Benzos Anyone who went through long term benzo withdrawal who got better?

[Trigeminal]

I'm still doing bad, almost 6 months off. Just looking for some success stories here. I was doing great, the first 3 months weren't even bad at all, but starting with my 4th month I started backsliding. Sleeping about 5 hours a night, anxiety is bad, can't concentrate, bite my lips all fucking day like I'm on meth. Anyone have withdrawal that lasted this long, and when did you start getting better? Would anyone recommend an SSRI?

 

[Tommyboy]

I'm looking for the thread now, but there are definitely people that successfully tapered off of benzos.

Edit: Here is the thread.

 

[ErgicMergic]

Do not get on an SSRI, you're past the peak, and almost there, man. You'll be feeling right as rain in 2 months (6 months after your last benzo). You need a restful sleep, though, so take 12.5-25mg doxylamine succinate (Unisom) nightly, and 600mg chelated magnesium with the doxy if that's not enough.

 

[dcraver877]

I never got completely better; its been a couple years now. I was on 1mg clonazepam a day for about a year.

I have tried supplements like magnesium, l-theanine, taurine, etc. but they all stop working very quickly unfortunately.

i also went through a phenibut phase

 

[carolinablues]

i got completely through my benzo withdrawals within about 4 months. unfortunately i largely had the symptoms mistaken for the longer lasting symptoms of opiate withdrawal and started suboxone. i was very anxious and couldn't sleep well. my anxiety was so bad i caused a stomach ulcer to form and am now prescribed zantac daily for it. my stomach is still f*ed up but am much better now, about 9 months later. i was on 2-3 mg clonazepam and lorazepam daily for about a year.

 

[highhooked]

Go the herbal route man. Kratom, kava, kanna, st johns wort all that good stuff. Mostly kratom and kava combo.

 

[hightimes223]

I would say it is a bit unusual for it to take that long. Maybe talk to a doc? I just know it doesn't usually last as long as you have been dealing with it.

 

[Tommyboy]

^ It actually isn't that unusual. Peoples personal experiences are probably going to be more helpful than a doctors advice for something like this, unless the doctor has been through benzo withdrawal him/herself.

 

[fivelinefury]

I'm still doing bad, almost 6 months off. Just looking for some success stories here. I was doing great, the first 3 months weren't even bad at all, but starting with my 4th month I started backsliding. Sleeping about 5 hours a night, anxiety is bad, can't concentrate, bite my lips all fucking day like I'm on meth. Anyone have withdrawal that lasted this long, and when did you start getting better? Would anyone recommend an SSRI?

Hey mate, first off, congratulations on almost 6 months off benzos. That's quite an achievement there! It never feels like it, but it IS possible to succeed with staying off benzos. I know exactly how you feel, and just today I am relapsing on valium myself. My longest stint being fully clean off benzos has been 2 months in the past 5-6 years, and in some ways it was getting easier towards the end of that 2 months, but in other ways it was getting harder, due to extreme anxiety and lack of concentration, etc, as you mentioned. Everyone is different, but I think it depends on how long and what doses you've been taking will sort of give you a feeling of how hard it might be. But as I said, 6 months is a fantastic effort. And I thought I was good at the time being 2 months clean haha. I'm prescribed an SSRI myself, but only because basically I had to from depression/anxiety that just reached a really bad point. But if you're feeling mentally strong enough, I would steer well clear from SSRIs. If I didn't feel I needed to for my own safety, I wouldn't be taking them myself.

If you feel anxiety is playing a big part in giving you troubles (anxiety is always my main struggle), as highhooked said, there are some herbal alternatives out there. I've tried some of these in the past, like kava, and they do have an effect. But probably more importantly there's a lot of other coping methods which you may already know about, like breathing exercises, meditation, etc. What makes it so hard with benzos though is how effective they actually are with helping anxiety, but in the long term medications aren't always the answer. Hang in there and good luck!

 

[monoamine]

You have to keep in mind as well, at least I would have to for myself, that everyone has symptoms of anxiety try some stretching and meditation for 30 minutes, like the mesenteric limbic system goes into your gut, right? So what you eat affects your feelings? Well same with your muscle tension, and you might have some residually. If I didn't stretch I would insist I was still withdrawing.

 

[TheTwighlight]

Dude, you can do it. Pat your self on the fucking back! That shit is ridiculously hard. I was scripted 16mg clonazepam + 2-3mg alprazolam per day. On top of that I was taking 20-40mg more alprazolam I bought from my dealers. I'm not dick-sizing, I'm just saying how bad it was and how MOTHERFUCKING HARD it was to quit. I fucked up for like 5 years or more before I finally kicked them. I am SOOOO happy to be away from them. But I won't lie, I still think about them, and sometimes think how nice it'd be to take a lil bit of Xanax or whatever...but it's never "a little" for me. It's always a fucking disastrous shitstorm of blackouts and shameful hedonism.

If you're having a rough time, get a script for Neurontin (gabapentin), I swear it works very well for benzo w/d of any kind (immediate, post-acute, etc.). It's easy to get and far less addictive than Lyrica (pregabalin - gabapentin's badass big sister).

Best of luck, man. Better yet, not even luck. Just do it. Tell yourself every fucking day all day that you're gonna beat this shit, it does not fucking control you. It really is a fucking war, and you can win this shit.

 

[fivelinefury]

^ Good on ya man. You sound just like me cept i'm still struggling today after 5-6 years to fully keep off diazepam. Although i've been of all the other benzos for probably a year now. I've heard other people mention gabapentin too, although I've never tried it. Is it something which doctors don't mind prescribing, or am I better off not asking for it? Thanks man.

 

[TheTwighlight]

no, it's easy to get. really never had a problem getting it. i'm scripted it right now because i told my psych i have a serious benzo addiction and i'm off them but my anxiety is fucked. i'm scripted 3200mg/day now (which is an extremely high dose) but i'm pretty messed up from 9 years of xanax/klonopin addiction.

i understand where you're coming from, man, and believe me, i am not judgemental at all. it's a horrible addiction, and it made my meth addiction and oxy/fentanyl addiction look like it they weren't that serious. i kicked that shit and have been off those three for 6 1/2 years. however, it's been less than a year for the benzos. and i will never, ever say never again. every day i say "not today". one day at a time, bro...

much love, dude, you really can do it. i'm sorry you're still dealing with it. it's a serious bitch whore.

 

[BklynQns]

i was on a low dose of Klonopoin for many years, not actually abusing it. but becuase it was for ten years, it was hard to go off. my friend thought if i took a piece of her risperdal it might help. well, thank God, it did. i would take a quarter of a risperdal (it's an anti-psychotic) and it stopped all tremors and took the edge off the anxiety, but it doesn't get you high and is non-addictive. but i would say, just try a small piece of risperdal because a whole one or even a half made me feel i was sliding into a pit. it makes you tired but in a really weird way. but it helped me with tremors that i had for THREE MONTHS even though i was only taking one-half a klonopin every two days and had tapered to even lower than that. risperdal i believe would work for someone who is also coming off of valium or xanax.

 

[DexterMeth]

Try some phenibut on the worst days. It's legal, but don't do it for more than a couple days in a row, every few days or so (MAX). Ideally you shouldn't be using more than once every 2 weeks though.

Lots of exercise and eating right helps the most, it's just most people don't ever do this, or give up.
Getting over the initial handful of months is without a doubt the hardest part, and if you relapse just with a few milligrams on a random night, you are literally starting over. Let your GABA pathways/CNS heal.

 

[BklynQns]

Risperdal is the answer

I just posted a reply to someone having a problem with benzo withdrawal that what helped me were very small doses of Risperdal while going off of Klonopin. Then i noticed afterwards other people asking about Gabapentin (it may help a little but not much) and other things, and people suffering with tremors for months and months, so i really want to reiterate to everyone going through this that RISPERDAL, which is an anti-psychotic that is very commonly prescribed not only for people with psychosis (hearing voices, etc.) but also just people who have tormenting or troubling thoughts that they can't quiet down, worked great in TOTALLY STOPPING TREMORS and in taking the edge off of any anxiety. I will say once again that in my case anyway, i only took a small piece of a pill (not sure of the dose; probably whatever the minimum dosage is) at a time as needed, because a half or a whole pill made me feel very weird, but a small piece will just make the tremors stop and make you feel normal or maybe a little bit tired. it really worked great for me. I took it for 3 months till i noticed all tremors had stopped and i was completely free of symptoms. so PLEASE BELIEVE ME, if it worked so well for me (i was on a low dose of Klonopin but was very much hooked since i did take it for 10 years) it should work for many other people!!!!

If you don't know anyone who is on Risperdal, maybe tell a doctor you have tormenting thoughts and can't concentrate on anything and have heard Risperdal is goo for that, in order to get a prescription.

 

[ErgicMergic]

Let your GABA pathways/CNS heal.

Word. The earlier you let your brain start upregulating (upmodulating with GABA since benzos are alosoteric modulators) GABA, the faster you'll be back to normal. Even with the absolute worse benzo addictions, people are better after 6 months clean, and within a year most are pretty darn normal.

Stay away from GABAergic for now, since you'll be dealing with exaggerated rebound anxiety after they wear off compared to non-benzo addicted folks.

 

[DexterMeth]

A fat prolonged daily dose of vitamin-D helps a lot too.
The medical field didn't even start reckognizing this as something integral to general physiological & psychological health until a handful of years ago.

 

[RxSedation]

I was prescribed 2mg Xanax 3 times daily and 1 mg Klonopin 3 times daily (I know 2 benzos - my doc is a quack I guess lol) Anyways I started getting to the point where I needed to take like 10mgs of Xanax just to feel alright after 6 years of taking them. I decided to detox from them and it was by no means easy but once you get over that hump you are experiencing - you will be so happy you did it. It took me around the same time it has you for me to start feeling somewhat normal - But it definitely is possible

 

[Tommyboy]

I was prescribed 2mg Xanax 3 times daily and 1 mg Klonopin 3 times daily (I know 2 benzos - my doc is a quack I guess lol) Anyways I started getting to the point where I needed to take like 10mgs of Xanax just to feel alright after 6 years of taking them. I decided to detox from them and it was by no means easy but once you get over that hump you are experiencing - you will be so happy you did it. It took me around the same time it has you for me to start feeling somewhat normal - But it definitely is possible

To be honest, I was more surprised at the doses than the fact that you were scripted two benzos.

Congrats on detoxing off of that though.