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*Beth* · Feb 14, 2023, 03:30 PM

Oh, Fuzzy. Similar experiences? Absolutely You probably know by now, because I have complained so much

2 - 3 hours of sleep? Outrageous! That is severe sleep deprivation. Three hours is minimum to go into REM (deep) sleep. The Mayo Clinic says that "Adults need 7 or more hours a night."

In my experience CBT is helpful only while doing psychodynamic therapy, too. (Of course, that may be different for other people.)

I can tell you my experience with the benzo Klonopin. I'll make it as short as possible:

I was prescribed K-pin roughly 30 years ago, 1 mg./day (bedtime). Benzos were very popular back then. For the first about two years the K-pin was an excellent medication to reduce anxiety and to help me sleep. After that I started to build up a tolerance to it, so I had some anxiety again. My pdoc added 1 mg. in the morning.

I remained on the 2mg./day, with occasional increases to 3mg. per day. So here I am, still taking Klonopin. It isn't doing anything to decrease anxiety, nor is it helping with sleep. The problem is that my body is addicted to the stuff. In November I began decreasing the dose, so now I'm taking .5mg. in the morning and 1mg. at bedtime. Next week I'm going to try to eliminate the AM dose altogether.

I will feel successful if I can make it to .5 mg./day. At that point I will shave off minuscule bits with the goal of stopping the K-pin, altogether. But it will take about a year to stop it, if I can without having a terrible ongoing withdrawal syndrome. I want to stop taking the K-pin because it has definitely caused me to have cognitive problems. There is some strong evidence that long-term benzo use can cause dementia.

So that's my "benzo story."

With all of that, I still believe that benzos are an excellent medication as long as the same dose isn't used daily for more than about 6 months. It needs to be either a prn med, or taken for a while, then either reduced or stopped, then used again. (I would use otc sleep meds to alternate with the benzo.)

That's my experience with Klonopin, and I suppose it would be much the same with any benzo.

As for the "professionals" who prescribe psych meds...UGH. I've seen at least 35 prescribers (most of those pdocs, some psych nurses) and of those I'd say 4 were excellent, a bunch were mediocre, and too many were so bad (huge egos, poor knowledge) that they should not have been practicing medicine, plain and simple.

So yes, I completely validate your feelings, dear Fuzzy