F1n1shed:
If you can get some gabapentin(Neurontin) or pregabalin(Lyrica) to take with the benzos as you try to taper down, that seems to have allowed me to get by with a lower dose of the benzo without feeling significant withdrawal symptoms. Yesterday, I think I ended up using 5.5mg of clonazepam and still felt some withdrawal effects. Today, I only used 4.5mg clonazepam but also used 600mg gabapentin 3x/day and it felt like there was at most very mild withdrawal symptoms, mostly psychological/mental. This could have just been because I used a higher dose of hydrocodone today (a total of 52.5mg instead of a total of 37.5mg). I imagine phenibut would help just as much or maybe more as it is like a modified version of GABA that crosses the blood brain barrier. These substances can also produce withdrawal if taken long enough, so you should use the lowest amount possible if you choose to try one of those to help you taper down. Phenibut is sold as a supplement and is completely legal and easy to get. Just don't use it for a high as this may cause tolerance or prevent you from reducing tolerance.
The use of an NMDA receptor antagonist can help with the withdrawal and help prevent brain damage from excitotoxicity. There is a prescription medication used for alcohol withdrawal for this purpose, the NMDA receptor antagonist Acamprosate. I will quote the Wikipedia article. It does not mention use for benzo withdrawal but would likely be beneficial for that too as the mechanism that causes excitotoxicity in alcohol withdrawal and benzo withdrawal is the same or at least very similar if I understand it correctly. Here is the quote:
Wikipedia said:
Failure to manage the alcohol withdrawal syndrome appropriately can lead to permanent brain damage or death.[50] It has been proposed that brain damage due to alcohol withdrawal may be prevented by the administration of NMDA antagonists, calcium antagonists, and glucocorticoid antagonists.[51] The NMDA antagonist acamprosate reduces excessive glutamate rebound thereby suppressing excitotoxicity and potential withdrawal related neurotoxicity.[52] A cheaper, non prescription substance would be dextromethorphan, which is metabolized into dextrothrophan, which has calcium channel and NMDA blocking effects. Any NMDA antagonist is likely to be of benefit in alcohol withdrawal, due to the upregulated nature of ligand gated calcium channels due to the downregulated GABAA Cl- channel.
I know DXM worked very well at reducing the withdrawal symptoms I was experiencing, though it took a pretty high dose. I assume acamprosate would have far less psychoactive effects than DXM. Perhaps you could get acamprosate prescribed or maybe from an online pharmacy if you want to try that. I may look into that myself to see if it would help me taper down faster without the fairly minor but still at times unpleasant residual withdrawal symptoms I feel at times as I am beginning to taper my dose down.
PillToChill:
I'll definitely keep in mind that you could be of help and I'll PM you if I start having trouble. And this is not something that anyone should try to do cold turkey. I was having some major issues - jerking body movements, blood pressure that reached at least 186/114 (highest systolic and diastolic pressures I measured during the ordeal), and a body temperature that got as high as 100.8F. That is just some of what happened. I think I would have been in big trouble if I had been unable to get that clonazepam.
I'll keep everyone updated on how I am doing.
I made a post a little while back about a suicide plan I intended to carry out on September 7th. I am not going to do that. I really do not want to die. I did for a while, but that has changed. I also posted about my sleep apnea. I have figured out a way to keep myself from turning over on my back in my sleep and it seems to have stopped that. My mom had been coming in to check on me because I normally was breathing very noisily between the pauses in breathing, I guess because I breathe normally when not on my back and she was not hearing me as she usually does. She says I have stayed off my back and she has not seen any apnea spells since then. It seems I will be able to manage that without treatment as long as I can continue to stay off my back while sleeping.
My sleep schedule is messed up. Been sleeping all day and up all night. I'll stay awake the rest of the night and tomorrow to try to fix that.
I am going to smoke 2mg 25C-NBOME in just a little while. I am feeling just fine at the moment and it has been a while since I have used it. I'll measure out another 2mg to smoke in 2 or 3 hits later to keep it going through the day. No more than that, and that is for sure. It is a high dose, but not dangerously high. I don't intend to go higher than that with that substance ever again in the future. I have before without any serious problems but it is plenty strong at the level I am going to use shortly.
I was going to try to taper off on the hydrocodone too, but I found that it was just too hard to taper down on that and the benzos at the same time, so I'll just focus on the benzo taper for now and I'll try to reduce my hydrocodone use later. I don't see my hydrocodone use as a significant problem right now, but I really need to get my benzo addiction under control so I don't have to be on them all the time.
Edit:
Had to IM it because I forgot that I didn't have a lighter. Coming up very fast. Very intense, but somehow I feel calm even while things seem to be disintegrating. Gonna listen to music (Ozric Tentacles, perfect tripping music, IMO) and I won't be on bluelight much during the trip unless it goes bad. I do intend to post in about 30 minutes when I check my blood pressure just so others will know if it has a significant impact on that at 2mg/intramuscular injection.
Edit:
Just read the responses to that suicidal post I made a few days ago. I really meant it at the time and I thought I would do it. I won't and I am sorry for causing people to worry. I guess there was good reason for anyone who cared. I don't know if it was that hellish benzo withdrawal or something else that changed how I felt. I somehow don't really even feel depressed most of the time since I went through that. I've had some bad mood swings where the thoughts have come back but nothing I think I'd act on and my overall mood and outlook has been at least somewhat positive, especially compared to what I am used to.
Also, I cleared out my inbox just in case someone still wants to send me a message or something. If anyone else happens to be feeling suicidal or wants to talk about benzo withdrawal, my ears are open (or my eyes, since this is the internet). I am not suicidal anymore and I am right now having a hard time understanding why I was so recently.
Also, still plan to volunteer at the animal shelter. I intend to do the application that has to be taken to the police station next week. Not just to do the right thing, I need something to keep me from thinking constantly about drugs (I don't regret using them and have no intention to quit, but I really need to stop abusing them the way I have been).
Edit:
I don't know how much any of you know about sleep apnea and depression, but sleep apnea can worsen or even cause depression. I know it did not cause the depression (I have dealt with that most of my life and I had a really traumatic childhood to contribute to that) but it has likely made it worse. I have no idea how long I have had the sleep apnea but my mom said it was getting a lot worse. I hope what I have been doing to prevent it the last few nights (or days, since I have been sleeping more in the day than night) continues to work.
Edit:
It caused a rise in blood pressure to 154/98 20-30 minutes after injection. Now, maybe an hour later, it is 136/92 pulse 68. It seems that it will raise BP for a short time but it quickly returns to normal (that is a perfectly good reading for me, but higher than the ideal pressure. My new BP medicine added on will hopefully have my blood pressure in a healthier state before long (it can take a few days for it to fully take effect).
Now I am going back away from the computer. There are better things to do tripping