Benzo's, how often do you take them?

I've heard benzo's can cause dependence issues, people often warn me not to use them frequently. What do you guys think? How often do you take your benzo's ? Like the days i'm home, and i feel anxiety building up, should i just ride it out, which i know i can , or pop a pill? So far i have tried to use benzo's only in circumstances where i know i wont be able to handle stress. I'm on klonopin and my doc prescribed me to take half a pill in the day and half in the afternoon. Which i never take, Coz most days it doesnt matter how bad it is, im able to just ride it out.

When I was first prescribed Klonopin (20-plus years ago) no one knew of the potentially addictive nature of benzos. I was told to take the K-pin 2 times per day, and I did.

I now have a serious physical addiction to the medication. I have managed to cut my dose down (with the hope of eventually going off the Klonopin), but I have to go very, very slowly to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

If you don't really need the Klonopin, don't take it.

Doctor's do that, just prescribe whatever, without any consideration for the patients health. We gotta watch out for ourself.

I'm on lorazepam. My doctor was extremely clear that if I had to use it more than 2-3 a week, he would put me on something else that I could take daily.
I haven't had to use it more than that, I usually ride it out using techniques I have learned in therapy.
I would love to take something else, but after a terrifying reaction to Paxil, I'm too afraid to.

I take my lorazepam for anxiety if I feel a bad panic attack coming on and I'm in a situation where it would be hard to deal with a full on panic attack (i.e., at work or at school, or at the grocery store). If I am at home or in a different location where I can lay down and try to wind down and ride it out, I won't take it.
But most commonly, I take it when I can't sleep at night and I have to be up in the morning. It is dangerous to take them as prescribed for a long period of time, and I've heard withdrawal effects can be worse than the anxiety itself.
My advice is, if you can ride it out without it, try doing that. If it gets to the point where you really need additional help from the meds, take your medication.

If you can just ride it out and feel pretty good about it then you don't need it. Maybe you can take it sometimes but don't take it if you feel like you can handle it.

Well i dont want to be bad but if you dont take your meds how you want to doctor to help you ? try to take the doze that your doctor prescribed you as for benzo,s i take them regularly but i dont seem to create me dependency at least i dont take them for much time only 3 months

I have taken 1 mg lorazepam twice daily for almost 6 years. I know I am dose dependent. I asked my doc when I saw him in June about getting off of it and he said "Why? It's working and panic isn't something you need to have in your life. You can get off of it anytime you want. Just go slow." He further said I could stay on it until I was 100 y/o b/c I don't take it every day. I haven't ever needed a dose increase. Does it help all the time? No, not after 6 years. But I WILL NOT go over 2 mg/day. Never. Be careful with these things.

The bad thing with benzos is that you can get addicted to feeling alright. I was super careful the first years on benzos just to take it in like really bad emergencies. But after that, I also started to take them when feeling just really really anxious and non functional but not in full hour on end panic mode. After that, I also started taking them when just feeling freaked out, totally hopeless or dangerously aggressive. After that I also started to take them also when I just felt awful.

See where I am going with this? I saw a better life, and I wanted it. I didn't want to just suffer all the time and just use the benzos while I was in total panic mode to just plain survive, just to go back to a really really bad anxiety which I "could" manage without pills but without any quality of life.

So I slowly slipped into the danger of choosing quality of life before being safe from addiction.

It took me over 10 years of daily use to be physically hooked. But finally I was. In a way I feel it doesn't matter but in a way it is scary to be addicted since doctors have used this against me if they got mad at me, and cold turkey'd me just to punish me. Last time I nearly had a stroke (I mean for real, not kidding). So I'm not even sure if the benzo is my enemy or if doctors are.

Benzos are very dangerous drugs so avoid them if at all possible. They have depression as a side-effect--look it up if you don't believe me.

You can use amino acids such as tyrosine and GABA to help your anxiety as well as valerian root, lavender, ashwaghanda and magnesium. Magnesium is very important in the control of anxiety and stress. Be sure to use a type that is easily absorbed such as magnesium chloride, citrate or malate. Don't take magnesium oxide as all it will do is give you raging diarrhea. You need to take calcium, vitamin D3 and K with the magnesium as the 4 work together.

Benzos made me feel much better during my new bouts with anxiety and their obvious potential for tolerance and addiction really scared me, so I am tapering off in favor of gabapentin. Everyone thought I was overreacting to the prospect of addiction, but I couldn't imagine a worse outcome, on top of everything else. It's nice to know that they'll calm you down in a pinch, but I have no interest in regular use. I'll write diazepam a final goodbye when the time comes.

If there was better meds, benzos would not be used. I'm glad things like gabapentin works for some, for me it was a total joke.

SSRIs harmed me for life so they are very different from how they are sold, like some kind of vitamins that can't cause harm. When in fact it is like taking ecstacy every day (without the high but with the brain damage). I had NO depression prior to SSRIs. They were given to me for anxiety and caused chronic depression that cannot be healed by stopping them. I have to take them for the rest of my life now, and stay mildly to moderately depressed always.

Antihistamines for anxiety are pretty much proven to have a link to dementia.

Nothing is totally safe. It is always about how dangerous it is NOT to take the meds.

I think benzos can be good meds IF you can easily stay on the same dosage (no tolerance), and IF you can restrict the use to say once every third day or even better, less.

Sometimes just having the benzo can help some people from getting those really bad times of anxiety knowing they have a way out, even if the pill is not even taken!

I completely understand what youre saying jimi. and i agree that despite all the unwanted side effects, benzo's still have their usefulness.

That is great you can ride it out.
I take lorazapam 0.5 mg every night.
Wish I didnt feel I need it but I find I don't sleep if I dont.

Hi Fuschiafever, if youre only taking it for sleep, then you have options, healthy alternatives like, 10 min of mindful meditation with eyes closed, laying in the bed puts me into an instant deep sleep. Then there are are things you can do like exercise, it doesnt even have to be a strenuous workout, just a long brisk walk will help. Drinking chamomile tea before bed is very calming and helps to ease into sleep.

Does your doctor/gp prescribe benzos?? I thought doctors all over the UK stopped prescribing benzos caue around here none of the doctors wanna prescribe any benzo or increase my dose which is low ( 5mg of Diazepam twice a day) what part of the UK you from?? I'm from Manchester

I use 0.5 mg once to twice a day. Occasionally do t take any.

First of all, if someone took a benzo daily, I don't think just stopping it will be very healthy. You really need to taper out that stuff.

If meditation, exercise and tea was enough for sleep disorders, I wonder why we even have meds for that stuff...?

I am prescribed 50X1mg tablets every 50 days, but I end up finishing my batch earlier because I've grown too dependent on them and once a few drinks go down, the benzos are like a drinking snack.

Personally, I believe i'm not required to take them anymore as my anxiety is quite sustainable, so my goal is to completely steer clear from them.

I agree, sometimes nothing else works but the meds. i just said there are options to explore, proven techniques that work for a lot of people, which are worth trying before succumbing to life altering drugs.

It's quite rare though for people not to try anything before meds. I think we need to understand people often have gone through a lot before looking for meds as the answer.

I lived with bad anxiety for years and also with a sleep disorder since childhood. I found some tricks that made things work, sort of. Like for sleep I found that constant sleep deprivation worked (I never allowed more than 5-6 hours or I couldn't fall asleep to wake up to go to school), so I grew up sleep deprived. I'm not sure if it damaged my brain, but I feel like I am a lot more stupid now than I should be.

Actually you'd be surprised by how often people chose meds over other alternatives, say meditation. I bet half, maybe more than half the people who are sick aren't doing it. Even after science has backed up all the benefits it offers, doctors even go as far as to say that its as effective as any antidepressant, people still are'nt doing it. All it takes is 10 mins a day. Popping a pill can be a tempting way out of our problems, it seems like an easy quick fix. Whereas meditation, excercise, healthy diet, it requires hardwork and commitment.

I meditated a lot in my teenage years. It never helped me with sleep and anxiety.

People usually have their issues for quite a while before they look for medical help. I have never seen someone having like a few days of insomnia and got meds for that. Without trying anything else.

I meditate, try to eat better but still take my medication as prescribed... I know what the consequences can be if I don't. Meditation helps me. Not sure about it helping my illnesses and I don't want to risk it.