Mental Health Pregabalin to help benzo withdrawal? Please help!

[Mighty-oak]

I have been on 10mg of Diazepam for 16 years and Clonazepam for 5 years at 0.5mg a day. The Dr has prescribed me Pregabalin to help come off Klonopin.....Is this safe/effective for coming off Clonazepam? So far I feel a bit 'out of it' on Pregabalin at only 25mg a day, Dr wants me on 300mg a day

 

[Ligaturd]

It will help. You will get used to the dose. It does seem rather high. See how 50mgs works for pacifying withdrawal symptoms you may not need to go to 300mgs. You've been on benzodiazepines for a very long time but the dose is pretty low so the dose of pregabalin may be excessive.

 

[Mighty-oak]

It will help. You will get used to the dose. It does seem rather high. See how 50mgs works for pacifying withdrawal symptoms you may not need to go to 300mgs. You've been on benzodiazepines for a very long time but the dose is pretty low so the dose of pregabalin may be excessive.

Thanks greatly for the helpful reply. My anxiety has gone crazy since lowering the dose of Clonazepam, Dr said that Pregabalin would help with anxiety but as yet no real effects (Been on Pregab for 4 days)

Also....I smoke about 25 cigarettes a day, Dr said this would make my anxiety worse, I have not heard about cigarette smoking making anxiety worse?

 

[paranoid android]

Thanks greatly for the helpful reply. My anxiety has gone crazy since lowering the dose of Clonazepam, Dr said that Pregabalin would help with anxiety but as yet no real effects (Been on Pregab for 4 days)

Also....I smoke about 25 cigarettes a day, Dr said this would make my anxiety worse, I have not heard about cigarette smoking making anxiety worse?

Tobacco smoke induces certain enzymes that metabolism Benzodiazepines which means they won't last as long or work as good as they normally would. I am not entirely sure if this applies to Clonazepam but it does apply to Valium and Librium and my doctor has told me more then once that my Clonazepam would work better if i didn't smoke. Granted this could just be his way of getting me to try and quit smoking (he hates Cigarettes) but he knows his stuff pretty good. When i did give up smoking for a few years i noticed Clonazepam did work abit better.

Also while Lyrica will help Benzo withdrawal and since your dose isn't that high it shouldn't be a problem (I have been on 6mg's a day for about 10 years by comparison) but if you start to experience severe withdrawal symptoms you may need to do a slower taper possibly with Valium as it is easier to adjust the dose. 300mg's of Lyrica is a fairly high dose and you may not need that much.

As a note of caution i and other people i know have found Pregabalin and Gabapentin withdrawal to be about as bad as Benzo withdrawal or in my experience possibly worse. I was on 3200mg's of Gabapentin a day for years and it took me a entire summer to taper off the stuff. It is no exaggeration that i would much rather go through Morphine or Dilaudid withdrawal or even Benzo withdrawal then Gabapentin withdrawal. So my advise would be to use Pregabalin for as short amount of time as possible unless you want to have to do another potentially unpleasant taper.

 

[Mighty-oak]

Tobacco smoke induces certain enzymes that metabolism Benzodiazepines which means they won't last as long or work as good as they normally would. I am not entirely sure if this applies to Clonazepam but it does apply to Valium and Librium and my doctor has told me more then once that my Clonazepam would work better if i didn't smoke. Granted this could just be his way of getting me to try and quit smoking (he hates Cigarettes) but he knows his stuff pretty good. When i did give up smoking for a few years i noticed Clonazepam did work abit better.

Also while Lyrica will help Benzo withdrawal and since your dose isn't that high it shouldn't be a problem (I have been on 6mg's a day for about 10 years by comparison) but if you start to experience severe withdrawal symptoms you may need to do a slower taper possibly with Valium as it is easier to adjust the dose. 300mg's of Lyrica is a fairly high dose and you may not need that much.

As a note of caution i and other people i know have found Pregabalin and Gabapentin withdrawal to be about as bad as Benzo withdrawal or in my experience possibly worse. I was on 3200mg's of Gabapentin a day for years and it took me a entire summer to taper off the stuff. It is no exaggeration that i would much rather go through Morphine or Dilaudid withdrawal or even Benzo withdrawal then Gabapentin withdrawal. So my advise would be to use Pregabalin for as short amount of time as possible unless you want to have to do another potentially unpleasant taper.

Wow, thanks greatly, very informative.

I am not sure if I like the feeling Pregabalin is giving me, kind of a strange heavy headed feeling, sluggish yet not tired......Not a very nice feeling....Is this common to start with and will these heavy head, sluggish, dizzy feeling go? I will keep on as lower dose as I possibly can after reading your comment and for as short a time as I can. The anxiety I have is stopping me from going out, even taking my dog for a walk so friends are taking him out for his walk. My daughter lives 11 miles away, not been able to pick her up for nearly 2 years....Just want to lead a normal life. Clonazepam seemed to help but Dr told me to come off it. Also it seems that on the net there are many reviews that long term benzo use actually makes anxiety worse?

 

[Man in the Dark]

Have you routinely took .5 mgs of the Klonopin or have you ever exceeded that dose. I agree with the above posters that a high dose of Lyrica. I have been on and off benzos for about 14 years and am currently at 3-4mgs daily for the last 2 years, but I have my life back. I eventually plan on getting off them but I have to kick a prescribed opiate habit first.

Is it the anxiety that won't let you get to see your daughter? One of the main reasons I stick with the Klonopin is due to my young son and being able to be a halfway normal father without being full of anxiety and anger. You are in a tough spot man. For me my son comes first, and I am no father of the year but without the Klonopin I would be a disaster so I made a conscious decision to stay on them a little while longer.

you have to figure out what is best for you but .5 mg a day is an extremely low dose as it appears you have a pretty severe case of anxiety. I don't see why you need both benzo's are you prescribed both because you can probably just stick with one that you feel works best for you if you plan on staying on them.

Coming off benzo's deaflinetly makes your anxiety worse I last about 2 to 3 months at a time off of them and then have no choice but to start again as I can see the damage that I do to myself physically And to my family mentally. Sometimes without the benzo's I feel that I'm doing more damage to my body and taking them.

 

[Mighty-oak]

Have you routinely took .5 mgs of the Klonopin or have you ever exceeded that dose. I agree with the above posters that a high dose of Lyrica. I have been on and off benzos for about 14 years and am currently at 3-4mgs daily for the last 2 years, but I have my life back. I eventually plan on getting off them but I have to kick a prescribed opiate habit first.

Is it the anxiety that won't let you get to see your daughter? One of the main reasons I stick with the Klonopin is due to my young son and being able to be a halfway normal father without being full of anxiety and anger. You are in a tough spot man. For me my son comes first, and I am no father of the year but without the Klonopin I would be a disaster so I made a conscious decision to stay on them a little while longer.

you have to figure out what is best for you but .5 mg a day is an extremely low dose as it appears you have a pretty severe case of anxiety. I don't see why you need both benzo's are you prescribed both because you can probably just stick with one that you feel works best for you if you plan on staying on them.

Coming off benzo's deaflinetly makes your anxiety worse I last about 2 to 3 months at a time off of them and then have no choice but to start again as I can see the damage that I do to myself physically And to my family mentally. Sometimes without the benzo's I feel that I'm doing more damage to my body and taking them.

Hi bud.

Indeed it is the anxiety that stops me from seeing my daughter. The shrink has classed me as 'Severe agoraphobic with panic disorder'

In the past 5 years I have taken 0.5mg of clonazepam daily, never increased the dose. It worked miracles for me to start with, but lasted about 3 years then the past 2 years it started to not be as effective. These Pregabalin dont seem to be having the same effects as the shrink said, if anything I feel worse....Strange feeling of heavy head, I was like a zombie for a few hours last night, I was in control but felt so strange, not a nice feeling.

 

[Chatative]

Also....I smoke about 25 cigarettes a day, Dr said this would make my anxiety worse, I have not heard about cigarette smoking making anxiety worse?

Cigarette smoking isn't very good for mental health...as far as anxiety goes it certainly does not help & will probably make things worse overall. People think cigarettes make them feel relaxed, well that's only because nicotine withdrawal made you anxious in the first place. Sort of like banging your head against a wall & saying it feels great when you stop.

Although quitting smoking won't cure your anxiety, it should definitely offer some improvement. I'm sure if you sat down & thought about it you'd probably realise how much anxiety is intertwined with your smoking. (i.e. worrying about going without a cigarette, or your health etc.) Another possible benefit is that you may well develop other techniques for coping with your anxiety rather than reaching for a cigarette.

I've just given up smoking myself (for the 2nd time) & it's amazing how liberating it is. I'd seriously give some thought to quitting yourself.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Firstly, I wouldn't read up too much on the effects/side effects of the drugs you're taking. It took me a long time to figure out that if I do this too much, I start experiencing the adverse effects i read about. This is especially true for those with anxiety. If that is what your doctor recommends, I would give it a shot. That said, I'll gloss over some of the literature.

If you start to feel really wound up and have significant tremors, please contact your doctor promptly. I say this because pregabalin has a ton of use in psychiatry, but it's far enough away from the actions of benzos that there might be some turbulence. For instance, I believe it's useful in mild to moderate alcohol withdrawal, but not severe alcohol withdrawal. Benzos are the go-to for sever alcohol withdrawal. That means to me that pregabalin works (in decent part) separately from benzos.

As for cigarettes, the basic idea is that they don't make people more mentally healthy in the end. Nicotine by itself (or perhaps even in smokeless tobacco) may be a different story. There are certainly accessible studies out there that find smoking to make people more depressed and anxious.

Benzos are strangely prescribed in US a lot for the long-term. Generally speaking, Europe gives them out for only several weeks. As for long-term efficacy, I'd ask your doctor.

It's a big step to stop taking a benzo at any dose that you've been on for a while.

Please stay in close contact with your doctor. And again, reading too much about the drugs one takes usually doesn't end up well. My advice would be to focus on developing positive coping habits and let the doctor steer the medication ship.

 

[Mighty-oak]

Thanks so very much for the informative and helpful replies.

I need to be so very honest here and cant understand why this is.....But if a new medication is prescribed to me I get seriously anxious about taking it, the thoughts go through my head like 'What if it makes me feel worse, what if I loose control, what if I feel dizzy' etc etc.....Even a vitamin would worry me, say vitamin c, taking a vit c tablet would get me anxious worrying if it may make me worse.

I feel so stuck here and really cant see a way out of this anxiety. I have had it 16 years now and the past 2 years it has gotten really bad. I am 41 and stuck indoors all day, although I did just make it for a little drive about 2 miles from home then came back....But what I cant understand is that I maybe able to drive 2 miles from home today but tomorrow I may not even be able to leave my home. 4 years ago I was driving 30 miles from home and going in to all the local shops.....Just cant understand why I have become worse?

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

There's still a lot to discover about how and why mental illness manifests in the way it does (including severity and specificity of symptoms).

I can see therapy really helping you challenge those irrational mind-states. A lot of the work has to be done by working with a mental health professional to develop positive coping habits.

The disease isn't your fault, but it's your job to take care of it.

 

[Mighty-oak]

There's still a lot to discover about how and why mental illness manifests in the way it does (including severity and specificity of symptoms).

I can see therapy really helping you challenge those irrational mind-states. A lot of the work has to be done by working with a mental health professional to develop positive coping habits.

The disease isn't your fault, but it's your job to take care of it.

I love that, going to save it on my phone!

There is a Benzo group on Facebook who say that non anxious behaviour cannot be learnt until the person is off benzos as benzos effect new learning techniques.....Is this true?