Benzos Can long term benzo use makes anxiety worse?

[Mighty-oak]

Reading up on the net that long term benzo use can actually make anxiety worse, has anybody else found this?My current dose of benzos and duration.....Valium 10mg per day and been on for 15 years.....0.5mg Clonazepam per day and been on for 5 years. My anxiety is worse than ever at the moment so starting to think that there maybe some truth in the long term benzo use as in making anxiety worse as they worked greatly for the first few years.

 

[tacodude]

Of course..... Anticipating the next time for a dose or withdrawals causes pretty severe anxiety for sure.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

Sure, the duration will decrease, while you have to increase the dosage to get the same relief.
Withdrawal will skyrock your anxiety.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Sadly, in many cases that's what transpires. SSRIs tend to be touted as better for managing anxiety in the long run.

 

[Mighty-oak]

Thanks for the replies. Trying to come off Clonazepam, even the smallest of drops and I can feel it, anxiety is sky high at the moment......Part of me wants to increase the dose but then I will one day have to go through all this again.Dr has given me Pregabalin (Lyrica) does that help benzo withdrawal as not taken one yet as read some horror stories on the net about Pregabalin.

 

[infectedmushroom]

You've been on Z-drugs for quite a while. It's to be expected that each little drop will be felt quite significantly. As with any detox method, whether tapered or cold turkey (obviously don't go CT with benzos) certain things will help reduce your discomfort. Most importantly, a good diet and exercise will go a long, long way.

As for using Pregabalin to help, i'm not a doctor, but anecdotal experience has shown me it's immensely helpful for short term dependencies to short acting benzos (in my case lorazepam, for a few months, at 2-3mg a day - thats approx. 20-30mg valium equiv.)

 

[Jabberwocky]

I have only been taking Xanny FULL TIME for the past month and a half; I am scripted 1MG/night before bed to help with both anxiety and sleep. it works great and I do NOT always need the full 1MG but usually will take at least .5/MG as well as a Seroquel at times to actual help w/ the sleep itself and not just the anxiety.

with that beings said, I am a bit nervous to STOP taking them at this point and have to go through withdrawal. remember, I DO NOT take a large dose; 1MG MAX and usually .5MG/night. do you think after about 40 days I am able to just STOP TAKING THEM or NOT TAKE IT TONIGHT; I am hoping to NOT GET ADDICTED AGAIN!

I am on other meds as is -

8MG Suboxone
4000 Keppra (seizure med)
1800 GABA (seizure med)
1MG Xanax (used to relax/sleep)
100MG Seroquel (used to sleep)

so, do you think I can somewhat STOP the Xanax and not worry about withdrawal or seizures? last time I dropped the Xanax, years and years back, I ended up having seizures and its what brought me onto those seizures meds. its part of the reason why I am a little hesitant to just stop .not meaning to take over this thread and ask this question but seems like its the right spot, right?

 

[kleinerkiffer]

I have only been taking Xanny FULL TIME for the past month and a half; I am scripted 1MG/night before bed to help with both anxiety and sleep. it works great and I do NOT always need the full 1MG but usually will take at least .5/MG as well as a Seroquel at times to actual help w/ the sleep itself and not just the anxiety.

with that beings said, I am a bit nervous to STOP taking them at this point and have to go through withdrawal. remember, I DO NOT take a large dose; 1MG MAX and usually .5MG/night. do you think after about 40 days I am able to just STOP TAKING THEM or NOT TAKE IT TONIGHT; I am hoping to NOT GET ADDICTED AGAIN!

I am on other meds as is -

8MG Suboxone
4000 Keppra (seizure med)
1800 GABA (seizure med)
1MG Xanax (used to relax/sleep)
100MG Seroquel (used to sleep)

so, do you think I can somewhat STOP the Xanax and not worry about withdrawal or seizures? last time I dropped the Xanax, years and years back, I ended up having seizures and its what brought me onto those seizures meds. its part of the reason why I am a little hesitant to just stop .not meaning to take over this thread and ask this question but seems like its the right spot, right?

Any way you could get a longer acting benzo, like diazepam and do a quick taper?

 

[Hi.]

It definitely made it worse for me. I only took .5mg Xanax for about 2 months and then .5mg Clonazepam for about a month after that and withdrawing from it was hell. That is a longggg time to be on benzos. Took me a few weeks to fully recover. I'm surprised you even got prescribed it for that long in the first place. Since you said that you're trying to get off the clonazepam, as long as you don't go CT you should be alright physically. Taper very slowly. But with that duration there may be a long painful road ahead of you. It WILL eventually get better though, it will just take some time.

There are also medications that help with benzo withdrawal. I got a prescription for Hydroxyzine when I was withdrawing from benzos after I told my psych I couldn't take it anymore and it helped a great deal. Other than that just have a good diet, get plenty of exercise, and all the other normal things.

Remember that benzos only act as a bandage, they may fix the symptoms for a while but they make everything 10x worse when you decide to drop them. Good luck and never give up no matter how bad it may seem to be.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Any way you could get a longer acting benzo, like diazepam and do a quick taper?

I can easily get scripted whatever I want at this point; esp. if it me TRYING to come off the benzo.

so, what do you think I should do from here? get the script for diazepam rather than alprazolam that I am on now? I am actually going to TRY and not take a damn thing tonight and just see how I feel in the morning; if I wake up feeling a bit "rough" I will just take a .5MG in the AM and go from there; last night I took my .5MG around 11PM and now its 1AM and still feeling fine, so lets see how it plays out.

to me .5/1MG is such a small dosage but they say its NOT and to be careful. well, I am in no rush to get off but at the same time I do NOT want to be addicted, once again, and have the hassle of having a benzo in my life daily. you would think me, being the addict that I am, would celebrate w/ open arms, but I do not want to take the risk of having this benzo in my arms/hands. benzos NEVER made me feel "good" like other drugs have, so why even bother and risk seizures and what not, ya know!!?

lets see how tonight go but so far, so good (yes, the whole 2 hours its been, lol).

 

[chase_in_56ace]

Hmmm... U werent scripted that keppra when u had your seizures last time i bet. Keppra is a good anti convulsant it will make things a lot safer regarding your seizure history n whatnot.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

I can easily get scripted whatever I want at this point; esp. if it me TRYING to come off the benzo.

so, what do you think I should do from here? get the script for diazepam rather than alprazolam that I am on now? I am actually going to TRY and not take a damn thing tonight and just see how I feel in the morning; if I wake up feeling a bit "rough" I will just take a .5MG in the AM and go from there; last night I took my .5MG around 11PM and now its 1AM and still feeling fine, so lets see how it plays out.

to me .5/1MG is such a small dosage but they say its NOT and to be careful. well, I am in no rush to get off but at the same time I do NOT want to be addicted, once again, and have the hassle of having a benzo in my life daily. you would think me, being the addict that I am, would celebrate w/ open arms, but I do not want to take the risk of having this benzo in my arms/hands. benzos NEVER made me feel "good" like other drugs have, so why even bother and risk seizures and what not, ya know!!?

lets see how tonight go but so far, so good (yes, the whole 2 hours its been, lol).

It's a great idea to not take any tonight any test if you experience withdrawal.
If you experience withdrawal, maybe switch to around 10mg diazepam (0.5mg alprazolam is around 10mg diazepam) and try to taper like day 1 10mg, day 2 9mg, day 3 8mg etc.
Look up the Ashton manual if you haven't already.
Good luck man

 

[Mighty-oak]

Excellent and helpful replies, thank you all.

My Dr also told me that cigarette smoking does not help anxiety, anyone heard of this as I smoke about 20 a day.

Is Hydroxezine a prescription only anti-histamine?

 

[Jabberwocky]

last night I didnt take anything; woke up around 6AM w/ a cold sweat; not sure what it was from but right away assume it was the benzo so I ate 1MG and went back to bed within 20 minutes. tonight I am GOING to TRY AGAIN and see what happens; not sure if I just happen to wake up w/ a cold sweat last night or if it had something to do w/ withdrawal.

I've been through withdrawals so many times it doesnt really scare so, so ill def. try again. last night, yes, I woke up w/ a cold sweat, but who knows. seriously, sometimes it has to do w/ dreams, other meds, etc. so we'll see again tonight.

anyone have any idea HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR BENZO WITHDRAWALS TO KICK IN!? again, I ONLY TAKE AT NIGHT! so its usually every 24-28hrs before taking another pill. last night it was around 30hrs or so before the sweats hit. oh well.

 

[Mighty-oak]

I've been through withdrawals so many times it doesnt really scare so, so ill def. try again. last night, yes, I woke up w/ a cold sweat, but who knows. seriously, sometimes it has to do w/ dreams, other meds, etc. so we'll see again tonight.
l.

I am scared stiff of withdrawals To look at me you would not think it as I am 6ft, 229lbs and was very into bodybuilding so still kept my muscle size......But......Anxiety is ruining my life and each tiny cut of Klon makes my anxiety even worse. I read that once off Klon it takes a few months and anxiety starts to go down, but I was prescribed it for anxiety/agoraphobia in the first place and am scared stiff that I will be even worse off the benzos than on them......So tricky as it seems its proven that long term use does increase anxiety but then you have to come off and that makes anxiety go crazy so kind of stuck here

 

[Znegative]

it does get worse, for sure my anxiety becomes intolerable if I try to discontinue my use of benzodiazepines, even if I go a month or two without them i'm still a wreck which is why for the last two years I haven't gone more than two weeks before getting back on, I had a friend who had one of the hugest benzo habits I'd ever seen, he had two doctors prescribing him 2mg xanax 3xday and 2mg clonazepam 2xday and he was also buying additional pills on top of that, he got cut off and decided to quit and I ran into him a few weeks in and he was literally losing his hair. Benzo withdrawal is no joke and it can have long term damaging effects.

 

[Jabberwocky]

EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT; when I first got off xanny years back I was still on m others scripts, such as Suboxone, so it was NOT AS HARSH!

do not always read into this boards and have them worry you; you will begin feeling things that are not there but yet you have read about those things. if you truly want to get off a drug then give it a try; its not the end of the world. as I said, last night I gave it a try and woke up w/ a cold sweat, so went back and will try again tonight. the cold sweat could have meant many things but I puss'd out and went back to the xanny. tonight I will keep you guys/gals posted but withdrawing is NOT the end of the world, and if getting off a drug is truly going to help you greatly, then the withdrawals are well worth it.

worst case scenario, go into a detox and have them help you.

 

[Znegative]

I don't disagree with you, I'm just saying what I've seen and what I've experienced, I used to be able to tolerate benzo withdrawal very well but after years of using them it has become very close to impossible for me to tolerate the withdrawal symptoms. but yeah anything is possible, most detoxes don't know shit about benzo withdrawal it seems though, they'll have you taper down to nothing in 5-15 days or basically however long your insurance allows you to stay. an outpatient detox is more ideal.

 

[uno22]

if ur down to .5mg once before bed for the last couple months then I can't imagine you would be at risk for serious withdrawal from that. With your seizure history and other meds, you are a unique case, though.

taking a benzo first thing in the morning and then taking more throughout the day is a lot different than taking a small dose before bed.

still, use caution. Rather than skipping your dose, see if you can go down to .25mg. I have found that benzo tolerance can be lowered successfully and fairly quickly if you are disciplined.

 

[SixBuckets]

I've been taking Valium "as needed" (ie only when I have a panic attack or am in a situation that makes me unreasonably anxious) for around 15 years, as well as taking z-drugs for sleep for around eight years. I take them exactly as prescribed and don't abuse them or try to get high off them. I haven't built up much of a tolerance to either class of drugs and if I don't take my sleeping pills, I just don't sleep - no withdrawal or anxiety or anything.

My anxiety's gotten immeasurably better over the years - I rarely need to take my Valium at all these days, but I'm extremely glad I've had it for when things have been bad.

I guess everyone's different.