• N&PD Moderators: Skorpio

Benzo long term maintenance therapy (like Methadone-Suboxone therapies for opiates)

We share a lot of common similarities in our stories except that Xanax didn't work for me but Klonopin and Valium most certainly do. The whole thing that I always wonder though is what if I never took that pill and worked through my issues instead of relying on a drug to help me out here and there? I think my life would be vastly different if I wasn't on benzos. I get the interdose withdrawals quite badly from Klonopin (and that's one of the reasons I can't take Xanax let alone the big RUSH I get when it hits me that makes me feel like I'm coming up on a mild psychedelic or pot and makes me panic more before it levels me out) but Valium was honestly a godsend. Unfortunately finding a doctor that will prescribe Valium is about as hard as finding a doctor that will give you 360 Oxys a month. Pretty much impossible unless its the VA.

I'm in the U.S. too and my doctor was giving me 4mg of Klonopin a day for a while and he also gave me a script for both 60 1mg Xanax XRs and at the same time, 90 .5mg IRs. He just didn't know what the hell he was doing. By the time he FINALLY gave me the Valium, I was taking 4mg of Klonopin a day and I chose on my own to start at 60mg of Valium. No problems switching from K to V unlike X to K. X to K was hell on Earth.

I just wish they would stop fucking with what is arguably THE most important neurotransmitter in the brain - GABA - and work on something else.

And I'm in the same camp as you with SSRIs. Although Celexa *might* have helped me. It turned me into a compulsive alcoholic around day 30 of taking it and I was drinking and partying every night til I passed out --- BUT! I was not having any more panic attacks and I went to work every day with no hang over and no more panic attacks while on the phone with customers... I guess its a trade off. I've had Paxil, Wellbutrin, Lyrica, Lexapro, Celexa, Abilify, Geodon, Remeron, Lamictal, Zyprexa, Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin, Valium, Librium, Trileptal, lots of natural supplements, and god knows what else and the only thing that really works for me consistently is Valium. And I agree with you re: benzos and bipolar, depression, etc - except for Klonopin. Klonopin actually depresses me.
 
I should have clarified. Long term usage being favorable over a *clinically supervised (comfort maintained)* withdrawal and reintroduction to life. I'm afraid I may end up being a benzo lifer because I've sunk so low on them, like EVERYBODY eventually does, that I don't like to leave the house. Alcohol abuse is pretty much almost a definite if you're taking clonazepam (read online - something about clonazepam, just like certain SSRIs, greatly increases the need for alcohol), which does nothing but make things worse and its pretty much unavoidable to have a dose escalation unless you're taking an NMDA antagonist (DXM, memantine, ketamine, PCP, curcumin) - how can life-long benzos be "managed" when you add in the natural, non-abused (I never abused my benzos but still ended up going from as-needed .5mg Xanax to daily .5mg to 3 times daily .5mg to daily 1mg Xanax XR to three times a day 1mg Xanax XR within a year until I ended up being switched to Klonopin after I hit 8mg mixed XR and IR in a *YEAR*) BZD tolerance? I just don't see how its manageable. I have yet to meet a single person who was totally stable on "managed" BZD treatment - I've met more on SSRI treatment that were stable and they've pretty much proven those to be placebo drugs. I don't think it is sustainable by any stretch of the imagination. The goal of BZD treatment should be as a short term stop-gap and other forms of treatment should be incorporated but doctors are all too ready to hand out that Xanax prescription (by and large most would probably agree that it is the biggest "problem" benzo) over sending their patient to a therapist to work through the minor issues that they have. By the time someone is done with BZD treatment, over the long term, they tend to be no better off (in most cases they are worse) than when they started them!

Waiting for consult with my last psychiatrist I met a lady who has Generalized Anxiety Disorder and has been on bromazepam for 15 years. With no apparent loss of efficacy and no change in doses.
Not sure if she takes it as needed, but she did stop 10 years ago for 9 months during her last pregnancy and claims she did felt somewhat bad but it was not unbearable.
She went through 4 doctors until she ended on that regimen, the psychiatrist who prescribed it has already died.
She doesn't know anything about benzos, or withdrawal, it was just prescribed to her and she has took it ever since. She seemed perfectly normal and said it has been a life saver. Ignorance is a bliss.
 
You sure they gave her real Brom? That stuff is worse than Xanax in withdrawal and it builds tolerance within 4 weeks. I don't believe that she was on Lexotan for 15 years with no tolerance. Either they put her on such a low dose that it didn't do anything (might as well be placebo) or she has odd chemistry or they gave her bunk pills to begin with...
 
Probably not relevant to my original question,but my neurologist confirmed through a neurofeedback that I have "generalized anxiety disorder through an excess of stimulating neurotransmitters"
 
Probably not relevant to my original question,but my neurologist confirmed through a neurofeedback that I have "generalized anxiety disorder through an excess of stimulating neurotransmitters"

well when you come off benzo's you most certainly will have an excess of stimulatory neurotransmitters. two sides of the coin

how long have you been on and off these drugs

if you are using them semi regularly you will be getting a very mild withdrawl regularly
 
I do not know of any meaningful assay of neurotransmitter level by means of neurofeedback.....It sounds either quite spurious, or remarkably 'cutting-edge' (with an emphasis on the former). Even so, the proper course of treatment would remain.....
 
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