Cold Turkey

[[Am...]]

Hi everyone, I am new here, its 3am and this is awful. I have been taking one benzo every night to sleep for 20 years. I was fine on it. My tablet is unavailable in my country. I ran out last week Wednesday. Is it too late to taper? My worst symptoms are feeling cognitively impaired, losing time and as of today we can add bad dreams and insomnia. I can't lose my job over this, so please spam me with the benefits because I don't see any. 

[[je...]]

Hi @[Am...]

Welcome to BenzoBuddies!

I am deeply sorry for what you're going through. CT is definitely not recommended. What benzo were you on and what was the dose? It is not too late to reinstate and start a taper. Generally reinstatement seems to be most successful within the first 2-4 weeks, but the question is whether or not you'll have access to your specific benzo or alternatively if you can get access to a different benzo for tapering purposes? 

I will answer your question about the benefits of being off benzo's in my next post.

[[je...]]

Whether or not to stay on benzo's is a personal decision. Some people do decide to stay on it for life and we don't judge them for it. I can only share with you my experience and what I've seen here on the forum. People generally quit benzo's for mostly 2 reasons:

• Doctors are becoming more hesitant to prescribe and it's becoming harder to get prescribers who would give prescriptions for long term use. The fear of being cut off and going cold turkey is why many people are getting off themselves.
• Tolerance withdrawal. This means that the drug stops working at the prescribed dose and you start going into withdrawal even though you're using the drug as prescribed. Symptoms during tolerance withdrawal can increase and intensify and the only real option is to taper. Not everyone will experience tolerance withdrawal though and there is no way to determine who is at risk for tolerance withdrawal.

A member on here who experienced the most horrible tolerance withdrawal and was incapable of tapering through it, wrote a warning to people who thought they could stay on benzo's for life. That was my motivation to keep on tapering as I just could not imagine going through something like that. I bookmarked that post and continuously read it when times were tough to remind me how difficult it can be when you experience the worst of tolerance withdrawal.

I am now 1.5 years off and doing so much better than while on the drug. But ultimately this remains your decision and whatever you choose to do, we will support you.

 

[[...]]

@[Am...], hello! I can imagin what it feels like for you right now and perfectly understand all your doubts. So sorry for you! It's all not our fault and yet we have to deal with the mess. 

I completely agree with the reasons Jelly baby has given. My personal opinion is whatever but not benzo mostly bc I'm among those who found themselves in severe tolerance and it was just horrible. The fact that benzo tends to be less and less available would also make me nervous.

I also agree on the point of reinstatement and doing a proper tapering afterwards. Think it must really help in your case. People do heal after going cold turkey. My friend, 25+ years of benzo use, CT 14 months ago, is improving more and more but it was really hard on her in the beginning. It doesn't mean you're going to have it tough too but, if possible, i think a taper is better.

Good luck to you!)

[[Id...]]

Hi @[Am...],

welcome here! I am happy you found this place.
 

If this happened suddenly and you hadn’t time to prepare it might be confusing, maybe scary, but you already have received good questions to better understand what can be done in your situation. 
 

What you’ll decide to do is obviously your call but here you’ll find good resources for an informed choice
 

Wish you the best