TDS Stopping Benzos During Opiate Withdrawal - 2nd W/D? (Need Help For Road Ahead)

[Callus In Brains]

Ill give the background story before asking any questions.

Alright so as of right now I am 7 Days clean from opiates after a two year stretch of daily use. During that time period I was using Oxy, Hydro & Morphine. My habit at its worst was about 100mg Morphine + 80mg Oxy daily. But after a forced cold turkey of 4-5 Days with nothing but tylenol & cigarettes to help, I realized how bad it had actually got. It was one of the worst experiences of my life, and Ive had my fair share. Anyways, that was about 4 months ago and right after that I ended up using Xanax for 3 weeks to stop taking morphine. I havent touched morphine since then, and over the next month I tried to cut my Oxy down but couldnt. Right around the New Year I decided I NEEDED to taper down & get clean. So for a month I used Klonopin (1mg) and managed to taper down to about 30mg Hydro & 20mg Oxy. After I stopped taking the Kpins I noticed the withdrawal was considerably worse then that of Xanax last time. That was 1 month ago.

Since then I had cut to a ~ 40mg before I went cold turkey last Friday. As of right now I am 1 week clean from opiates. Over the last week I have been taking Klonopin & Xanax (~2mg total per day). Today I took my last dose of Benzo's.

(Benzo History: No Tolerance. 3 Weeks Xanax. 6 Weeks None. 5 Weeks Klonopin. 4 Weeks None. 1 Week Klonopin + Xanax)
​

Im quite nervous about not having benzo's anymore. Will I experience withdrawals from the Benzo's? Rebound Anxiety from opiate wd? Also what will Week 2 look like regarding the opiate wd? Im currently still experiencing anxiety, depression, pains, nausea, minor flu symptoms, and insomnia. All bearable right now, but scared of what may lay ahead. Will these symptoms get better or not due to benzo cessation?

Any info, advice, suggestions, tips or words of wisdom that will help me get through this would be great. I fear that Week 2 may be worse then Week 1 (w. benzos). being that the gut wrenching anxiety and aching pain in my chest is what kills me more then anything.

Thank You,
First Time Poster

 

[Oxy_Ghost]

Idk about the benzo situation cuz benzo's were never my DOC so idk what withdrawals are like after that long of use but I can give a little insight about the opiates. It may differ a little due to the benzo's but anyways...I'm on my 11tg day clean from using oxycodone for over 4 years and heroin for a while and I still have some depression, leg pains and the insomnia is still going full blast. I've hardly had any sleep at all these past 11 days and I've heard that insomnia can last for months which is one reason I'm gonna start smoking a little bud again. It always made me sleep like a baby. But like I said, your benzo use could make things worse, I've heard benzo withdrawal is way worse but don't take my word for it. I'm sure someone will come along soon with better answers.

 

[ExInMil]

Howdy Callus,

Just as Oxy up there, I never had a benzo addiction per say, I have used them for week+ and felt nothing on stopping. Looking at your benzo history, you had just as much time off of them as you were on. I wouldint worry about the benzos, at most I think the effects are going to be negligible.

When you stopped for 6 weeks and 4 weeks respectively, did you notice anything?

As for the withdrawl symptoms from your opiate use, seven days should be the tail end of the pain, RLS, nausea, etc. You can expect the insomnia, disphoria, anxiety to persist longer. I am on day 14 clean after much longer use than you and I can say that the only real problems left are the long term ones like insomnia and just lack of motivation, though this time the depression and anxiety are curbed due to the fact I got on an antidepressant 2 months before I quit.

If you really feel like the symptoms are staying longer than bearable, find some gabapentin & clonodine (though you may be past the need for the clonodine).

My question is, if you really did have a benzo addiction, was it the best decision to quit both of these at the same time?

 

[Callus In Brains]

Howdy Callus,

Just as Oxy up there, I never had a benzo addiction per say, I have used them for week+ and felt nothing on stopping. Looking at your benzo history, you had just as much time off of them as you were on. I wouldint worry about the benzos, at most I think the effects are going to be negligible.

When you stopped for 6 weeks and 4 weeks respectively, did you notice anything?

As for the withdrawl symptoms from your opiate use, seven days should be the tail end of the pain, RLS, nausea, etc. You can expect the insomnia, disphoria, anxiety to persist longer. I am on day 14 clean after much longer use than you and I can say that the only real problems left are the long term ones like insomnia and just lack of motivation, though this time the depression and anxiety are curbed due to the fact I got on an antidepressant 2 months before I quit.

If you really feel like the symptoms are staying longer than bearable, find some gabapentin & clonodine (though you may be past the need for the clonodine).

My question is, if you really did have a benzo addiction, was it the best decision to quit both of these at the same time?

I wouldnt say I have a benzo addiction. I honestly do not enjoy them whatsoever, I was only taking them to deal with opiate withdrawals. & I tried giving myself big breaks to avoid a wd all together. Ideally Id have liked more then 4 weeks off before I used benzos again. But I needed to jump ship and had to use them again this past week.

After stopping Xanax (3wks) the first time there was nothing overly concerning. But after stopping Klonopin (5wks) I was taken off guard by the wd I got. For about a solid week I experienced a wd much worse , headaches, disassociated crazy thoughts, muscle fatigue, nerves/twitches, some insomnia. Taking opiates definitely masked some of that

 

[Callus In Brains]

On day 9 clean from opiates right now, 204 hours to be exact hah. Its also been about 36 hours since I have taken a Benzo, and I havent slept at all since. Ive been dosing Nyquil & Valerian Root for the past 24 hours, but to nothing. Watching the sunrise for the second time in 'one day' gave me a huge urge to want to snort oxy of H, the one where your heart kind of flutters thinking about it, but I told myself to forget about it and that it was just from lack of sleep. I wont use anymore benzos, dont want that. Anyways still going strong & venting right now, just need any sleep to repair whats left of my brain. I pray I dont suffer any other benzo wd symptoms coming up here, and this is still from opiates. I guess Ill give an update sometime later regarding it all.

 

[ExInMil]

I'v been there man just recently. Filling the hours of the day seems impossible with out getting high, but hang in there. Eventually you get bored enough to do something, which passes time and in comparison is a big relief. I'm sure you will sleep at least a little today. I'v been knocking out 3-5 hours last few days. Actually got 6 last night. Do you work? Do you smoke weed? All good things to pass time. Towards the end of my first week I was itching to get back to work.....

 

[T. Calderone]

Clonazepam is a longer acting benzo than Xanax so I imagine your withdrawal from that felt worse. I think you will be alright since this time you only used them for a week. You might be still having remnants of opiate or feeling post acute withdrawals. Over time this will dissipate and your sleep will improve.

 

[Callus In Brains]

Thanks for the posts guys!

Last night was terrible, RLS like crazy, dark ass mood, insomnia and anxiety were through the roof! Im not sure if it was opiate paws & minor benzo colliding or because it took too much Nyquil. Thinking both but im staying away from it tonight for sure! Anybody else have nyquil react like that? I did end up sleeping for close to 3 hours after taking some more valerian root with a stupid amount of weed and cigarettes. & yes Im a daily pot smoker, so I get very minimal benefits while in wd. Oh yeah does anybody know if you can take too much valerian root? to where it will make you a shit ton more anxious like antihistamines? I plan to take a good amount tonight.

I think I can feel a slight klonopin wd coming on. Last time I noticed it full force on day 3 so Ill know for sure tomorrow what Im in for. Kind of a guessing game right now, though im getting more anxiety with each passing hour and Im starting to get foot cramps, pin & needles, and really tense. Only an couple more hours until Im on Day 10 though!

 

[Callus In Brains]

Hi, on day 12 right now off opiates and the last 4 days Ive been benzo free as well. Im having all the typical paws symptoms and some physical still, but my anxiety feels like its getting worse day. I dont know what to do, It feels like im constantly anxious/trembling with panic attacks coming in waves. my hearts pounding hard and my resting heart rate has been anywhere from 80-115 bpm all day today. Its exaggerating every other symptom and making me really reclusive, how long should this last??

 

[Callus In Brains]

+ anything that can help with this? thanks

 

[herbavore]

You can try these things to calm your mind:

Tell yourself, as many times as you need to that this will pass. It will pass.There is an end and you just have to hold tight until you get there.

Stopping benzos is bound to make the anxiety worse for awhile but again, just reassure yourself that your body is readjusting and your mind is going to have to hang on for the ride.

When I was having lots of anxiety attacks a friend told me to do something that I thought sounded ridiculous but it actually helped so I will pass it on. She told me to stop every other thought and simply focus on taking an inventory of what was happening in my body; literally stopping and naming each symptom. "I can feel my heart racing", "I'm sweating", "My vision is blurry", etc. It may sound silly but it causes you to focus on the present instead of adding more anxious thoughts about the future onto what is actually happening (for example, "I'm going to die!" or "When is this ever going to stop?"). It also serves to just walk you through to the other side of it. You can intersperse "I know this will pass" any time during the inventory.

Stay strong! You are getting through it and every miserable day that you put into doing that is one that you will never have to put in again if you keep going forward.

 

[ExInMil]

Find some clonodine.