help with intense benzo withdrawal

[duzen]

24 yr old male, was prescribed benzos for over 4 years. My prescription was klonopin 1mg 4x daily, alprazolam 1mg 2x daily, and cymbalta 120mg once a day. Was at this dose for 12 months. I landed myself in a drug detox mid march of this year for illicit substances, no need to get into that. Needless to say my doctor found out about this and proceeded to cut me off of everything with no taper, just like that. Here we are nearly four months later and My symptoms are no better, may even be worse. Anxiety like you wouldn't believe, can't make eye contact with people, everybody is watching me and talking about me, fast pounding heart beat, chest pains, headaches, insomnia, loss of every interest I had, can barely leave the house for work, shallow breathing, palpatations, even my bowels are completely messed up. I just need some advice, what should I do? I'm so nervous I can't even keep an appointment to see another doctor. I have also had what appeared to be a seizure but nothings confirmed. Please help

[miss_mac666]

oh my god i know exactly how you feel. i had a problem with benzos for 2 yrs. klonopins to be exact. the withdrawls are intense and horrible. if you want to talk private message me or head into the chat. i would be glad to help.
Claire

[jessy]

Hi , I had to come of a high long term dose of benzo's , 10mg per day of Lorazapam & it was intense hell !!
All of what you describe happened to me & it took me about 5 months to become free of the intense side effects .

I had to go into hospital to taper down , was there 6 days & did the rest at home , my mother stayed for a couple of weeks .

I never managed to come off altogether , I take 2-3 mg a day now .

I feel for you because it's pure hell , I know , I've been there & I thought I would die . My jaw locked at one point , the whole experience was incredibly hard .

There is no way you should be going cold turkey !!
You must taper down a bit at a time & you must not be left alone .

Your doc really should know this x

[alankay]

You should force yourself to another doc. for a sloooooow taper off the lowest dose of a long acting benzo that gives you some/enough relief. Valium or clorazepate(tranxene) would be great but the doc will want to monitor you very closely if he agrees to start you on a taper due to the illicit drugs. It might take some looking but there should be a doc out there willing to help along with very close monitoring and frequent appts.
I tapered off a medium dose of ativan years ago and you do adjust but it takes time. Alankay.

[scarlett9323]

I take 1mg of a benso a day. I was hoping to go off. I reduced to half and pill and felt horrible. Is it bad to be on benzos long term? I am taking 1mg for 4 months now.

[duzen]

Thanks for the advice. Ill start looking into doctors, was thinking of one that specializes in addiction psychiatry? I am really not looking to do this, but it was suggested to me that what was done would be considered malpractice? Im not out to start a lawsuit but the suffering is inhumane.

[bhamlaxy]

Definitely stupidity, but I don't think it reaches the level of malpractice.

A new doc should help. My psychiatrist works another job where she helps long term patients wean off of meds- some have been taking benzos for decades! I will can take months, even a year to get off safely.

But this doesn't sound like withdrawal, which is the few days or weeks after getting off where your body readjusts. Sounds like your meds did a good job of covering up the anxiety, you didn't deal with it and it's simply revealed again. Being on meds months ago has nothing to do with how you feel now.

You are in a difficult position now. It seems like meds can certainly help you, but you have a history of substance abuse... Benzos are among the MOST addictive prescription drugs. Do you trust yourself to use them responsibly?

[duzen]

Well I've been off everything for 4 months, illicit or otherwise. Since a family member kept them under lock n key and distributed them, yes I could trust myself. The worst part is now that I've been "red flagged", I fear no doctor or psychiatrist will take me seriously. The whole "because you used drugs means you won't get adequate relief" idea makes my blood boil. What about quality of life? And I'm sure that the way I feel now has something to do with complete abstinence from any and all drugs, probably mostly from the benzos. What sucks is I don't know anyone personally who can relate or at least begin to undetstand what I'm going through.