Benzos Benzo Cold Turkey

[skankzilla]

As some of you will know I went cold turkey off of Temazepam starting on Saturday morning.
Had lots of advice in this forum saying to go to A&E . Yesterday, things started to get really bad. I felt as though I was going mad, was having serious auditory hallucinations, major paranoia, constant shaking, chest pains etc.
So I decided to go A&E last night...was waiting for 3 hours to be seen, eventually got seen and was told that there was absolutely nothing they could do. Apparantly because of my heart rate I was not "Clinically Withdrawing". Basically the doctor explained, because I wasn't having a seizure there was nothing they could give me. I explained that obviously I'd rather not have a seizure but no, I was sent out with nothing.
Also my GP refused to prescribe me anything and gave me fucking ibuprofen...fucking idiot.

 

[suessmayr]

Ah man, I can relate to that. But I guess ultimately you're probably not at risk of dying - unless your habit was immense and protracted. Either way doctors can be real assholes with these things - there's this 'you got yourself into this so now you need to suffer' attitude that I find really disgusting. Like withdrawal is some sort of penance that we need to endure to purge ourselves of all the bad decisions.

If I were you I'd hook up some antihistamines (doxylamine and/or diphenhydramine), some naproxen sodium and some valerian. Small amounts of booze may also help to keep you level. Good luck man.

 

[RobotRipping]

find another Dr, that's fucked up shit. My heart rate was massive when I first went to the hospital for withdrawal, they even gave me an ekg for some reason (I was in fucking wd did they expect me to have a normal heart rate?) Still, even if you aren't going to die the withdrawals can cause PTSD, and if you quit abruptly there's a far greater chance of relapse in the future. It sounds to me like you are having severe withdrawals, when you start to feel like you're going crazy that's a good sign you are having a terrible time and need proper treatment. If you end up having a seizure sue those bastards and don't forget who they are.

I've been denied help before too and it really pissed me off, as I had to withdraw from 10+mg/day phenazepam habit cold turkey. I still feel like reporting the Dr that refused to help me but it probably wouldn't make a difference. I sometimes wish I would have just died so those fucking bastards would finally feel the pain I went through when they lose everything they have and are facing law suits.

I also second the above recommendations, valerian root will hit those gaba receptors and may save you for now, it may also possibly prolong the withdrawal but the first few weeks, it doesn't matter just get through however you can. Gabapentin/pregabalin will also help if you can get your hands on it. I generally don't recommend taking gaba agaonists if you are trying to quit but your withdrawals sound severe enough that it may save you a lot of pain, just taper off the other meds slowly since the Drs you see are such fuckheads. I'd even recommend just ordering etizolam or phenazepam and tapering yourself. If your Dr's can't help you at least you can taper yourself. Even mild withdrawals are awful.

 

[skankzilla]

Either way doctors can be real assholes with these things - there's this 'you got yourself into this so now you need to suffer' attitude that I find really disgusting. Like withdrawal is some sort of penance that we need to endure to purge ourselves of all the bad decisions.

I know man. Just felt like all the doctors were constantly judging me, which weren''t helping my anxiety lol. They thought I was just there to score drugs, rather than I was shitting myself about having a seizure and dying. Proper shit man.

I've got a meeting tomorrow with a drug advice service who should help me to withdraw properly, either with drugs or under supervision so it's just a matter of getting through tonight and tomorrow really.

 

[weltschmertz]

First of al to tell you i am in the similar situation, i control the benzos.For 2 years now i take no more than 10mgx3 Diazepam(valium) daily, but without benzos i am anxious as hell, depressed a lot. I tried cold turkey several times ,but i cant get out of my bed.

You should wrote some info ... how much you take, how long, is this your first attempt to get clean from benzos...

Dude, i recomend should go slowly, tappering dosages over some period of time(2-3 months).
Cold turkey method may works couple of days-even months until you figure out that ,is better to live a nice and productive life with benzos then a shitty life without them. For this `phenomenon` to be `canceled` ,i think you should try...

1. Tapper dosage of the same benzodiazepine you use ,in this case Temazepam.

2. Get to some weaker benzodiazepine ,like Valium and tapper thath down (take your little as possible dose every 6hours and every other day cut 2mg of what you take)
ex.Monday- morning 10mg ,noon 10mg, night 10m //
Wendsday - morning10mg ,noon 5mg ,night 10mg... and so on until you cut it all.

3. Take Depakine/Depakote -(i dont know the generics name ,i think is valporic acid) its for seizures but my shrink give to me 2 years ago and it helped so much to tap down my diazepam addiction.I wasnt shaking and it keep my head calm, helpet with anxiety also.(take those with lots of vitamines ,especially B)

4. Buy lots of suplements. B-complex (Brewers yeast +vitamin B12), lots of magnesium and Vitamine C or OLIGOVIT suplements ,wich contains 12 vitamines and 12 minerals in 1 pill.

!!!!! Listen to yourself, find what work best for you and listen to your body and mind

If you push yourself ,like i did ,you may find youself on the floor on your workplace while you see circle of stupid heads around you, hands slapping you ,sprinkle you with water and asking you are you allright, and you dont even know wat happened....take care dude ,tell us what you did and how it was.

 

[hotelyorba]

There are a lot of benzo withdrawal sites on the internet, some that are VERY informative and helpful. They are understanding of everybody who takes benzos...whether a doctor gave them to you or not. As somebody that had to taper off of klonopin, I can tell you the first recommendation is finding a benzo-wise doctor who understands the severity of benzo withdrawal and will be willing to help you. If you can find such a doctor, your best bet is to start on the equivalent dosage of Valium. So in your case 10 mg valium = 20 mg of Temazepam. I got that information from the Ashton Manual, which you may be familiar with if you've done research on benzos. I suggest reading it:http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/index.htm

Seriously, the first step is finding a doctor who, even if they are not benzo-wise, are willing to listen to you and help you with a slow taper off of valium. Show the doctor the Ashton Manual and explain why it is necessary to do a slow taper off of benzos. Your brain makes some SERIOUS changes in its chemistry when you take benzos regularly, and the best way to reset these changes is by doing a slow taper that usually takes at least 2 months if not longer.

 

[bluedolphin]

Be careful mate you don't want to have a seizure.

I've cold turkied off high tolerance to diazepam (60mg+ a day) and that was a rough time, bad paranoia and auditory hallucinations led me to check into a detox unit. Where they gave me some horrible drugs but at least I did not seize.

10 days later I checked out of there after lots of Narcotics Anonymous and other meetings like that (fun...) and ended up having a grand mal seizure the evening I got home.

So be advised cold turkey off benzos is no joke and even a week or two or three later you need to make sure you're on some kind of antiepileptic.

You should at least be able to get a Dilantin RX from any reasonable doctor. This is what you need to get. Go do it asap.

 

[morphonorconic]

If tapering [with a benzo] is not an option, then, speaking from experience your best bet(s) are GABA supplement tablets/capsules and tincture suspensions of Kava/Valerian/Skullcap/etc, both of which you'll find at a health food or herb store. Also, a sedative antihistamine like Doxylamine Succinate can be very helpful.

 

[vyvanazepam]

my doctor did the same thing
cold turkey off of clonazepam
couldnt eat for a week.


i absolutly felt like crap
but everytime i toke i feel 90% better
i have heard weed making benzo withdrawl worse, but i found out the exact opposite
idk just my opinion
and the worst part was i stopped 40mg of flouxetine , 50mg vyvanse , and 5mg abilify
all cold turkey,
damn i hate doctors that dont care how you feel

 

[Pegasus]

Find another doctor IMO. A doctor doing such a thing is irresponsible, disgusting, and against the oath they took to become a doctor...

"I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick."

 

[ChemicalSmiles]

Im coming off of 8 mgs xanax a day. I feel your pain. If you want to msg me to talk, feel free.

 

[skankzilla]

Cheers for all the replies guys, managed to speak to a drug advisory service in my area today who have wrote a strong letter to my gp suggesting for me to prescribed valium for the withdrawal. Hopefully my persistence will pay off and the doctor will listen to someone who has an expertise in this field. Hopefully should be off them with a proper tapered withdrawal in about 6 weeks.
Thank fuck someone actually took me seriously at last. I think it must just be a situation where GP's aren't aware of the dangers assosciated with the withdrawals, still just sending your client out to have a seizure without any anti seizure drugs is completely unacceptable and after this has calmed down I will be changing doctors.

 

[skankzilla]

Just got a call from my GP saying the prescription is ready to be collected...so relieved. 5 days of hell and someone's finally taken notice.

 

[Pegasus]

^Awesome news, thanks for keeping us updated!

 

[xdimsumx]

so my doc scripted me for .5mg xanax and told me to take them when i sleep or when i feel like i need it, given i finished the script in about 2 weeks, but the pharmacy wont refill my prescription for another 2 weeks, the last 3 days have been pretty shitty. Now i realize that 1mg-1.5mg/day isn't that high of a dose but am I in any danger for the next 2 weeks? I have some ambien to help me sleep and my head feels like its got a constant migraine, however its starting to feel a bit better. I don't think any of my symptoms are that bad, but holy shit this is not fun.

 

[Pegasus]

^Not real danger outside of the negative feelings... It definitely doesn't take that long to get rebound effects from alprazolam unfortunately. Hopefully you feel better soon.

 

[Pharmokinetictal]

if you really need help sleeping and want to stay on something...i suggest talking to your doc about a Z drug like ambien, lunesta, or sonata. I recommend sonata. it has an ultra short half life and doesnt disrupt your sleep patterns. it also binds to the same receptor as benzos so it will mitigate withdrawals. but if youre having discomfort all throughout the day...you need to convince the shit out of the doc that youre experiencing hell. i told my doc that i have switches, i cant sleep, im afraid to drive, i cant talk to people, and that i feel like my mind is in a balloon floating way above my head. its debilitating. ive even had doctors say 'aw you poor thing.' i was having severe memory loss. some people just need benzos man...

but honestly when i become a doctor, i will never prescribe them. theyre the most addictive drug and hardest to kick. dont take klonopin or xanax or ativan. try serax or valium. and for the love of god, dont get greedy with them or youll find yourself in an inpatient detox hospital. benzos will permanently disrupt your gaba network, resulting in semi permanent memory loss, cognitive impairments, social anxiety, and a phenomenon called 'kindling' which results after repeated detoxes. take your meds with grapefruit juice. it will increase their half life by inhibiting the liver enzyme that breaks them down. it is not life threatening. the enzyme is called CYP3A4. check it out on wikipedia. also...look up benzo equivalency charts to see what dose of xanax is the same as what you took for temazepam. finally, go to a vitamin shoppe and buy L-theanine. it increases natural availability of of GABA. itll ease some of the tension. and by god, don't snort any of it. benzos are fat soluble and youll waste it. eating them with a meal will increase their bioavailability and length of time.

 

[xdimsumx]

^Not real danger outside of the negative feelings... It definitely doesn't take that long to get rebound effects from alprazolam unfortunately. Hopefully you feel better soon.

Thanks, yea even though I have a few more refills on this, I doubt i'll be taking them on any sort of consistent basis ever again, the last 3 days sucked and i've only been on xanax for 2 weeks, I cant imagine what it'll be like after months. probably will just keep some ambiens and maybe look into more green solutions.

 

[skankzilla]

I had a similar situation with xanax about a year ago...using for about two weeks and then ran out, couldn't order any more. Was pretty much taking the same amounts...The shitty feeling stopped after a few days but I remember it being very uncomfortable, lots of depression & bad headaches. It did seem to get less intense as the week went on. If you start having sever withdrawals though get yourself to a doc...

 

[Captain.Heroin]

As some of you will know I went cold turkey off of Temazepam starting on Saturday morning.
Had lots of advice in this forum saying to go to A&E . Yesterday, things started to get really bad. I felt as though I was going mad, was having serious auditory hallucinations, major paranoia, constant shaking, chest pains etc.
So I decided to go A&E last night...was waiting for 3 hours to be seen, eventually got seen and was told that there was absolutely nothing they could do. Apparantly because of my heart rate I was not "Clinically Withdrawing". Basically the doctor explained, because I wasn't having a seizure there was nothing they could give me. I explained that obviously I'd rather not have a seizure but no, I was sent out with nothing.
Also my GP refused to prescribe me anything and gave me fucking ibuprofen...fucking idiot.

That is very unfortunate. There are many dosages of temazepam with 7.5mg being the lowest. I don't see why they couldn't prescribe you at least a few to help with coming down.

Best of luck getting off of temazepam!