Benzo / Z Drug Taper

[[Bl...]]

Hi All,

 

I've been checking out the site over the last few weeks and wanted to join in on the fun . I apologize in advance for the novel.

 

I'm 33 and have been taking 1mg Ativan at night for tinnitus relief/sleep. I've taken it for the last 2 years straight(since Dec 2014). I initially got Tinnitus in March of 2013, and  took 1mg of Ativan at night from March 2013 to April 2014 when I cold turkied it and didn't seem to have any withdrawal symptoms. Fast forward to Dec 2014 and my tinnitus spiked from what I believe was a very anxious and stressful event and maybe combined with some sort of protracted withdrawal.

 

I spoke to my doctor back in August this year about getting off the ativan again as I felt it was no longer helping me. Looking back I almost feel like I may have been going through withdrawals between doses. They recommended I drop down to .5 mg per day, plus 7.5 of zopiclone to help me sleep through the process(they actually gave me a prescription for up to 2 7.5 mg of Zopiclone per night as needed, though I've never exceeded taking 1 pill and mostly tried to only take half of a pill) . I did this not knowing that the zopiclone was also going to mess with the Benzo reduction. I asked both the pharmacist and the Dr if it was too fast of a taper, and they both agreed it was not.

 

Taking the zopiclone and .5 mg of Ativan seemed to work great for the first few weeks, but then I started getting really bad symptoms of depression/anxiety panic attacks/muscle spasms/hyperacusis weird pain and straight up fearful and obsessive/intrusive thoughts and feelings of hopelessness.

 

I powered through it until about mid November, when I suffered a major panic attack/tinnitus spike. I've always been somewhat anxious, but have never had a full on panic attack. I ended up reinstating to 1mg of Ativan while still taking the Zopiclone. I found if I didn't take the Zopiclone, I couldn't sleep at all. The anxiety and ears seems to have somewhat returned to a bit above my baseline for  the most part but feel now that I am going through a daily withdrawal process. I can feel my ears getting worse every afternoon as well as additional anxiety.

 

This is what brought me to Benzo Buddies.

 

I had a doctors appointment December 15th, and my normal doctor was out of the office on some sort of hospital rotation, but I met with the temp doctor and told them about everything that was happening. They thought the same as I did and indicated that if I wanted to get off the Benzo, I needed to taper with something longer acting. They weren't too keen on prescribing the valium, but did end up giving me 2 x .5mg of Klonopin to take daily. I was ok with this as this seems to be one of the longer acting benzos.

 

After some research, I couldn't find any information that indicated I needed to slowly crossover from, so Monday night, I took .5 mgs of klonopin and fell asleep, and slept for about 5 hours.

 

Tuesday night, I took the same dosage again, but instead only slept for about 2 hours, and woke up to my ears ringing like crazy. In that moment, I decided to take half a zopiclone (3.75 mg) and I fell asleep for another 4 hours.

 

After thinking about this a bit further, it seemed that the .5mg of klonopin is equal to 1mg of Ativan, but I hadn't accounted for the zopiclone. It seems that to get the same amount of benzos as the zopiclone and the ativan, I'd need to take .75 mg of Klonipin.

 

Around noon on wednesday I took .25 mg of Klonopin, then around 10 that night I took another .5 mg. I feel asleep but woke up a few hours later, but ears were normal (my normal) I tossed and turned all night, and maybe slept another 2 hours  before eventually getting up. I'm guessing the sleep isn't so great since I stopped taking the zopiclone, but am hopeful I'll get at least a bit better sleep soon. Then once stabilized, I'd like to restart my taper.

 

I've read the Ashton manual and posts on the site, but wanted to get some input from some experienced people to ensure I'm on the right track with this.

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

[[be...]]

Hi  Welcome to BenzoBuddies!

 

I am glad you found us today.The recommended reduction rate is 5 to 10 percent every two weeks. Subsequent withdrawals are often more difficult. Unfortunately tinnitus and insomnia are fairly common symptoms.

 

Other medications

 

 

You might like to check out The Ashton Manual it is an authoritative source on what to expect in withdrawal and recovery.  Dr. Ashton is an expert in the field. 

 

Please feel free to post to any of the dedicated boards, we have a wonderful community of people here, who will give sound advice. Members have been through all aspects of benzodiazepine use and withdrawal and are more than willing to share their experiences.

 

General Taper Plans

Withdrawal Support During Your Taper

 

 

Please take the time to Create a Signature.  This will allow others to see where you are in the process so they can better support you.

 

Again Welcome! 

 

benzos-R-cruel

[[Ze...]]

Hi! Welcome to BB.

 

I think that one of the hardest things about this is the realization that all doctors do not know all things medical. They are quite fallible, which is probably why we're both here!

In this state of mind it is difficult to bite my tongue and respect their opinions! Sounds like you may have an okay relationship with okay doctors; be ready for the appointment when you are an expert on your withdrawal and he/she is trying to make sense of it.

 

Deciding your course in advance, knowing that you will want to take a dose to relieve your suffering, AND deciding that you will not make decisions in moments of agony... will help you to get past the urge to think through everything over and over again. It feels awful, but it always, always, every single time, passes. If you wait, it WILL subside.

 

Take care of yourself,

LA