Benzo Help

[BeckyF]

Hi All. I sure need some help. 13 years ago my 19 year old daughter had a devastating cancer diagnosis. Long story short, it took 5 mg of Klonopin to get me to calm down, sleep and take care of her the next three years. During a few remissions I did get down to 3 mgs and was doing okay. I thought the ideal thing was go get off the K and I did. But for a year slept for 3 hours a night and was going downhill. Doc put me on smaller dose of K and it didn't help my sleep. Added 30 mg of Restoril. It did not help me sleep at all. I figured maybe the thing to do was get off all benzos. The lower I got the worse I got. I've had 7 years of very little sleep. I can't take it anymore. I have an appointment with my doc on Tuesday. I want more benzos (prescription sleeping pills have not helped) to help me sleep so I can continue to work. My job and relationship is suffering from lack of sleep and exhaustion. At one point my doc wanted to add a third benzo and I refused. I'd prefer to be back in the days when I was on one benzo and doing fine despite my daughter dying. Benzo free after the traumatic experiences I have had in life does not work for me. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Becky.

 

[Burnt Offerings]

Wow, that's a scary story. I've always known that benzo withdrawal was tough but I never knew that prolonged benzo use could lead to that type of long-term effect, and I use that type of drug pretty regularly myself (mostly Klonopin too). Although 5 mgs/day Klonopin seems like a pretty sturdy benzo regiment.

Sorry that I'm not knowledgable enough to offer much help but I'll definitely be interested in what other people have to say.

 

[sekio]

Welcome to benzodiazepine addiction!

I'm gonna move this to Basic Drug Discussion, NSPD is not the right place for this.

 

[Lightning-Nl]

Nasty story, it's what I dread... especially since I'm currently on 2 milligrams of Klonopin (Clonazepam) daily and 30 milligrams of Restoril (Temazepam) daily. I sure hope I don't have to through with that. I've had sleep issues for as long as I can remember and that's why I've ended up on Klonopin/Temazepam.

I can't imagine what it will be like when I taper off of these...

EDIT: Just thought of something that you may be interested in. Ask your doctor about a Phenobarbital detox. It only takes three weeks and then you're off the benzo's. No withdrawals, no seizures, etc. It was something that I was recently made aware of during a hospital stay.

 

[T. Calderone]

I'm not following what medications are you taking now? That's really sad about your daughter, sorry for your loss Becky.

 

[neurotic]

that's a really heavy benzo habit i guess. why don't you taper off of it? switch for a longer half-life benzo such as Diazepam or even like swampfox suggested, Phenobarbital. it's not a benzo, it's a barbiturate, but still has a long-ass half-life.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Try an anti-psychotic...

 

[downerhead]

I'm so sorry to hear about your and your daughter's situation.You have my sympathy.As far as any advice I can give,I can say that I've been on xanax for a while and my severe panic disorder won't allow me to quit.I've tried a galaxy of anti-depressants/anti-psychotics and have bad reactions to all of them or they do nothing.Only benzos allow me to function.You may be in the same boat treatment wise.The only thing I can personally suggest is to get back on a proper dose of what works for you.It sucks to need any medication but it's better than the living hell of constant anxiety in my opinion.Hope this somehow helps and again,sorry about your situation.