klonopin/valium

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Due to some horrific traumas, Ive been taking doxepin and klonopin for about a year. At first I only took .25 of klonopin when necessary, not daily and it worked well. A final trauma put me over the edge and I started klonopin daily. I never took more than .5, ususally divided in morning and afternoon doses of .25 aprox. So even when on this amount I had terrible physical symptoms, stomach, bowels, pounding heart that lasted most of the day etc. I never really understood what was causing what, and I'm still not sure. So I decided to try to wean down with Valium as best as possible. I started with two 5 mg valiums per day. At first it was ok, I felt a little sedate from the 5 mg each time. Now its been about three weeks. The valium doesn't seem to be helping my anxiety, and it seems to make me very depressed. So I don't know if I'm better off trying to taper on klonopin or not. I will not do the scale thing, I just know I cant do all that. I have some .25 klonopins, under the tongue, taste terrible, doesn't seem to help with anxiety. So I'm totally confused which direction to go. I was also wondering if a different antidepressant would help with the benzo withdrawal. Any thoughts to all of this?

 

[Guest [ba...]]

If you don't want to use a scale, but want to minimize your withdrawal symptoms, all I can think of is for you to do a liquid micro-taper.  Here's a link to that thread:  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=135284.0;topicseen 

 

Anxiety may increase during your taper.  You might want to work with your pdoc or therapist to develop some coping strategies.  Remember that benzos do not cure anything.  They simply mask your anxiety.  So you'll need to learn to deal with that anxiety at some point.

 

It's up to you if you want to taper valium or klonopin, but I wouldn't suggest switching back and forth a lot. 

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Due to some horrific traumas, Ive been taking doxepin and klonopin for about a year. At first I only took .25 of klonopin when necessary, not daily and it worked well. A final trauma put me over the edge and I started klonopin daily. I never took more than .5, ususally divided in morning and afternoon doses of .25 aprox. So even when on this amount I had terrible physical symptoms, stomach, bowels, pounding heart that lasted most of the day etc. I never really understood what was causing what, and I'm still not sure. So I decided to try to wean down with Valium as best as possible. I started with two 5 mg valiums per day. At first it was ok, I felt a little sedate from the 5 mg each time. Now its been about three weeks. The valium doesn't seem to be helping my anxiety, and it seems to make me very depressed. So I don't know if I'm better off trying to taper on klonopin or not. I will not do the scale thing, I just know I cant do all that. I have some .25 klonopins, under the tongue, taste terrible, doesn't seem to help with anxiety. So I'm totally confused which direction to go. I was also wondering if a different antidepressant would help with the benzo withdrawal. Any thoughts to all of this?

 

Hi Also , sorry for your traumas .....

Have you checked out reduction rates so that you don't go too fast ... That could be causing your anxiety ....?

How long have you been on the Valium ? It takes some time to build up in your system , so it's recommended to hold after crossing over to it for  a month or until you feel stable .

I rushed my Valium taper and got in trouble , and now I'm back to klonopin , which has also been hard as I crossed too quickly .its  Going to take time to stabilize now ....

 

As far as I know , antidepressants are not recommended to add ..... They come with their own potent ok side effects and withdrawals . They a re also stimulating ....

If it were me I would t touch them ! More trouble ...

 

There's a website called surviving antidepressants where you could get an idea of what withdrawals are like from antidepressants....

 

Have you looked at the Ashton manual posted on this site ?

Good luck , MiYu

 

 

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Thank you for your comments. The problem for me has always been, what is from the benzo and what is from the traumas. The traumas involved deaths of my closest family members, and problems with my wife. Some of these events lead to screaming sessions till I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. So in a way its not surprising that I have heart pounding about 8-10 hours a day. I need to have teeth extracted and I cant face it because I feel so bad. I can barely keep hair cut appointments. So I have trauma and extreme panic disorder.

I do believe some of this is made worse by the klonopin, but I'm not sure. If I try to prolong my dose time,  I take part in the m orning and part at night, I get almost hysterical. Like many of you I'm sure, I cant believe I'm addicted to a drug. Anyway, for whatever reason, the valium makes me more depressed, very sad, near crying. I went back to about .25 klonopin this morning and it seemed a bit better. So maybe I cant do the valium crossover. I was taking about 10 mg valium , 5 and 5, it was ok for a few days, then I noticed the depression and sadness increasing.

thanks for your replies. This is horrible.

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Thank you for your comments. The problem for me has always been, what is from the benzo and what is from the traumas. The traumas involved deaths of my closest family members, and problems with my wife. Some of these events lead to screaming sessions till I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. So in a way its not surprising that I have heart pounding about 8-10 hours a day. I need to have teeth extracted and I cant face it because I feel so bad. I can barely keep hair cut appointments. So I have trauma and extreme panic disorder.

I do believe some of this is made worse by the klonopin, but I'm not sure. If I try to prolong my dose time,  I take part in the m orning and part at night, I get almost hysterical. Like many of you I'm sure, I cant believe I'm addicted to a drug. Anyway, for whatever reason, the valium makes me more depressed, very sad, near crying. I went back to about .25 klonopin this morning and it seemed a bit better. So maybe I cant do the valium crossover. I was taking about 10 mg valium , 5 and 5, it was ok for a few days, then I noticed the depression and sadness increasing.

thanks for your replies. This is horrible.

 

HI Aslo , I'm so sorry for your losses . Yes , it's not suprising you are feeling panic . It's hard to know what's what when we have trauma still .

I recently switched partially back to klonopin , it's been very hard . I'm still not stable .

But I wanted to tell you , that I have to dose 4 X day , even with klonopin . It's the only way I don't get really anxious . And I'm not tapering yet either .

So , you could try dividing up your dose more ? Though I think it's wise to move doses slowly as that cam also be confusing fro our nervous systems . Im Not sure how you would do that .

 

But it seems like this might be a time to wait for tapering if you are grieving ?

You could also post in the long hold support group , it's a great group and they have a lot of experience there,. They could probably advise you and they always respond .

 

MiYu

 

[Guest [ou...]]

First of all, people withdrawing from benzos have reported mixed results

regarding the use antidepressants; possibly because they tend to be activating.

However, the one you're currently on (doxepin) is rather sedating

and as such has been suggested by Ashton in her Manual.

 

Regarding clonazepam, it may not be as long-acting as diazepam,

but many people have managed to withdraw directly from it.

If diazepam makes you depressed, you could try a direct taper.

And if things get tough you can always consider switching later on.

 

After reading many stories of people getting depressed after switching to diazepam -

especially when they did so from clonazepam - I decided to do some research.

Turns out there have been studies (links 1 & 2) suggesting that

clonazepam could be effective in depression, especially alongside an antidepressant.

 

PS. In another post you mentioned something about dental surgery.

Be aware that benzos may be used for oral sedation in dentistry.

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Thanks for the great replies. I do appreciate it. I don't know what to do with the dental surgery. I'm going to need a few, not just one. And I don't make the call. I'm afraid of having a heart attack just walking in the door. The thought of iv sedations scares me, oral sedation, nitrous. Hell everything scares me. I think of nothing else. its 11pm took klonopin, took doxepin and I'm sitting here petrified of what, being petrified I guess. Its like I have no resistance to fear anymore. Whether its the trauma, the benzo or both, I'm afraid I'm screwed.

 

 

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Thanks for the great replies. I do appreciate it. I don't know what to do with the dental surgery. I'm going to need a few, not just one. And I don't make the call. I'm afraid of having a heart attack just walking in the door. The thought of iv sedations scares me, oral sedation, nitrous. Hell everything scares me. I think of nothing else. its 11pm took klonopin, took doxepin and I'm sitting here petrified of what, being petrified I guess. Its like I have no resistance to fear anymore. Whether its the trauma, the benzo or both, I'm afraid I'm screwed.

 

I get it Aslo ... I'm in the same state . My nervous system is so fragile everything  makes me sick.

I'm in the middle of all the no. Cal fires and the stress is unbearable ..... Hang in there.

MiYu 🙏🏻

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You too  MiYu