Anyone gone cold turkey in my situation?

[[Ja...]]

I've been on benzos for 8 years and have 4 unsuccessful attempts to quit. I am kindled and seem to already constantly be in some degree of withdrawal all the time. Has anyone cold-turkeyed under similar circumstances?

[[tr...]]

 

I did. At the time I wasn't aware of all the repercussions of a c/t, I didn't find for the forums until I had been off for about 3 months. I had been on klonopin for 9+ years plus a boat load of other drugs and I had been in bad tolerance for over a year. In spite of what the Drs said I knew the drugs were killing me so I just stopped. I didn't know what else to do. I don't recommend it, it was rough but benzo wd is a rough business regardless of how you do it.

 

[[Ja...]]

I'm going to give it a try if it gets to hard I have pills on hand.

 

[[Wi...]]

Damn dude i dont recommend it unless you dont have a choice. I essentially ct (2 month huge cuts "taper") and i ended up doing "rescue" doses for 6 more months. I wish i had simply done a longer taper for those six months because my withdrawal has been a beast with hallucinations and unfathomable constant fear that i wouldnt wish on anybody. If you have a choice you should do at the very least a rapid taper. Ur choice.

[[Ja...]]

Damn dude i dont recommend it unless you dont have a choice. I essentially ct (2 month huge cuts "taper") and i ended up doing "rescue" doses for 6 more months. I wish i had simply done a longer taper for those six months because my withdrawal has been a beast with hallucinations and unfathomable constant fear that i wouldnt wish on anybody. If you have a choice you should do at the very least a rapid taper. Ur choice.

 

The thing is everyone says don't taper while in a wave, I'm always in a wave to some degree or the other.

[[Ch...]]

Damn dude i dont recommend it unless you dont have a choice. I essentially ct (2 month huge cuts "taper") and i ended up doing "rescue" doses for 6 more months. I wish i had simply done a longer taper for those six months because my withdrawal has been a beast with hallucinations and unfathomable constant fear that i wouldnt wish on anybody. If you have a choice you should do at the very least a rapid taper. Ur choice.

 

The thing is everyone says don't taper while in a wave, I'm always in a wave to some degree or the other.

 

I disagree.  A 'wave' is considered an uptick in symptoms that occurs when someone is benzo- free, not tapering.  In my opinion, most of us do suffer waxing and waning symptoms while tapering because it's part of the withdrawal process.

 

If you have an uptick in symptoms after a cut, that's when it's considered appropriate to hold until they subside to pre-cut misery again.

[[Wi...]]

Jason

I just read your prior posts and the only advice i can give you is that this aint gonna be easy and will by all accounts be the most difficult thing youve ever done in your life. You literally have only one option to minimize yoir suffering and that is a reasonable taper. Up to this point it seems you have given up because it became to difficult so again i stress it aint gonna be easy. You need to make up your mind if you are capable of enduring this long suffering road at this point in your life. Even if you choose not to you will ultimately have no choice because you have experienced tolerance withdrawal so you know that isnt the answer. Suffering is unfortunately part of this process and i hope you can muster up the strength to endure the challenge that lies ahead. None of us are having an easy road with this just as you wont either. Its literally that simple and unfortunate. Good luck my friend and hang tough!

[[Ja...]]

Thank you for the encouragement, I did quit because I was weak and couldn't bear it, but now it's happening anyways. I see my doctor thursday, so I have 2 options. The first thing I could do is jump on paxil and switch to 1mg of Xanax twice a day. My doctor believes 10mg of valium equals 1mg of Xanax, so to him I would be down-dosing, and he would gladly do that. Of course we know that 20mg of Valium is equivalent to 1mg of Xanax. So he believes I'm taking 3mg of xanax equivalent a day.

 

The second option is I could have him switch me to the 5mg pills, so I could break them in fourths and cut 1.25mg every 3 weeks until it got too hairy, that would be a nice slow taper. Can I taper while in pretty bad tolerance withdrawal? Because I don't think it's going away this time.

 

Then there's the nuclear option, which is cold-turkey. I need to have a plan by Thursday, what do you recommend?

[[Wi...]]

I recommend a valium taper from the ashton manual. There is no way to get around the suffering Jason. Tapering doesnt make the "uncomfortableness" go away. If you are in tolerance with dawal tapering wont magically stop that. Ur in withdrawal because your body needs a higher dose to avoid withdrawal. The theory is to taper until you are "stable" which sometimes i dont understand because if a person is in tolerance withdrawal how is he going to "stabalise" at a progressively lower and lower dose? To me the reason for a taper is to sloooooowly acustom your brain to a lower and lower dose until you do zero. That would obviously be better then shocking your brain with a ct because your brain doesnt have time to get accustomed to a progressively lower dose that way. A cold turkey is like BOOM!-and ur brain is thinking "WTF have you done to me! At least give me a chance to gradually get used to having no benzos instead of abrubtly taking them away and putting me in shock!"-Common sense dictates slowly withdrawing from a drug will ease the withdrawal symptoms but Jason, even with a taper you are still going to feel the withdrawals. Just not as bad as a cold turky would be. If you cant handle the tapers you have been doing then what makes you believe you can handle a ct which would be even more difficult? You need to make up your mind if ur really ready to do this and then if so create a reasonable taper plan from Ashton and then just do it KNOWING "Hey man-this is really really gonna suck"-because it really really does. Im at ten months and just now feeling relief. I dont think it will take that long for you because i believe ativan and Kpin (me) are more difficult to get off then valium is (you)-Whatever you decide good luck and hang tough!

[[Ja...]]

I can't argue with that logic, if I up-dose it'll help now than I'll just end up in tolerance on an even higher dose, and realistically I could never get through a ct. I'll talk to my doc on thursday thanks.

[[Wi...]]

Hey jason. Ask your doc about clonidine to help with the wd. It is the only drug that i believe actually helps. Is a bp med with known anxiolitc value that rehabs use for opiate and alcohol withdrawal. Maybe doc will scribe you some. Good luck

[[El...]]

I took 2-6 mgs Klonopin for 11 years more or less. I did a taper for about a year, a half ass taper. I suffered like shit that year of taper which I regret and wish I would cod turkey at 1.i just quit at .5 It took me a solid 5 months to start feeling normal. It wasn't till I quit ciggarettes that I really started to feel human again in many years . I swore to myself I would help people here if I healed or atleast tell my story. I took clonodine t help withdrawals although it helped, I feel it fkd up my heart in some way as to now I have PVC s a heart arrithmia that I blame on clonodine. Anyways , I believe the brain heals no matter what dose you stop at.

[[Wi...]]

That would be extremely rare for clonidine to cause pvc and in fact it is sometimes used for pvc. Are you speculating clonideine caused arrythmia? Because i suggest its the benzo wd that has caused the arrythmia and not the clonidine as arrythmia is a classic benzo wd symptom NOT a clonidine side effect. I wouldnt let the fear of clonidine causing an arrythmia to stop me from taking it to alleviate wd symptoms.

[[El...]]

That would be extremely rare for clonidine to cause pvc and in fact it is sometimes used for pvc. Are you speculating clonideine caused arrythmia? Because i suggest its the benzo wd that has caused the arrythmia and not the clonidine as arrythmia is a classic benzo wd symptom NOT a clonidine side effect. I wouldnt let the fear of clonidine causing an arrythmia to stop me from taking it to alleviate wd symptoms.

I feel clonodine was what caused my PVC , but that is only my opinion. I could be wrong who knows. Clonodine worked pretty good for calming me down but I got PVCs on them so I stopped the use. Took a year for my heart rate to go back to normal and pvcs are somewhat gone. nicotine used to aggravate my PVCs. This is just my opinion

[[Ja...]]

I've read that Lyrica hekps as well, I see the doc tomorrow at 3, should I ask for Clonadine or Lyrica?

[[Su...]]

I've been on benzos for 8 years and have 4 unsuccessful attempts to quit. I am kindled and seem to already constantly be in some degree of withdrawal all the time. Has anyone cold-turkeyed under similar circumstances?

 

Windwalker gave you the best advice I think. It's hell either way but cold turkey is like QUANTUM HELL.  I would advise a slow taper as well. You are still likely going to feel pretty awful so get ready for that and make the decision to get through it.