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Why don't people stay on benzos for life?

dopemaster said:
I went throught the ringer of psych meds for anxiety. Doctors gave me all sorts of antipsychotics and antidepressants off label.

It wasn't until I got on klonopin that my anxiety got under control. I was 19 then. It completely changed my life for the better. I wasn't able to go to school or work let alone date. I was so anxious I couldn't relax in my house even being drunk or stoned.

After I got on klonopin I stopped taking all the other pysch meds and I was on about 6. My psychiatrist shit a brick and kicked me out. Every phsychiartrist kept trying to write me anti-depressants which I hate so after about 4 or 5 shrinks I went to my family doctor.

He understood and he had known me for over ten years. I now have my dose locked in for life. I don't think everyone needs benzos, but I sure do.

Its pretty much the same deal with my grandmother and my mother to a lesser degree.

I would consider myself to be completely clean to be just on benzos and to take a social drink. Im not much of a drinker and never have more than two drinks and that's about once a month.

Everyone has their own definition of clean. Mine is not sticking a needle in your arm or using cocaine or medications you don't need.
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Old-ish thread dunno how I found it. But I feel I have to say this.

I think the label is less relevant.

Clean or not clean, I think an out look on life like ^ is just so weak.

What was your diagnosis?

You're dependant because you gave up trying.

I'm willing to bet your life is just as shitty, you just care about it less. Popping a pill made you social Mcgee did it?

This is the Internet and you're invariably going to take this. personally, so il get ready for whatever bullshit response you're gonna come up with if at all.
 
Acquisition of tolerance cooccurs with loss of efficacy. This can be pretty simply reasoned out: without monotonic increasing dosage over an indefinite time period, one will reach some sort of plateau where benzos are needed for mere maintenance, not exerting any anxiolysis.

Is there something that I'm missing here?

ebola
 
^Best answer. Sums everything up perfectly in such an eloquent way!

I gave benzos a shot after trying to kick heroin and my methadone dose was plateauing, giving me cravings at night to use tar. Well the benzos worked well to subside heroin cravings, hold me over until my AM methadone dose, help me sleep, and take that edge of adjusting to life without heroin.

Started w .5 xanax, then kept increasing dose because my tolerance kept rising. Then experienced benzo WD eventually and it was terrible. Stayed on them for several months after until finally i realized i cant handle another monkey on my back and have since been decreasing my dose by .25 or .125mg 7-10 days for the past several weeks depending on what i felt was more tolerable. Im down to 1,25 now and going to make the jump this weekend to 1.125mg then 1 mg.

For me i didnt really need them, but they helped. Until i realized the mess i had gotten myself into. After this ordeal i realize they really didnt enhance my life that much, compared to the negatives that come along with them.
 
RCs are making it possible to feasibly stay on drugs that mimic benzos quite well for life. If u can get your hands on enough and before they get banned, but they'll be new ones. You'll probably be a sloppy mess your whole life, but still...
 
Etiz's and phenaz primarilly. And it's not like the chemistry of these substances are locked in a vault... we know how they work.
 
Right, and it turns out that their mechanisms are either identical or highly similar to other benzos (etizolam seems to elicit slightly less dramatic tolerance and withdrawal from other benzos, but not by that much); they don't pose any potential solutions to this issue.

ebola
 
First post here, but I've been lurking since 2005! So hi, I'll go make an introduction thread after this.

I asked myself this very question this morning, hence the revival of this old thread.

I was on Clonazepam for 6 weeks—at first, to deal with insomnia (which it did wonderfully), but I continued usage because, I found it enhanced the day after taking it. I used to have teeth-grinding/clenching issues, and my dentist told me I'd have to use a night-guard for the rest of my life. Of course, teeth-grinding is generally linked to insomnia. I've also had chronic depression since I was 15 years old (I'm now 27) and the Clonazepam really, truly took that away as well. For those 6 weeks of low dose Clonazepam, I felt like a new person. (Get me away from anti-depressants! I think they're devil drugs.)

I decided, out of pure rationality and thinking it would be wise, to stop taking Clonazepam after the 6 week mark. I was unable to taper off without anxiety returning, so I had my doctor switch me to Diazepam. Even during the switch, I noticed my anxiety and teeth-clenching returning, but the Diazepam still enabled me to sleep. Now that I'm down to 5 mg Diazepam nightly, I can still sleep, but all of the anxiety that was treated with Clonazepam is returning. Just last night, I woke up at 4 AM and had to reach for my antihistamines and DXM to sleep again.

So yeah, I'm asking myself this question:

Is it better to live most of my life with anxiety, battling insomnia by taking DXM or antihistamines nightly (surely that can't be good in the long run, and I'm always left feeling horribly groggy in the morning), clenching my teeth so much that my dentist tells me I have to wear a night-guard for the rest of my life—or to simply take a low dose of Clonazepam (0.5 mg) nightly, which essentially treats the teeth clenching, anxiety, and insomnia and enables me to be a relatively at-ease, productive member of society?

I'm seriously considering going back on Clonazepam. I can't see the negatives. Perhaps I'm naive.
 
Does anyone have experiencing coming off with the intention of going back on ??

I still get good effects from 10mg of diazepam and I have been prescribed this dose nightly as needed for over half a year. My daily use is closer to 5mg, but I'm wondering if there will ever be a time when I need to "reset" and take a break. Has anyone tried this before or when ppl quit benzos do they usually fuck off from them forever after that point?
 
SirTophamHat said:
Does anyone have experiencing coming off with the intention of going back on ??

I still get good effects from 10mg of diazepam and I have been prescribed this dose nightly as needed for over half a year. My daily use is closer to 5mg, but I'm wondering if there will ever be a time when I need to "reset" and take a break. Has anyone tried this before or when ppl quit benzos do they usually fuck off from them forever after that point?
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I quit for 4-6 months and hen i picked em up again, which saved y life, my tolerance hadnt lowerd much, a bit but not much....
 
ebola? said:
Acquisition of tolerance cooccurs with loss of efficacy. This can be pretty simply reasoned out: without monotonic increasing dosage over an indefinite time period, one will reach some sort of plateau where benzos are needed for mere maintenance, not exerting any anxiolysis.

Is there something that I'm missing here?

ebola
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Yes there is. Ashton and some studies cite that anxiolytic tolerance doesn't develop fully. http://fampra.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/03/12/fampra.cmt010.short http://journals.lww.com/psychopharm...d,_Naturalistic,_Parallel_Group_Study.20.aspx http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aps/2012/416864/abs/

However this 30 year-old study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/009130578590036X

The jury is out I guess. It depends on individual proclivity.
 
SirTophamHat said:
Does anyone have experiencing coming off with the intention of going back on ??

I still get good effects from 10mg of diazepam and I have been prescribed this dose nightly as needed for over half a year. My daily use is closer to 5mg, but I'm wondering if there will ever be a time when I need to "reset" and take a break. Has anyone tried this before or when ppl quit benzos do they usually fuck off from them forever after that point?
Click to expand...

Double post sorry. I wanted to answer. I was off ativan for six months then put back on it. The nightmares are the worst part of it, as well as general restlessness ime. Eventually, in my case, it was the only thing that would calm me down, as in, I was anxious during the day until my klonopin kicked in. I would guess most people go back to them. I cut my dose of ativan before by 2/3 for 15 days after being on it for about 20 days at that dose, and a month at the 1/3 dose. The withdrawal was as stated...
 
I love them. I'm not sure if I plan on taking them "for life", but they're one drug that I never don't have with me, in some supply or another (sometimes it's Xanax, sometimes it's Klonopin, sometimes it's Valium, etc.) The only other drug I never am without is cannabis, and sometimes this fact has given me pause, like "am I addicted to benzodiazepines?" Maybe. Probably. But I've been able to maintain my usage on a "as needed" basis for years and have never strayed into physical dependency, so I'm not particularly worried about it from that perspective. Have they crippled my ability to interact socially sans-benzos? In all honesty I don't think they have. My social skills have gotten better since I started taking them but I think that's due more to taking psychedelic drugs & just forcing myself to be in social situations and get outside my comfort zone, I don't think it has much to do with benzodiazepines.

I don't know, I just really like the feeling of the drug starting to work it's way into my bloodstream...it's not a "rush" or anything like what most drug users are looking for, but for me it really hits the spot so to speak.
 
I do believe I would have (klonopin+ativan+if you count it zolpidem, maybe later/now I would switch to xanax, temazepam, but it's so much more infinitely complicated for me than it is for 99% of the population plus I worry about long term effects because I have had such a bitch of a time with science classes at university). I do believe I would have.

Now? Hard to say, once you're off there's a temptation to stay off.
 
I have been taking benzos for 5 years legally. I have bipolar disorder and they help me out quite a bit. I plan to take them the rest of my life. My tolerance has reduced as I have gotten older. I'm getting better at coping with my mood swings. If I need to I will take benzos for life. If not then I won't. They don't negatively effect my life, work performance, relationships, or anything else for that matter. But I don't take them to get high that's a whole different ball game.
 
I have a lifelong script for daily 45mg temazepam but don't use them every day. Prescribed for Type 2 Bipolar disorder related insomnia. The drug has little effect on my life, it's potent but short-acting so no daytime interference.
 
I suffer from absolutely debilitating anxiety/panic disorder and chronic pain,both well diagnosed for decades and am RXd 8mg of Xanax and 40mg of hydrocodone a day.They make my life manageable and let me function as a normal person.I will most likely need them for the rest of my life and fully intend to stick to my dose.Having suffered from this for such a long time I've done my homework,know the risks and have done the cost/benefit analysis.I really don't give a shit what others may think or say about my use of these medications.It's my life and I have to live it.I'll be damned if I'm going to go through life hating it just so I can say "I'm clean and face life on life's terms" and other assorted NA-esque bullshit.I will happily take benzo and pain killer addiction/dependance (all my drugs are prescribed legitimately for real conditions)than suffer just to fit into what society thinks I should or should not do.Fuck that!My medications improve my quality of life.It's my choice to make and I've made it.
 
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