Mental Health Depakote and Seroquel to help with reemerging mania during benzo taper?

[Stotched]

So, if you saw my thread in sober living, I cold turkeyed 15 days on a 20 mg flubromazolam, 10 mg clonazopam, 10 mg etizolam habit. I couldn't find a doctor to help me or believe in "designer benzos" until today. He has me on 150mg librium daily, up to 800 mg gabapentin as needed. He has also worked with me in the past and knows I'm extremely manic when sober and so this benzo withdrawal will be extra rough. He's given me 500mg depakote in the morning as he said its also effects gaba and will stop the near daily seizures I've been having. He also gave me 100mg pills of seroquel but only said to take it when the insomnia is unbearable as its not a drug he recommends during a benzo taper.

I know I'm going to be extremely manic during this process with lots of anxiety and insomnia, as that's why I started self medicating with benzos in the first place. I can deal with the anxiety, but insomnia drives me up the wall, and I've slept maybe 3 hours in the last 15 days.

What are your techniques for dealing with insomnia and mania without benzoing yourself out? I feel like I have had a tolerance drop from the 15 days ct, as no way would 50mg x3 librium have held me before, whereas I felt relief after just 2 of my doses today. Also, is depakote really necessary? I am not having muscle spasms after the two doses anymore, but do not know if I'm at risk for seizure still. The side effect profile of depakote looks nasty, and I'd prefer to keep my hair if possible.

 

[jammin83]

Go easy on the gabapentin. Lots of people get prescribed it in places that are doing benzo tapers and there some that get nasty dependencies from it. Don't assume its benign. The withdrawal is pretty bad and some people get dependent pretty quickly. There may be some correlation there with stopping the benzos too and making you more susceptible to the dependency. I've used seroquel pretty successfully in the past for benzo tapers and even in a detox before. Benzo detox makes me psychotic sometimes too so it helps. You may find 100 mg is kind of a lot for you unless you have some tolerance to APs. Usually 25 or 50 is plenty for a naive person. If the depakote keeps you from having a seizure it's probably a good idea but only take the stuff that you absolutely need for a short time if you can. I would imagine the librium is holding you over but I could be wrong and I assume you are tapering off of that soon. I would think something like clonadine or tenex would be good to have if you can get those.

For people in various withdrawals you are probably going to be sensitive to a lot of supplements and everything so you always want to start really small with anything that you try. A lot of people find magnesium useful in withdrawals. There is some different forms of it so do your research. Magnesium citrate is pretty good but usually quality costs a little bit more than something like the oxide. If it gives you the runs than you are taking too much. They also make oils and lotions that you can rub on your skin. It actually is better absorbed through the skin. You can also take epsom salt baths to help calm you down. For some people magnesium really helps so it's worth a shot. You aren't supposed to take it around the same time as neurontin so be aware of that. Some people are find melatonin useful for battling insomnia but some people don't react to it well so start small. Skull cap is pretty effective at keeping you calm too.

Hope this helps and hope you feel better soon.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

Could you just clarify a couple of things so people can give you more concise answers - are you using "manic" in the traditional sense of the word, i.e. a mood state associated with bipolar disorder/cyclothymia etc or just as a term to describe the anxiety and insomnia and overactivity that you associate with benzodiazepine withdrawal? And when you say that you're "manic when sober" does this just mean when quitting benzos, or that you're literally manic all the time without sedatives in you?