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@texasduchess

You don't say why you have PTSD, why you want off benzodiazepines, or what you are taking and how much. I am not a doctor, just someone like yourself with a problem who found the Mayo Clinic Connect forum. YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE to learn more and get help.

I am sorry you are suffering and not finding help; the NORM is that doctors don't know how to get someone off a drug. Here's an article where two doctors are bucking "accepted" psychiatric guidelines for getting patients off drugs and recommending a different way-- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/health/depression-withdrawal-drugs.html.

SleepFoundation.org says, "Treating patients with PTSD for sleep disorders has sometimes been heartbreaking. Until the past few decades, people with PTSD were not treated for it, because the condition had not even been described. Today, treatments have evolved and patients can benefit from them.

"Treatment should be coordinated by an expert in treating PTSD, most often a psychiatrist. The therapies that may be effective are the 'talk therapies,' often in concert with medications. Two drugs have been approved by the FDA to treat PTSD: sertraline (Zoloft®) and paroxetine (Paxil®).

"In an exciting development, recent research shows that an 'old' drug, prazosin, originally used to treat high blood pressure, may be effective in reducing the nightmares in PTSD patients. It is believed that norepinephrine may play a role in causing sleep disturbances and nightmares in PTSD, and prazosin reduces the levels of norepinephrine in the brain."--https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/ptsd-and-sleep

You can get help. It won't be easy, but online sources have opened the world to us. Those of us here on these Mayo Clinic Connect forums weren't satisfied with our doctors' responses to our issues, or couldn't find help locally. Let me encourage you to look around this site--type in PTSD, insomnia and benzodiazepine withdrawal (or tapering off of), see what pops up and READ IT ALL. Good luck and healing to you, bubberonnie.

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Replies to "You don't say why you have PTSD, why you want off benzodiazepines, or what you are..."

It’s an endless loop of hell. I developed PTSD when I almost died from an Afib attack, in Feb. 2013...they gave me blood thinners, cuz I had TIA’s (suspected) and I started internally bleeding. Nightmare...that’s when parasthesias and insomnia started. No ne knew what to do. I found a psychiatrist who started me on Xanax, which did the trick. Since then, more doctors, changing recipes and...still addicted. Endless loop. Try to get exercise, but meds put on weight and I got Mor depressed. Very long, involved mess. Meditation doesn’t work. CBT therapy doesn’t help. I’m so fed up. Tried alternative therapies...acupuncture, etc. nothing. 69 years old. Retired at 65 on total disability, because of the heart, the PTSD and being almost deaf. My profession was speech pathologist...so, really needed my hearing. I’m so fed up. New psychiatrist trying new recipe with Klonapin, Spread out through the day. Works sometimes,,... not others.

I read The NY Times article,...there’s nothing new there...nothing. Thanks, but no thanks,...there are no easy answers, my brain is damaged. ...with anxiety and depression, which results in insomnia, IBS, balance problems, short term memory deficits, cognitive decline. It’s just hopeless.