Cutting out on benzo (Medazepam). Good idea ?

[darklane]

Hi, I've been using benzos for about 3 months now max, mostly it was lorezopam and now the last month medazepam witch has a long halflife 36-200 hours.

I never liked the idea of benzos in my life since I heard they were so addicting but I really had to take them to go on with my life and get going to some exams, since my anxiety and panic attacks were making it very very hard for me to concentrate.
Now I'm almost a month on Cipralex 10 mg and I have no more panic attacks or anxiety .

I tried reaching my doctor and talking with him about this and If it's time to quit the benzos , since he said something about lowering down on 3rd week of Cipralex, but I could not reach him.

Yesterday night I had more drinks than I should of had and I was very drunk so I decided not to take the benzo, and even quit it. I took my Cirpalex without the Medazepam .
Now today I'm feeling a little tense, no anxiety feeling , more like a head/eye pressure.

Is there any serious danger stopping the benzo after 3 months of using ? I never used any high amounts.

 

[suessmayr]

There is absolutely a danger involved in stopping so suddenly. Probably, it will just be intensely uncomfortable and dysphoric, but seizures/death are a danger that attends withdrawal from any benzo.

Given that you're feeling good from the Cipralex, I don't see why you would want to jeapordise that. Medazepam is such a long acting benzo, so it's likely that you won't even begin to feel withdrawal until day 4 or 5, or even longer. So just because you're feeling ok now doesn't mean you'll be alright.

Benzo withdrawal is fucking nasty and will almost certainly - at the very least - produce anxiety worse than the anxiety you were prescribed the benzo for. This will complicate the cipralex treatment. You should just taper off it slowly. Even a fast taper, over a week or two, would be better than nothing.

 

[Allein]

Read this it, a very useful resourse and defintly dont stop cold turkey:-

http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/

 

[darklane]

Thanks for the info ! As I see the guide is most refered to people that have taken benzos for years . It means that my withdrawal won't be so long or so bad since I'm only taking 10mg of medazepam , and I'm not on benzos for more than 3 months :-?

 

[Knox Harrington]

I used to go on 60-90 day benzo binges and have had three withdrawal related seizures. Granted I usually was taking alprazolam and diazepam but my point is that it didn't take long to build up a tolerance in my system that caused a drastic physical response. Don't underestimate benzo withdrawal. It is not the most unpleasant thing when you consider it against heavy opiate withdrawal but it is very unpredictable and sneaky. I always used to think I was in the clear right before it got bad. I hope it all works out for you. Having the advice of an MD is gonna serve you well.