Trying to be free from benzos!

[[be...]]

Hi, my name is Dave and I'm just here trying to get some advice.

[[Br...]]

Hi benzothrow,

 

Welcome to BenzoBuddies!  Congratulations on taking this step to get off of Benzos. 

 

What are your questions?  Please let us know and we will do our best to help you. 

Here's a link for one of the most important resources about benzo withdrawal written by one of the top researchers in the field, Dr. Heather Ashton: The Ashton Manual

 

If you're looking for guidance for tapering, or support during your taper, please start a thread on

Planning Your Withdrawal (Taper Plans) or Withdrawal Support (during your taper).

 

If you've already finished tapering off please go to Post-withdrawal Recovery Support 

 

Looking forward to hearing back from you.  We're glad you found us!

Brighterday

 

[[be...]]

Hey guys,

 

I'm struggling to quit benzos and was hoping someone here could offer some advice. Here's a little backstory:

 

I developed a problem with alcohol a few years ago to the point that I had to do a medical detox. The detox was done with a rapid clonazepam taper. After about a week, I was sent home with a gabapentin prescription. I took it for about about a month until I started to realize that I was starting to get dependent on that.

 

When I stopped taking gabapentin I started to use small doses of clonazepam to help with my anxiety that wasn't being medicated by alcohol at this point. This was about 3 years ago and I'm still taking .5mg of clonazepam almost every day.

 

A few months ago I told my general doctor that I was taking them (they're not prescribed to me) and wanted to quit and I asked her for Lyrica because I heard it was a better version of gabapentin which helped me in the past. She prescribed it to me and confirmed that it wasn't addictive, which obviously isn't the case. I also went to a psychiatrist who prescribed me depakote to prevent seizures when I stopped taking the clonazepam (I haven't taken that yet). Neither doctor gave me any actual taper plan or anything, they basically just told me that I could stop since it's a low dose.

 

The problem is it's hard for me to just stop. I'm now still taking the .5mg of clonazepam almost every day while ALSO taking 300mg of Lyrica almost every day (I usually don't take them both on the same day). The Lyrica is actually helping a lot with anxiety and mood and I'm starting to crave it on off days which is making me nervous. I REALLY don't wanna get addicted to Lyrica as I hear the withdrawal could be worse than benzos. I've been taking it for about 3 months now, about 4-5 days/week but for the last couple weeks it's been pretty much every day. I already notice a tolerance developing and have a really bad feeling about continuing this drug despite the benefits I'm seeing from it.

 

Now the question is what do you guys think is the best approach for stopping both of these drugs? Should I taper both at the same time or one at a time? Which one would you do first?

 

If anyone has had a similar experience and can offer some advice, it would be GREATLY appreciated! I just wanna be free.

[[Pa...]]

Hello benzothrow, Welcome to BenzoBuddies!

 

Congratulations on being alcohol free, from speaking from experience, you seem to have jumped from the frying pan into the fire, I've quit both and the benzo's hurt me a lot more than the alcohol did.

 

We can help you and I'm so glad you didn't take your Dr advice to just stop the .5 mg of Klonopin.  I know it sounds like a low dose, but the drug has made changes to your brain and no dose is small when we're talking about benzo's.

 

I would suggest only tapering one drug at time, and if it were me, I'd taper the Klonopin first, sometimes it's helpful to have other meds on board when attempting this.  However, I don't have experience with Lyrica, so it might be helpful to ask our other members their opinion on this on the Other Medications board.

 

We typically suggest a taper of about 5-10% every week or two, but it really needs to depend on your symptoms, everyone is different.  Here are the methods we support, take a look and see what you'd like to do and when you're ready, you can ask for suggestions.  Planning your Taper

 

You can get free from these drugs, you got free of alcohol, so I know you can do this too.  Ask questions, we're here to help.

 

Pamster

[[be...]]

Hi Pamster,

 

Thanks for your reply.  I think your experience with alcohol might've been different than mine.  Alcohol ruined my life and triggered anxiety and panic attacks that I never had before.  I definitely abused it more than any benzo though.  Benzos helped a lot but it's been 3 years now and it's time to say goodbye.

 

I actually haven't taken my .5mg of klonopin for 3 days now but I have been taking the Lyrica which is the only reason I've been able to do that.  Since I've gone 3 days, maybe I can just jump off the klonopin and start tapering the Lyrica?  You mentioned posting in the Other Medications board so I think I'll do that since I think it's a major factor in my situation now.

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

Dave

 

[[Pa...]]

Same experience with the alcohol, but it sounds like our recovery was different.  Once I quit, my life was wonderful until I attempted to dismantle it 13 years later with the Klonopin, that first pill felt just like that first drink, what an idiot.