Doctor is just throwing benzos at me..

[[Tr...]]

I've been in tollerance withdrawal (.5mg of Klonopin) for almost 4 months.  I quit drinking cold turkey 3 months ago.  After 3-4 weeks of intense depression, delusional thinking, etc.. the fog kinda cleared up. But, I was left with horrible tinnitus.. I'm talking ROARING loud.  It's 24/7, and I can't stand being in a quiet room.  It drives me nuts. 

 

So, I've been fighting with this for months now, and it just seems to get worse and worse.. Normal noise makes it worse, too.  Riding in a car.. working with power tools (WITH ear plugs and muffs), all makes the ringing that much worse.  It never gets better.. only worse.  Plus, I have trouble hearing people now. 

 

I went to my doctor, and he told me that it's stress.. He doesn't believe that .5mg of Klonopin can cause withdrawal.  SO, what does he do?  He gives me a script for 10mg of valium per day.  I'll be honest, and say that I'm taking it.  I'm so miserable at this point, I don't even care anymore.  My ears feel like someone has 110 volts from a wall socket pulsing into them, and it affects me enough that I don't even want to talk to anyone.  My own voice sounds distorted and muffled.  I don't understand what happened.. and/or how this could be caused by a little friggen pill.

 

Travis

[[re...]]

How long have you been at 0.5 mg of clonazepam? Are you trying to taper off?

This valium prescription may be a good opportunity for you to cross over, then taper off the valium.

Did you ask your doctor about that?

[[Ga...]]

Ive had it for a yr, its so annoying. I cant stand a totally quiet room as it drives me nuts.

I know how you feel there is no getting away from it/ its 24/7

[[ve...]]

How long have you been at 0.5 mg of clonazepam? Are you trying to taper off?

This valium prescription may be a good opportunity for you to cross over, then taper off the valium.Did you ask your doctor about that?

 

I agree that this may be a blessing in disguise to cross over to valium and taper off the klonopin and eventually the valium, as Redevan has posted. Unforutunately, it does not sound like your doctor is aware of the equivalencies.  .5 klonopin is like 10mg valium.  You probably only needed 5mg valium to help offset the withdrawal symptoms from stopping the alcohol.  If you've only taken the 10mg valium for a few days, you might consider cutting the 10mg valium in half for now and take 5mg valium with the klonopin.  You might do well to look for another doctor or psychiatrist who will be open to a true cross over which should not require more than a total of 10mg valium done in a reasonable fashion.  However, taking 10mg valium now with the .5 klonopin for too long may lead to a dependency on a larger amount of two benzodiazepenes.  You can probably find a psychiatrist who would be willing to see you through a cross over and slow taper off the valium.  Congratulations on abstaining from alcohol.  In light of recent news about Whitney Houstion, you may have dodged a bullet.  Do you have some support groups or AA meetings you can attend to give you some additional support?  If your current doctor "does not believe" that .5 klonopin can cause withdrawal, it may be time to find another doctor or at the least see if he is open to reading some material you can print up for him from the Ashton Manual and other articles about tolerance withdrawal...

 

Best wishes,

 

Vertigo

[[mi...]]

I know how you feel and I am so sorry you are going through this. I had the same thing happen when I was in tolerance withdrawal. We live near a train track and my second night home from the detox horror, it sounded like that train was never going to end. I finally asked my teenage daughter to look out and see how much longer the train has left to go because I was trying to rest and the noise from it was loud and driving me to insanity. My daughter said "mom, there is no train going by right now". Then she said that she didn't know what I was hearing or maybe it was just a bad dream or something on TV. All I could do was cry. I could not get that loud sound out of my ears. The next day after no sleep in over 48 hours and shaking and in severe withdrawal, I remembered I had a prescription still of 260 Ativan pills. I had my husband go and get all of them before the doctor cancelled the prescription and I reinstated and got some relief and sleep and searched for a second opinion.

[[mi...]]

I found a doctor willing to see me but I had to wait two weeks. I lived with anxiety but not like what I came home from detox with. The new doctor listened to me and upped my dose of Ativan and got me stablized. Then she had me slowly cross over to Librium 1mg Ativan to 25mg Librium every month. After 5 months I was completely crossed over and now tapering 5mg Librium every 3 weeks. Then she sent me to a facility in the town I live in. The ringing in my ears is gone and I feel so much better, I sleep good and eat well. Have you considered doing this? It's much easier to taper when you are stablized. I also take 10mg Doxepin a day for the antihistamine it provides. This also helps me a lot and is in the Ashton manual. I hope you get the right help and can get stablized and taper very slowly.

[[sp...]]

Your doctor is, IMO,way off base in his benzo prescribing, but his statement that your tinnitus is related to stress may not be. I've had this on and off for more than a decade, and the only times it's really driven me up the wall is during benzo wd and other states of severe emotional distress.

 

There is sound medical literature to support the idea that a vast majority of people will perceive sounds and high pitched tones in the absence of any auditory stimulus, and that people for whom this becomes a significant problem as responding to the sound emotionally in a way what other people do not (there are some papers by a dr. Richard salvi out of SUNY buffalo that support this idea with PET scans).

 

The good news is that whatever is going on with your ears, your emotional response to it is almost certainly making it worse. When we become aware of a perceptual input that we see as a threat, it is a primary function of the central nervous system to keep us aware of it. Does your tinnitus ever cause you panic, or a "fight or flight" response? Of course it does.

 

You can't control the sound, but you can control your emotional response to it. This is not an easy thing to do, especially when you're not stable on benzos.

 

If I were you, I'd do everything I could to get crossed over entirely to a dose of Valium that is high enoughw to keep you from fixating on this, and then reduce the dosage at whatever slow rate is required to keep you from going bonkers, and trust in your body's ability to heal from this. Take absolute, spiritual FAITH in that. Your alcohol situation is all caught up in your benzo situation, you've been switching drugs rapidly, and I bet your entire nervous system is confused as hell and having trouble finding a comfortable homeostasis. The more time you spend fixating and worrying about this, the more you reinforce your nervous system seeing it as a threat and having trouble screening it out.

 

Check this book out; even if you are deeply religious or deeply atheistic and want to completely ignore the Buddhist/karmic aspects of it, the way that it views consciousness and the human mind is very relevant to your situation.

 

I don't think I can post liks yet, and unsure oF how to post this not linked, so the name of the bom is "Living Yogacara" and it's available for twenty bucks on amazon. Note that I am specifically suggesting something which does not directly talk about tinnitus, because I literally think reading about that any more than you have to could be detrimental to you right now. Finding a way to let go of the tinnitus fixation is something that seems to have been a crucial part of almost everyq report I've eas of people recovering from their tinnitus.

[[ba...]]

Great opporunity to get off benzo  .5 klop  equal o 10 mg valium,  the decision  is up to  you

[[Gr...]]

I agree this could be a blessing in disguise to get off the benzos for good. If you can just take the valium and taper off slowly you could be home free before you know it. I am a recovering alcoholic and wish so much I never touched a benzo. It's really slowing down my recovery.

All the best.

Grace

[[Tr...]]

Well, I can just tell him that it's working, and he'll keep giving me both.  In that case, I can start to switch over to Valium..

 

What's the rate at which I should switch over?  How much of each should I take daily, and how much/when do I change the dose of each during the switch?

 

I have only taken 5mg of Valium today.. because 10mg sedates me WAY too much (with the .5mg of Klonopin).  Valium must hit a different set of GABA receptors or something, because Klonopin doesn't sedate me like this anymore.  Please don't get me wrong.. I've been on Klonopin for 7 years, and I drank a LOT with it.. but, I want nothing more than to be OFF of this stuff.  I feel that most of my symptoms are from tollerance withdrawal, but my doctor doesn't agree.  Of course, some of it is stress related.  I own my own business, and work 12-13 hours per day.  I went through a minor nervous breakdown about 4-5 months ago, and I haven't been right ever since. 

 

My tinnitus seems to be at it's worst in the morning, just after waking up.  It slowly calms down by about 25% after an hour or so.  Honestly Benzo's don't really do anything for it, either.  Even now, with this Valium added on, it's still there.  I'm just not freaking out about it like I usually do.  I want so desperately to just let it go.. and not let it get to me.  But, that's easier said than done.

 

Travis

[[sm...]]

 

Give yourself plenty of time to heal from the booze. Your liver probably took quite a beating and maybe needs more time. Your guts too. That could be why the K isn't working so well too.

 

I remember when I quit drinking, it was quite similar to what I'm going through now. And it took a very long time. Eventually I was able to enjoy a half beer or a few sips of cognac without needing to get smashed. 

 

You're self employed. In my opinion it's probably best not to bite off more than you need too rite now.