in your system longer, where as the half life of Xanax is very quick which requires more frequent dosing.
There is not a specific mg amount that will determine addiction. Addiction to benzos seems to be more related to a dosage/frequency ratio, how much for how long. For example, someone can take .25 mg of Xanax and get horribly hooked if they took that daily for years (me). However, some people can get hooked in a matter of weeks if they play into tolerance and keep increasing their dose with each subsequent use (many threads about this in The Dark Side).
Some people manage to use them three times a week and get addicted, some people use three times a week and do not get addicted...it depends on the type, dose, and frequency. I will say Xanax is one of the most insidious of benzos because of the short half-life...if you are already experiencing withdrawal or "rebound" symptoms then put more days in between the days that you use. Based on some of the info you have mentioned, you are walking that line. I will also add that if you switch to a longer acting benzo you will be in a better position to avoid a nasty addiction, however, the longer acting benzos don't feel nearly as good as Xanax and it's hard to switch once you're used to Xanax (I'm keying in on Xanax because you mentioned it but am not certain that is what you are taking). I had an open running script to Xanax for a decade and hated when I ran out as the other benzos were worthless to me - they didn't feel good or take the anxiety away. It would be safer for me to ask you directly what are you taking, how much are you taking, and what is your dosing schedule to give you an answer.
