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Originally Posted by punkybrewster6k
So what is the clearance time on benzos?
I stopped clonapin about a week ago because I have been hearing how addictive they are. Ive been on them for years and no one ever told me how bad they are until I began reading here on PC.
I think I have found what is making me so sick lately....withdrawls.
I was taking 1-2 mg a day. Tapered to 1/2mg for a week then quit totally last week. I feel horrible and want to go back on but will not do it knowing the addiction to them. How long will i feel this horrible?!?!
I cant function or think or sleep and anxiety is so bad...
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Yeah it's probably the benzo withdrawal. You could feel like this for months I'm afraid.
I would suggest going back to the 1/2mg for a week and see how you feel there (which is ½-¼ of your original dose and may still be too low and you need to go up higher) I found this which may help:
benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002
The best advice is to go slow. I know it's frustrating but after taking it for years, stopping it is going to give bad withdrawal symptoms and could also cause rebound anxiety. In severe withdrawal, it can cause seizures, so it's best to be cautious and careful about this. It's not a case of riding it out for a week or two, as you could feel this awful for months
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atypical_Disaster
Well, I'm ****ed. I've been taking a fairly high dose of these for a long time now. Boy that pisses me off. Just more proof that doctors are incompetent pieces of ****.
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It is completely wrong in this day and age that drs are unethically prescribing benzos without telling people about their addictive nature or keeping prescriptions for short-term use only.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atypical_Disaster
I have no doubt that I'm strong enough, it's just going to be a pain in the ***. I'm so sick of psychiatry right now. Now that I'm well it's all just more annoying to me than it already was... go to appointments, pick up meds, blah blah blah. It's all so boring and it's irritating to know more about my illnesses than my doctors do. I read, I research, I know my **** and I'm sick of being talked down to by these people who don't even bother to look in their own ****ing DSM.
My appointment today was a complete waste of time. I don't know why I have to talk to some doctor that's involved in a ridiculously idiotic system that doesn't care about anything except what meds you're taking and how well that's working out for Big Pharma.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by junkDNA
i fell down an hurt my knee and the voices just laughed a lot. mean. they r bullies. from hell.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Atypical_Disaster
I just hate being dependent on anything. I take a lot of pride in being self-sufficient so when I have to rely on anyone or anything it pisses me off. I'd love to just live my life without having to pop into my pdoc's office periodically to get my prescriptions filled when she clearly doesn't realize I'm different from all the other patients that walk through her door. I'm different, and professionals need to get that through their ****ing heads.
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Yeah I hated the thought of being dependent on anything other than myself too.
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Originally Posted by sunshine1995
I know, I have those days too. That one psych nurse really f_cked me over. First putting me on seroquel and gaining all that weight and then the lorazepam. Why didn't she tell me it was akathisia? Honestly I don't think she knew. I've had to find out most of the information about my illness by doing my own research. And that includes meds, finding out the hard way...
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Most pdocs are incompetent and psych nurses are even less trained!! :/
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atypical_Disaster
I felt so unheard in my appointment today. I didn't realize how angry I am about it until we started talking on here. Eventually I asked, "are you even bothering to listen to me?" She said yes but I'm still not convinced. I feel like she's treating me as some sort of inferior and there is no faster way to piss me off than to do that.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by punkybrewster6k
Okay.
I think I will take 1/2 of a .5mg pill tonight then and stay at that for a couple of weeks then do 1/4 pill for a couple weeks.
Should I do that or just ride this out since I have been off them totally for a week of hell already?
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I personally still think that's too low. If you go from 2mg/day to 0.25mg/day, that's a huge reduction. Even 0.5mg/day is a ¼ of the original dose! I wish I could say keep going and you will feel like **** for another week and be done, but it doesn't work like that.
Plus you've still got all the stress with Bean being unwell and whatever else you have going on e.g. ?moving, finances etc, and ideally you would only attempt a withdrawal when stable/stress-free. Try googling benzo withdrawal and there will be LOADS of info to help you decide what to do, but you also have to monitor & trust yourself and go back to a higher dose for a bit longer, or stay on a certain dose for a few more weeks depending on how you feel. All the best
*Willow*