[wiretwister]

I f##ked up real bad.. was taking xanex for about a year now..was able to cut doseage way back and felt no ill effects, took only as a prn even though was dxed as twice daily...so i quit taking any...by the third day I started getting cramps in my jaws and neck with terrible headaches,,,tried to last it out but after several days with no relief at all I started back...I take a small dose every six hours or so to prevent the pain from returning,, if I skip a dose or am very late it returns with a vengence,,,I am much worst than before and feel trapped..am trying to increase the time between doses but so far no luck,,it takes several doses ON TIME to back the pain off...any advise,, please do not say tapering as if I break the pills any smaller they will be dust..apparently I am very sensitive to this drug...my pdoc says it is all psychological I say he is full of *****... are there any otc meds that might help..motrian and tylenol won't touch it...help

edit: forgot to mention the nightmares..not monsters but my real life with horrible twists and turns..very disturbing...wake up in a real state..

[Angelique67]

Hi, you might do well with a temporary prescription of gabapentin. I used it to taper off benzos before and I found it helped. Good luck.

Originally Posted by wiretwister

I f##ked up real bad.. was taking xanex for about a year now..was able to cut doseage way back and felt no ill effects, took only as a prn even though was dxed as twice daily...so i quit taking any...by the third day I started getting cramps in my jaws and neck with terrible headaches,,,tried to last it out but after several days with no relief at all I started back...I take a small dose every six hours or so to prevent the pain from returning,, if I skip a dose or am very late it returns with a vengence,,,I am much worst than before and feel trapped..am trying to increase the time between doses but so far no luck,,it takes several doses ON TIME to back the pain off...any advise,, please do not say tapering as if I break the pills any smaller they will be dust..apparently I am very sensitive to this drug...my pdoc says it is all psychological I say he is full of *****... are there any otc meds that might help..motrian and tylenol won't touch it...help

Man, I'm so sorry.

I don't know what could help. Maybe ice and/or heat. Ice for 20 mins then heat for 20 mins.

But I would stick it out. I'm on a low dose of lorazepam that I should have never been put on...long story. But I want to come off it. I know it will be hard even though my doc says it won't.

You've gotten this far, I hope you find some relief soon.

[jacky8807]

Sorry your dealing with that!
I hated xanax. I felt like it worked for 5 minutes and then i was left feeling worse than before.

[gloamingone]

That sounds awful! I'm so sorry you're not feeling supported by your pdoc. They don't always understand withdrawal. I know my old one didn't think it existed.

I've never had problems with benzo withdrawals, so I have no advice for you. Just wanted you to know you're being heard!

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[LastQuestion]

I used L-Theanine and Ashwagandha to help taper off of a benzo. Need to be careful with finding the right dosages though. Specificaly, I used Suntheanine and Sensoril. Theanine has about a 4hr half-life so I'd space out 100-200mg dosages based upon need throughout the day; took awhile to figure out the best schedule. Theanine is best taken on an empty stomach, no food for 30min after taking it. Sensoril is a potent extract of ashwagandha and I've found that being conservative with dosages is best. I was taking 225mg with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That is way above the traditional dosage and the diuretic action quickly became annoying. After my need for it became less I reduced it to 225mg am/pm, then 112.5 am/pm, and now 85mg with breakfast and 25mg lunch.

I also started using 1200mg of sustained release n-acetylcysteine in the mourning, taken with orange juice, and Melatonin in the evening. Neither helps directly with the discomfort but has neuroprotective qualities which theoretocally may help reduce some of the physiological damage and stress withdrawal from benzos causes.

I agree that your pdoc is misinformed about the role psychology plays in this. However, psychology does play a very significant role in symptoms during withdrawal. As I understand it withdrawal from benzos sensitizes the HPA-axis, leading to a highly overreactive stress response. I noticed that distressing thoughts, the experience of pain, led to a disproportionate reaction in reference to my normal baseline, so monitoring this, reminding myself of this, I was able to better manage symptoms. Essentially, by doing my best to first address symptoms and then following up by doing what I can to avoid focusing on what is left to cope with I reduced the incidence rate of stressful events.

I also used diet to address symptoms. Avoiding sugars and artificial sweeteners, eating whole grains, avoiding gluten, plenty of vegatables, berries, apples, oranges, lean protein sources, and lots of nuts to replenish magnesium and other minerals depleted during stress as well as the good fats they provide for body maintenance. I even added chelated magnesium on top of that and some zinc because I wasn't eating red meat regularly enough.

You may wish to consider switching to a benzo with a longer half-life which has dosages which make it easier to taper. There's some research done into that which provides details called the Ashton Manual. Here's a link: benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002

Ask your pdoc about it, hopefully he is already familiar with it or at least the clinical implementation derived from the research. If not then maybe shop around for a better pdoc.

[wiretwister]

talked the pdoc into helping me....starting klonipin then we will taper that.....wish me luck...

ps: after arguing over my not needing an ap,,and maybe needing an ad, he told me (for the first time), that he would bet his license on me being bp1,,I was not ready for that....

[Angelique67]

Originally Posted by wiretwister

talked the pdoc into helping me....starting klonipin then we will taper that.....wish me luck...

ps: after arguing over my not needing an ap,,and maybe needing an ad, he told me (for the first time), that he would bet his license on me being bp1,,I was not ready for that....

Good luck, wiretwister. I hope it works out well. Be very careful tapering the Klonopin too.