Benzodiazapines questions

[meliz]

Ive been taking klonopin .5mg for about 5 weeks and had bad side effects (EXTREME fatigue and depression) My Dr advised me to quit the Klonopin and take .5mg of ativan 3x a day instead (bc I have taken Ativan before). Today is my 3rd day off the Klonopin and on the ativan instead and I am feeling brain zaps and high anxiety. Should I be concerned about this taper? Of course its friday and she isnt in the office until monday. Im not sure if I am just freaking myself into this anxiety or if its bc of the change.
I realize i was on a low dose of the Klonopin and didnt take it long but today Im not getting much relief from the Ativan. So much scary stuff on the internet about Klonopin and benzos in general and I just want to be safe.

 

[shartito]

The Ativan should prevent withdrawals, that’s why your doc is doing it.

I actually JUST started the same thing today. But using diazepam instead of Ativan for my taper.

Honestly you should be okay. I think it might be your mind fucking with you based on what you’ve read and the anticipation and fear of withdrawals.

Plus only being on the kpins for 5 weeks, taking as prescribed, that short time should not have developed a dependence that Ativan can’t handle. If much of a dependence at all.

 

[meliz]

whew ok thanks

 

[Specified]

Will drinking once in a blue moon increase Benzodiazepine tolerance?

 

[Parabolan]

Ive been taking klonopin .5mg for about 5 weeks and had bad side effects (EXTREME fatigue and depression) My Dr advised me to quit the Klonopin and take .5mg of ativan 3x a day instead (bc I have taken Ativan before). Today is my 3rd day off the Klonopin and on the ativan instead and I am feeling brain zaps and high anxiety. Should I be concerned about this taper? Of course its friday and she isnt in the office until monday. Im not sure if I am just freaking myself into this anxiety or if its bc of the change.
I realize i was on a low dose of the Klonopin and didnt take it long but today Im not getting much relief from the Ativan. So much scary stuff on the internet about Klonopin and benzos in general and I just want to be safe.

Try not to think too much about it... ativan will definitely take care of ur anxiety

 

[shartito]

So I’m now on Day 4 of my diazapam taper to get off clonazepam. I was only prescribed 1.5mg a day, plus whatever extra kpins or Xanax I came across “outside of the pharmacy”

1.5 mg a day is a pretty low dose. But because of the longevity (about 2.5 years) the physical dependence is real. And I know it’s real because I’ve felt it on the months where I go through my script too quickly and it was too early to refill. It’s the worst. I’m also an opiate addict, and I’d choose opiate withdrawals over benzo withdrawals any day of the week.

I’m starting with 5mg of diazepam twice a day, for 2 weeks. Then he’s gonna move me to 2mg three times a day for 2 weeks.. then 2mg twice a day, etc... the taper plan he has me on lasts a total of 7 weeks.

So far so good. The diazepam is a roughly equivalent dose of what I was taking of the clonazepam. The only difference is that I’m doing the diazepam twice a day, as opposed to the cpam three times a day. But the longer half life of the diazepam balances it all out.

The real test comes in 2 weeks when I drop down to 6mg total per day. That will be the first real significant drop I’ve done in years.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but it’s on topic. Wish me luck! I’m ready for a benzo-free life.

 

[BlueHair?]

-Lobsterbutch

Tolerance and withdrawals are actually worse and develop with much greater rapidity and velocity with drugs that hit hard and fade fast. IE, quick acting and short lasting. This results in extremely precipitous downregulation.

 

[shartito]

I made my first real jump a couple days ago. Down to 2mg diazepam, three times a day. That’s for one week.

Then 2mg twice a day for one week.

Then 2mg once a day. Yikes.

So far so good though.

 

[keeping]

I made my first real jump a couple days ago. Down to 2mg diazepam, three times a day. That’s for one week.

Then 2mg twice a day for one week.

Then 2mg once a day. Yikes.

So far so good though.

congrats bro, keep it up! rooting for ya

 

[Kallisti23]

Dosing every second day, even if it is a short acting benzo can lead to addiction if done over a longer period of time. You find yourself spending your off days thinking how nice it will be to be able to take it again tomorrow. Soon you're making occasional exception days, I had a stressful day, I'm tired, I'm hungover, could do with a good nights sleep tonight etc, and before long addiction can follow. I followed the very second / third day regimen for a while but soon just ended up having mild withdrawals on any off day. Be careful.

 

[keeping]

Will drinking once in a blue moon increase Benzodiazepine tolerance?

no it won't

 

[pally pete]

'Keif':
Yes, spot on...
'only Saturdays' becomes 'Friday night and Saturday' which becomes 'the weekend only', and eventually the weekend starts on Thursday nights
before you know it using on Tuesdays 'to break up the week' becomes normal and then necessary to avoid withdrawal
And this easily slips into daily usage

It's a slippery slope always

Bang on.

 

[DDK]

As my experience with benzos, I can tell you that it depends on the substance. With alprazolam, because it provided the best thrips, I was able to leave the dosage much lower(about 0.5-1mg) than I left with clonazepam(about 3-4mg), almost daily with alprazolam and just at the weekends with clonazepam.
But everything has its "however." Alprazolam, although it is the best, had a very short duration with me because it is a very expensive medicine and its generics are much lower on pharmacological compositions, which made me look for more genuine alprazolam. A good substitute may be diazepam because you get it in small doses but it comes in a much smaller dosage and you're going to need a lot more prescription. Outside those benzos there are few others but I don't recommend that you use them daily because they get in the middle-term of those 3 I quoted.