[sunnydisposition]

I am trying to come off klonopin and lorazepam which I took for about last 6 months ( not together, just mixed but distinct periods of each benzo).
I went off both last week cold turkey. Thought I could handle it, but apparantely not. One of the most bothersome withdrawal symptom I'm experiencing is the increased frequency of urination, especially at night, which has completely disrupted my sleep.

Im brainstorming different ideas to deal with it and so far all I've come up with is maybe I could use
valerian supplements to sleep better, avoid having to reuse any benzo.

Any suggestions??

[gayleggg]

I would suggest to do it gradually.

[sunnydisposition]

i've been reading up, theres a lot of hype about using valium as a crossover drug. Apparently, it has the longest half life, unlike our infamous substitutes like klonopin, Ativan, which makes it ideal for smooth taper with minimum withdrawal.

Anyways, will talk to my doc about it when i see him. I feel for myself and all my brothers and sisters out there who need ( nay, deserve) something better than benzo's. I mean doctors ( at least the one's i've dealt with) are SO comfortable prescribing these bitter sweet little pieces of hell, im probably sure they wont lose any sleep over prescribing them to me for life. It's all just theoretical to them, is'nt it. A compassionate doctor would atleast ask every once a while if the patient is ready to come off these drugs and a competent doc would have a good plan in place to wean us off when we're ready.

sorry for stretching it out, im just rambling, havent had a decent sleep for a week now. Going back on benzo's for a few days until i have a solid plan to taper off.

[Angelique67]

Good luck coming off benzos. I agree 100% with your post and also it has to be very slowly and gradually to come off them

[Travelinglady]

Yes, gradually--no cold turkey, as you see. I was able to get off Klonopin with a slow taper and now just take a small dosage of Xanax each day. At some point I want to try life without it....

By the way, I took Klonopin for years.

[Yours_Truly]

Do it very slowly.

[sunnydisposition]

Originally Posted by Travelinglady

Yes, gradually--no cold turkey, as you see. I was able to get off Klonopin with a slow taper and now just take a small dosage of Xanax each day. At some point I want to try life without it....

By the way, I took Klonopin for years.

Hello Miss Travelling lady, appreciate the advice. BTW by slow taper, how long do you mean it took you to completely come off it? How long were you on Klonopin before started tapering off?

[-jimi-]

If you go cold turkey you can DIE. Don't mean to scare anyone but it is reality if your body is used to the med.

[Angelique67]

I had been on benzos for thirty years until a moron nurse decided she didn't like writing the script and forced me off, cold turkey. She even wrote "drug seeking". On my file, so if I tried to go to someone new they would see that.

So, I know the wrong way to quit benzos.

What is bizarre to me is that the doctor there currently wanted to give me a benzo, and did although Ativan does nothing for me. It's still bothering me more than I expected to have a benzo in my apartment. Not sure why I expected not to have any problems with it. 🙄

[sunnydisposition]

Originally Posted by Angelique67

I had been on benzos for thirty years until a moron nurse decided she didn't like writing the script and forced me off, cold turkey. She even wrote "drug seeking". On my file, so if I tried to go to someone new they would see that.

So, I know the wrong way to quit benzos.

What is bizarre to me is that the doctor there currently wanted to give me a benzo, and did although Ativan does nothing for me. It's still bothering me more than I expected to have a benzo in my apartment. Not sure why I expected not to have any problems with it. ��

Dont be too hard on yourself. Its not our fault for being in this particular mess. A lot of these Doctors, who are supposed to protect us, callously and impassively get us hooked up to even more challenging health problems like dependence, which could have been ( should have been ) avoided in the first place, by being just a little vigilant and doing the only job we expected of them, protecting us.