Saying goodbye to benzos for sleep

[mammoth]

Hi,
I've been off of Lexapro for around 5 months now after being on it for around 5 years. During this time I have continued using benzos (clonazepam) for sleep. I suffer from sleep maintenance insomnia which means I fall asleep fine but wake up in the middle of the night (either because of anxiety or because I have to pee) and then I'm not able to go back to sleep and become very anxious with ruminating thoughts. My psychiatrist perscribed Sonata (Zaleplon) for me because it has a quick onset and a short half life so I won't be groggy the next day if I take it in the night. I will use it tonight for the first time if I wake up in the night.

I'm a little anxious about saying goodbye to benzos but am also very happy to begin to get rid of my dependency on them.

Any advice?

Thanks

[laurandisorder]

If you have been on benzos for a long time - over the suggested usage span of 3-6 months, you will need to taper your dose very carefully to prevent withdraw.

I'm glad you are following the advice o your doctor.

[alankay]

If the dose was fairly low(1 mg or less) the taper could be very short if needed as clonazepam's half life is fairly long. Plus your switching to another med that works with GABA. Although a non benzo Zaleplon) is a GABA agonist and if the docs is OK with a straight switch, I'd go with it. Daily use of a benzo should only be done if absolutely needed....IMHO ALankay

[mammoth]

i was taking 1mg clonazepam as needed for sleep. Although I took it often, I didn't take it every day. I haven't experienced any withdrawal symptoms as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, the Sonata didn't do sh*t. I woke up at 430am as usual and took it and never went back to sleep, all I had was more grogginess in the morning and more anxiety because I'm at a loss of what's going to work.

I will be starting CBT soon and I hope that it'll work so I don't have to get on any more meds.