How to taper a Benzo while on Birth Control Pills or Progesterone

[[Wi...]]

I had no idea that birth control and benzos had anything in common....it's really disheartening. I am off klonopin now but still taking BC. I don't plan getting off of them anytime soon but I am only 26 and recently married and do plan to eventually get off them and have a child. It sounds like I am going to run into huge problems doing this tho...

Sunkisd302

 

There is no guarantee that you will have difficulty.  For a variety of reasons I had to go to the highest of 2 dose levels of my bc as a result of conflicts with other medication and those medications making my bc less effective.  Once I had finished those meds, I lowered the bc back to the original dosage and I in fact felt better.  I don't think we really know what the true issues are, right now we are trying (thanks to summer) to compile information, experiences in hopes to wrap our heads around what really impacts what.  

 

For me, the biggest concern is the use of bio-identical or any direct progesterone therapy.  Progesterone is a gaba receptor agonist and appears to act similar to a benzo.  As an example, during certain parts of a pregnancy, the progesterone is high and many women have a pleasant experience during this time.  Conversely, one theory suggests that progesterone plays a part in PMS and Post partum depression for those women who suffer from them. In other words, when the progesterone levels change shortly after ovulation (for pms), there appears to be some correlation to PMS symptoms.  Also post pregnancy, the progesterone levels drop and for some women post partum depression occurs.

 

How this impact bc and benzo w/d is still unknown (as usual, little attention is paid to women's medical issues, let alone benzo w/d) so they are still in the dark ages with actual information.  

 

Bottom line is that this is not a "today" decision for you unless you are planning on starting a family immediately and in fact may not be an issue at all for you in the first place.  Just keep your eyes and ears open and continue to research.  It's good to know it may be an issue so, if it is you will already know at least some of what you are dealing with instead of being blindsided. But again, I emphasize this very well may be a non-issue for you.  In the mean time, enjoy your new marriage and keep informed but don't allow this to worry you.  There is nothing for you to do or change at this time, so there is no benefit to wasting your energy worrying.

 

 

WWWI

[[su...]]

Thank you Summer and WWWI

 

I am trying not to let it bother me but it just gets to me sometimes how much taking these stupid little pills affect all these different aspects of our lives. I am just feeling frustrated. But you are right WWWI, there's really no sense in letting it bother me since I don't know exactly what will happen, if anything, when I decide to stop. I appreciate your replies

[[Wi...]]

Thank you Summer and WWWI

 

I am trying not to let it bother me but it just gets to me sometimes how much taking these stupid little pills affect all these different aspects of our lives. I am just feeling frustrated. But you are right WWWI, there's really no sense in letting it bother me since I don't know exactly what will happen, if anything, when I decide to stop. I appreciate your replies

 

Sunkisd,

 

I think that is a good approach but also want to let you know that your frustration is absolutely justified.  Amazing how powerful those stupid little pills are.  But in the course of a lifetime this is just a blip.

 

WWWI

[[su...]]

Hello Sunkist and WWWI,

 

I am happy to see we are here for one another and helping us along our journey toward health and freedom. At least now we have information we can share with our doctors to help us maybe taper or understand why we have concerns. It will help to know if some reaction does happen we will know more about why know that in time our bodies will adjust.

 

Love to you,

Summer

[[su...]]

Hello Buddies,

 

Here is some information I found regarding stopping Birth Control Pill and Depression. Some women may get depressed when the stop.

 

Side effects of stopping the birth control pill...depression?

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CFMQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.steadyhealth.com%2FSide_effects_of_stopping_the_birth_control_pill___depression__t89753.html&ei=YTTFToXSDoXksQLP0qG5Cw&usg=AFQjCNGLUpfUfbasGjMnl2zJMAxJDSKXhg

 

And here is more information about stopping Birth Control Pills and feeling depressed:

 

Feeling depressed after stopping the birth control pills? • Birth Control Pills.

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CFMQrAIoADAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.steadyhealth.com%2FFeeling_depressed_after_stopping_the_birth_control_pills__t181876.html&ei=kjrFTrehFIqjiQLen9DuBQ&usg=AFQjCNEDpz4XJVWGQreyMPf1sUCyRKhzLw

 

I hope this is helpful,

Summer

 

 

[[Go...]]

Not only is progestrone a GABA agonist but it is one of the main hormones produced by the adrenals.

For the one that posted about stopping biodentical progestrone, when you stop it you crash your adrenals.

Thus all of the panic, anxiety, weakness and everything else talked about.

 

You all really should get the book by James Wilson Adrenal Fatigue 21st century stress syndrome.

You will find tons of info in this book about how adrenals effect the hormones.

 

Heal the adrenals, heal the hormones.

 

Also, benzos reek havoc on the adrenals.

 

Take care

[[ho...]]

I've taken prog./estro. the whole taper.....though it has not bee a party!! I have not had more problems than any I read om here?  I've tried to raed some info. on here...but w/a little 2 year old in toe I really don't have time...and what I have read I'm really not understanding?!  Can anyone sum this up?

[[Go...]]

Hope, I think the best way to sum it up is, it's best not to make any changes to your hormone regimen while tapering benzos and for a long period afterwards.

 

If your Hormone therapy is stable best to just leave well enough alone.

 

There have been members who have stopped hormone therapy (birth control, progestrone etc) while tapering with disastrous consequences. Others have added hormones and it's been not so great either.

 

I take 300mg of prometrium which is a biodentical progestrone pill and I'm not about to stop taking it until long after I'm off benzos.

 

Hope that sums it up.

 

summer could probably chime in and give a lot of good research info regarding benzos and hormones if you like.

 

grace

[[Ru...]]

hi ladies i am just wondering if anyone know what it means if you develop a tolerance to progesterone, what exacty happens ,is it like with a benzo that one you developed a tolerance you will have anxiety all the time. i am just freaked out about this. or is more specifically tht you could develop a tolerancce from long term use of the pill. i am not on the pill but read that article and was totally confused as to how a tolerance to progesterone occur during a normal cycle not influenced by the pill, and what the qonsequences of this tolerance are. i am just worried that this means you are then always in tolerance and have anxiety from progesterone levels. i didnt understand the article very wellbut am now freaked out that i will never be normal again cause i get pms. i really hope this isnt the case.cause right now my pms is killing me. i have def learned though that when gouing thru wd and pms at the same time the pms is crazy bad , worse than it ever was before going thru wd. i am assuming this is because both pms and wd cause an excitation of the alpha 4 receptors inhibiting the effects of gaba. so of course if you already have over excited alpha 4 receptors from wd and then the same occurs during pms this is why it seems as though the sx of wd (which are roughly the same as those of pms) are so much worse than at times with no pms. is this the correct interpritation of the link between wd and pms and also could someone please explain this progesterone tolerance to me and how it affects a normal cycle not influenced by the pill?

[[su...]]

Hello Ruby,

 

Here is some information that may be helpful.

 

Progesterone is a neuroactive steroid and is cross tolerant to benzodiazepines:

 

The reference for this is under the section entitled, Cross Tolerance.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_dependence

 

 

 

Cross tolerance

Benzodiazepines share a similar mechanism of action with various sedative compounds that act by enhancing the GABAA receptor. Cross tolerance means that one drug will alleviate the withdrawal effects of another. It also means that tolerance of one drug will result in tolerance of another similarly-acting drug. Benzodiazepines are often used for this reason to detoxify alcohol-dependent patients and can have life-saving properties in preventing and/or treating severe life-threatening withdrawal syndromes from alcohol, such as delirium tremens. However, although benzodiazepines can be very useful in the acute detoxification of alcoholics, benzodiazepines in themselves act as positive reinforcers in alcoholics, by increasing the desire for alcohol. Low doses of benzodiazepines were found to significantly increase the level of alcohol consumed in alcoholics.[20] Alcoholics dependent on benzodiazepines should not be abruptly withdrawn but be very slowly withdrawn from benzodiazepines, as over-rapid withdrawal is likely to produce severe anxiety or panic, which is well known for being a relapse risk factor in recovering alcoholics.[21]

 

 

There is cross tolerance between alcohol, the benzodiazepines, the barbiturates, the nonbenzodiazepine drugs, and corticosteroids, which all act by enhancing the GABAA receptor's function via modulating the chloride ion channel function of the GABAA receptor.[22][23][24][25][26]

 

 

Neuroactive steroids, e.g., progesterone and its active metabolite allopregnanolone, are positive modulators of the GABAA receptor and are cross tolerant with benzodiazepines.[27] The active metabolite of progesterone has been found to enhance the binding of benzodiazepines to the benzodiazepine binding sites on the GABAA receptor.[28] The cross-tolerance between GABAA receptor positive modulators occurs because of the similar mechanism of action and the subunit changes that occur from chronic use from one or more of these compounds in expressed receptor isoforms. Abrupt withdrawal from any of these compounds, e.g., barbiturates, benzodiazepines, alcohol, corticosteroids, neuroactive steroids, and nonbenzodiazepines, precipitate similar withdrawal effects characterized by central nervous system hyper-excitability, resulting in symptoms such as increased seizure susceptibility and anxiety.[29] While many of the neuroactive steroids do not produce full tolerance to their therapeutic effects, cross-tolerance to benzodiazepines still occurs as had been demonstrated between the neuroactive steroid ganaxolone and diazepam. Alterations of levels of neuroactive steroids in the body during the menstrual cycle, menopause, pregnancy, and stressful circumstances can lead to a reduction in the effectiveness of benzodiazepines and a reduced therapeutic effect. During withdrawal of neuroactive steroids, benzodiazepines become less effective.[30]

 

I hope this is helpful,

Summer

 

 

[[su...]]

Hello Buddies and Ruby,

 

Apparently in addition to progesterone therapy, our own progesterone production in our bodies works against us in this too. Here are some medical abstracts on the subject if you are interested:

 

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16362406

 

http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/59/9/851

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19272715

 

 

(Note: Allopregnolone is a metabolite of progesterone)

 

I hope this is helpful,

Summer

 

 

[[Su...]]

Hello WWW,

 

I am so sorry this journey has been like this for you. I understand. We are not alone. I have not seen Sunny71 on here for a short while, yet she has had a mis-diagnosis due to hormone imbalance too. She speaks of it on October 21, 2011. It would be great if she could share her experience here as well. If you want some of her story is posted in her Buddie Blog on that date. It has been helpful for me to know I am not alone.

 

We will get through this. We will succeed. We have learned so much and can now move forward with more wisdom.

 

Love to you,

Summer

 

P.S. The information you posted here will help many other women that use the Search function. They will find valuable information to help them in their journey. We are all here to help one another and to get well. Thank you for being who you are, kind, giving, and thoughtful.

 

I just now read this post...or else I would have responded sooner...sorry! I will be getting all my test results back in the tuesday after Thanksgiving...as soon as I get them I will let you know what I find out...I am going to a hormone specialist but also have been talking extensively with my naturopath...he is not very fond of bioidentical progesterone and prefers the sublingual progesterone tablets or drops...but his ultimate goal is to get my adrenals going again so I will start making my own progesterone.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, I will hear out the hormone specialist and talk to the naturopath again and then decide.

 

Talk to you soon!

[[Su...]]

Progesterone is also a precurssor (sp?) to cortisol....that is why they think my adrenals are exhausted and I am low on progesterone...all the cortisol my body kept making during benzo w/d, now my adrenals are shot and my progesterone is rock bottom...what do i do?  I get that progesterone acts on the gaba receptor, but if it's super duper low I can't just keep going like that.

 

I just started taking ashwaganda (supposed to be good for adrenals and hormones)...gotta get those adrenals working again but honestly don't have a clue as to how to do that quickly.

 

Also, I was misdiagnosed 8 years ago as being "bi-polar" and put on psychotropic drugs, doctor then cold-turkeyed off them, I had terrible reaction, hence the Klonopin...what I really had was a hormonal imbalance..

 

So the big question is, what do I do about my super low progesterone?

[[su...]]

Hello Sunny,

 

I am so happy he saw that post about you. From what I've been reading about you and your history with hormones and misdiagnoses of bipolar disease instead of a hormone imbalance, I thought your story would be very important here. With a very low progesterone, and what to do to get the adrenals working again is complicated. I can tell you that posted above by Godsgrace. She mentions a book that she read and found to be very helpful. the book is by James Wilson Adrenal Fatigue 21st century stress syndrome. I haven't read it but, it may be worth looking into.

 

The other person I know that is working on balancing her hormones is CMG Melo. she is going the natural route and talks about it on her blog. The author's name of the books she's reading and following is Susan Weed. She is having really good results with using what she's learned in those books. it may be worth taking time to write to her on her Buddie Blog. She is very kind and open to helping others.

 

Sunny, it is so nice to see you here. I don't think we have all the answers yet, we have a lot more information than we once had. We have researched. We have others experiences. Had we have one another.

 

I look forward to hearing more about your progress towards hormone balance and health.

 

Love to you,

Summer  

[[ji...]]

So does this mean that my birth control pill is keeping me from healing? I know it is a low dose pill, but I think that only applies to the estrogen in it?

 

That really bums me out. I have no plans of going off of it for a few years. I think when I weaned my baby and my insomnia started (before cipro reaction), I was probably suffering from a severe drop in progesterone which likely caused the insomnia.

 

Probably the reason I developed a cipro reaction was in part do to my postpartum progesterone levels.   What I wish I would have known then!

[[Su...]]

Yes, I'm in touch with CMGmelo..I'm reading a lot of Susun Weed's stuff...it's a slow process getting adrenals working but I do think I will not be trying the bioidentical P cream..just too scared after everything I've read...I think I will be healing my hormones from the inside out.

 

One thing I keep reading about is Ashwaganda..I am now taking it, tastes horrible! but it's good for adrenals and female hormones...no side effect whatsoever (for me). I get it from Standard Process, just 1 tsp a day in orange juice.

 

 

[[su...]]

So does this mean that my birth control pill is keeping me from healing? I know it is a low dose pill, but I think that only applies to the estrogen in it?

 

That really bums me out. I have no plans of going off of it for a few years. I think when I weaned my baby and my insomnia started (before cipro reaction), I was probably suffering from a severe drop in progesterone which likely caused the insomnia.

 

Probably the reason I developed a cipro reaction was in part do to my postpartum progesterone levels.   What I wish I would have known then!

 

Hello Jittery,

 

it is so nice to see you here. From the research I've read and from my own experience, it looks like staying on birth control pills is not an issue. It seems to be going off birth control pills while in recovery or tapering from a benzo is the issue. Due to the cross tolerance of the progesterone. From what I understand, estrogen is not a problem. It's the progesterone that is a neuroactive steroid. That would include progestin which is a synthetic progesterone that is in birth control pills. I plan to stay on birth control pills until I complete my taper and stay on them until my body as well.

 

So from what I understand, birth control pills are not interfering with the healing process. When we are ready to get off of birth control pills sometime in the future I do not think they will be as challenging as a benzo. It is just good to know that our bodies may have a reaction to going off birth control pills.

 

I hope is helpful.

Love to you,

Summer

[[Me...]]

OK...I lowered my estrogen pill...and day 3 I am dieing    Anxiety from    I had to come home and now feel horrible... it wont stop..  So hormones for sure play a role and always have for me  :'(    Just a few weeks back I was doing much better,,, I am so mad... I have to just lie down...and feel like I am dieing..Head all full and cant focus or think...    Dazed and confused      Was shopping earlier and felt pretty strage right away... Had to come home      I lowered it feeling that it may help..b/c I used to be on 1/2 this dose !!  I am going to see a shrink whos husband is an OBGYN and her father ins law is OBGYN/ endocrinologist... she says she deals with anxiety and hormone etc.... she answered all 3 of my e mails really quickly...  My new nurse practitioner who said he was going to be an email away has never got back with me and I got one response from his asssitant...he made it sound all so good 

[[su...]]

Hello Meljo,

 

I am so sorry to hear that lowering your estrogen just slightly over the past three days has increased your symptoms so much. It looks like, from what I've read and seen from others that is best to keep the hormones we are taking stable as we taper and repair from benzo withdrawal. Is there a way for you to stay at your current dose, get stable again then continue your taper from Valium?

 

I understand how much this hurts. When I went off birth control pills for just a few weeks, I ended up in the hospital. You are so far ahead of the game here. You know that hormones are playing a role. I am happy you have found some resources and doctors to help you. I hope that goes well. My GYN and Dr. helping me do a slow taper both made going off birth control pills sound simple. They both have learned now that that is not the case for me.

 

I found that when I started taking the birth control pills again it took some time for my body to adjust and calm down symptoms.

 

Love to you,

Summer

 

PS. Keep in touch. Let us know how you are doing.

[[ho...]]

Maybe you guys can help me sort this out.  I found this thread today and it is very interesting.

 

Since some of you have really researched this; and I am to new into WD and too brain fogged to figure anything out maybe you can help me:

 

I'm 55 and had experienced bad hot flashes and night sweats intermittently over the past 3 or so years.  This started before I started on Ativan (2/2010).

I started on bio-identical hormones this past spring - first progesterone in March 2011; then they added estradial in June 2011; then testosterone in July 2011. 

My interdose WD symptoms started way before I started the bio identical; but coincidentally -- or maybe not so coincidentally the symptoms started to get worse in the June/July time frame.  For several months I've been on consistent dosages of all three bio identical hormones. 

 

Just the past several days/nights my hot flashes and night sweats have come back and compared to the WD symptoms are nothing --- I can manage them.  But this thread has started me thinking that perhaps the bio identicals are playing some role in all of this....

 

Thoughts?  THANKS!

[[su...]]

 

Hello summermeadow

 

I am getting better, thank you. About 70% better I think.

 

I want women to hear your story. Would you be willing to share your experience on that thread? I think it would help many women now and in the future.

Here is the thread I started some time ago:

Bioidentical progesterone cream causes withdrawal similar to benzo-

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=36868.0

You could add the link to your topic if you wish. I described my situation in details there and there also were some valuable contribution from others...

My case is a bit peculiar though: I have epilepsy.

 

All the best.

[[su...]]

Hello Hope,

 

I posted the above link from doblewave with her permission. It may be worth reading. I see you are benzo free and are already on hormones. From what I have read and experienced, it seems important to know that Progesterone affects the same receptors as a benzo. The GABA receptors. You may also have noticed that Meljo a few posts back lowered her estrogen just a little and now feeling a great deal of anxiety.

 

I am sharing this information because I believe this to be useful and wish I had had it earlier in my journey. My hope is someone will find it and help them earlier in their journey. I'm in the middle of my taper and know firsthand what it's like having trouble thinking and processing information.

 

Love to you,

Summer

[[Su...]]

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupplementguide/a/Vitex.htm

 

What about this?

[[ho...]]

Hi SummerMeadow,

I think after trying to digest all the info on this thread that I should probably just stay on the bio-identicals without any changes until I'm symptom free from the benzo WD and then think about what to do -- stay on or get off them.  Would you agree?

Thanks!

[[Su...]]

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupplementguide/a/Vitex.htm

 

What about this?

 

That wasn't the link I meant to post...there was a much better one and now i have to find it...it talked about "Vitex" ability to help our body produce it's own progesterone...I will post it when i find it.