husband in need of guidance

[[Ch...]]

Hi my wife needs some help

dosage at the moment  40 mgs PARNATE

                                  3  mgs RIVOTRIL

                                  4.5 mgs VALIUM

had a stint in hospital about 18 months ago where a lot of medications were tried and changed and ended up being sent home on

                                  40 mgs PARNATE  CHANGED OVER FROM  MIRTAZIPINE

                                    3 mgs  RIVOTRIL  WAS ON 7MGS WHEN ENTERED HOSPITAL (5 MONTHS HOSPITAL

                                  15mgs VALIUM 

 

the VALIUM HAS SLOWLY BEEN REDUCED IN THAT TIME WITH THE NORMAL WITHDRAWALS YOU WOULD EXPECT HAD A FEW SMALL WINDOWS AFTER MOST OF THE REDUCTIONS  BUT AFTER TAKING OUT .5 VALIUM 6 WEEKS AGO    SHE IS WAKING WITH MASSIVE TERROR ,PANIC,SAYING SHE CANT FEEL HER ARMS AND LEGS GENERALLY SAYING THAT SHE FEELS ABSOLUTELY CRAZY AND NOT FUNCTIONING AT ALL

HER PSYCHIATRIST SAYS LIFT THE RIVOTRIL UP 1 MG        NOW I KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT RIGHT THING TO DO BUT SHE IS SCREAMING FOR HELP AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO

ALSO THE REASON WE ARE TAKING OUT THE VALIUM IS WE DID A DNA TEST AND THEY CAME BACK WITH A RECOMMENDATION THAT THE VALIUM DOES NOT SUIT HER DUE TO SOME ENZYME

 

SORRY HOPE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THIS      DANNY

[[ma...]]

Hello Danny, I personally don’t think increasing the clonazepam is a good idea.  They may assume by increasing the clonazepam it will be easier for your wife to reduce the diazepam...but it doesn't always work like that. It could make matters worse.  Have you considered titration, to get her off the last 4.5 mgs diazepam. Titration will slow the process right down.  I know she is suffering, and I feel for her, withdrawal symptoms are horrendous.  Its hard to believe at the time that the meds are causing this, we convince ourselves something else is wrong,  I thought I was slowly dying.  It sounds to me like your wife developed tolerance, which is what happened to me, it happens to many of us.  Benzos had essentially stopped working and began causing awful symptoms

 

Increasing the dose only helped me for a very short time then my body would scream out for more of the drug.  I had to make a decision to reduce instead of increasing, no matter how tough this process was... and It was tough, but I was very determined, I just kept moving forward.    I am so sorry for your wife's suffering Danny and also for you having to watch her.  My husband had to watch me suffer, it was hard for him. Thank you for being there for her, she can do this with your support and support from the forum.  Could your wife join the forum, she might find going through this process a little bit easier seeing others going through the same thing.

 

Good luck to you both, I know she has a way to go, it’s going to take time but if she keeps moving forward, eventually she will get better.  Getting free of benzodiazepines was by far the best thing I ever did.

 

Magrita

 

[[jo...]]

It would be better if she was on all diazepam. Rivotril is clonazepam, a benzo.

There is a benzo equivalency chart here to work out how much diazepam is needed to replace the clonazepam

https://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm

It's advisable to cross over from the clonazepam to the diazepam gradually as diazepam needs to build up in the system. A crossover chart is here. 

https://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s7

Doctors are clueless when it comes to benzos unless you get an aware one.

I hope that helps.