Benzos Benzodiazepine Alternatives?

[Lorne???]

That post is terrible. "Even at recommended doses"? It is well tolerated, your just fear mongering

Sad to say, nothing can fully replace benzodiazepines a cation at GABA-A receptors, but trying reasonable doses of lyrica isn't the danger you say

 

[Lorne???]

And 3mg clonazepam isn't that highadose; Peipke get rx'ed more than that, and they prescribe12-24mg per day in rare cases

 

[zagor11]

I have Akastasia which I thought was anxiety. Several times I atebetween 8 and 13 mg of klonopin at once. When it comes to rx some doctors will prescribe high doses. My former shrink said he had a patient who was on klonopin 4 mg every 4 hours (and it wasnt helping her)

 

[zagor11]

Imagine being on 24 mg k-pin. How many years to taper? The "psychiatrist" I see now said in his 30 year practice not a single patient could wean of klonopin.

 

[burn out]

Imagine being on 24 mg k-pin. How many years to taper? The "psychiatrist" I see now said in his 30 year practice not a single patient could wean of klonopin.

You could taper off that in a couple of years. The thing with tapering benzos is the higher the dose the bigger the cut you can make. It's definitely possible to taper off benzos, many people have done it myself included the issue is that you're often stuck with a long protracted withdrawal syndrome. Benzo dependence should be avoided at all costs.

 

[Jekyl Anhydride]

I think when you get into decades of use and esp at older age the inability of cessation without permanent issues becomes a reality. My father's shrink told him it was his opinion and his colleague's opinion as well that discontinuation after 2+ decades, esp well into old age was more problematic than the risk of falls benzos might contribute to.

 

[aspiringchemist]

OP I'm really sorry to hear that the switch to medicaid resulted in you having to obtain new providers. Working in the psychiatric field I see this all too often and it's disheartening.

Anyway. I struggle with and am diagnosed with severe anxiety and panic, dysthymia, and PTSD. By far though anxiety is the worst for me. It drives me to depression because I can't fucking stand it. So I feel your pain. Guess I'm gonna air my dirty laundry on BL for this post.

What I'm learning is that medication can only do so much. I currently take prescribed diazepam (benzodiazepine) and baclofen (gaba-b agonist), as well as self medicate with phenibut (gabapentinoid/gaba-b agonist) multiple times daily and have been taking this combo for years. I also take 30 - 50 grams of kratom, tizanidine (a2 adrenergic agonist) and prescribed 60mg vyvanse daily.

It sounds like you've been on many of the various medications that are used for anxiety so I assume you too are aware of the painful truth of their limitations on creating real change. No judgment here obviously... I'm pretty addicted. I'm just realizing that I'm still so motherfucking anxious even with these meds. I've had to make some huge efforts in therapy after suffering for the past 15 years and within the past 3 days I've started to experience some change and relief (It's pretty fucking cool!).

Sorry for the novel of a response. I'm kinda stimmed atm lol. Have you tried baclofen or tizanidine? Both require an Rx but are not controlled. Otherwise I kind of am asking the same question as you. I've found tizanidine to be very helpful for anxiety and the VA is currently using it for PTSD treatment due to it's similar effects to clonidine and prazosin.

I agree with others that your best bet is seeking new providers. I've never heard of medicaid requiring a GP referral for psychiatric care. If that is the case I would like to know just to be informed.
Is that the situation you're in?

Good luck OP. Seriously. I know the boiling blood, can't go outside because it feels so unsafe and chaotic, anxiety feeling. I'm living in it right now and am unemployed as a result for the first time in 12 years. It's unbearable.

 

[burn out]

I think when you get into decades of use and esp at older age the inability of cessation without permanent issues becomes a reality. My father's shrink told him it was his opinion and his colleague's opinion as well that discontinuation after 2+ decades, esp well into old age was more problematic than the risk of falls benzos might contribute to.

If only "risk of falls" was the only issue long term benzodiazepine use can cause.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

Would love to get some Tizanidine rx-ed or Clonidine but that's not the how it goes.

I once randomly requested if Lofexidine was available, as it is portrait as very usefull for Cannabis cessation. My so called dr. prescribed Chloordiazepoxide, a benzo way more addicting then THC. Because they prescribed it to withdrawing Heroin addicts.

Withouth realising Clonidine and Tizanidine were very alike Lofexidine and at his disposal, in his pharmaceutic compas. Which carry allmost no risk of addiction.

 

[RandomClean3]

Not a fan of replying but forcing benzo withdrawal on someone is inhumane. Do they test for carisoprodol? Among the Z-drugs, Zopiclone/Eszopiclone is the only one that acts like a true benzodiazepine, it has hypnotic, anxyolitic and muscle relaxant effects, unlike zolpidem or zaleplon, but the short half life would mean taking it at least 3 times a day, and I just wanna say, it fucking sucks you were on a relatively normal treatment and you're being forced to do this. The only Z-drug analogue I know exists in the RC market is pagoclone. It was developed to be a less addictive alternative, but it was asessed to have slightly less abuse potential than diazepam, and since they were trying to get a pharmaceutical that would not get schedualed, they dropped it. But it should be a decent replacement for benzodiazepines and it has the benefit that the anxyolitic effects appear at considerably lower dosages than sedative effects. This last one, even though it's relatively well known now, is supposed to be kept a secret and they would kill me at my job if they knew i'm recomending it to someone, but you asked and I'm not using my name so fuck it. Best of luck.

 

[Specified]

Ashwaganda

 

[RandomClean3]

Would love to get some Tizanidine rx-ed or Clonidine but that's not the how it goes.

I once randomly requested if Lofexidine was available, as it is portrait as very usefull for Cannabis cessation. My so called dr. prescribed Chloordiazepoxide, a benzo way more addicting then THC. Because they prescribed it to withdrawing Heroin addicts.

Withouth realising Clonidine and Tizanidine were very alike Lofexidine and at his disposal, in his pharmaceutic compas. Which carry allmost no risk of addiction.

What I don't get is, why take anything for cannabis cessation. It's a mild withdrawal and alpha2 agonists can have a pretty substantial rebound hypertension when discontinued. And while the physical dependence is way stronger with chlordiazepoxide, I would argue that factoring in the psychlogical dependency, most people are more likely to get hooked on pot than chlordiazepoxide since it's a very slow acting low potency benzo and it's long half life makes withdrawal a lot milder, unless you've been taking large doses for a long time.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

What I don't get is, why take anything for cannabis cessation. It's a mild withdrawal and alpha2 agonists can have a pretty substantial rebound hypertension when discontinued. And while the physical dependence is way stronger with chlordiazepoxide, I would argue that factoring in the psychlogical dependency, most people are more likely to get hooked on pot than chlordiazepoxide since it's a very slow acting low potency benzo and it's long half life makes withdrawal a lot milder, unless you've been taking large doses for a long time.

Cannabis, a lot of the times, is portrayed as a mild to non existent withdrawal.

Probably not for me, as I get hypertension, disruption of sleep and naussea. And find withdrawal of Kratom not only a lot eassier, but way faster over and done. Can cold turkey that one, but THC has a real nasty discontinuation for me personally. But it's my D.O.C.

To bad to hear about rebound hypertension being a issue with the -idines. I thought they were relatively free of negative effects. And did their work peripheneral, instead of working on the CNS. Like Chloordiazepoxide which has an sedated feel that just want's me to smoke my pipe. It loweres my moral treshold and the numbing effect on emotions prob has some to to with it. As Cannabis kinda enhances emotions. But benzo's for Cannabis sensation is bullshit offcourse, and so was my dr. who prescribed them for that indication.

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Barbiturates? They're the only thing I've found comes close to being as good as benzodiazapines.
But be careful because the dose that'll make you OD with barbiturates is not that much higher than the prescription dose.

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

Would love to get some Tizanidine rx-ed or Clonidine but that's not the how it goes.

I once randomly requested if Lofexidine was available, as it is portrait as very usefull for Cannabis cessation. My so called dr. prescribed Chloordiazepoxide, a benzo way more addicting then THC. Because they prescribed it to withdrawing Heroin addicts.

Withouth realising Clonidine and Tizanidine were very alike Lofexidine and at his disposal, in his pharmaceutic compas. Which carry allmost no risk of addiction.

They also give it to you (Chlordiazepoxide) UK in hospital when you're withdrawing/detoxing from alcohol or other benzo's.

 

[RandomClean3]

Barbiturates? They're the only thing I've found comes close to being as good as benzodiazapines.
But be careful because the dose that'll make you OD with barbiturates is not that much higher than the prescription dose.

They likely test them as well, they are in the 10 drug panel tests. But that would be taking oxycodone instead of codeine, they are WAY stronger.

 

[RandomClean3]

Cannabis, a lot of the times, is portrayed as a mild to non existent withdrawal.

Probably not for me, as I get hypertension, disruption of sleep and naussea. And find withdrawal of Kratom not only a lot eassier, but way faster over and done. Can cold turkey that one, but THC has a real nasty discontinuation for me personally. But it's my D.O.C.

To bad to hear about rebound hypertension being a issue with the -idines. I thought they were relatively free of negative effects. And did their work peripheneral, instead of working on the CNS. Like Chloordiazepoxide which has an sedated feel that just want's me to smoke my pipe. It loweres my moral treshold and the numbing effect on emotions prob has some to to with it. As Cannabis kinda enhances emotions. But benzo's for Cannabis sensation is bullshit offcourse, and so was my dr. who prescribed them for that indication.

Clonidine was made to treat high blood-pressure, the other two work the same way, although tizanidine is used as a muscle relaxant so they have probably tested it better for usage unrelated to blood pressure. However lofexidine should be the best for withdrawal since they had it in mind when they made it. If you find yourself not being prescribed any of them, go to another doctor, complain of recurring muscle pain and ask for tizanidine (brand name, never drug name) specifying you've been prescribed valium and flexeril and they were WAY too sedating and last time the doctor gave you tizanidine and it worked great. Doctors like to prescribe less addictive options when you... push them in the right direction.
As for my post, it was kinda dickish look back on it and I apologize. But be careful with these drugs, they do have CNS effects as well, in fact the imidazoline receptor was discovered because of clonidine, and most importantly, they can easily cause hypotension if you double dose or mix with alcohol, even more so than benzos. Benzos really make no sense as withdrawal medications, their role with alcohol is more akin to drug replacement therapy. Baclofen is quite interesting, given it's used for cocaine, alcochol, opioids and it seems to lower cravings. Worth checking out. And although Phenibut has a very similar structure, phenibut is a weak gabapentoid in practice, while baclofen is a GABA B agonist, so very different.

 

[Mycophile]

Imagine being on 24 mg k-pin. How many years to taper? The "psychiatrist" I see now said in his 30 year practice not a single patient could wean of klonopin.

Then you have a bad psychiatrist.

I was able to wean off of about 2mgs in 1 month, but then had to get back on do to anxiety...NOT withdrawal though.

 

[burn out]

Then you have a bad psychiatrist.

I was able to wean off of about 2mgs in 1 month, but then had to get back on do to anxiety...NOT withdrawal though.

You didn't have to get back on though. First off, the long term effects of benzos are way worse than anxiety. How long were you on for in the first place? Secondly, every time you go on withdrawal will be worse in the future. Third, there are plenty of alternative drugs and therapies for anxiety now that are safer than benzos. Benzos are real dangerous to use long term.

 

[RandomClean3]

Then you have a bad psychiatrist.

I was able to wean off of about 2mgs in 1 month, but then had to get back on do to anxiety...NOT withdrawal though.

Good for you, it varies a lot. For most people a month would be impossible after relatively long-term use, which happens.