Long-term inpatient detox?

[[...]]

Has anyone here done, or know someone who has done, a long-term inpatient detox?  Most people against detox here talk about one week or ten day detoxes, which are obviously too fast for benzos...but what about places that offer 90 day detoxes? 

 

I know there are places that offer 90 day inpatient treatment - do any of them recognize and follow slow benzo taper plans? 

 

I am currently on 4.5mg of Valium, and I first began benzo use in late August, so I'm wondering if I could get this done in 90 days inpatient.

 

Thanks for any thoughts/input.

[Guest [ba...]]

I don't know anything of such programs, but I would think that would be prohibitively expensive for 99% of people.

[[ke...]]

You don't need 60 days to get off 4 mgs of valium.

[[...]]

How long do I need?  I began at 6mg, and I thought I'd be done from beginning to end in about two months, but that's how long it's taken me to go from 6 to 4.5 with LOTS of difficulty.

 

I'm full of symptoms every day - most difficult are heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and joint pain. Do you think I should just push through and stop it ASAP?

 

I'm a petite female who weighs 112 lbs., and I'm apparently hyper sensitive to medications.

[Guest [ba...]]

You need as long as you need.  Based on your current pace and your symptoms, I doubt if even a 90-day detox program would have you feeling good by the end of the program.  They might fill you full of replacement drugs to mask your symptoms a bit.  But eventually, you'd need to taper off those.  Those detox programs work well for opiates, but not for benzos.  They simply can't accelerate the rate at which your body recovers.  If they could, virtually every BB would be all over those programs instead of suffering needlessly.

 

You got thru 1.5 mgs in two months.  Try to get thru another 1.5 mgs in the next two months. 

[[Ch...]]

As badsocref said, I don't know of any detox centers with longterm programs.  In my opinion this is best done at home where you and only you control the taper rate.

[[be...]]

Has anyone here done, or know someone who has done, a long-term inpatient detox?  Most people against detox here talk about one week or ten day detoxes, which are obviously too fast for benzos...but what about places that offer 90 day detoxes? 

 

I know there are places that offer 90 day inpatient treatment - do any of them recognize and follow slow benzo taper plans? 

 

I am currently on 4.5mg of Valium, and I first began benzo use in late August, so I'm wondering if I could get this done in 90 days inpatient.

 

Thanks for any thoughts/input.

 

My guess that would be incredibly expensive, and personally I have never heard of anyone who did a 90 day detox for benzodiazepines. My guess is that insurance company's would balk at it.  There is no reason to do a 90  inpatient, from a fairly small dose, when you can safely do it at home.  The reason people go to short stay detox centers is because it is not safe to simply just stop or do a one week taper.  You should be able to do a slow taper from home.

[[Be...]]

You don't need 60 days to get off 4 mgs of valium.

 

 

Yeah, many people on here need way more than 60 days. I would say most.

Of course anyone can get off anything in a given time period if they just stop. It's the stare they're in post jump which matters.

It can get brutal in the lower numbers. If I was to taper again, I'd be taking at least six months from 3mg.

The Bristol Tranquiliser Project recommend half a mg a month at 3mg for those who are dependent and prone to bad WD. They're the top authority on benzos in the UK.

 

I just don't think detox is designed for benzos. They make great claims but really, apart from watch you for seizures, what can they do?

 

 

By the way, I wrote this as someone who came *this* close to blowing $30k on a 6 week detox. I know how attractive the idea is, in paper. But it's just useless for us.

[[Be...]]

I just saw this

'I'm full of symptoms every day - most difficult are heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and joint pain. Do you think I should just push through and stop it ASAP?'

 

No, I do not. I tried 'pushing through' several times. It was a disaster and I found myself in hell. It's a false economy.

[[lo...]]

do you need to pay for it out of pocket? I mean why not? 60 days for 6mg diazepam in a nice facility where you get care? but if it some psychiatric institution where they pump you with antipsychotics....stay away

 

[[Be...]]

Because if it's taken him 2 months to drop 1.5 from 6-4.5, and he's still suffering, it won't matter where he is if he drops as aggressively as being suggested: it will almost certainly be very unpleasant, possibly unbearably so.

[[be...]]

There's a facility here that's only for benzo withdrawal with no time limits. It's apparently excellent and originally my doctor wanted me there at least to get started because I was extremely ill. I said no. He was ok with that and said most do fine at home. It was the right thing. But at 4 mg or even 10 mg simply Valium he wouldn't even have considered a rehab facility. I believe in being home and controlling our own taper unless there's an extremely good reason not to. There's no place like home when you go through bad days. That's how I feel anyway. B

[[be...]]

  I know in Connecticut they discourage rapid withdrawl and detoxes. What some of them do is keep you around for a while to cross over to Valium or Librium, then send you back to your doctor and you and him do the taper.  I was on a very high dose of Klonopin, which meant a 26 month taper. I don't think there's any facility that I'll keep you there that long. I know Sierra de Tucson has a 45 day program, but they take you off all the benzo's and give you phenobarbital instead. I tried that and it certainly didn't work for me, but it's quite the vacation spot. I did fine at home.

[[...]]

Benzo Barb...what is the name of the place you're describing??

[[be...]]

I'm not sure but it's in Clareshome Alberta. There are 2. One private (no way it's rapid detox) the other provincially funded and you not only need a referral but an assessment for acceptance. A committee vote. My doctor is involved with it directly as he's primarily interested in helping those with benzo addictions get off them. He one of the few who recognizes the need. He's fantastic and apparently there is no time line with this place. And unlike what Betsy described your not filled with other heavy duty drugs. BUT for now it's private in the sense that I believe you need to live in Alberta or at least Canada. It's fully covered under our healthcare. B

[[be...]]

Also when I first started this withdrawal journey I was on roughly the equivalent of 130 mg of Valium if you look at my sig. for over three decade. I too was a petite female but at that time 87 lbs was outrageous. My normal weight is 110. So take away 23 lbs I was pretty much wasted away. I'm just grateful he accepted me as a patient after I refused to go. But he did say that everyone is different and if I felt I could do it at home he'd support that. But from a medical perspective he was very concerned. I'm now at 9 mg of Valium. You can do this. It's hard but you'll get tons of support here. B

[[ke...]]

I spent almost 2 years tapering 2 mg pf klonopin, then updosed to escape withdrawal, then a crossover to valium followed by severe depression...and then I got off all of it inpatient inside of three weeks. It was hell, but successful. You don't need to do all this. You may be small but you are on a much lower dose. Take your time tapering at home, but don't hope for no symptoms. If it takes 3 to 6 moths, then so be it, but I believe that you should not let it take too long because it becomes an obsession.