Benzos Benzodiazepine consumption and seizure incidences on withdrawal - personal experiences requested

[Vastness]

I usually would not cross post like this but I am looking to get somewhat different answers - I posted another thread in N&PD which I won't link to - but in this thread I am hoping to just get some anecdotal experiences.

Those of you who have used benzodiazepines for any length of time (preferably, longer) - who are not or were not previously epileptic, had not experienced any epileptic symptoms either spontaneously or induced from consumption of other drugs - who have also withdrawn from benzos, whether gradually or abruptly, I would like to know some specifics, if you would not mind taking the time to share:

1. Which benzos were you using?
   
2. For each of these benzos -
   --- 2.a.) what was your starting dose?
   --- 2.b.) what was your modal dose for most of your habit or treatment plan? (the dose you took most often - not the average, not expecting anyone to need to get out a calculator here)
   --- 2.c.) what was your maximum daily dose during your period of use?
   
3. For each of these benzos, how long did you use them for?
   
4. When you attempted to discontinue your usage, or your treatment plan ended - how did you do it? Taper or cold turkey? In either case, what was the dose you started tapering at, and over what time period did you taper to zero (or as close to zero as you got)?
   
5. Did you experience a seizure, of any kind, grand-mal or not, when attempting to withdraw from them? What were the circumstances of this, ie, at what point in the taper, how long after your last dose, any other details you consider to be relevant... and what was the outcome of this?
   
6. IF you did answer YES to the first part of the previous question - did you experience any persistent epilepsy thereafter, or was this a single isolated event? In the former case, please share details - in the latter case, please share how long it has been since your seizure.

Apologies for the highly specific questions - but I am looking for very specific information and want to make sure everything is covered. For either point, please share any other details you consider to be relevant.

Thank you in advance to anyone who replies! Please do do your best to answer each point but if you are short on time, don't remember, or are just lazy , even a partial answer will be appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[Goodland36600]

I developed a dependency on Xanax myself, originally prescribed by my Doctor for severe anxiety. With benzodiazepines the body becomes dependent on them very quickly, it only takes about a month of continuous use before you are dependent. Like yourself I had been using Xanax continually for around three months and I made the huge mistake of quitting cold turkey which led to me having multiple seizures and hospital visits (in my defence I was very young and naive) in my opinion Xanax is by far the worst benzo out there as it has such a short half life and is by far one of the strongest. I had to taper if slowly over the course of a few months. I’m not going to sugar coat it, it was hell on earth! When tapering of benzodiazepines you need to use one with a long half life, diazepam/Valium is best for this. I would also strongly advice getting some cannabis just to take the edge of also cannabis is great for preventing seizures. It’s probably one of the hardest drugs to withdraw from but it’s so worth it! I hope I have helped in some way and please feel free to message me for any advice I have a lot of evperience in helping people withdraw from benzodiazepines. P.s. this is not something you can do on your own it’s best to find an outpatient rehab or even a family member to hold on to your medications.

 

[Vastness]

Thanks for your reply! Clonazepam is very long acting too, no? But then obviously that's the main one I've gone and developed some kind of issue with... I have a whole bunch of valium, it's one of my favourites, maybe still is before klonopin, but I think the muscle relaxant and slightly stupefying effects put me off ever using it long term... I've just got a bunch of gabapentin with plans to use this to taper off, I had some pregabalin but again... too damn stupefying. Also got phenibut if worse comes to worse.

I can see how you could get addicted to xanax, for myself I just categorically cannot take it after one too many really poor decisions under the influence. Just makes me totally manic. It's also a very transparent benzo in that you can easily not realise how fucked up you are... All benzos have that to some extent but xanx is the absolute worst, IMO.Very irresponsible of your doctor not to made you more aware of the dangers of abruptly quitting.

I could get some cannabis... haven't had any in a while... tbh it does usually gives me anxiety even at the best of times and I could do wit less of that in my life right now. But equally, periods where I smoke more often I definitely stay off the harder stuff. Hopefully the gabapentin will do the trick. I'm out of clonazepam now anyway... so obviously should not get any more.

Slowly building up the list of drugs that are no good to me though at least lol... Kratom for me was the worst withdrawal I've ever experienced. Ketamine and analogues I find too compulsive - one of the only class I've ever eventually had to just stash elsewhere... Recently though I'm allowing myself the odd few days a fortnight as a speed freak, I must have done almost a gram in the last 3 days... that's actually, probably, when the benzo use started to manage the negative aftereffects initially, but then I just didn't stop... Thanks again anyway.

If you don't mind my semi-neurotic line of questioning - have you had any seizures or diagnosed brain abnormalities since then?

Have you ever taken benzos since then, even just once or twice, or for a short time?

 

[iLoveYouWithaKnife]

Xanax.

10mg/day (+heroin habit)

Everyday for months. Month of November through February is a complete blackout.

I stopped cold turkey.

Day 3 of withdrawal- grand mal seizure.

About 28 hours later, I ended up in jail- recovering from the seizure, Xanax withdrawal, and then 4 year heroin habit. I was there for 5 days, which they gave me Librium. So possibly prevented any more seizures. I don’t really remember those 5 days at all.

For about a month after that, I thought I was having myoclonic seizures but I cannot be sure. They could have just been tremors, but the reason I started researching myoclonic seizures is because of the constant taste of metal in my mouth.

I’ve never had any type of seizure before or after this.

 

[Vastness]

Thanks for your reply. Yeesh, glad to hear you survived it and have had no lasting aftereffects.

 

[albatross]

Sorry gotta make this quick and couldn't read your post as much as I would like.

Have had 2 grand mals. First was on about 6-8mg Etizolam a day. Did a halfass taper for a lil bit and then ate like 8mg when that's all I had left. Approx 48-72hrs later lights got bright and blurry and had a seizure. Tapered off afterwards with Diazepam and jumped at 10mg while on 3600mg of Gabapentin for anxiety and seizure prevention. That worked fine.

Second time I had been on 2mg Clonazepam a day roughly. Had tapered down to 1mg and felt totally fine but out of the blue I started feeling like I was on acid, trailing/blurry/nausea/unable to read, like a migraine. Tapered down very slowly and took 200mg lamotrigine for seizure and propanolol for tremor, that worked too.

Both stints were from 1-2years or so.

edit: It's impossible to really know a seizure is coming on re:benzos. There can be signs but also not at all. My first I didn't really feel like something major was gonna happen. Better to err on the side of caution always.

 

[Branggen]

1. Which benzos were you using? Xanax, valium to taper
2. For each of these benzos -
   --- 2.a.) what was your starting dose? 2mg Xanax
   --- 2.b.) what was your modal dose for most of your habit or treatment plan? (the dose you took most often - not the average, not expecting anyone to need to get out a calculator here) 5mg
   --- 2.c.) what was your maximum daily dose during your period of use? 8mg
3. For each of these benzos, how long did you use them for? Xanax-2 years, Valium-6 months
4. When you attempted to discontinue your usage, or your treatment plan ended - how did you do it? Taper or cold turkey? In either case, what was the dose you started tapering at, and over what time period did you taper to zero (or as close to zero as you got)? Cold turkey for like 3-4 days, then a valium taper starting at 60mg/day over 6 months or so
5. Did you experience a seizure, of any kind, grand-mal or not, when attempting to withdraw from them? What were the circumstances of this, ie, at what point in the taper, how long after your last dose, any other details you consider to be relevant... and what was the outcome of this? No seizures
6. IF you did answer YES to the first part of the previous question - did you experience any persistent epilepsy thereafter, or was this a single isolated event? In the former case, please share details - in the latter case, please share how long it has been since your seizure.