On Mission Quit Benzo

[[Ku...]]

Hello, I am 42 years old man. I started benzo unvoluntarily 3 years back when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. My doctor put me on one blood pressure control pill in the morning and one benzo pill before sleep.

 

currently I am taking one pill ( 0.5 mg) of Alprazolam daily before sleep. Now i know how bad benzos are for me, I want to quit it forever and thats why I joined this group.

 

I feel ashamed to mention that I am an alcaholic and nicotine addict too, I consume alcohol every evening. I would love to reduce my alcohol intake too. and would love to quit tobacco forever.

 

I hope I will be able to do all the things about my health and look forward for help from this group. I sincerely appreciate any help. Thank you for letting me in.

Regards

[Guest [Mi...]]

Hi, Kulsa.

 

Welcome to benzobuddies. Glad you found us. 

 

You will find a lot of information and support here.  Congratulations on your decision to become benzo, alcohol, and nicotine free! With a proper taper schedule and a lot of information from this site, you're sure to succeed. 

 

A good resource about benzodiazepines is the Ashton Manual. Here is a link to the manual: Professor Ashtons Manual  It’s great for learning about these meds and for taper plans. Ashton recommends reducing between 5 - 10% every 10/14 days.

 

You'll find a great community of people here who will support and encourage you. Feel free to check out the forum and to post to any of the dedicated boards.

 

In addition to the Ashton Manual, here are some other resources:

 

For tapering advice, post here General Taper Plans

 

For support with any symptoms you may have, post here: Withdrawal Support

 

Please add a signature (history of medication/doses etc). It will help members give you relevant advice. This link will show you how to Create a signature

 

Please let us know if you have any questions.

 

~ Mind

[[Ku...]]

Thank you buddies for letting me in....

 

My first concern is...what do I quit first ? Benzo, Alcohol or nicotine ? I am addicted to Nicotine for last 25 years, Alcohol for last 10 years and Benzo ( Alprazolam 0.5 mg one pill daily before sleep) for last 3 years.

[[Mo...]]

Thank you buddies for letting me in....

 

My first concern is...what do I quit first ? Benzo, Alcohol or nicotine ? I am addicted to Nicotine for last 25 years, Alcohol for last 10 years and Benzo ( Alprazolam 0.5 mg one pill daily before sleep) for last 3 years.

 

Hi Kulsa, i want to welcome you as well.

If i were you i would read this link first, to get some knowledge about our brain.

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=66397.0

 

once you understand the Gabaa buisness you should know that alcohol bind on

Gaba-B receptors. Benzos on Gaba-A.

thats why they use Benzos at detox for alcohol, makes the withdrawl (wd) of alcohol

easier.

 

You've got to be smart now, i would slowly reduce alcohol until you are off.

even if it means to increase your Benzo for about 2 weeks, then i would wait a

while. once you start feeling better and you are off the Alcohol, i would think

about a sensible taper plan for Xanax.

 

on second thoughts now.

This won't be easy, migh be better to go for alcohol detox at a Hospital,

and once you feel better start the Xanax taper.

not sure if you can do this on your own, its too complicated i think.

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest [Mi...]]

Thank you buddies for letting me in....

 

My first concern is...what do I quit first ? Benzo, Alcohol or nicotine ? I am addicted to Nicotine for last 25 years, Alcohol for last 10 years and Benzo ( Alprazolam 0.5 mg one pill daily before sleep) for last 3 years.

 

Kulsa, my concern for you is seizures related to alcohol withdrawal. Do you have experience with alcohol detox in the past? Ten years is a long history with alcohol, and it will complicate matters. I'm really glad you are ready to come off of all of these things, but I do worry about seizures related to alcohol withdrawal.

[[Ku...]]

Thank you all for such great help. I am a wiser man now after reading the suggested links. Feeling so relieved that I find this forum and i am feeling very hopeful that I can heal and get to completely healthy brain, mind and body.

 

In past I have just quit alcohol cold turkey a few times, no withdrawal symptoms except for first few 5-7 days of lack of sleep. the biggest time period i managed was 3 months without even a single drop of alcohol. I started again coz of mainly 2 reasons. 1. I started to feel better and confident ( over-confident) that I am healthy after 3 months and now i can have a few drinks. 2. My job requires meeting with clients where deals are done over table. It was very difficult to fix a deal if I refuse to drink with them ( you know how these business deals work, to get them you have to create a repo ).

 

But ever since I started taking benzos, I havent really tried much to quit alcohol. just 2-3 short periods of 15-20 days. again with no major withdrawal symptom except for no sleep for initial 5-7 days.

 

After reading your suggestions, I am thinking of reducing my alcohol intake from Saturday. I will not go cold turkey this time, but reduce the quantity to half. meanwhile I will also reduce my nicotine intake. Will continue with my 0.5 mg alprazolam pill before sleep.

 

Do you think its a good plan ??

 

once again thank you all kind people. U buddies are great. I am so thankful to have found you. This is the only place where I can talk about all the truth about myself. Just to have someone to tell your truths makes you feel so relieved. Thanks once again.

[[Mo...]]

I can understand, must be very difficult meeting clients and having to refuse a drink.

History has shown us that some important deals in politics were made

with the help of a bottle of wodka. (russia ?)

 

It won't be easy, but i am convinced if you are determined enough you

will get your health back.

 

i would give it a try, the way you planned, listen to your body, watch your blood pressure

and go slow . good luck, you sound quite smart to me , i am sure you will be successful.

 

 

 

[[Ku...]]

Thank you for the encouraging words , I will go slow as per plan and watch my body response and accordingly will do the changes.

 

yes.....some of the biggest deals in politics, business are done quite easily over a few drink. I know it first hand. deals pending for months get settled in 1 hour on friday evening...