Benzos Any successful long-term benzo quitters out there?

[jonny1]

Just want to hear some success stories of long-term benzo users that decided to quit.

What were you taking?
How much per day?
How long were you taking it?
How did you taper?
And how were the withdrawals?

I'm currently trying to get off of clonazepam after a year, probably average 0.5mg a day and just scared to come off of it.

 

[shroomster]

Just want to hear some success stories of long-term benzo users that decided to quit.

What were you taking?
How much per day?
How long were you taking it?
How did you taper?
And how were the withdrawals?

I'm currently trying to get off of clonazepam after a year, probably average 0.5mg a day and just scared to come off of it.

My advice is to check into a rehab center. I say this not because I find the groups therapeutic. Hell,they may be counterproductive, but IMO, the time away from the drug in a controlled environment is indispensable.

If this isn't an option, pick up a hobby that you can become obsessed with in a healthy way like bodybuioding or martial arts. I'm partial to exercise because it's what helped me. Please check out the sober living forum on this site. Good luck, my friend.

 

[Tommyboy]

I was just about to post my story in the diazepam withdrawals thread to give some hope.

It's now a little over 4 months since I quit benzos. I was first prescribed xanax in 2005, starting at 1.5mg a day, and soon 2mg a day. After a year or so on that dose I got on 3mg a day, and took that until 2009. That's when I switched to valium since I planned to taper. I had gotten down to 1mg of xanax over the course of 2 months, so when I got on valium it was the 10mg dose per day. I took that for 10 months before starting to taper off of that. I got down to less than 1mg a day of the valium in June 2011, then I gave in and went back to my old Dr and got back on a higher dose of 5mg a day, and then 10mg a day. I usually took 7.5mg a day, and stayed at that dose until June 2013 when I went to detox to get off of opiates, and figured I would give kicking benzos a try too.

So after 7 years of taking benzos daily (I probably only went 1 day a year without dosing) I quit. I felt fine in detox since the dose of librium they gave me was definitely more potent than the 7.5mg of valium I was used to. The withdrawals peaked at the 2 week mark, and then eventually started getting better at the 1 month mark. Things continued to get better and I was symptom free by the 2 month point. Now that I'm 4 months off I'd say that my anxiety levels are about the same as they were when I was on the valium.

I don't know why I was able to quit by going to the detox but couldn't quit from the long taper I did (I was actually down to a dose between 0.25-0.5 mg of valium every other day at the end of the taper) but I'm not complaining now. My withdrawals were mostly mental. Anxiety, depersonalization, depression, etc... There were some headaches too, and just feeling 'off' for a while.

 

[bennyZA]

I was taking mostly klonopin, at least 6mg/day but more like it averaged at 12mg. I took it for 6 years before I decided to quit. I ended up tapering very, very slowly, a lot slower than 90% of the people on here. I tried to do a quicker taper but I was miserable and the compulsion to 'cheat' was too hard to resist. Eventually I realized that they have long since outlived their usefulness and that they were actually causing me more anxiety and causing me to do really reckless shit. I then tapered over the course of 6 months. It wasn't an issue to jump off that last .125 a day. I would have never been able to do it any faster than that cause the withdrawals are as bad as it gets. Seriously, I went through full blown benzo w/d a handful of times and they were the worst experiences in my life. At one point during a particularly bad w/d I actually put a loaded shotgun in my mouth... it's bad and very VERY dangerous. I had seizures and everything during my worst w/ds.

 

[Opanaking]

Man you have nothing to worry about. I was taking 6mg's+ of klonopin for about 2 years a long with xanax bars. I transitioned onto valium (which is superior to klonopin for tapering) even though your at a low dose.

The worse part of the withdrawal was when I switched onto the valium. It was not nearly equivalent to the doses I was taking before, those withdrawals were brutal. But after awhile I adjusted to it.

I tapered for about 4-5 months. Towards the end of my taper I jumped off at 1.25mg's every few days.

The next few months was like a learning process, just getting used to life not being on benzodiazapines. Honestly every month that went by I got happier and happier. Until I was the same normal person I used to be. The changes are very slow, there were little improvements I noticed every month. After awhile they really added up. It took me over a year to feel like my old self again. But I did feel good before that, i'm just saying things kept improving.

I stayed off them for 3 years and felt great.


Recently I started taking klonopin on average 10mgs+ a day and valium mixed in to get through opiate withdrawal. Fortunately I only did this for about 2-3 months, now i'm tapering again. I can tell you the best part about quitting is when you start to feel good again. It's like a high all on it's own. It just feels good to be natural once your body balances out.

It's a long process to get back to feeling "normal" and when I say normal I mean how your body used to be before you were ever on benzos.

The good thing you have going for you is your on a relatively low dose. Consider switching to valium and tapering from there. Your used to taking klonopin so it's natural to be worried when comming off of it. But at that dose the withdrawal is not going to be like other horror stories you have read on the internet.

I'm surprised you kept your dose that low for so long. Chances are you'll feel much better being off klonopin.

Again since your dose is already so low your best bet would probably be to switch to 2mg valiums and quit with those. Make sure you talk this over with your Dr. You could also start breaking your pills into quarters.

Just stay positive and keep pushing forward.

This is one of those subjects I sort of forgot about when I got clean. But now that i'm going through it again I feel like giving advice, for a long time though I never wanted to talk about going through benzo withdrawal. It brings up a lot of bad memories. Then to think that I have to do it again really sucks. But hey at least i'm off opiates.

 

[neversickanymore]

Two decades
6mgpd xanax for the last many years
was on it consistently for twenty years with one detox
didn't taper
withdrawals were rough, but i kicked methadone and roxy at the same time.. high doses of the opiates as well so its hard to tell.. but kicking benzos is right up there with methadone and nicotine.. but not as bad as alcohol.

but unlike the opiates I have never even looked back with the benzos.. IMO they dont manipulate the dopamine pathway so even though they have massive physical dependence they aren't addictive.

There are different opinions on this here is a relevant thread.. Do benzodiazepines cause addiction as well as physical dependence?

Also this is the definitive resource on benzos IMHO.. tapers and everything else.. link>>

BENZODIAZEPINES: HOW THEY WORK
AND HOW TO WITHDRAW

you can do this!

 

[Rybee]

Diazepam/Lorazepam/Alprazolam/Nitrazepam

Flicked between the 4 over 2 years of daily use. When I decided that it was time to stop using them I created a taper plan, followed it to a Tee and never had a problem.

The hardest part will be giving up if you don't actually want to give it up. I wanted to, so found it fairly easy to kick the habit.

Was the easiest taper I've ever done. Venlafaxine and Lyrica/Pregabalin were hell, took me SO much longer to get off of them, compared to benzo's. Felt like I was being electrocuted in the brain every day for 3 months with Venlafaxine, horrible shit.