Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

[webmind]

Does anyone here have any experience with Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Syndrome? They are the anti-anxiety drugs like xanax and valium, but are highly addictive and make you sick if you take them too long or try and stop taking them at all.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what has worked for them to get off these horribly addictive drugs? I am sick and nauseous every day. When I reduce my dose even a little I become even more sick.

Thanks for any feedback.

[bleep]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

Hi Webmind,

I have no personal experience with these, but I've read several posters who have explained how they have done it. Basically, a very gradual tapering of the dose seems to be the only way to do it. How this will gel with your getting sick if you reduce the dose, I'm not certain.

I'd wait until someone with actual experience gives you some mere pertinent advice though.

[Greg]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

Hi Webmind, I was taking 1 mg Xanax every day for a number of years and developed a problem with withdrawals as it wore off. I substituted 20 mg Valium for the Xanax, as recommended by my doctor, then quite rapidly reduced it, but did encounter problems once my dose was down to about 2 mg per day. Tapering down a lot more slowly can help with this. It is often recommended that people spend weeks switching their original benzo over to Valium, then months tapering the Valium down. Reducing Valium by only 1 mg/day each 1-2 weeks is recommended by Professor Heather Ashton (University of Newscastle) who has had a lot of experience with benzo withdrawal. Her method is outlined in detail at:

benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002

Valium is of course a benzodiazepine itself but it is very long acting and people often find it easier to taper off that instead of their original shorter-acting drug. It fills in the gaps between doses so you don't get serious withdrawals all the time and it can also help with sleep, but you have to be committed to reducing it otherwise you can easily just get hooked on it instead.

This really does require a doctor to be involved, so I'd suggest asking your own GP or an addiction specialist as a starting point.

[Chi]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

Hi there... I took xanax 1-2 mg per day for about a year about 15 years ago when my father was very sick. Like an idiot I stopped cold turkey not knowing how physically addictive it was (this was before nursing school). The withdrawal symptoms the next day had me in the ER thinking I was having a stroke. It was VERY scary and VERY uncomfortable. Needless to say I was given xanax and sent back to my doctor to taper off the drug. I wanted off as fast as possible and hated the idea of physical dependence. The taper was uncomfortable, but didn't last terribly long. After a few weeks like Greg my doctor switched me to a longer half life benzo. In my case it was klonopin. I finished my taper in about two weeks.

Unfortunately I do have issues with anxiety and panic attacks. I've learned through the years some techniques to keep the panic attacks at bay, and have never gone back on xanax as a daily med. Not even close. I keep it on hand though to stop an attack or some other extreme situation. It's a great drug but is not meant for daily use, imo, unless a person is willing to do the taper in the end.

Hope that helps.

[Lo0p]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

During a spat about baclofen on the Bluelight (druggie) forums, a guy on there said that he used baclofen with great success to withdraw from a benzo.

There is also a report of a guy around somewhere that used baclofen to cure his addiction to benzos, opiates and alcohol (I think).

I was put on xanax 2mg/day by my doctor 2 months ago and I absolutely needed it. But it now seems to me like it's working better than when I started. My dosage has declined just naturally and the last few days it has fallen down around 1mg. I'm not making any effort at it at all, in fact I wouldn't even have noticed it if I weren't so disciplined at logging every single dose.

But, barring what may be an extreme pharmaceutical intervention, the Ashton protocol is what I hear works every time this subject is brought up.

[Noelle]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

I haven't taken Xanax in a while, but to get off of it my then Doctor gave me Librium when I was in an inpatient facility in the early 90s. I've taken Librium recently to stop drinking, but it wasn't enough to get me to stop drinking completely. It just stopped the chance of DTs. I believe Librium is a better choice than Valium as it's not as addictive. It doesn't give you the "high" that Vaium does.

Hence my use of Naltrexone, which works like a charm.....for me.

HTH!

[Otter]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

Benzo withdrawal and Baclofen

Here is a testimonial from my Home - Baclofen UK site about withdrawal from Benzos and codeine:

My name is Pascal Gramme and I live in Belgium.

I was addicted to opiates, benzodiazepines, and antidepressants.

It all started one day in March 1993, a day I will never forget.

This particular morning, I was at work and suffering from a severe toothache. The day seemed very inauspicious, as it had started so badly. On top of the recurring toothache, I was also in a state of high anxiety and angst, a state I was in every single day, not only on difficult ones.

I asked a work colleague if he had a painkiller on him, and he handed me four pills. I only took one, but it was a revelation. My angst and anxiety vanished. I checked what these ?happy pills? contained, and read the word ?codeine?, so, naturally, I thought this was what I needed.

Finally, I had an answer to all the years I had spent suffering from a crippling anxiety, all these days when I felt on edge, without ever understanding why.

So I took codeine to calm this anxiety and anguish that were destroying my life bit by bit.

From 1993 to 1997, I would take it very sporadically, in fact, almost in a recreational manner. I would still, however, question whether it was a good thing or not, but would conclude that since codeine was available over the counter, it can?t be that dangerous.

If only I?d known, because in 1997, on the 16th Nov exactly, I had a very bad driving accident, whilst on 2.8gr of alcohol in my blood.

This accident was extremely violent. I crashed into the wall of the bakery in my parent?s village at 160km/h, and woke up (yes indeed) in the refrigerated display units after going through my car windscreen and the shop windows. Result: broken ribs on the left side and completely smashed shoulder.

At the time, I had a restaurant in Brussels, and as such couldn?t take any time off.

Since I had to work with terribly painful broken bones, I upped my use of codeine, which wasn?t all that unpleasant since it also dealt with my anxiety issues. Imagine that, I could mix usefulness with pleasure.

From 1997 to 2001 my intake of opiates of all kinds exploded: I was taking codeine tablets, tramadol, dextrometorphan, and laudanum in cough syrup form amongst others.

In 2001, the nightmare started, because one day, I thought I had to stop, but then I encountered a big problem, that, until now, I was unaware of.

This hurdle was called addiction, but I only understood this much later.

I thought I was being weak and lacked determination. With hindsight, I see that I was determined, but the opiates were stronger than me, and the doses kept on rising.

In July 2000 I bought a hotel-restaurant in France with my wife. What a surprise it was to discover that codeine was freely available over the counter there, because since 2000 it was no longer the case in Belgium, and one needed a prescription to obtain it, which made things very difficult, except if bought in very expensive cough syrup form.

This is when my intake went up two or threefold.

I would swallow codeine without counting, as the price was so affordable, and I was still unaware of the danger posed by the use of paracetamol, which made up a good percentage of these tablets.

Everyday, I would take 64 pills, each containing 400mg of paracetamol and 20mg of codeine, which, I now know, is well above the lethal paracetamol dose. I insist on the fact that I was totally unaware of that fact.

My usage had peeks and troughs, because in 2003 I returned to Belgium, where I had to resume my purchase of codeine-based cough syrups, which of course are far less potent than a box of codoliprane (paracetamol + codeine pills), so much so that in 2005, I managed to stop taking codeine for three months, by this time, replacing it with alcohol, which isn?t much better.

Because I live 20km away from the French border, I once again soon went back on codolipranes.

My doctor once prescribed me some syrup to cure a tracheitis, a syrup, I found out, which was available over the counter too, and in which there was both laudanum and codeine. I fell down a terrifying spiral, because I would swallow my codoliprane pills with this syrup, and by then, I was on more than 75 tablets a day, plus 2g/d of laudanum.

After dozens of detox attempts, which would last two days on average, and seeing that I wouldn?t manage it alone, I went to see my GP.

He put me on both benzodiazepines and antidepressants. I played along, and followed his protocol and prescribed dosage.

This treatment not only didn?t help me at all, but I also became addicted to it. I simply couldn?t do with in the same way that had happened with codeine.

I then went to see a charity that offered subventioned consultations with doctors who prescribed opiates substitutes.

This time, I was offered some tercian, which didn?t help either, but to which I also became addicted.

My experience of this place is unbelievable, as I saw some very troubled and disorientated people using this service as a scoring place to put it bluntly. They wouldn?t even attempt to hide the fact that they were using other stuff beside their treatment. I was in a vicious circle.

I could see my marriage breaking down, and my health deteriorating, so I started to do some internet research and stumbled upon baclofen.

I decided to find out more about it, as I had noticed that the benzos I was taking had a note on the box saying ?treatment for alcohol dependency?.

Reading that baclofen worked very well for alcoholism, I typed ?baclofen for codeine? in a search engine, and found a forum where I met someone who lived in Brussels, and was currently treated with baclofen.

This person told me about a doctor who prescribes baclofen in Brussels, and this is when I started my treatment.

It was the 8th of March 2010. I went up to 200mg/d in less than 15 days. My side effects were limited to gastric reflux, water retention and tiredness.

Since the 15th March 2010, I no longer take any opiate, and this without any craving, psychological nor physical.

With baclofen, I managed to rid myself of my addiction, with no effort whatsoever.

Not only with regard to the opiates, but also the benzodiazepines, the psychotropic drugs, and the antidepressants, which in my case, were useless, since I don?t suffer from depression, but had a polytoxicomania caused by drugs prescribed by doctors.

I suffered from a neurobiological imbalance, that baclofen managed to perfectly rectify.

It is now six months that I haven?t touched any opiate or other. I live a normal life, without any craving at all. I no longer think about codeine, nor waste so much time going from chemist to chemist in order to stock up? and cherry on top, I save over 600 euros per month.

This is what baclofen has done for me.

[webmind]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

Thank you all

Thanks to all for your wonderful input and caring. I know about Ashton and tapering, but as that was almost 10 years ago I was hoping something new had come along. I'll have to check out this Baclofen - it sounds promising.

My main symptoms are stomach pain/bloating and nausea. Does anyone know of any medications for these particular symptoms?

Thanks again to all.

[Greg]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

Interesting information about baclofen, it sounds like a very good alternative to traditional methods of getting off some drugs.

Buscopan is one drug used for digestive system spasms, stomach pain, and irritable bowel syndrome. It is available over the counter here. Antihistamines can relieve nausea but can also cause drowsiness; there are some less-drowsy antinausea drugs (eg. metoclopramide, ondansetron) but they tend to be prescription-only, which may not help if you were hoping for something non-prescription.

Seriously however I would see a doctor about the dependence problem since it does need to be medically managed if you have been unable to reduce the dose by yourself.

P.S. The GABA-A antagonist flumazenil, normally used as an emergency antidote to benzos, has been suggested as a way of "resetting" the receptors in the brain to "normal" once someone has tapered down to zero (it can't just be given straight to a dependent person as it will bring on severe withdrawals). There are reports of people getting down to zero and still having insomnia and other troubling symptoms; such lingering issues could be due to the receptors having turned into an "inverse" configuration after prolonged benzo use. Note that this is NOT an established medical fact however, it's just a theory I read about. Unfortunately, even if true, flumazenil is not available widely in most countries so only a doctor interested in alternative treatment ideas or a specialist clinic would be likely to try it. Also it was/is used in the "Prometa" treatment method at specialist clinics, but these could be expensive and controversial.

[webmind]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

Thanks Greg

Great info. Gives me some places to start and things to try. I'm at about the 25mg valium/day dose, but when I reduce at all I start to feel very sick. I feel sick anyway, but it gets much worse.

I will run your ideas by some doctor friends - unfortunately they are not specialists in the field, which seem hard to find. Especially if you live in China, where people think you are psychotic if you take a Benzo.

Does anyone know of a specialist in this field I can contact for at least an email consultation? I can pay a reasonable fee.

Thanks again Greg.

[Greg]

Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

I definitely think a doctor who specialises in addiction is preferable to one who doesn't. Here in Australia they are pretty scarce too. I managed to find one in Sydney but I doubt he would be willing to consult via email with someone in another country; he has even been pushing me to start seeing a doctor who practices closer to my home town. I don't know anything about doctors in China and can only suggest that you maybe find out if any practice from addiction clinics.

Regarding the sickness/nausea I would make sure it's not something besides benzos. At least get it checked out and have tests done. Anxiety/nerves can strongly affect the digestive system, even without benzo withdrawal being in the picture. But benzo withdrawal does cause or worsen this aswell.

Since you are already taking Valium all you can really do is slowly reduce it, and also make sure the daily dose is spread out into 2-3 doses if you are having problems. There is a phenomenon called 'tolerance withdrawal' which basically means that symptoms can occur even when the dose is stable, due to the body and brain developing tolerance. Some symptoms will exist while reducing the dose but if done slowly this can be minimised, that's why Ashton recommends only 2 mg/day reductions each 1-2 weeks while above 15 mg/day and 1 when below that level.