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Benzos help. about to withdrawl from 11 years of use

J

jeah

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
509
well. the end seems immediate. my doctor went awol or something. his office is now closed and I am going to be forced to withdrawl from an 11 year diazepam/clonazepam/temazepam/alprazolam use. right now I am currently prescribed 1mg of alprazolam daily. such a bad doctor it literally says take ine at night. ya, 11 hour half-life, that makes so much sense! I ask for 10mg of diazepam or 1mg clonazepam and i get xanax. anyway, all I have to save me is about 20 grams of gabapentin. I also have 1.5mg of clonazpeam. both old scripts. was on lyrica forever but lost my insurance. I smoke maybe 5 cigarettes a day and do not drink coffee strictly b/c of it incrasing benzo clearance.

I had a grand mal seizure about 80-85 hours after tapering off clonazepam in 2005. and sorry if I jump from subject to subject lol. i have my very last chance at college pursuing my chemical engineering degree. I should be able to handle the anxiety, i have 2 pretty easy courses (pre-calc and speech) but I am worried about having another seizure. right now i take 200mg of gabapentin twice daily. if I increase this to 200mg 4X a day it should control any possible seizure problems. I probably will quit smoking, just for clearance/seizures. should I also get some valerian. school starts in 5 days. advice, help is needed.

oh ya, my doc is closed tomorrrow but I haven't been able to reach him anyway. dumbass would never give me diazepam to taper with. I dont want to take benzos and havent enjoyed them in years. so yea, suggestions?
 
I removed the second thread that was identical, probably just a missclick on your part.

Suggestions............can't you either go to another doctor and be honest with him/her about quitting cold turkey, they should know about this danger.
Or go to an ER and tell them you are going to sieze if they can't assist, but they should be incumbent to help you.
 
ya im gonna try and see another doc but I highly doubt that will materialize by friday. so it looks like i'm gonna go 5 days with no benzos. well, i will take 1mg today and my last .5 on thursday. should the gabapentin prevent any seizures if I take 200mg every 3-4 hours?
 
Benzo withdrawal can be pretty harsh. You've already had a seizure so you know what the risks are. No hospital will refuse you if you need to go cold turkey. Given the fact you've been taking them 10+ years, you shouldn't try this on your own.
 
my computer will not let me edit my posts for some reason. it's 1.5mg of clonaz that I have. to put this is perspective I have not been 48 hours without taking a benzo in 11 years. well, I tried once and had a seizure.

I am usually so damn good about not getting myself in these precarious circumstances. but fuck here I am.
 
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Don't you know any people? Most people have at the least one kind of benzodiazepine in the medicine cabintet right? Also doctors might be willing to give out adequate doses of carbamezapine and the like even when unwilling to provide benzodiazepines , they do have to swear this oath about not doing harm yet do their best protecting peoples lives you know.
 
actually I just got out of a 12 year relationship that fucked both our lives up. she ran my 2 best friends off, one is in and out of rehab and I feel like me not being there for him contributed. but that's not the point. I have ZERO access to benzos. I have a lot to do today, gonna look for a new doctor but my optimism is fading. it's just been horrid timing. my pharmacy was closed sat-yesterday. wait they were open an monday and my script was not there. can anyone tell me if the gabapentin should prevent seizures? if I can just get a doz to write me a 10mg once a day 2 month diazepam script i can do this. but fuck, incompetence abouds.

my sleep schedule is all fucked which i assume will continue for a month. I am on acedmic probation and this is my last chance. finally out of relationship and starting my life. at 30 years old. rofl. better late than never. just keep me healthy and you can tell people you knew me. best I can do is valerian and gabapentin. and search for a new doctor but I am going under the assumption that this is it.
 
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jeah said:
my sleep schedule is all fucked which i assume will continue for a month. I am on acedmic probation and this is my last chance. finally out of relationship and starting my life. at 30 years old. rofl. better late than never. just keep me healthy and you can tell people you knew me. best I can do is valerian and gabapentin. and search for a new doctor but I am going under the assumption that this is it.
Click to expand...

You can't just quit after 11 years of benzo use. The percentages are way against you.
It is a simple solution.
Go to an ER or a doctor, I think there must be 100's of doctors, can't get an app today, go to the ER.
This should be your priority, nothing else is as important as the action you take today.
SERIOUSLY.
 
damn man i dont know what to tell ya; youre in a predicament right here. I guess what shreddedlettuce says above this post is the best advice. Oh and if you think it will only be 5 days until you get more then i think you will be "ok" if you up your gabapentin like you said, but as we know it still seems more like 5 weeks..
 
jeah said:
well. the end seems immediate. my doctor went awol or something. his office is now closed and I am going to be forced to withdrawl from an 11 year diazepam/clonazepam/temazepam/alprazolam use. right now I am currently prescribed 1mg of alprazolam daily. such a bad doctor it literally says take ine at night. ya, 11 hour half-life, that makes so much sense! I ask for 10mg of diazepam or 1mg clonazepam and i get xanax. anyway, all I have to save me is about 20 grams of gabapentin. I also have 1.5mg of clonazpeam. both old scripts. was on lyrica forever but lost my insurance. I smoke maybe 5 cigarettes a day and do not drink coffee strictly b/c of it incrasing benzo clearance.

I had a grand mal seizure about 80-85 hours after tapering off clonazepam in 2005. and sorry if I jump from subject to subject lol. i have my very last chance at college pursuing my chemical engineering degree. I should be able to handle the anxiety, i have 2 pretty easy courses (pre-calc and speech) but I am worried about having another seizure. right now i take 200mg of gabapentin twice daily. if I increase this to 200mg 4X a day it should control any possible seizure problems. I probably will quit smoking, just for clearance/seizures. should I also get some valerian. school starts in 5 days. advice, help is needed.

oh ya, my doc is closed tomorrrow but I haven't been able to reach him anyway. dumbass would never give me diazepam to taper with. I dont want to take benzos and havent enjoyed them in years. so yea, suggestions?
Click to expand...

Fuck man i feel so bad for you cause i know how it is. im going through benzo w/d after using mostly on since 17, im 25 this is my 3rd w/d. i too fear seizures.

Id go the ER man and get some diazepam. not worth another Grand mal if you dont.. the gabapentin will help but nothings 100 percent certain..

btw im blown away by the fact your doc didnt give u diazepam... its seems like us drug users know more then the damn MDs.
 
Have you considered checking into an inpatient detox? The fact you have already had a seizure is troubling..and that was years ago. Withdrawal is a progressive thing... It gets worse and for you, that most likely means more severe seizures. At a detox facility, they can give you the proper diazepam taper to avoid your BP from going through the roof.

If detox isn't an option, go to a doctor or hospital, tell them you are coming off a long benzo habit, and that you have a history of withdrawal induced seizures. They'll know how serious it is.
 
Just another repeat of what everybody else says, go to the ER. I have been on about 2 - 2.5 mg of xanax a day (.5 at a time, maybe 1.0mg) for almost three yrs now and I couldn't IMAGINE having to withdraw from benzos with the amount of time u have been on it. I take it every 3 hours. I notice withdrawals just from my dosage heavy in the morning when I first open my eyes in bed since I have not taken a xanax since the night before. I start thinking about the day, and life and what not, and that's when the leg jitters and nervous habits kick in that anxiety causes flare up. And that is just from not having it for a 12 hr period from around 8 at night to 8 in the morning. If u have been on it that long and that high of dosage, I really see no choice but the ER. It might be shitty between going to the hospital for drug withdrawal, and most likely having to see a hospital shrink as most hospitals mandate that if anyone comes into the hospital for drug or alcohol related situations, they must see the hospital shrink before being let go. Depending on where you live and what hospital, It comes down to the fact that your taking a major risk that just isn't worth your life it as stated by almost everybody else who posted so far.

P.S. I'm sure you already know this as you have more experience with the drug than I do, but sometimes you might not think your going through withdrawals yet, because they are so mild such as being a little irritable, you keep to urself, less social, less motivation, and more "over-thinking" or "what ifs". A mild (less than 4 mg's of xanax a day) withdrawal does not NECESSARILY require medical attention as seizures only occur with 4 mg's a day or more.

Stay on the safe side and head to the ER before its too late....
 
Go to a MAJOR teaching hospital with a 24-hour psychiatric ER department. (This means psychiatrists aren't on call, they're there 24/7, with a few beds for 48-hour monitoring. Call ahead to the hospital ERs in your area and ask if they have a special unit WITHIN the ER (don't let them think you're asking for a psych ward, this is different). Tell them your doctor is out of the office, you're out of your xanax, and you've fired him for putting you in this position, and you want to switch to klonopin immediately so you can avoid seizures/withdrawal (clearly state your history of seizures!) to safely taper down when you leave thr hospital with another doc. They will monitor you for 24-48 hours, and because you aren't a street addict or have suicidal ideation or psychosis, even if they wanted to transfer you to a psych ward afterwards, they couldn't, because insurance would deny the request.

Upon leaving, they will give you enough klonopin to last you perhaps 30 days, long enough to find a new doctor. However bad your seizures were from klonopin, they will be worse on xanax, as you know, and valium's half life is pretty much the same ss klonopin, so it won't make it any less likely to get a seizure from. The reason why you had the seizure, assuming you never had a history of seizures before taking benzos, was because you did not taper down the dose gradually enough. The seizures and risk of "sudden death" (a lay term for a specific heart failure) can be fatal with benzodiazepines, and remind them this repeatedly when you speak to the ER pychiatrist.

If you do not have an ER with a 48-hour monitoring facility in your area, go to the best hospital ER in your area, ideally a teaching hospital, and demand that you are seen by a psychiatrist, not a generalist ER doctor. An ER doctor, and I speak from experience when my doc didn't refill my klonopin before taking an extended vacation, does not know that benzos can cause seizures and sudden death, and assumes that the worst part is over after a few days (they're not opiates, their risk lingers). An ER doctor also regularly sees drug addicts trying to con a script from them. The best advice I can give is to find an ER with a 48-hour monitoring psychiatric unit (repeat: make it clear this must be part of the ER, and not part of any psych ward) or failing that, insist on having the ER doctor page the psychiatrist on call. Make it abundantly clear you have fired your psychiatrist, which you sound like you were going to do anyway, or else they'll play ping pong with you, telling you to call his pager that he won't answer and you very well may not know. This makes you the ER's problem, and if you have to, tell them your history of seizures from benzo withdrawal means they need to start listening to you. Tell them you want klonopin because you're trying to do a slow taper soon, but don't resist xanax if they say they'd rather not make any changes before you settle in with your next doc.

They may also be able to find a hospital-affiliated outpatient pychiatrist for you to report to shortly after your stay.

Do this all now-- you have time before school, and if sbsolutely necessary, nothing extends a school deadline like a letter saying you were hospitalized. It's only 24-48 hours, and the big point is that it gives you access to a good referral, and they'll likely set that appointment up for you before you leave the hospital, along with the meds to carry you over until then.

Neurontin is not approved for primary treatment as an anticonvulsant. It is only intended to supplement a primary, established anticonvulsant drug. If you have seizures secondary to mere benzo withdrawal, that is, you have them before you went on benzos, then you need to talk to your doc about this. Neurontin is NOT a substitute for slow taper. I tapered off Klonopin from being on 1mg 3x/day for 7 years straight in a month. The trick is to be especially slow at the very end of the taper, because that's when the greatest risk of sudden death and seizures occurs. You'll want to cut the .5 pills in half at that stage, and eventually take 1/2 a .5mg once every other day for at least half a week by the end. I did this and was fine.

Your insurance my very well cover 6 weeks of .125mg Klonopin wafers for the purposes of benzo withdrawal, too-- talk about this option with your doc for planning the very end of your slow taper. And good luck. Remember, school is important, but health comes first, and hospitalization letters keep you in housing, let you start classes late, etc. this is only 24-48 ER psych monitoring we're talking of. BRING A BOTTLE of your prescription so your doc isn't thinking you're conning him/her.
 
Hey Jeah, So Sorry to hear what you are going through. What everyone has said here is absolutely correct. Coming off Xanax alone is one of the hardest things to withdrawl from and you have a lot of other benzo's also. Do not take any chances. Benzo withdrawal can be very tricky and not only on the body but mind. You do not need to attempt this on your own! I would definitely suggest checking into the ER or going to a Doctor/Urgent Care immediately. As this could be very dangerous! XoxoMaryJane
 
mr.scagnattie said:
Have you considered checking into an inpatient detox? The fact you have already had a seizure is troubling..and that was years ago. Withdrawal is a progressive thing... It gets worse and for you, that most likely means more severe seizures. At a detox facility, they can give you the proper diazepam taper to avoid your BP from going through the roof.

If detox isn't an option, go to a doctor or hospital, tell them you are coming off a long benzo habit, and that you have a history of withdrawal induced seizures. They'll know how serious it is.
Click to expand...

I've been to an ER hospital without 48-hour psych monitoring beds staffed by psychistrists (not a psych ward, sort of a 4-bed holding/observation unit). He gave me a prescription for Prilosec for my acidosis (caused by the klonopin withdrawal--it was so bad, my mouth felt like battery acid, and my gums moved at the slightest touch). ER docs are infamous for treating everyone like a junkie, and don't even know benzos cause sudden death and seizures. They only have to take one pychopharmacology class to be an MD. that's why you must insist on either visiting an ER with A 48-hour monitoring facility within the ER, or insist to the ER doc you're not leaving thr hospital until he pages the pychistrist on-call and wait a few hours for that doc to arrive.

A detox facility is a horrible idea. It takes 6 weeks to taper off benzos, and because it's so easy to do as an outpatient, no insurance would let you admittrd into a rehab for it. Again, to the OP: bring your bottle, tell them you have fired your psychistrist, you have a history of benzo-withdrawal seizures, and would like to be switched to klonopin so you can avoid withdrawal/seizures and then taper off it as an outpatient under the case of a psychiatrist they refer you to while you're in the ER. They'll setup the appointment, even, and you'll be seen quickly to the outpatient psych because post-hospitalizations are prioritized. You'll also get enough benzos after your 48 hour stay to make it through to the first appt. And don't forget to ask about planning to get Klonopin Wafers .125mg for your last week tapering, and fill it two weeks in advance, because it's not a common drug that is stocked. Call your insurance to see if a prior authorization is necessary.
 
No doubt I would never leave you guys hanging. I'm going to take a mg of clonazepam I am kinda shaking as I type this lol. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the thoughts and responses. I have to become more active on these forums. lord knows how many times it has probably saved my life. I am going to try and see my regular doc and he SHOULD give me my 1mg a day alpazolam script. if not, i am going to take my prescription history to a walkin clinic and try to get a small diazepam script. Melatonin has always been like a magic bean for my sleeping troubles so I am very lucky in that respect. i havent been diagnosed but I finally figured out what my sleeping problem is. and doctors pretty much tell you to keep a sleep log etc. and you kinda diagnose yourself. it's called deep-phase sleep disorder. and it's extremely comorbid with ADHD, which i have severely. but I absolutely hate dexedrine and adderall. I may try to get a ritalin script as well... I have never tried it. again, THANK YOU!
 
It doesn't sound like I'm gettig through. You're seeing a quack. No legitimate psychiatrist prescribes xanax because its half life is too short. You need to fire your doc, go to an ER with a 48-hour ER psych monitoring unit, or at least ask for the psych on call to be paged. Why? Because a good psychiatrist is impossible to come by, and sadly, this is your only real shot of getting a decent doc referral. You need to fire your psychiatrist and tell the hospital you've fired him so they don't feel likethey're walking on any toes. And no clinic doc is going to rx a benzo, especially not a walk-in clinic doc. i've been seeing the same community health clinic psychiatrist for 2 years and she doesn't give me a benzo. They have no incentive to rx benzos to people because they remain in demand among poor people regardless of how little they treat them. Fire your doc. Fire your doc and go to the hospital, unless you wantto call 60 psychiatrists from your insurance website who won't see you or if they will won't book you for months.
 
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