Posted by Quintal on November 28, 2006, at 18:19:38
In reply to Re: To Dissipate grieving thoughts... Xanax? » Quintal, posted by zmg on November 28, 2006, at 15:00:21
>Maybe other people have had a harder time? Quintal, I'm curious if it was difficult for you?
Yes, benzo withdrawal was difficult for me. I quit cold turkey from 20mg Klonopin (and 400mg tramadol) hard though it may be to believe. I think my tolerance was much lower than 20mg though, I'd just been abusing it for a few weeks at that dose for complete oblivion really.
I had a few minor seizures but came to no harm because I wrapped myself up in a duvet most of the time. I was also taking Lamictal as a mood stabiliser, so I guess that helped prevent more serious seizures?
No benzo taper for me. My GP referred me to the local addiction clinic, but I thought it might dangerous to try and drive there even if I could have prized my hands from the mattress long enough to get to the car. When I finally did go I was put in a tiny waiting room with the heroin addicts from the local sink estate queuing for their methadone prescriptions. It made me angry considering the pain I was in because those people had never had a legitimate prescription for opiates in the first place, yet here the were entitled to free methadone and state benefits (my GP expected me to go out and find work two weeks after taking my last benzo dose - sadistic sense of humour that woman).
So yes, for anyone trying to withdraw I would recommend using the slow taper method and switching to a long acting benzo as blueberry suggested. Valium is most commonly used for this purpose due to its long half-life. Heather Ashton has some good withdrawal strategies and tables of how to substitute one benzo for another etc. I not a big fan of her position on benzos but she does seem more compassionate than most to people trying to withdraw - emphasising that it must be at the patient's own pace and comfort to be successful. She gets bad press around here, but if my GP had truly been following her advice to the letter it would have saved me much of this suffering.
Q
poster:Quintal
thread:708111
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061123/msgs/708303.html