Benzo withdrawals

[[An...]]

Hi BenzoBuddies,

Dr. prescribed me 10 mg of Diazepam and Ativan prn and I have recently having strong side-effects of drowsiness & dizziness 😩.

I started to decrease my Diazepam by half every day......for 1-3 weeks as I really didn't want to get into an addiction problem.  For 8 months I took Ativan on a prn basis. When I felt strange arrhythmia and heart palpitations I would take one Ativan. I never took more then 2  per day. As I try to control the use of it as I wanted to heal so badly.....in a natural way.

After 2-3 weeks being total off all the Benzo.....symptoms of a.withdrawals started to happen. At  night while resting I would feel light electrical vibrations & tremoring throughout my body.  The sensations made me anxious and I had chronic insomnia & hypertension.  

The tremors kept me awake all night and gets extremely worst at 6 am in the morning.  I also get pins and needles sensation in both hands and feet.  It feels like my entire body is on fire 🔥 and heated up.

I wished so bad I didn't take these bemzo.  It is like he'll on earth. m

I  can't focus, read a book or watch TV anymore....and couldn't work on my hobbies.  

I will never touch a Benzo again there is a black box warning and my person opinion is they are dangerous. My nervous system is injured now.  Does anyone know how long the withdrawals would take as I was on it for around 3 months on Diazepam and Ativan 8 months prn basis.

It's been 3 weeks in this condition will it get better over time? and go away?  And what can we do to ease the withdrawals symptoms?  Has anyone  tried going cold turkey? As I am really suffering and lost the joy in life for e everything.  The drugs do this to you? 

I'm not at the point of having major seizures but the tremors are bad and not fun to live with.  My skin also feels as if spiders are crawling all over me and my inner body the nerves are vibrating and my brain Fogg is worsening with feels like Dementia setting in? 

Has anyone felt like this? if so how did you deal with the symptoms of withdrawals and is there a supplement one can take to calm the tremoring. 

Please respond back I would appreciate 🙏 any help I can get my anxiety under control, get my sleep back, and Stop the terrifying tremors.

Let me know if you've experienced this .....to all the Benzobuddies out there?  I want my life 😩 back....sick for 3 years now. 🙏 PLEASE HELP BENZO BUDDIES

[[Br...]]

Hello @[An...] and welcome to BenzoBuddies!  We're glad you found us!

I'm so sorry you're suffering with severe withdrawal symptoms.  The symptoms you describe are unfortunately very common in withdrawal.  These symptoms tend to be temporary and they fade away over time.  Your taper was rapid and this is more likely to lead to difficult withdrawal symptoms.  Please know that many of us here on BB tapered too quickly and even CTd (cold turkey) and went on to recover fully.  I was put through a rapid taper by my doctor and I had horrendous withdrawal symptoms which eased up and vanished eventually.  It can take time but time and good self care are what it takes to help you heal.

Please explore the site - you will find a lot of good information and ideas for coping with withdrawal symptoms.  You will also find the support from others who understand what this experience is like.  

Please look at Success Stories - it will give you hope and encouragement that although it feels like a nightmare now you will get through this and things will get better.

Brighterday

[[En...]]

On 27/05/2024 at 17:52, [[A...] said:

Hi BenzoBuddies,

Dr. prescribed me 10 mg of Diazepam and Ativan prn and I have recently having strong side-effects of drowsiness & dizziness 😩.

I started to decrease my Diazepam by half every day......for 1-3 weeks as I really didn't want to get into an addiction problem.  For 8 months I took Ativan on a prn basis. When I felt strange arrhythmia and heart palpitations I would take one Ativan. I never took more then 2  per day. As I try to control the use of it as I wanted to heal so badly.....in a natural way.

After 2-3 weeks being total off all the Benzo.....symptoms of a.withdrawals started to happen. At  night while resting I would feel light electrical vibrations & tremoring throughout my body.  The sensations made me anxious and I had chronic insomnia & hypertension.  

The tremors kept me awake all night and gets extremely worst at 6 am in the morning.  I also get pins and needles sensation in both hands and feet.  It feels like my entire body is on fire 🔥 and heated up.

I wished so bad I didn't take these bemzo.  It is like he'll on earth. m

I  can't focus, read a book or watch TV anymore....and couldn't work on my hobbies.  

I will never touch a Benzo again there is a black box warning and my person opinion is they are dangerous. My nervous system is injured now.  Does anyone know how long the withdrawals would take as I was on it for around 3 months on Diazepam and Ativan 8 months prn basis.

It's been 3 weeks in this condition will it get better over time? and go away?  And what can we do to ease the withdrawals symptoms?  Has anyone  tried going cold turkey? As I am really suffering and lost the joy in life for e everything.  The drugs do this to you? 

I'm not at the point of having major seizures but the tremors are bad and not fun to live with.  My skin also feels as if spiders are crawling all over me and my inner body the nerves are vibrating and my brain Fogg is worsening with feels like Dementia setting in? 

Has anyone felt like this? if so how did you deal with the symptoms of withdrawals and is there a supplement one can take to calm the tremoring. 

Please respond back I would appreciate 🙏 any help I can get my anxiety under control, get my sleep back, and Stop the terrifying tremors.

Let me know if you've experienced this .....to all the Benzobuddies out there?  I want my life 😩 back....sick for 3 years now. 🙏 PLEASE HELP BENZO BUDDIES

I am sorry this is happening to you. I have been tapering off clonozapam for the past 6 months. My taper I would say has been rapid. Now that I am down to 0.25mg left to go I can feel every cut with the intensity you are feeling right now. Just know it is normal and it will go away. This is what keeps me going during bad withdrawals. There is no way out but through it. I now know why people on this site say to taper slowly. It seems Drs just want to get us off and out of their hair. 

You will get through this. It will get better. Think of your symptoms as your brain is working to heal. It has to happen. Acceptance of your withdrawal symptoms will help. It is inhuman this drug and it shouldn't be prescribed the way it is. 

[[Go...]]

 

Yes - cold turkey here.  I wouldn’t suggest it unless you have someone to go through the first week or so with you.  It is AWFUL.  Between the tremors, massive anxiety, skin crawling, fight or flight issues, panic attacks, and all around head games - it was bad for me and others. 
 

With that being said - I was a short term user of about 4 months.  My symptoms were masked, but got progressively worse while I was using.  Which lead to more and more doses of Ativan PRN.   When I found out that all of my symptoms weren’t because I was absolutely losing my mind - was a relief.  I wasn’t mentally losing anything.  Which made me angry I was never warned.  Which then led into my conviction of getting off of it.  
 

It is NOT an easy process.  But I couldn’t taper after knowing that it was making me that way.  I wanted my life back, so I hunkered down and took the sweats, tremors, headaches, etc.  I couldn’t have done it any other way.  
 

This was 3 weeks ago.  I still get some withdrawal symptoms, but they aren’t nearly as bad as the symptoms of being on it.  
 

I got through by prayer and constantly reminding myself - “Today is bad, but tomorrow will be better”. 
 

Good luck to you and what ever you decide.  

[[...]]

59 minutes ago, [[G...] said:

Yes - cold turkey here.  I wouldn’t suggest it unless you have someone to go through the first week or so with you.  It is AWFUL.  Between the tremors, massive anxiety, skin crawling, fight or flight issues, panic attacks, and all around head games - it was bad for me and others. 
 

With that being said - I was a short term user of about 4 months.  My symptoms were masked, but got progressively worse while I was using.  Which lead to more and more doses of Ativan PRN.   When I found out that all of my symptoms weren’t because I was absolutely losing my mind - was a relief.  I wasn’t mentally losing anything.  Which made me angry I was never warned.  Which then led into my conviction of getting off of it.  
 

It is NOT an easy process.  But I couldn’t taper after knowing that it was making me that way.  I wanted my life back, so I hunkered down and took the sweats, tremors, headaches, etc.  I couldn’t have done it any other way.  
 

This was 3 weeks ago.  I still get some withdrawal symptoms, but they aren’t nearly as bad as the symptoms of being on it.  
 

I got through by prayer and constantly reminding myself - “Today is bad, but tomorrow will be better”. 
 

Good luck to you and what ever you decide.  

Hello, @[Go...], and welcome to BenzoBuddies!) My congratulations on being benzo free! Sure you're decisive and determined. My respect to you! I think you did it right bc you hadn't taken these tricky pills long or systematically. The sooner off, the better!

Please, feel free to post throughout the forums from now on. Good luck to you too!)

[[...]]

Hi I started tapering from 10mg diazepam I dropped to 7.5mg 3 weeks ago. The anxiety is so intense and intolerable. Do I stick it out and stay here for a while at 7.5mg or do I up my dose this is hell and I mean to the point I just can’t be here I know that was too much to drop but I have only 5mg tablets so I just split one of the 5mg. Is anyone just suffering so so badly it’s taken over their life maybe I’m too unstable to taper yet I’ve just finished tapering mirtazipine is it just too much? Should I go back to my 10mg or have to accept this is withdrawals? What if it’s not and I’m just mentally unstable and I have something wrong with me, been on diazepam for 8 years 

many thanks for listening 

 

[[je...]]

[[Go...]]

[[...]]

28 minutes ago, [[j...] said:

Hi @[...]

thanks for following my advice and raising your concerns on the Tapering forum. However, how this works is we need each member to start their own thread or topic. This is so we can focus on your own individual needs. This thread belongs to the person who wrote the first post and it is about their taper needs. We don’t want to hi-jack their thread by discussing your taper. I know you’re a new member, so please don’t feel bad about it, just trying to help you get the best support.

If you go back to this link https://benzobuddies.org/forum/120-benzodiazepine-taper-strategies-planning/ you will see a pink button at the top  that says “start new topic”. Click on that. Then fill in the topic for example 10mg Diazepam taper. Then copy your message and then press “submit reply”.

If you struggle with this, reply below and I’ll help you in another way.

 

[[...]]

I’m so sorry I do apologise I’m new to this and my brain is mush so sorry I shall post it to a new thread 

 

thank you 

 

x