Benzos Halcion CT and withdrawal - help?

[Haleylee]

I've been taking Halcion 0.25mg every day for 13 days to help me sleep. On the 12th and 13th day, I started being depressed and anxious, so my physician told me to stop taking Halcion altogether.

I currently live in South Korea, where Halcion is prescribed really liberally. I only had a mild case of insomnia (lacking a few hours of sleep every night due to seasonal allergies) and my physician and pharmacist were completely fine with giving me Halcion for 20 days.

I asked if I should be tapering, but my doctor said that since I've only taken it for 13 days and didn't abuse the dosage, I should just stop cold turkey.

Well, it's been a whole three days since I've taken my last dosage. Withdrawal effects like depression and anxiety seems to have subsided yesterday, but I haven't slept a minute in the last 3 days. How long will it be before I can get some sleep? My sources are saying between 2 to 4 days of withdrawal should do the trick, but I wanted further assurance.

I'm dealing with the rebound insomnia and the increased heartbeats. Not feeling depressed or suicidal, just really shitty from not sleeping for three days and I'm also dealing with a bad cold.

Can anyone give me some insight? Should I have tapered? I just wanted to get it over with really quickly but my tired mind and body is going through a lot of torture just waiing to fall asleep with a stuffy nose.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Hodor]

.25 mg of Halcion every night for less than two weeks isn‘t a lot. Considering Triazolam‘s ultra-short half-life, you‘re not really experiencing „true“ benzodiazepine dependence. Theoretically, you should easily be able to quit c/t if the reason for your insomnia has been handled.

However, if the insomnia is chronic, it might have been better to switch you to a non-addictive sleep aid for the time being. The good news is that some of these (like diphenhydramine, hydroxizine, melatonin or L-theanine) are usually available over-the-counter.

 

[Haleylee]

Thanks for the reply. I still can't sleep. It's not that I'm not sleepy, my brain just refuses to switch to sleep mode. I kind of just wake up again instead of falling asleep. Should I get benzo treatment and taper? This is real torture.

 

[Hodor]

Thanks for the reply. I still can't sleep. It's not that I'm not sleepy, my brain just refuses to switch to sleep mode. I kind of just wake up again instead of falling asleep. Should I get benzo treatment and taper? This is real torture.

You could try taking only .125 mg of halcion with an OTC antihistamine for a few days, then only take the antihistamine. Maybe also some melatonin. If you're seeing a doctor, zolpidem could be a better choice for the time being (zolpidem works similar to halcion, but people generally find it easier to quit).

.25 mg of halcion for 2 weeks shouldn't really cause a significant physiological dependence. I'd wager what you're experiencing is mostly because the source of the insomnia hasn't been treated yet, combined with a psychological craving (triazolam is generally regarded as one of the more "euphoric" benzos, and you've essentially conditioned your brain to associate sweet, sweet relief from insomnia with a mild benzo "high").

 

[Haleylee]

How long do you think it'll be before I can sleep? Rebound insomnia only supposedly lasts up to 2 days, but I'm on my 4th. My family is completely against me retaking benzos, they want me to power through CT and hopefully I can recover this week. How likely is this?

 

[Speed King]

The half life for Halcion is roughly 1.5 - 5 hours. Since there are roughly 7 half life's for the drug and you took it as prescribed, it sounds like you have nothing to worry about. Take your focus off of the subjective withdrawal side effects, drink relaxing tea and you should be over it quite soon. The key is no emotional attachment. This medicine is no joke, but you took it at a low dose. You should be over it soon.

 

[Haleylee]

My 3rd night was sleepless as well. I'm starting to think I should break CT and take halcion with trazodone.
My heart is on the brink of exploding and my feet hurt from wandering aimlessly all night. I also get some twitches and jerks in my chest when I'm about to fall asleep, which makes me wake up instantly. First time I genuinely thought, "dying would be better than having to go through another night of this."

 

[tacodude]

I know the exact feeling your talking about and sadly my recommendations wouldn't help unless you could access cannabis, which is great with sleep aid. I wouldn't recommend it, but opiate medications will put you to sleep, but also at a risk of causing a dependency.

 

[Hodor]

My 3rd night was sleepless as well. I'm starting to think I should break CT and take halcion with trazodone.
My heart is on the brink of exploding and my feet hurt from wandering aimlessly all night. I also get some twitches and jerks in my chest when I'm about to fall asleep, which makes me wake up instantly. First time I genuinely thought, "dying would be better than having to go through another night of this."

Ok, can you please clarify that: did you already take trazodone on its own and it didn’t work, but you think it will work when combined with halcion?

Or are you not taking anything at the moment, and you‘re waiting to take trazodone and halcion together?

 

[Speed King]

Most of us understand what a benzodiazepine withdrawal is like.
To keep this simple, if doing as was suggested and splitting your Halcion dose to .125 mg (which is plenty due to the strength of the medicine) and a sedating antihistamine (hodroxyzine, Promethazine, or Dph) doesn’t allow you to taper off your dosage, you need to consult your doctor.

I will say that thankfully I have only used that medication a few times. It is mainly perscribed for short term or true PRN severe insomnia.

We really cannot suggest much more besides using willpower and tapering your dose slowly.

Sometimes it’s better to ride non life threatening symptoms out, then get in a habit of covering up withdrawal symptoms. That’s why a taper is nice. You are making your body get over it better.

Your physician knows this is a serious medication. That doctor will be able to properly taper you out of it If is required.

 

[Haleylee]

Thanks for the input and concern everyone, I actually felt like I was having a heart condition. Tachytrachia was it its peaks yersterday and it was so bad last night so I called the ambulance. They sedated me with a Lorazepam needle and I was able to get 5 hours of sleep. Going cold turkey was a bad idea. My doctor suggested I do because he didn't think I had become dependant on Halcion after just 13 days, but I clearly was. I got prescribed 1 Zolpidem pill and I'm going to take it for today for good sleep, then I'm going on a taper with Valium and Trazodone. Is this a good method? Halcion just wasn't right for me. I was getting depressed during the day because the half life is so short.

 

[Haleylee]

Sorry about the confusion, but yeah I wasn't taking anything at the time. People have suggested I do a halcion and trazodone taper, but I was so hell bent on getting it sone cold turkey. Eventually I realized it was doing more harm to me than I expected, so I went to the hospital and got an Ativan shot to sleep for five hours.

 

[tacodude]

Again you might not need the trazodone. Try the Valium first without it

 

[Hodor]

Thanks for the input and concern everyone, I actually felt like I was having a heart condition. Tachytrachia was it its peaks yersterday and it was so bad last night so I called the ambulance. They sedated me with a Lorazepam needle and I was able to get 5 hours of sleep. Going cold turkey was a bad idea. My doctor suggested I do because he didn't think I had become dependant on Halcion after just 13 days, but I clearly was. I got prescribed 1 Zolpidem pill and I'm going to take it for today for good sleep, then I'm going on a taper with Valium and Trazodone. Is this a good method? Halcion just wasn't right for me. I was getting depressed during the day because the half life is so short.

Getting off .25 mg of Halcion (taken at bedtime) with a Valium taper?
No, that is *not* a good idea. I‘d go as far as to call it a really *bad* idea.

Valium (diazepam) tapers are for people who are addicted to repeatedly taking benzodiazepines during the day, to the point where significant physiological dependence has occured. You, OTOH, are only taking your halcion once per day.

The difference in these drugs‘ half-lives is just too great for a diazepam taper to make sense in this situation.
Halcion/triazolam has a half-life of only 3-4 hours. Diazepam‘s half-life, on the other hand, is typically around 48 hours.

If you wanted to take a dose of diazepam that was as strong as your .25 mg of triazolam, you would have to take 10 mg of Valium. However, since the diazepam lasts that much longer, you would be getting yourself deeper into benzodiazepine dependence, not out of it.
On the other hand, trying to compensate for the extended half-life by lowering the dose would require you to take such a minuscule amount of diazepam (like 1mg) that it would be too mild for you to even feel it.

IMO, taking the trazodone *without* the diazepam would be the smarter choice, since it is both non-addictive and it has anti-depressant/mood-stabilizing qualities that you might benefit from.

Also, again, just so we‘re on the same page: Did you get the valium and the trazodone prescribed? Or are you planning to score them on the street?

 

[tacodude]

I never said go without it, but I said see if it is enough don't just take 3 new medication at once... Not without specific reasoning for why they would go together that does not just fall on "because others like it"

Edit: the other issue with what you said too is that they would not take the same equivalent dose of Valium. The idea is to just make sure there are no seizures or serious complications. Taking a low dose of Valium to prevent that is not the worst idea because it stays in the body a long time and while it can of course be the same dependency it is not the same difficulty to quit. Halcyon is extremely strong and going straight off would be difficult for anyone I assume.

 

[Hodor]

I never said go without it, but I said see if it is enough don't just take 3 new medication at once... Not without specific reasoning for why they would go together that does not just fall on "because others like it"

Edit: the other issue with what you said too is that they would not take the same equivalent dose of Valium. The idea is to just make sure there are no seizures or serious complications. Taking a low dose of Valium to prevent that is not the worst idea because it stays in the body a long time and while it can of course be the same dependency it is not the same difficulty to quit. Halcyon is extremely strong and going straight off would be difficult for anyone I assume.

You're not going to get a seizure from going c/t after using a normal dose of triazolam for less than two weeks though. Halcion is the most potent commercially used benzo, yes, but that's why a standard dose is only .25 mg.

And IMO taking as little of as possible of a benzo and potentiating it with a non-addictive sleep aid is safer than taking a normal dose of a benzo on its own.

 

[tacodude]

I'm not saying he will I'm just saying what type of symptoms should be treated vs just being anxious. I'm not saying take a regular benzo dose. I'm saying take the same dose one would with the other medications and if it's not enough take the others. I think it's stupid to start multiple new meds that you don't know how they affect you at once.

 

[Haleylee]

Hey guys, I just got back from a meeting with a specialist doctor. She prescribed me 0.125mg Halcion and half a tablet of trazodone to taper for 2 weeks.
She said I should either use Halcion or Zolpidem plus trazodone to taper, and I chose to taper with Halcion because it's what I started. Is this fine guys?
She said any withdrawal effects I may feel have to be ignored and powered through. Kinda scared but as long as I get at least a little bit of sleep every night, I shouldn't go insane.

 

[Kittycat5]

Let me say that from what you have already stated, you are in very little risk for the worst complications of benzo withdrawal, namely seizures so thats good. However, what you already are experiencing, the rebound insomnia which triazolam can be a real bugger at causing, should be mitigated by a short taper and a quick shift to trazodone on its own for a few days.

Remember to practice good sleep hygeine as well while doing this and things like exercise, meditation, or other stress reducing non-pharmacologic options can do you a world of good.

 

[tacodude]

Your doctor's right about powering through it. What is more important than the medications is as you're saying sleep, but also nutrition and exercise. Make sure you get out and stay active in the day and stay awake while the sun is up so you become tired at night.

Taking more will reduce the symptoms from the body craving the compound, but it will crave it more when it's gone if you use even more than half than enough. Usage should be minimal to get sleep if anything at least that's how I would approach it. I would start with the compound the body is craving in the smallest amount then try to supliment with whatever is able to cover it in your case trazodone. If you eat properly and take care of yourself though you're likely to be ok with minimal issues that might suck, but are bearable without medication.

Don't continue more then a day or two longer unless you really feel like you're going to die without it, which is unlikely and would probably just be a panic attack if anything. The longer you continue the longer it will take.