First post, but have been researching this thread for awhile - great information.
I have gotten myself into a stupid position and will admit I am an addict. To start off I was addicted to heroin for about a year and was able to get clean from it about two months ago. I used Lyrica and Xanax during the opiate WD period. After the initial acute opiate WD phase was over, I stopped the Xanax but continued the Lyrica as I enjoyed the high and was not aware of the dependency issues associated with it. My Lyrica dosage was quite insane, in doing any where from 600mg-2000mg daily for about five weeks straight. Eventually my source dried up and I was forced to cold turkey the Lyrica, but to be honest I didn't think it was going to be a big deal and thought I could handle it. I mean it couldn't be worse than opiate WD,right? Boy was a I wrong.
Starting about 48 hours after my last lyrica dose, I was in was experiencing extreme anxiety, cold sweats, shakiness and the worst insomnia I've ever had. I thought I had the flu at first, but after doing some online research, I realized what I had gotten myself into with the Lyrica. I could not go to doctor as I am currently unemployed and did not have health insurance.
Enter the Clonazolam. I started dosing 0.5mg Clam twice a day, and with little benzo tolerance this killed my anxiety and was finally able to sleep. I told myself I would just use the Clonazolam until the Lyrica withdraw was over, believing it to last no longer than a week or two. Boy was I wrong again. I did not begin to feel relief from the Lyrica WD until after four weeks of being completely off. Lyrica was quite honestly the hardest drug I have ever come off of, and that's including opiates,benzos and SSRI's.
So that brings my where I am today. I have been taking Clonzolam daily on average 1.5mg, 0.5mg around noon then 1mg before I go to bed, about 12 hours after the first dose. I am trying to taper down by gradually reducing both dosages, to just 0.5mg x2, then 0.25 mg x2. I got down to the 0.5mg x2 for about a week then tried dropping to the 0.25mg and of course the insomnia hits me like a truck and after tossing and turning for 5 hours in bed, I give in and dose another 0.5mg to finally fall asleep.
I am currently back at dosing schedule of 0.5mg twice daily, 12 hours apart. I have been stuck here for a week, trying to research and figure out the easiest way to get off benzos completely. PLEASE advise me in what I should do. Should I switch to a longer half-life RC benzo such as Flubromazepam or Diclazepam? Or will these just shoot my tolerance even higher. Also, I am located in the US and currently it seems like all US based vendors only carry Etiz or Clam, so would probably need two weeks to get flub or diclaz. I have about 30 0.5mg Clam pellets left.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!