Posted by bleauberry on November 29, 2007, at 20:44:13 [reposted on November 30, 2007, at 22:39:14 | original URL]
In reply to Stopping Benzodiazepines - Please Help, posted by sonic_gb on November 29, 2007, at 13:28:12
Doctors are not gods. It is your life and your body. You are the boss, not the doctor. It irks me when people worry whether their doctor will let them do this or that. If the doctor is not on board with you, you the paying customer, then get a real doctor. Alright, enough ranting about that. On to the benzo withdrawal...
Go at whatever pace you can tolerate. It might be faster than you think, it might be slower than you think. Get good at cutting tablets or dividing capsules for custom size doses, because you want to remove tiny amounts as you step down.
Natural things can help a lot. Matter of fact, some of them are total cures for some people who have tried every drug on the planet. It was a deficiency all along and not the need for a med.
Regardless, these things can help...Magnesium. Preferably the glycinate or the taurate form. Citrate or malate are ok too, but the glycinate and taurate versions will have more of the gaba-like calming stuff similar to benzos. Start with 100mg to 200mg a day, work up to as high a dose as you can handle. You will know how much that is because of diarrhea. Over time you will tolerate more. 1 or 2 cups of epsom salts in a bath a few times a week can help a lot also by getting extra magnesium in you. Magnesium is an essential mineral in our diet with hundreds of roles, one of which is to stabilize and calm overexcited brain neurons.
Taurine. Another natural bodily substance some of us just don't make enough of or eat enough of. Its job is also calming. You can take 500mg to 1000mg once to three times a day. Besides helping anxiety and sleep, it is beneficial for a wide range of things such as liver, digestion, and eyes.
There are herbs also, but I would hesitate myself to mix them with benzos, though I have done it. Passionflower, valerian root, skullcap. Any or all can provide a few hours of cutting the edge off an anxiety attack, allowing you to survive one more day of your weaning process. Just don't use them continuously or you risk replacing one dependency with another. Better to rely on beefing up the body's own natural anti-anxiety substances, which are magnesium and taurine.
There is debate whether GABA supplements cross the brain barrier or not. All I can say is some people find tremendous relief with them, some not. So it does work, just not predictably from person to person.
These things will help you get off benzos. Magnesium and taurine stand a good likelihood of actually allowing you to never need a benzo again ever.
Almost forgot one more. Niacinimide. This B vitamin in high doses acts similar to benzos. It has to be the Niacinimide form, not the Niacin form.
Go slow and low. Give your body what it needs to fight back. Excellent diet, lots of clean water, and the above mentioned supplements.
poster:bleauberry
thread:797166
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20070929/msgs/797971.html