Endless withdrawal from benzos and pregabalin

15 years ago I had a sleep study done and they put me on 10 mg ambien and 1mg clonazepam. It really helped and they kept prescribing. Never asked it to be increased. My Dr. retired and every new Dr. said omg no way!?
With the help a counslor on zoom, SLOWLY weened off clonazapam. It was brutal but well worth it.
15 years free off cigerettes and 34 years free of alcohol. Each one was very hard in different ways but so worth it!
Couple of concepts that helped me on the daily;
~We suffer in isolation and recover in community.
~everyday, don't think of it as dening yourself something but Giving youself something.
~One day at a time.
Good luck, you are worth it. 🙂

How did you wean ..how long were you on it what was your taper schedule like and how long did it take for you to wean

I want to know too. How did you wean of the Clonazepan? How long did it take to get off that poison pill? They should be taking off the shelf. Too dangerous. Benzodiazepines are very addicting as you probably know. I’m on a half mg in the morning and 1 mg at 4:00.
I went to the hospital for 20 days for an unrelated reason and since they lost my med list they went by my 3 year old chart and I wasn’t on klonopin then so the abruptly stopped the klonopin “cold turkey. They wouldn’t give it to me.
Do you know that a person can actually die from an instant you start with the horrible withdrawal symptoms? It’s dangerous, very dangerous. Your not supposed to take it more than 14 days at a time for a few weeks and I’ve been on it for about 2 years. So how did you wean off?

I'm going cold turkey off Benjos--was cut off abruptly, but for some reason, my doctor oferred to write me a prescription for Zolpidan/Ambien. I wanted to accept the prescription, but declined because my goal it to live without Benjos or other tranquilizers, which were giving me a difficult enough problem. What is wrong with doctors these days? I'm beginning to mistrust all of them. I thought they had stopped getting kick-backs from pharmaceutical sales persons. My goal is to live out my days drug-free and face my problems head on without masking my emotions and feelings with drugs--prescription or otherwise. I'd appreciate how others feel about this.

Even though benzodiazepine wasn’t listed in my 3 year old chart. He could have called the nurse where I live to fax him my latest medication chart which listed klonopin.

Instead he prescribed adavan. Another benzo. I admit that I am hooked on klonopin and can’t withdraw from it. By cutting me off abruptly I could have died from his cutting me off which is listed as one of the reasons why you are told not to quit abruptly.

If the brain chemicals respond favorably to klonopin there is hell to pay for abruptly cutting it off cold turkey. I am happy for you surviving the cold turkey approach but as for me, it doesn’t matter how I feel the brain will still need it. It’s a medical condition not based on emotions. I can’t do what you did unless I’m given another dangerous drug (Adavan). Was the doctor getting kickbacks from the maker of Adavan? Who knows.

Healthcare in the U.S. sucks. So, what are we supposed to do. Years ago, while visiting Spain, I came down with acute bronchitis. I went to the nearest hospital emergency room, waited with about a dozen other people for twenty minutes, and finally got to see an RN and then an MD. The cost to me: $00.00. All I had to pay for was the medication--far less expensive than in the states. The average person in this country does NOT have healthcare. I have both the VA and Medicare; the two together seem to work to make my life more complicated and miserable. And I consider myself fortunate. If you're not rich, forget about getting decent care; very sad and quite unnecessary in this, the wealthiest country on earth. Here, doctors follow the rule book with little consideration for the patient's illness or feelings. Your situation is not unusual. I hope that you eventually get proper healthcare. At least I'm an old man and will die soon, releasing me from this nightmare of a health system.

I have been on 1 mg of Kolonopin on an as needed protocol. I used to take it for constant panic attacks. Then when I got Hashimoto’s I had trouble sleeping. So normally I take 1 mg an hour before I go to sleep. I do know that my medical cannabis I use for Crohn’s disease also helps instead if taking Kolonopin. I buy a higher Indica strain Hybrid. If I have ever had any withdrawals from not taking Kolonopin for a week I never noticed.

I am still going through withdrawal off of Lyrica that was compounded by being misdiagnosed almost 4 years ago with PD and was also on Azilect a Dopamine Antagonist at the sane time. I asked to taper off of the Lyrica last June which is when withdrawal symptoms immediately started. This a drug that can induce movement disorder symptoms, resting hand tremor, unsteady gait, memory issues, daytime sleepiness. These same symptoms are also similar to hypoglycemia which is a rare but real side effect which if it was well known would have saved me from such horrible withdrawal . I went on Lyrica in 2007 because I was getting addicted to Vicodin and Oxytocin so I was sold the old it will help with your nerve pain without addiction...I call BS! I lost 20 lbs since tapering off of it, even working with a nutritionist and eating 3000 calories a day and over 120 grams of protein and I can barely maintain my weight. I developed a number of other autonomic issues, high blood pressure and a heart rate over 100(diagnosed as POTS) malabsortion and other GI issues, severe anxiety chronic fatigue and higher than normal blood sugars. Lyricas other nasty rare side effects is hypoglycemia which is what I was experiencing during the last 4 years which caused the misdiagnosis of PD. Long story short I am going through withdrawl after 4 months off of Lyrica and 3 months off of the Dopamine Antagonist because the DAT Scan showed I NEVER HAD PD. My neurologist and family doctors that I have had over 15 yrs(neuro) and 30 yrs(primary) chalked it up to anxiety which was being masked by Lyrica which I have since found out is prescribed to patients which anxiety disorders. WTH at my recent neurologist appt he finally admitted it wasn't a coincidence, it definitely is related due to the timing of the Lyrica withdrawal. My cardiologist and nutritionist were the only people that provided support during this time. My cardiologist increased my Cardizem that helped with lowering/stabilizing the heart rate and BP and my nutritionist supported me with constant changes to my diet which thankfully did not further compound the withdrawl symptoms I was having. I am eating over 120 grams of protein daily and 3000 calories to maintain a weight that is still almost 20 lbs lighter than I was last year at this time. Ironically the NIH has a number of papers regarding Lyrica and it is known to be highly addictive and patients should monitored for hypoglycemia and movement disorders. Pfizer markets this heavily as a pain alternative to people looking for an alternative to opoids without noting it highly addictive properties that it why it has been banned in Ireland and Queensland to prescribe for pain or anxiety die to the number of overdoses and addictions. Just Google Lyrica withdrawal and I can guarantee a number of recovery centers come up. I now know why because I lived an addicts worse nightmare, withdrawal. Now I can understand why people go into rehab as it is known that Lyrica withdrawal is no joke. I was a zombie the first 3 months of withdrawal and my primary recommended going on Lexapro and see a psychologist for Anxiety. I did not follow his advice and continue to deal with most of all of the withdrawl symptoms but the last 2 weeks I have seen an improvement in my hr/bp. I am walking everyday and trying to find a happy medium so I don't overdo it which sets me back at least 2 days with extreme fatigue. My advise is to get a second opinion from a doctor who doesn't believe that Lyrica fixes everything but one who understands its ability to destroy your CNS & life when you go off of it. I am so happy to have had the support of my family during this time as they saw me go through a horrible experience. Do not try to go through this without some supportive medication and under a doctor's supervision closely monitoring your vital along with supportive medication for withdrawal symptoms. My neurologist said it will take about a year before we know what if anything has been permanently altered. He now has seen the ugly side of this drug and I am grateful that his eyes have been opened to although rare but very serious side effects especially for people with addictive personalities or behavior. Godspeed on your withdrawal, be patient with yourself during this time and try your best not to be prescribed medications that will delay if not stunt your withdrawal because they normally prescribe benzo's to offset the withdrawal symptoms. One thing that has helped the anxiety is medical Marijuana with the lowest amount of THC. I take Troche 5mg THC tablets that I can take an additional dose on the days or times when I feel overwhelmed. I only take my medication to keep my angina stable along with my hr/bp (hopefully temporary increase can be reduced) and Lipitor for uncontrollable high cholesterol along with a probitic to help with my ongoing GI issues.

I've detoxed off alcohol which was pretty bad. Not something to mess around with. Definitely dangerous dont go down that road. But I've also had heroin withdrawals at least a dozen times, and I will admit that sucks too but not bad enough to relapse.

Xanax? Oh god, please anyone that reads this please don't go past like 2 to 4 weeks on any benzo. I was doing like 8 mg/day for about a year. This was all recreational so when I ran out I was at the mercy of my dealer. Had a seizure after like day 4 or 5 quitting cold turkey. Ended up having 3 total that day. Then the anxiety, zero sleep for days on end I wish I would've researched this first. So bad. I'll do heroin withdrawals any day over benzos. I did ibogaine which resets your opioid receptors in your brain, and I would recommend it if you are pretty deep in opiates. But it's a psychedelic trip, can kick your butt mentality if you aren't prepared. So research first. But it works. Ayahuasca was tougher honestly, that is an ass kicker, so definitely be mentality prepared for that if you try it. I've done Ayahuasca like 10 times and a couple were pretty frightening, it is gonna bring the deepest part of your soul and subconscious to the surface, along with some serious energy from the universe that you didn't even know existed. It's mentality tough and might give you a wake up call which honestly was necessary for me but I was so relieved when it finally ended. Amazing soul cleanser but prepare yourself first and do it with a shaman who can guide you. But back to the subject, stay away from benzos. They are amazing for anxiety and sleep but no way do I ever want to do that crap again. Literally screws up your brain, and I am sorry for you guys that did it for multiple years. Just quitting cold turkey after a couple months was bad enough to make me relapse. I hope someone reads this before they get too deep. It's hell and don't screw up like the rest of us here. Like I said, I've done almost everything. Crazy mushroom trips, peyote, dmt, ketamine, week long trips in the amazon doing ayahuasca, and others I won't get into but definitely had some spiritual ass kickers. Benzos? The worst by far. I prescription is fine. After that figure something out because you will regret it if you go too far. Pretty much 24/7 panic attack feeling for who knows how long. Could be weeks could be months. Just depends. I bought plenty of supplements on amazon, some that replenish dopamine and serotonin. L dopa and L theanine will help you get your dopamine back. But if anyone has questions feel free to ask. Support is big when quitting benzos. Taper and reset your brain. If you haven't gone past 30 days then I hope you read this somehow first. Not worth it. Just a warning but hang in there and if you have depression or anxiety try tms therapy, acupuncture, meditation, reiki, sound tables, float tanks, anything natural. Anxiety sucks but there's holistic ways to beat it. Chemicals aren't the answer

Thanks for posting ,but by the time people come to these forums it’s too late. We’re dependent, miserable and pretty much on our own with the damage and endless withdrawal. Thanks doctors!!!!!