New here and Suffering Withdrawals due to Rapid Tapering.

[[lu...]]

Where to start?........

 

I was taking 3mg Alprazolam, 2mg Clonazepam, 6mg Lorazepam daily, Lorazepam last 12 years, Alprazolam last 3 years, Clonazepam last 8 months.

 

I have done a direct taper from 3mg to 0mg of Alprazolam in 42 days, then tapered from 2mg of Clonazepam by switching to 40mg of Diazepam, from 40mg to 0mg in 56 days - that was just over a week ago I am still on 6mg of Lorazepam but need to stabilise as my withdrawal symptoms are pretty bad. I also need to slow down my tapering as my sleep is really messed up and my anxiety is high. So far I have managed to keep working but it can be difficult at times.

 

I will probably switch from 6mg of Lorazepam to 36mg of Bromazepam as I have tapered using Bromazepam before and remained Benzo free for 6 years afterwards, until a string of life events made me turn back to them 12 years ago. There is a reasonable amount of medical evidence that it is easier to withdraw from Bromazepam than Diazepam (or any other Benzo) despite it's halflife of about 20 hours, it also has a strong anti panic effect, mild anti depressant effect and is less sedating than Diazepam. This info is in various medical papers that can be found on the internet and my personal experience tends to agree with the findings.

 

I do not have good experiences of using Diazepam to taper, but thought I would try again recently using it to taper off 2mg Clonazepam - It was worse for me than my direct 3mg to 0mg Alprazolam (Xanax) taper. I would taper the Lorazepam direct, I have done this once before, whilst not easy it was not as bad as I expected but was only from 18 months use at 3mg daily. But this time I am getting interdose withdrawals on the 6mg Lorazepam daily since the Clonazepam/Diazepam has been stopped. Never had these on Lorazepam before but I have never taken it daily for 12 years before either, this probably accounts for it.

 

I have used the internet for info and read the ashton manual and visited various sites. I thought the forums would help me but I would not want anyone to follow my Alprazolam and Clonazepam/Diazepam tapers as I know they were too fast and have as a result caused a fair amount of withdrawal symptoms. At this point I just want to read others experiences.

 

Thanks

[[St...]]

Hi lunarluna,

 

It looks like you were able to cut down pretty well on your own, yes that may have been a little fast but you'll be ok. We're here if you need support. Ask any questions you might have.

 

Welcome to BenzoBuddies  

 

 

[[Be...]]

Hi and welcome to BenzoBuddies, lunarluna.

 

You were on a might hefty dose of benzos ( equivalent to about 160mg diazepam) and I think you have done well to get down to 6mg lorazepam/day.  I assume you are splitting that dose up and taking it throughout the day since it has a pretty short half-life.  I was on lorazepam for nearly 20 years and tapered directly off of it but see nothing wrong with your plan to crossover to a benzo you had good luck with before.  Hopefully you will react the same to the switch this time and then be able to taper off.  Good luck on the rest of your journey.

[[ca...]]

Hello lunlarluna and welcoming you to BB! Congrats on lowering your dose. How are you feeling today?