Benzos How to make it through nearly ANY withdrawal RAPIDLY guerilla style!

[jonnynobody]

I'm 32 and I've abused every narcotic on the junky favorites list from benzodiazepines to crack cocaine, and have subsequently become a guerilla expert on making it through withdrawal without going to inpatient rehab. Hopefully this information will help some others get through their drug withdrawal more effectively and with less pain.

It doesn't matter if you're withdrawing from alcohol, SSRI anti-depressants, opiate pain medication, or crack cocaine, my method is effective across the board. Is it perfect? No. Will it help everyone? No. Will it help you? I sure hope so!

The biggest obstacle to overcome in any withdrawal is maintaining your sanity and sleep patterns, otherwise you'll lose your fucking mind and you will not make it through withdrawal. Big medicine very frequently misses this very basic premise which is why their profession sucks at what they do. Now there are very few drugs that the recovering addict can take without beginning a new addiction. The best tools for making it through withdrawal in my opinion are seroquel (sleep and mood stabilization) and a good solid benzodiazepine such as ativan or librium to be used SPARINGLY AS NEEDED. Never more than 2 days in a row with a benzo and then 2 days off to eliminate the possibility of addiction. It's a balancing act, I know.

Seroquel is a very powerful anti psychotic which works amazingly well to shut off your brain when you've had enough pain. During the nastiest of my withdrawals, I would take 300MG at night and if I still felt like horrible shit when I woke up the next morning, I'd take another 300MG (doctor approved BTW). The morning dose generally wouldn't make me sleep all day, but it keeps your mind stable and calm so that you don't relapse. The shit truly works wonders for w/d's.

Now if you're withdrawing from some really nasty shit like SSRI'S (worst w/d known to man in my opinion), you may need to incorporate a benzo like ativan or librium as needed to get you through the first 1-3 days, but seroquel will get you through the rest. 99% of making it through any w/d is keeping your mind stable and calm while you're brain is going through nuclear fucking meltdown and seroquel gets it done effectively. You will NOT be functional in any normal capacity during this process (i.e. work / taking care of kids), but you will move forward with your recovery and you will not find yourself curled up in a little ball on the floor sobbing uncontrollably as the madness rips through your psyche day after day. Best of all, you will be able to sleep which is some of other natures most powerful medication available.

Now if you're withdrawing from benzo's, you're in a class all your own. Tapering and titration is the only way to safely quit benzo's. Seroquel will most certainly help you get through, but tapering is absolutely key. Cold turkey could kill you and no amount of seroquel can stop that. Always taper with benzo's unless you want to experience permanent lifelong cognitive damage. If you're a heroin addict, you'll most likely need methadone maintenance to get through, but seroquel will help you maintain your sanity. Weed always helps too

I've lived most of my life like a junky and it pains me to see normal type people go through withdrawal and have no idea how to handle it. Addiction is a bitch, but I hope my little cocktail helps somebody get through their w/d's a little easier and with a little less pain. Good luck to all!

BTW, I'm withdrawing from 6 years of trazodone dependence. This has been one of the most difficult w/d's I've ever had to get through, but my cocktail I described has been my saving grace. If anybody out there is going through w/d and has any questions, shoot me a line. I'd love to help!

 

[Znegative]

I appreciate your post and interest in helping people, but I just wanted to point out that for heroin withdrawal there are other options besides methadone, in fact, I would argue to say if you're withdrawing from heroin, in the long run you'd probably do better not to go down that road. There are plenty of other medications that help with opiate withdrawal that are not addictive or at least not very addictive, such as gabapentin and clonodine. There's also suboxone and kratom as an alternative to methadone too.

With Benzo's you're correct, tapering is the key, and IME, even that is a miserable experience, even at the end when you drop off. Benzo withdrawals are the worst, I can't stand them, and they're dangerous. I wish there were medications that actually worked to ease the symptoms of benzo withdrawal like there are with opiates. And unlike opiate withdrawal, where benzo's help, opiates really don't do shit (for me at least) when I'm in acute benzo withdrawal.

I also want to say that while trying to avoid belittling crack and methamphetamine addiction (I've dabbled with the crack but had a lot of close friends that went off the deep end for a while with it, and with Meth I am 'well versed' lol), there is a huge difference between withdrawing from stims and withdrawing from CNS depressants which are actually physically addictive. Don't get me wrong, meth has some very real withdrawals, but compare them to kicking dope or a benzo habit, and it's a walk in the park, or rather, asleep in a bed.

 

[BigG]

I agree the OP is a bit vague regarding wds from specific substances...

I also agree that for heroin are your better off toughing it out with comfort meds than going on methadone which is a bitch to get off....

Benzo wds are something which should never be done on your own but in conjunction with the advice of a medical professional... They can indeed kill you ...opiate wds however will make you wish you were dead but won't kill you.

 

[jonnynobody]

The last time I went through benzo w/d was with valium and it was a very dark period in my life. I tapered over the course of 3-4 weeks (rapid and rough) from 10-15mg/day habit and I was literally cutting a 5mg tablet into quarters and then breaking the quarters into 2. At the end, I was licking up the tip of a pinkie's worth of powder onto my tongue and the w/d was so bad, that little bit eased my pain. Then when I went to nothing, it was nearly 3 weeks before I felt like myself again. It's some very scary shit indeed.

Tramadol w/d scared me the most because I didn't know what the hell was happening to me and it took almost a month to recover after experiencing what I believe was seretonin syndrome. And the goddam doctors were handing that shit out like it was pop rocks candy. I can only imagine the countless lives ruined from tramadol addiction.

I never had an addiction to meth or crack, but I played with both a bit. I remember the first time smoking crack and asking this dirt bag if it was unhealthy to smoke crack...you could say I was a bit naive I started with a $20 rock and subsequently went back to the corner dealer 5 more times and spent every last $20 I had from the paycheck I just got that day. I then felt depressed and shitty and only tried crack 2 other times due to the despair and cracked out feeling when coming down.

Meth scared the holy shit out of me. The first time I tried it my best friend and I were 15 and bought 2 half grams from his older brother throughout the night. We smoked a lot of it and snorted a lot of it. The high was meh...nothing to write home about, but I think it was highly cut and not a good batch. The next morning the high wore off and the toxicity set in and I almost had a complete nervous breakdown requiring inpatient rehab. I thought it was going to be kinda like coke, and let me tell ya, it ain't nothing like coke. The second time I tried it I also dropped a hit of very good acid. I had one of the best times of my life, but the comedown the next morning made me want to kill myself. If I had a loaded gun nearby, I may have caused my own end. I was only 17 at the time, so sourcing alcohol was no easy task. I just had to sit there and take it. Those were rough times

I appreciate your post and interest in helping people, but I just wanted to point out that for heroin withdrawal there are other options besides methadone, in fact, I would argue to say if you're withdrawing from heroin, in the long run you'd probably do better not to go down that road. There are plenty of other medications that help with opiate withdrawal that are not addictive or at least not very addictive, such as gabapentin and clonodine. There's also suboxone and kratom as an alternative to methadone too.

With Benzo's you're correct, tapering is the key, and IME, even that is a miserable experience, even at the end when you drop off. Benzo withdrawals are the worst, I can't stand them, and they're dangerous. I wish there were medications that actually worked to ease the symptoms of benzo withdrawal like there are with opiates. And unlike opiate withdrawal, where benzo's help, opiates really don't do shit (for me at least) when I'm in acute benzo withdrawal.

I also want to say that while trying to avoid belittling crack and methamphetamine addiction (I've dabbled with the crack but had a lot of close friends that went off the deep end for a while with it, and with Meth I am 'well versed' lol), there is a huge difference between withdrawing from stims and withdrawing from CNS depressants which are actually physically addictive. Don't get me wrong, meth has some very real withdrawals, but compare them to kicking dope or a benzo habit, and it's a walk in the park, or rather, asleep in a bed.

 

[jonnynobody]

Sometimes an individual doesn't have access to a doctor's assistance. You'd be quite surprised how many people are strung out to dry by the very doctors that were supposed to help them. The local (and largest) rehab center in my home town won't even fucking talk to you until you cough up $300 for a psychologist to "assess you". It's hard out there for a pimp...

My old heroin using buddy got "professional help" from an addiction psychiatrist and was put on methadone, valium, and an SSRI that made him so paranoid he thought shadow people were following him. Now he's got a lifelong opiate, benzodiazepine, and SSRI addiction he'll most likely never recover from. Sometimes you have to help yourself in this world, because trustworthy people are in short supply and that includes doctors.

I agree the OP is a bit vague regarding wds from specific substances...

I also agree that for heroin are your better off toughing it out with comfort meds than going on methadone which is a bitch to get off....

Benzo wds are something which should never be done on your own but in conjunction with the advice of a medical professional... They can indeed kill you ...opiate wds however will make you wish you were dead but won't kill you.

 

[jonnynobody]

Sometimes an individual doesn't have access to a doctor's assistance. You'd be quite surprised how many people are strung out to dry by the very doctors that were supposed to help them. The local (and largest) rehab center in my home town won't even fucking talk to you until you cough up $300 for a psychologist to "assess you". It's hard out there for a pimp...

I agree the OP is a bit vague regarding wds from specific substances...

I also agree that for heroin are your better off toughing it out with comfort meds than going on methadone which is a bitch to get off....

Benzo wds are something which should never be done on your own but in conjunction with the advice of a medical professional... They can indeed kill you ...opiate wds however will make you wish you were dead but won't kill you.

 

[tightlywound]

to the person who mentioned gabapentin as a good "comfort med" -- not addictive my ass. I had/have a debilitating physical dependency on that shit after not even 2 WEEKS on 900-1800mg. now I'm stuck on it just because I'm in no place to handle those withdrawals right now and I know meanwhile the problem is only getting worse. fuck gabapentin.

I'm scared of seroquel personally for my own reasons. but man I kinda wish they would have given me that, anything at all really, to sleep when they cold turkey pulled me off a 3 year antipsychotic dependency and yearlong SSRI (and supposedly the worst one to w/d off) prescription. I begged and pleaded for a rapid taper on at least the SSRI but such was not to be the case. I basically didn't leave bed for a week, not that I was actually sleeping all that much. ugh.

 

[ziggo]

clonodine + Dextromethorphan in small doses is one of the best combos for withdrawal from Heroin.


The measurement on bottom is number of DAYS!

 

[jonnynobody]

Some of the most commonly prescribed medications are more addictive than most of the drugs listed on Schedule I of the controlled substances list here in the US. I'll take heroin withdrawal over SSRI or trazodone withdrawal any day of the week. I had a similar experience with gabapentin. I got high when I took my first dose, but when I came down it was like a mini benzo withdrawal. I took it for 3 days and it felt as if the drug was building up in my body and the side effects / nightly withdrawals were becoming worse. I discontinued immediately and subsequently felt like shit for 3 days later. Most of the drugs big pharma makes available to doctors are absolutely horrible for the human body, but if you have a nasty side effect, don't you worry - there's a pill for that. The best medicine I've found so far is all natural cannabis. A dose out of a batch of good cannabis butter will hit you like a 10 mg valium, but without the addiction potential and horrible hangover.

to the person who mentioned gabapentin as a good "comfort med" -- not addictive my ass. I had/have a debilitating physical dependency on that shit after not even 2 WEEKS on 900-1800mg. now I'm stuck on it just because I'm in no place to handle those withdrawals right now and I know meanwhile the problem is only getting worse. fuck gabapentin.

I'm scared of seroquel personally for my own reasons. but man I kinda wish they would have given me that, anything at all really, to sleep when they cold turkey pulled me off a 3 year antipsychotic dependency and yearlong SSRI (and supposedly the worst one to w/d off) prescription. I begged and pleaded for a rapid taper on at least the SSRI but such was not to be the case. I basically didn't leave bed for a week, not that I was actually sleeping all that much. ugh.