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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Question Hydrocodone + Benzo

F

finderthings

Greenlighter
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
10
Hi, I have been using 1mg of Xanax for 4 years since I found my son's body out in our side yard. It was the same month that I gained health insurance. Newly insured, I was dxed compound grief and depression + a marrow condition that is technically a cancer and then it tuned out that I had been fighting a fairly mild case MS for over 20 years but that it got bad with limits on walking and standing. I have seen the same Psych for 2 years, running the gauntlet of SSRi's and whatever she threw at me. She had been warning me for over a year that the 10mg of hydrocodone I get from the Oncologist (they have more freedom to prescribe) was a problem. I am now on the hydrocodone, provigil, gabapentin, Namenda. Last week she suddenly yanked the xanax and put me on .75 klonopin "meltys." really don't think I want klonopin, also, she has me going back in a month instead of 3 months. The question is why one benzo and not the other? Is she going to take me off them next?
 
She probably switched you bc Xanax, being so short acting & kicking in quickly vs Klonopin, is more dangerous (the withdrawal is more likely to be problematic) & generally more addictive/abuseable. I personally think it's a good switch - I don't think it's wise to take Xanax daily. It would be safer & easier to taper off Klonopin so she could be planning to take you off benzos altogether - especially if she doesn't like you on hydrocodone (many drs really dislike combining opiates & benzos). And again, I agree with her - I don't think benzos are a good long term treatment for grief & depression. You didn't respond well to ANY of the SSRIs or more typical ADs?

Are you in physical pain or using the hydrocodone for other reasons?

I'm so very sorry about your son. I can't imagine a worse loss. How are you doing grief wise? It's difficult dealing with physical health issues as well as mental ones when grieving - it really makes me dwell on my situation in a way that's not healthy (I became crippled by severe pain within a few years of my husband dying). Maybe you are feeling similarly? Happy to talk if you need a sympathetic ear, just PM me.
 
I have pain from the marrow expansion. It is actually 3 years, not 2 I wrote that I have been going to this psych. I payed along with the SSRI's SNRI' ganed a lot of weight and quit them forever. The Namenda helps with depression by glutamate, sort of like how ketamine does. I suspect this is a plan to get take me off benzos, I was always working at getting only the one drug from her (profit clinic) and getting the others from the MS neurologist but I slipped up and and allowed the namenda and provigil. I also went along with to going to therapy 6 months (aha) ago, to try to stall this.
 
That is the official stance now. People used to take them together all the time before the opiod epidemic though. Hydrocodone 5/325 were only schedule IV until abt 5 years ago, it's the dose, I only use a fairly small dose and never touch alcohol. People like me got our stuff restricted for no reason in the effort to stop the ODs.
 
Benzos & opiates are fine together, provided one uses caution & moderation. And obviously OP is still alive...as am I after 10yrs (at much higher doses). I don't think their combination is responsible for most opioid ODs.

So you don't like the Namenda or the Provigil? Please list all SSRIs & SNRIs you've tried. I suspect you were put on ones that are bad, or at least bad for you/many people.
 
Whats your dose schedule every day with the xanax? 1mg every six hours? .25mg every six hours? It's not at all clear.
 
.5 x 2, it was never really enough, that was what I got in the Immediate aftermath and never quit. I used to have to supplimate that the first year after he died but I don't anymore.
 
Ah, okay. I'm not entirely certain if she has already started to taper you down or not. Some doctors consider Klonopin to be twice as strong as Xanax, but most consider them to be equally strong. So that's right in the middle. She may have already started to taper you off....or not. I assume the instructions were .25mg every eight hours? That would make the most sense.

Wish I could be of more help, but there is no way to be certain, imo, what she's doing without being familiar with her prescribing practices. Best of luck! Maybe someone else will have a better idea of what's going on.
 
Thx, I guess I will find out. At least those things are easy to find and I always hoard some back up.
 
sub'd to this thread
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The namenda is really helping w/d from the xanax, it blocks glutamate. I still have some xanax but I am trying to save them/taper.
 
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