Have you ever heard of Flumazenil ? does it really relief wd symptoms ?

[[Fa...]]

This is what i found any ideas anyone ?

 

A study into the effects of the benzodiazepine receptor antagonist, flumazenil, on benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms persisting after withdrawal was carried out by Lader and Morton.[5] Study subjects had been benzodiazepine free for between 1 month and 5 years but all reported persisting withdrawal effects to varying degrees. Persistent symptoms included clouded thinking, tiredness, muscular symptoms such as neck tension, cramps and shaking and the characteristic perceptual symptoms of benzodiazepine withdrawal, namely, pins and needles, burning skin, pain and subjective sensations of bodily distortion. Therapy with 0.2-2mg of flumazenil intravenously was found to decrease these symptoms in a placebo controlled study. This is of interest as benzodiazepine receptor antagonists are neutral and have no clinical effects. The author of the study suggested that the most likely explanation is that past benzodiazepine use and subsequent tolerance had locked the conformation of the GABA-BZD receptor complex into an inverse agonist conformation and that the antagonist flumazenil resets benzodiazepine receptors to their original sensitivity. Flumazenil was found in this study to be a successful treatment for protracted benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome but it was noted that further research is required.

 

http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Benzodiazepine_withdrawal

 

I am 4 years off and still doing very bad...

 

 

[[Pa...]]

I've seen many threads started on this subject, you could try using the search function.

[[Go...]]

Flumazenil actually strips the benzo from the GABA receptors. Another word used for it is Penta.

This is a good drug for alcohol wd because alcohol is water soluble so there's no way to taper it (example death of Amy Weinhouse)

 

Benefit of using Flumazenil, it will strip the benzos from the receptors so there is no waiting for the drug to leave with it's half life...on and on.

 

Bad thing, once the drug is gone you still have overactive GABA receptors that have to heal. To me, it's like a cold turkey more or less.

 

We used it in the ER when people would overdose on benzos.

[[Fa...]]

yes for people that are still on the drugs i understand , but anybody knows for people that has been off benzos for years and still have millions of symptoms does it help ?

[[Fa...]]

I personally have been off 4 years now and i know a large number of people that are off 3 and 4 and plus  years and still doing extremly bad most of us got wrse and worse with time , and i am free from any drug for 4 years ...

[[cn...]]

4 years is a long time. I believe Ashton said after 6-12 months, if depression and anxiety is still an issue, it may be beneficial to seek medical/psychological help on that. Not necessarily a benzo, but maybe an AD?

 

Some of us do have issues, that will not resolve...

 

Are you sure yours are benzo w/d symptoms? What are your symptoms that are still lingering? just curious?

 

And how much benzo were you on for how many years?

 

It isnt uncommon though too for people to have s/x for years too Ashton says... but 4 seems to be along time. Sorry you are going through this. =/

 

Have you asked your Dr. about Flumazenil ? And what are their thoughts?

[[St...]]

I had a pretty severe benzo withdrawal that has lasted 9 years so far, with the most improvement seen during the past few years. I still have a lot of sensory, cognitive, and muscle symptoms and I am 100% positive it is all caused by benzo/fluoroquinolone-induced GABA damage. At 4 years I was still totally disabled and terribly symptomatic, literally just starting to come out of the ACUTE withdrawal phase. That is not a typo- 4 years of acute withdrawal before I started seeing extremely slow recovery. The good news is that I am much better now and continuing to see slow progress.

 

I also am interested in trying flumazenil, as the studies on it were promising. 3 separate doctors I saw during the past year recommended experimental flumazenil treatments for my protracted benzo damage, but I have been unable to afford the treatments so far. I recently made a couple posts on the forum asking about people's experience with flumazenil for protracted symptoms and got no responses, so I don't think there are many here that have tried it. Most people seem to heal relatively fast from benzo damage (within a few years), but unfortunately there are others like myself that were not so lucky. It would be nice if further studies were conducted with flumazenil to see if it really could be a working treatment for people in this situation.

[[Ru...]]

hey fariesparkels and still healing are you still having severe sx this far out like anxiety , degpression , obsessive thoughts , dp, dr and still healing you mentioned you had some sensory and cognitive issues still how bad are they and what exactly do you mean with these sx do you mean dp,dr for sensory issues and what cognitive issues do you still have? and even though you still have sx are you able to function and at least live a half decently happy life? also how long  and what dose were you both on benzos and did you taper or cold turkey ?

[[Fa...]]

thank you all for your reply, yes i  am still doing bad and yes it is benzowithdrawal, i do regularly checkups etc....

 

My current symptoms that popped up since tolerance and then when i tappered they got worse are the following

 

Severe muscles pain and burning from neck to toes, severe digestive problems and nausea did all checkups nothing in my colon and my stomac etc, fatigue exhaution weakness and ofc depression and anxiety, very sensitive to any type of vitamins , these symptoms got worse every 6 months and it seems from 10 to 15 % keep getting worse and stay on withdrawal for a long long time i called one of the support facilities in UK and they told that my tapper ws fast and because i was on benzos for along time (9 years) 4 years off is early days in recovery for a lot of people..

[[Fa...]]

I had a pretty severe benzo withdrawal that has lasted 9 years so far, with the most improvement seen during the past few years. I still have a lot of sensory, cognitive, and muscle symptoms and I am 100% positive it is all caused by benzo/fluoroquinolone-induced GABA damage. At 4 years I was still totally disabled and terribly symptomatic, literally just starting to come out of the ACUTE withdrawal phase. That is not a typo- 4 years of acute withdrawal before I started seeing extremely slow recovery. The good news is that I am much better now and continuing to see slow progress.

 

I also am interested in trying flumazenil, as the studies on it were promising. 3 separate doctors I saw during the past year recommended experimental flumazenil treatments for my protracted benzo damage, but I have been unable to afford the treatments so far. I recently made a couple posts on the forum asking about people's experience with flumazenil for protracted symptoms and got no responses, so I don't think there are many here that have tried it. Most people seem to heal relatively fast from benzo damage (within a few years), but unfortunately there are others like myself that were not so lucky. It would be nice if further studies were conducted with flumazenil to see if it really could be a working treatment for people in this situation.

 

How long were you on benzos may i ask ? and which ones where u on ?

 

[[Fa...]]

Sorry for the late reply, i was on Tranxene then on Xanax for 7 years