Benzos Xanax and Klonpin

[budsnbars712]

SO..I was prescribed up to 3 mg of xanax for about three years. I did not like how they made me up and down and decided to taper down....Successfully made it down to .75 mg a day. At this point it, the withdrawals were getting rough. I seeked a psychiatrist for my OVERALL issues. He decided that I needed to be on benzos for anxiety which I do not like. They make me emotional and a headcase. He put me on 1 mg (2x daily) of klonpin.

Now I tapered from 3.0 mg's of xanax to .75mg over 3 months enduring pain the whole time....Now I am placed on (what I feel) is a high dose of another benzo. It was so rough coming off of the first benzo that I am not sure I want to go back onto this one.....If i decided to not be on benzos anymore, how would I go about stopping from now, since I have been on 2 mg's a day of klonpin for 5 days now. And before that I was in the middle of a xanax taper that I made down to .75 daily.....

If I decided to start a taper now, how would I go about it since I was put on the klonpin.....And If I decided to stay on it until my next appointment with my psychiatrist which would be a full two weeks of being on the klonping (right now its 5 days), how would I go about that? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Animoe]

First off good job on tapering your dose down on the xanax. Secondly, why would a doctor prescribe 2mg klonopin daily when you're only taking .75mg xanax daily? That's just a big step in the wrong direction. I have also read on quite a few different benzodiazepine comparison charts and from what I've gathered klonopin is roughly twice the strength of xanax (I could very well be wrong.) I think the best things to do a benzo taper on are either valium, due to it being a very weak benzo IMO, and that it has an extremely long half life, or librium (chlordiazepoxide) because it's the least recreational benzo (I'm pretty sure) and it's also extremely weak IMO. Both will keep the withdrawals at bay and keep you from having seizures when tapering.

Remember to just take it slow, tapering too fast may increase your chance of/cause seizures. which are no fun at all. I had 5 of them when I was quitting my benzos (I had an EXTREMELY high benzo tolerance/addiction and I was taking MASSIVE quantities) cause I tried to quit cold turkey, I was also quitting my heroin addiction at the same time cold turkey so that may have had something to do with it.

 

[budsnbars712]

First off good job on tapering your dose down on the xanax. Secondly, why would a doctor prescribe 2mg klonopin daily when you're only taking .75mg xanax daily? That's just a big step in the wrong direction. I have also read on quite a few different benzodiazepine comparison charts and from what I've gathered klonopin is roughly twice the strength of xanax (I could very well be wrong.) I think the best things to do a benzo taper on are either valium, due to it being a very weak benzo IMO, and that it has an extremely long half life, or librium (chlordiazepoxide) because it's the least recreational benzo (I'm pretty sure) and it's also extremely weak IMO. Both will keep the withdrawals at bay and keep you from having seizures when tapering.

Remember to just take it slow, tapering too fast may increase your chance of/cause seizures. which are no fun at all. I had 5 of them when I was quitting my benzos (I had an EXTREMELY high benzo tolerance/addiction and I was taking MASSIVE quantities) cause I tried to quit cold turkey, I was also quitting my heroin addiction at the same time cold turkey so that may have had something to do with it.

He prescribed me this to me after diagnosing me with anxiety and depression. I told him that I did not want to go back on benzo's as I was almost completely off the xanax. He told me that he thinks I "need" them as I am distraught and not stable.

 

[Animoe]

have you tried any SSRI's or anti-depressants? i.e. celexa, lexapro, prozac, zoloft, abilify (I think abilify is only used in conjunction with other anti-depressants like celexa etc.). They usually take anywhere around 2-6 weeks to start working fully so what I did, and it worked out good for me (I've got almost every type of anxiety you can think of, plus severe panic attacks, depression, agoraphobia, PTSD, ADD, etc.) and celexa worked great for me. Although during the period of the 2-6 weeks of waiting for it to work, it gave me extreme anxiety and panic attacks, but then once it started working it was great. So you could go the route of an anti-depressant, and what I recommend for the anxiety it causes while you're waiting for it to build up in your system is actually a benzodiazepine such as klonopin or valium.. maybe even a low dose of xanax. Then once it starts working slowly taper off the benzos and just let the anti-depressant do it's job.

That's just my own experience, and my own 2 cents. Take it for what it's worth.

Sincerely, Animoe.

 

[budsnbars712]

I was prescribed Cymbalta. I have not started it yet. I do realize that these anti-anxiety meds make me off the wall. At first (for a couple of days) they work. Then everything gets even worse then when I was on them. I am obsessing about many situations since I am back on benzos and am EXTREMELY emotional, to the point of suicidal thoughts......If I start thinking about something, I begin to obsess. I just spoke to my ex and the way she ended the convo, I feel like I am never going to talk to her again. I think its an over-reaction and that benzos make me worse.....I think in the past few hours, I came to the conclusion that I am going to complete a taper instead of going back on completely. Now I just have to figure out how to taper from here...I have only been on the K-pins 1 mg twice daily for 5 days now. The first day, I felt great.....then alot of stress came my way.