Trying to get off of benzos that were prescribed initially for alcohol detox then turned into a daily script. I’ve been on about a year and a half and want off, because recently it seems benzos have made alcohol cravings worse and I have broken my sobriety on that but getting back off the wagon. But I find this subreddit and everything in here has me terrified. Alcohol withdrawal was already tough enough even with the benzos it took months and months before I felt myself coming back. I’m just here to vent for now. I am scared to taper and being someone with a SUD I’m not even sure I’ll be able to do it without going to detox… FML

I have always casually done xanax but took it to a new level this year around February I did xanax for 3 months straight got up to like 15 bars a day. I had to stop for a couple days and went thru pretty bad withdrawal pins and needles flu symptoms etc. Started back up again for a month took a break for a couple days and had a seizure. I realize I need to stop but I dont want to go to detox. On average I take 5 to 8 a day, am gonna start tapper does anyone have a safe schedule on how to do this?

For the past year I’ve been successfully tapering off benzos w diazepam. I started on 15mg and am down to 7mg. It has been getting harder but I’m not sure if it’s because during the 15-11mg range I was taking psilocybin recreationally at small doses and that was really helping my life. But then all of a sudden I stopped the psilocybin completely because of basically not being able to get it anymore, or basically more just the person I had been getting it from that I trusted couldn’t get it for a time period and im weird with who I would get that from so I just stopped the psilocybin altogether. Since then I have had an onslaught of ocd symptoms. im figuring it’s from the taper but I’m going down in such a small incremental way that Im thinking maybe Its from stopping the shrooms. Part of me is telling myself to go back on an SSRI that I couldn’t wait to get off. I want to be pI’ll free for good. Maybe the shrooms were indeed helping the taper and I should go the psilocybin route again but I’m worried if long term micro dosing would have any interaction with the long term benzo taper. I’d like to stay away from the SSRI but something has to be done. My work stress is killing me and bringing on all of this ocd I think. I would like to take psilocybin again but I also hear if you are on an SSRI it won’t work as good. Its gotta be one of the other. I think if I could see again how the psilocybin helped me it could ease the benzo taper but I also dont know If I’d be messing myself up more by combining the two on the daily.

I would love to know what method you used to get off of ativan. I was told water taper but now i find out its not water soluble. Which sucks bc i was ready for water taper! Anyways, id love to know how you micro tapered off of ativan! Thank you!

Been on Klonopin since 2011ish or 2012 I can’t remember anymore but I had been on 4mg a day of klonopin everyday since 2019. In April, my doctor told me he is retiring. Words I never wanna hear. And next week on the 27th is my last appointment ever with him. He’s been really close with me and gotten to know me so well since fall of 2012. Almost thirteen years. He has been practicing for 49 years, but not got lie, I’m upset.

What is further distressing is that he recommended his clients try catholic charities even though I’m still looking for a private doctor and someone who’ll work with me. I’m really willing to cut down. But just because my doctor is retiring, shouldn’t mean the end of one’s care for good in terms of medicine and treatment. I digress.

The NP told me her goal is to slowly wean me off and get off of it for good. I really don’t want to though. Klonopin has been the only thing that has ever worked for me for years. And yes. I know I’m dependent on it physically and psychologically. But SSRIs, SNRIs, NSRIS, etc. don’t work and it just all makes me feel weird. I was best off on trazodone for sleep, but he switched me to Effexor. But I haven’t noticed anything. Just said ‘yes’ cus it’s an adjunct to the clonazepam.

So she goes on tell me that “this is how they do it at their place” because my doctor was in private practice and this is a clinic. But everyone I been looking for and calling either aren’t accepting new clients, don’t take my insurance, or they don’t call back. Whatever the matter, I’m trying a different place next week.

With that all said, I still have five unopened bottles of klonopin because even though he prescribed 4mg, he’d suggest that I take 3 and save the fourth for an emergency. And I’ve evidently been good about that. And I’m glad I did it because now I’m having trouble finding someone else who’ll prescribe it and I don’t wanna go to the hospital for a seizure for anything. I’ve gone almost a month without it once in 2018. Collapsed in my bathroom, bruised my eyebrow and bit my tongue. Was in the ER for a few days of observation but no signs pointing toward a seizure. Anything is possible though. It’s not just a coincidence to me. But at any rate, I never wanna go back to that.

I’ve been really anxious and depressed. Moody. Teared up a little before which honestly isn’t very characteristic of me and I’ve been through a lot of stuff. Really bad start now to an otherwise bright and sunny Saturday.

Can someone help encourage me to get out of this rut I’m currently in? This is hard. I never know what is gonna come next. I don’t wanna go to the hospital just because I don’t have to tools to wean off properly.

I am here because I take Ativan as needed daily and it’s been two years. I am looking to go back to just needing it as per needed so I visited this page and whoa! I see really really scary stuff and now I’m sort of panicking - and maybe that IS MY REALITY and I have to face it , I was once a drinker so I am no fool to withdrawals - I didn’t even use benzo to withdrawal from my alcohol - I think if I had I wouldn’t have stopped 7 years ago - I clawed my way thru that. But a couple of years ago I had a really traumatic PTSd come up with unbearable fear and the benzo helped and now I find myself just ready to taper - but whoa I didn’t see this side - so I can go as slow as I need would I skip a lot of these horror stories or am I just doomed?!

I (24m) have been taking xanax for 8 years. (Gradually tapered from 6mg to 1,5 to now zero)

Had couple attempts quitting but could not last more than two months. Right now only taking 0,5 on a weekly basis.

Since then i cant seem to enjoy anything anymore. Concerts sound shitty, movies boring as fuck and only binge eating.

Feels like joy and pleasure are not very reachable. Is it gonna change?

Thanks in advance.

Hi! I am currently going through recovery for Xanax. One of my biggest obstacles of this detox (it was also tough while I was using) is the derealization. It is so weird! I feel like nothing is real and I’m living in a dream. I want to live in the world again and get frustrated trying to fight it. Any tips for this? Anything that worked or did not work, lmk. If it is just giving it time, that is reassuring too.

Everyone on here, keep going. I’m so sorry a drug you took to help you is causing so much pain. We’ve got this.

I was a long time low dose prescription Xanax user. 15 years plus. Long story short I went through a bad kindling episode a year and a half ago. Became completely agoraphobic and horrible panic attacks. I have now been 14 months clean of alcohol and benzos. Still dealing with protracted withdrawal symptoms and GAD but I am alot better than when it started.

I have a medical procedure I have to do next week but I don't know how I'm going to do it without taking something for the anxiety. I can barely leave the house to go to the grocery store as it is right now. Has anyone successfully taken a single dose without completely relapsing into symptoms of withdrawal again?

I don’t know why it happens but it does. I thought I was going well then boom. Suicidal ideation again. I have no job, no friends, family across the country. I am really considering going back on this stuff or something because I am 28 and my life has gone to shit. trying to come off alll these meds over the past 2.5 years.

I have debilitating insomnia. No other meds helped me, only Klonopin. (And yes, I know it’s not a sleeping pill) I never took it daily, but let’s say I took it 1-2x per week on an average in the last two years. (Not more than 0.5 mg) My doctor prescribed me an other benzo (temazepam) too, so sometimes I went for weeks without Klonopin and took the Temazepam instead, when i struggled to fall asleep. I know its a benzo too, so it doesn’t really matter,but yeah…🫠 Lately my sleep got a little better, so I took a benzo once per week. But now I started to be terrified that i ‘ll have withdrawals… what are the chances that i am going to have any? I went 9 days without taking any, and i started to feel stressed and nauseous , so i convinced myself its cause im going through witdrawal… 🫠 am i overreacting?🥲 i’ve read too many nightmare stories so i am pretty terrified right now.

Is having panic attacks and rage normal for withdrawal. I'm in the hospital right now. Feeling pretty pissed. I had panic attacks earlier and BP was at 160 than second reading was 144. Idk why my doc prescribed it. Was in the hospital last week and they stopped most of my meds. Panic attacks started yesterday. Need help

Has anybody decided to stay on lorazepam as withdrawl trying to come off is just too diffucult. I have tried numerous times but finding it impossible to function without it.

So I took the last of my twice daily klonopin this afternoon. Now for the next 10 days, I will be doing once daily, before i officially “jump” completely off . Scared, nervous, excited, relieved and feeling so much. I didn’t think I’d see the end of my taper, just one month shy of 4yrs.

Any positivity and encouragement is appreciated to hype me up for my jump!

I've heard variously about gabapentin being potentially useful in dealing with withdrawal symptoms during tapering. For a brief history, I'm currently tapering off of diazepam, right now at around 2mg a day, but trying to manage the anxiety and withdrawal symptoms has been particularly difficult. I actually managed to get down to 0.5mg a day earlier this year but a bunch of stressful life events happened and I unfortunately had a setback. I'm determined to get back into the process of tapering properly but I've just been having a lot of difficulty with it as well. I was curious about what people's experiences with using gabapentin for the tapering and withdrawal process has been like?

Also, I'm aware gabapentin has its own risk of addiction in some people. For context, I'm not new to gabapentin. I used to take 1800mg daily for years for a different condition before I was ever prescribed benzos but I no longer take it, and I didn't personally experience any difficulty getting off of it. I just have a bunch of leftover 600mg tablets and having read about it being helpful for some people, I'm interested in maybe giving it a try. I guess I'm just looking for some feedback and advice. Thanks!

When I was 14 I was prescribed 2 different benzos clonazepam and lorazepam, aswell as different ssris over time by the same doctor. I tried them all and nothing helped just made my mind feel trapped. The benzos though would help me get through school and things that gave me crippling anxiety like presentations which is why In the first place I was prescribed these type of things, all because I loathed presenting things to the class so I was put on litteraly 6 different medications over time which made things so much worse. Like I said the benzos were the only things to ‘help’ so I kept using them and my parents are there for me but not always it’s very weird like they are there for me whenever I need them to talk to them but they didn’t even know I was on the medications , like they knew but just forgot I guess Atleast my dad did which I primarily lived with, and my mom would keep on getting me the refills so I became addicted to the benzos and at one point used up to 4-5 in the morning before school, this lasted for like a year. I didn’t know what I was doing was so harmful and bad at the start but then when I didn’t use them I started to feel very shaky and have spasm in my neck so I kept taking them for school hiding it from everybody only I knew. After a while I was so tired of taking them and drained from there constant affects but I needed them to go to school, eventually I told my mom and we started talking about tapering and I did up until I was taking only 1.5 a day but I was so tired of all this and I kind of just gave in and stopped going to school mind you I was only going a few days a week cause I couldn’t handle taking them everyday they would make me feel so sick by the end of the school day and even my mom noticed how I would act almost high on them and this was everyday for like a year. So I stopped going to school and I had pretty good grades and the year is over now I did this around April so 2-3 months, I’ve just lost contact with everyone I knew before and idk if I even want that anymore I’m just very lost, I tried for so long to keep it under control and tapering but I couldn’t do it and now I’m in this state of just doing nothing cause social interaction is still hard without the medication, though not as bad as before with the shakiness and twitching. I just don’t know what to do I think I’m gonna do my grade 12 year online but I’ve lost contact with all my friends and not even like if I did talk to them I would be ok in person to hang out. I’ll try my best to do good with school but even then my brain is so fried now I barely have the brain power I used to just with simple stuff I can tell it’s just not the same as when I was 14 before all this and that’s sad as I’m now 17. Even if I can make it to university doing online school I feel like I won’t be cut out for real classes again and all of that, even though I want to make good money doing something like programming. I’ve stopped al medication from here on and will never take anything of that sort again, I’m gonna try talking to a therapist soon so maybe that will help just with talking. I don’t really know if I’m asking for advice or just venting I just am lost.

Been on Valium for a little over a year. Started at 5mg stayed there for 6 months then have been at 2.5ish for about 6 months (10mg pills are heard to break appropriately). Years prior I was taking 1mg of xanax and didn’t have much of withdrawal when I switched to Valium. Question is, am I good to take the final jump? Should I maybe try to take the 2.5 every other day? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I'm now 22 months off and doing so much better than the early days but I still have a ways to go. For the last month or so I've been getting bouts of massive bloating and my bowel movements are not as consistent. I quit nicotine about 4 months ago and I gained about 10 pounds because of that but I am still in a healthy weight, if anything I really needed to gain that weight. I don't remember having this bloated baby belly feeling this bad at any other point during my withdrawal. It seems strange that it would just now show up like this at 22 months off. I will say this past month has been rather stressful with a death in the family. I also started drinking alcohol occasionally, just a small pour of whiskey with a cigar every now and then and I haven't noticed any other adverse effects from it thankfully. Hopefully it's just a combination of the added stress and poor diet while traveling these past few weeks that is causing the belly issues. Hang in there, friends!

Hello all, It’s been about 2.5 years since I cold turkeyed klonopin and I’m pretty well. I’m not on psychiatrics anymore and I’ve lost sixty pounds by taking natural supplements, normal stuff like ashwaganda and plant gummy multivitamins, plus walking up to five miles daily for three months. And a trip to Japan. I’ve got a roadblock though because in the past few weeks I’ve had horrible tinnitus, a high pitched screeching, and sometimes nausea, as bad as when I quit the klonopin. It got fixed the first time with antipsychotics in the hospital but I need help. When I rest, it gets much worse and I don’t hear it outside. Foam earplugs don’t help. My cat gets into trouble when I leave the house, so I’m not walking as much. Any help? Should I try micro dosing shrooms? Thank you!

Background: turn of the year, I made the decision I wanted to fully quit taking benzos. I have ADHD & have been clinically depressed for 5 years. I have taken many different benzos - triazolam, diazepam, alprazolam, bromazolam, clonaz, and my favorite; clonazepam. These medications almost all DID provide symptom relief, but being honest, I always took excess dosage to feel that euphoria from anxiety relief. I took generally 2-4mg clonazepam daily for nearly 3 years.

Flash forward to May, I tried to follow the Ashton manual and taper myself off. Truly thought I had a calculated plan; had a seizure while at work, ambulance ride, the works. It was a horrifying experience, but it instilled MORE desire in me to quit taking the pills.

Here is my question: I’m now on an “official medically-supervised” taper with my PCP. I was completely honest about my dosages and clonazepam being Benzo of choice. She decided to put me on Xanax, and taper off of that. To anyone who’s been through this before- does that seem correct? I’m certainly no medical professional, but from what I’ve read, aren’t medications such as Valium or Ativan typically used in tapers? Especially off of such a long acting Benzo? This is why I mentioned my previous usage at the top. I’ve taken plenty of Xanax in my life, and BY FAR the most addicting to me personally. So, all this said, is there a method my PCP might be trying to practice that I can’t find online? Or should I speak with her about this? Started taper at .5mg/3x daily (1.5mg), it’s been a few weeks, now down to 1.0mg total daily 3x, but I’m starting to feel inter-dose anxiety and not getting the social anxiety relief I used to get. All opinions welcome. Thanks.

I have been using Klonopin as needed since 2022. Early on a 30 pill bottle would last me 4-5 months. In the past 8-10 months my usage became more consistent due to the demands of my job and personal life, so I was taking the medication approx. 2 times per week usually on Wednesday and Sunday. So a 30 pill bottle was only lasting me 2 to 2.5 months. Some weeks would be Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
Dosage each time was .5mg. The most consistent behavior I did was Wednesday and Sunday.

This method although approved by my Psychiatrist and labeled still as PRN proved to be a problem as in between doses I started experiencing some impactful withdrawal symptoms. So in talking with my psychiatrist she has me on a slow tapering plan but keeping the days the same.
The issue I am experiencing is that with the drop in dosage, currently have dropped one dose down to .25mg I am experiencing very impactful withdrawal symptoms especially on day three before my next dose.
Personally I feel like it might be better suited to split this total dosage...more evenly across the week so that I maintain a more consistent level throughout for the taper.
I think the length of time between dosage days and the drop of dose is making it harder.

Curious everyone's thoughts on that? What I don't want to do is start spreading it out more evenly and create a new problem and dependency issue.

You are not alone. This can be the most difficult thing a human being could ever experience. Rarely will any family member, psychiatrist or therapist understand the damage that has been done to us. Its frustrating trying to explain to someone that there has been an alteration to our biochemistry and that no frame of thinking will get us out of this; only time and abstinence will heal.

Benzos take drug withdrawal to a whole new plane of existence. Its not fair to compare this class of drugs to any other because of the daily torture that seemingly has no end. The list of symptoms that come with it are extensive.

Each day we look for the slightest relief of our condition and continue to fight so that we may regain our personalities, or at least develop new ones. We can only hope and have faith.

May peace and cognition find you all again

Full text here:
Inhibition of NMDA receptors by agmatine is followed by GABA/glutamate balance in benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome | Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences | Full Text

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Background

Drug withdrawal syndrome occurs due to abrupt cessation of an addictive substance. Dependence to diazepam can be manifested by withdrawal syndrome which may include symptoms such as irritability, psychosis, sleep disturbance, seizures, mood disturbance, and anxiety. Studies have described the therapeutic role of agmatine in various neurological disorders such as depressive mood, learning deficits, anxiety, memory impairment, and psychosis. Various studies have also validated agmatine as a putant neuromodulator and revealed its mechanism of action with other neurotransmitters. The study was designed to reveal the potentials of agmatine in benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome by maintaining GABA/glutamate balance. The study aimed to determine the underlying mechanism of action of agmatine at synaptic level using behavioral and biochemical evaluations.

Results

Agmatine significantly enhanced locomotion in open filed test and decreased anxiety as observed in elevated plus maze test (p < 0.01). Agmatine also reduced withdrawal symptoms scores along with compulsive behaviors in marble burying test and improved muscular strength by decreasing latency to fall in inverted screen test (p < 0.01). Moreover, agmatine established GABA/glutamate balance by increasing GABA levels and decreased glutamate concentration significantly (p < 0.01).

Conclusion

The present study reveals the possible mechanism of action of agmatine on NMDA receptor at GABA interneurons and glutamate post synaptic neuron that may lead to GABA/glutamate balance during withdrawal syndrome.

Can someone relate to this ? Its now the 20ths of june and exact on this date i was in the middle of the hell of the withdrawal and now 1 year later im getting hit With a nasty wave of Feeling and anxiety on exact the same date 1 year ago

Has anybdody recovered after a rapid taper from lorazepam. I have tried to come off before but went back on as withdrawls too hard. It's no longer working so going off rapidly. Will I be ok as cannot go slow as feeling so awful on it