I was in .5 mg Ativan for almost three years. Originally prescribed for anxiety due to medical diagnosis, then relied on it for sleep. When my doctor wanted me off of it, he said I could take every other day. Did not work for me. After reading the Ashton Manual (way too complicated for me) and consulting with a sleep doctor, I developed my own weaning, while taking 7.5 mg mirtazapine for sleep. I did not want to take Valium and started the wean mid January and have been off it for two weeks now.
So happy I’m off this benzo.
I am glad your off too.
Xanax here, 15 yrs., 6 mgs daily was the highest dose. Now I am on 2 mgs daily. It's a long road ahead, but I have faith one day I will be in your shoes.
I would say, from experience, get a professional to help you with a taper plan and plan to go very slowly. I started Klonopin after losing my son, too, and it worked so well for my sleep for many years. Now it is nearly impossible to get anyone to prescribe, so my psychiatrist is helping me. I'm down from 1 - 1.5 to .25 and this is likely the last month I'll take it. My sleep is not great, but I'm trying natural alternatives. I'm hopeful in time I will be all the better for it. I'm almost 65 years old.
You need to be aware of folks in the Mayo forums. I was just told by a person that I didn’t know what I was talking about. I had mentioned that Wellbutrin and Buspar were the same. I stood corrected but the person went further by telling me to mind my own business and not to mess with his health because of the statement I made that Benzodiazepines should be removed from pharmacy shelves.
He went on to say that if it wasn’t for benzodiazepines he would not be here and would have died by suicide and how would I feel if benzodiazepines were removed from pharmacy shelves. In other words. I would be responsible for his death and “how would you feel?”
I researched benzodiazepines as addictive and he asserted that they aren’t.
My research resulted in my conclusion that benzodiazepines are addictive. The person that told me to mind my own business was in a group about class action lawsuits regarding benzodiazepines.
Why would they be talking about filing class action lawsuits regarding benzodiazepines unless there is some evidence that it can be.
He claimed that only people with addiction problems should not take benzodiazepines and that he is aware of the harm that they can cause. Besides my own research many people on this thread are of the same opinion. That benzodiazepines are addictive.
They are a controlled substance and carry a black box warning.
There are many medications that should not be used while on benzodiazepines, including depression medications and about 20 side effects.
I asked if it was the horrible withdrawal symptoms that caused it to be addictive because the medication itself is not addictive but they are in a sense because people can’t get off them and go back to taking them again to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms.
I’ve heard it from people that are on benzodiazepines that they are addicted to them and it could take up to a year to recover completely using the weaning off method. I take 0.5 in the morning and 1 mg at 4:00 so I’m probably one of the lucky ones that could wean off my klonopin fairly easily.
I was impatient in a hospital for something unrelated and my chart of current medications was lost by the hospital so they used a medication chart that was 3 years old and I wasn’t on Klonopin then so they cut me off cold turkey and refused to give me any klonopin for 20 days and I’m not going to get into how horrible it was to quit abruptly but I wanted to die.
Was it because I was no longer given klonopin or something else in my drug cocktail. Funny though when I finally got home I took a 1 mg tablet of klonopin and I immediately calmed down within 20 minutes. Apparently it’s helping the person who told me he’d be dead without them so I guess it works differently on other people.
I have been on opiates 30 years now. I take them specifically to reverse the very debilitating fatigue and cataplexy from Narcolepsy. I cannot handle the side effects of stimulants. Many people have the same attitude towards opiates. For me they gave me back life I would not have had without them. As far as addiction, I don't go through withdraw that others have described. I end up without my meds more and more for days to weeks for things like my Dr going out of town, the pharmacy is out, things due to over regulation. I can't say it;s fun going without them. I almost immediately deep dive into depression because I can't function, drive, think clearly and never feel awake, my life comes to a stop. I feel I have no control over when I can or can't do things, live life. It depends on my Dr, his staff, pharmacy staff and them being there to do their job. Even if I did go through terrible withdraw, I would not even consider going off my medication. To be able to have some kind of quality of life, spend time with my kids it's worth it. My pediatric specialist told me when I was 17, (I am 58 now)it's up to me to educate myself, do my own research as much as possible on my medical condition, treatments and medications available for it. It's up to me to know what I am prescribed and taking, both benefits and risks. If I'm having an issue with a medication, discuss it with my Dr. Don't wait until it's become a serious problem. This is what Dr's should encourage patients to do. Now we have the government bullying Dr's, intimidating them to the point they no longer want to deal with controlled medications. Clinics are making it policy to cut back and limit what patients are prescribed regardless of how much quality of life their medication provides that they have now been robbed of. Now more patients are going under medicated and without medication than not according to a recent study. The fact is there are patients who rely on these medications to have any kind of life worth living and they are increasingly being denied those medications. As far as I'm concerned this is the new American health crisis! In so many cases it's down right cruel, inhumane the way patients are being left to suffer. You want to blame someone, blame the government. It's not that Dr's don't care about their patients, it's about office management requiring them to reduce the amount of controlled medications prescribed per patient and in total per Dr and clinic. The man said he'd be dead without his medication. Patients are indeed taking their own lives as a result of having medication greatly reduced or denied and the loss of quality of life as a result of it.
Wow. Thank u for sharing. Smoking is not easy to quit, I have 5 months of not smoking after 27 years of the nastiness, lol.
So over 30 yrs of Klonopin? Glad ur o.k. and it still works 4 u.
I also take a Benzodiazepine, but Xanax for 15 years.
Currently trying to come off. Like u said, everyone is different 💜
I hate cigarettes and had I not been a abused person or the child of WW2 prison camp survivors, I might of had the necessary love for myself to stay away from them…as most of us know by now that cigarettes are highly addictive and a struggle to stop …having dealt with GAD most of my life I had and still have an addictive nature and giving me benzodiazepine was a huge mistake.. I have been using them for 23 years and now that I have battled cancer twice in the last 3 years, I highly doubt I will get rid of them…I do want to add, I did quit smoking at the ripe age of 61 and I felt like a rockstar, unfortunately I was diagnosed 9 years later with cancer…I was to learn later that this is common because it takes about 15 years to get tobacco out of your system not to mention, I also learned later that there’s a certain cancer that only ex smokers can get. With all this information I am still happy that I quit because it really helped me to stop feeling like a victim. The battle against depression and anxiety is life long and you must not give up the fight to get your life back. I truly hope that they will find better ways to combat depression, like everything in life, the things that matter the most do not come easily to us.
Thank you. I needed to hear that. My psychiatrist is suddenly speeding up the taper despite my request to keep it as is (6-8 weeks then decrease). This is because I am turning 65 in a few weeks and their practice does not see any patients after age 65. His "goal" is to have me completely off Klonopin by my birthday because he doesn't want to prescribe any medication after he discharges me. I'm on week 5 at .25mg and had planned to do that another week or two, then go to .0125mg for a month or 6 weeks and off. Because of this push, I have felt more anxiety and had more trouble sleeping. It is the end of Klonopin but also the end of a one year relationship and psychoanalysis with this doctor. I don't think he will prescribe more than 2 more weeks. So I am feeling a bit frustrated. I am trying to be strong. Nothing lasts forever.
I agree 100%. More and more my doctors appointments are about 10 minutes long and scheduled for every 3 months. I spend more time with his nurse taking my vitals than I do with them (I have several). Missing are yearly physicals. They don’t do that anymore ( even my PCP.)
They talk over their patients and don’t give you a chance to talk about your health issues. I recently seen my PCP and I told him about my torn aortic aneurysm. He says “yeah yeah yeah. You’re ok” That cuts me off. I have many instances of lightheadedness and dizziness and I want to reduce my weight producing Seroquel. He just smiled and said “I’ll see you in 3 months”. That was the extent of my appointment. “All vitals were good” he said before closing the exam room door.
I spent more time in traffic and with the nurse. If you need opioids then by all means get them. I have nothing against treatment that is effective. No matter what big pharma says.
But the agencies that control medicine have been de-regulated. I’m not going to get into political parties but I have strong opinions on this.
Good luck
I agree 100%. More and more my doctors appointments are about 10 minutes long and scheduled for every 3 months. I spend more time with his nurse taking my vitals than I do with them (I have several). Missing are yearly physicals. They don’t do that anymore ( even my PCP.)
They talk over their patients and don’t give you a chance to talk about your health issues. I recently seen my PCP and I told him about my torn aortic aneurysm. He says “yeah yeah yeah. You’re ok” That cuts me off. I have many instances of lightheadedness and dizziness and I want to reduce my weight producing Seroquel. He just smiled and said “I’ll see you in 3 months”. That was the extent of my appointment. “All vitals were good” he said before closing the exam room door.
I spent more time in traffic and with the nurse. If you need opioids then by all means get them. I have nothing against treatment that is effective. No matter what big pharma says.
But the agencies that control medicine have been de-regulated. I’m not going to get into political parties but I have strong opinions on this.
Good luck
That is terrible! I've had Dr's treat me like that, I won't go back and keep looking until I find one that listens. I've been lucky and have had some really great Dr's. My specialist now listens, understands and does what he can. I'm lucky that he is willing to prescribe my meds at all. He knows of Dr's that have been harassed by DEA, they do have every reason to worry and hesitant to prescribe controlled meds. Not just Dr's but pharmacies too. I was in Walgreens when the DEA came in with papers to go through records of patients prescribed controlled meds. I couldn't believe it and it was all I could do to sit there and keep my mouth shut.
@sleepstate, I just read what you said and I am seriously trembling…until now I have read many posts here by others about their struggles with drug dependency and the doctors being difficult in helping us but what you experienced in Walgreens pharmacy…the DEA coming in and going through personal files is just like something out of a horror story…here I was under the misconception that we live in a free country and that this type of behaviour is anything but dictatorship…I don’t want to say anything disturbing because I feel that the people here have suffered a lot and still do so I don’t want to add to their worries as well as my own…I wish that there was something we could do to fight for our right to live life on our own terms…the people who are doing this have their motives in mind and they are not sharing this with us…we are sadly the victims of big pharma and the government…I wonder if there are any lawyers or political groups that would hear about the problems we’re facing and will come on board and advise us as to what our rights are and what we can do…I posted a comment earlier today about smoking…it’s probably the biggest addiction in the world, imagine for a moment if they decided to ban cigarettes completely, what do you think will happen.
My daughter is in the Winnebago mental health hospital because of benzos. She has been on them for at least 15 years, she is 37 years old and has 2 beautiful daughters 14 and 12. In 2008 I found her script, her doctor was prescribing her 120 pills a month. Idk the mg. but she was taking more then she should have been, she was a different person because of them, they made her forget her problems and not remember a lot of her life or have to deal with her problems. She is a benzo addict in a mental health hospital. She is addicted to benzos which took her mind, turned her into a different person. She had her first psychofrenic psychosis attack 4 years ago There's so much more that happened because of these pills, numerous calls to the jail to get her mental help, a letter to the judge to get her help, but he didn't care. There should be a lawsuit somewhere! My daughter is lost
I weaned off of benzos two years ago. There is no repairing the damage done by the person I became. I have been forever changed because of taking Klonopin.
I am sad and furious.
I recommend everyone wade the super fine print a potential side effects. You may become and be capable of doing things you never believed possible and will carry the shame with you forever. No one warned you could lose all of your friends and marriage your family and still expected to function. No support no job and no explanation as to what happened. My panic disorder is not cured my anxiety and depression are not better and now I have nothing.
I would have suffered the panic attacks had I known.
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I am glad your off too.
Xanax here, 15 yrs., 6 mgs daily was the highest dose. Now I am on 2 mgs daily. It's a long road ahead, but I have faith one day I will be in your shoes.
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2 ReactionsI have never heard of it. Do you have any information?
You are a very strong person💜
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1 ReactionI have been on opiates 30 years now. I take them specifically to reverse the very debilitating fatigue and cataplexy from Narcolepsy. I cannot handle the side effects of stimulants. Many people have the same attitude towards opiates. For me they gave me back life I would not have had without them. As far as addiction, I don't go through withdraw that others have described. I end up without my meds more and more for days to weeks for things like my Dr going out of town, the pharmacy is out, things due to over regulation. I can't say it;s fun going without them. I almost immediately deep dive into depression because I can't function, drive, think clearly and never feel awake, my life comes to a stop. I feel I have no control over when I can or can't do things, live life. It depends on my Dr, his staff, pharmacy staff and them being there to do their job. Even if I did go through terrible withdraw, I would not even consider going off my medication. To be able to have some kind of quality of life, spend time with my kids it's worth it. My pediatric specialist told me when I was 17, (I am 58 now)it's up to me to educate myself, do my own research as much as possible on my medical condition, treatments and medications available for it. It's up to me to know what I am prescribed and taking, both benefits and risks. If I'm having an issue with a medication, discuss it with my Dr. Don't wait until it's become a serious problem. This is what Dr's should encourage patients to do. Now we have the government bullying Dr's, intimidating them to the point they no longer want to deal with controlled medications. Clinics are making it policy to cut back and limit what patients are prescribed regardless of how much quality of life their medication provides that they have now been robbed of. Now more patients are going under medicated and without medication than not according to a recent study. The fact is there are patients who rely on these medications to have any kind of life worth living and they are increasingly being denied those medications. As far as I'm concerned this is the new American health crisis! In so many cases it's down right cruel, inhumane the way patients are being left to suffer. You want to blame someone, blame the government. It's not that Dr's don't care about their patients, it's about office management requiring them to reduce the amount of controlled medications prescribed per patient and in total per Dr and clinic. The man said he'd be dead without his medication. Patients are indeed taking their own lives as a result of having medication greatly reduced or denied and the loss of quality of life as a result of it.
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3 ReactionsI hate cigarettes and had I not been a abused person or the child of WW2 prison camp survivors, I might of had the necessary love for myself to stay away from them…as most of us know by now that cigarettes are highly addictive and a struggle to stop …having dealt with GAD most of my life I had and still have an addictive nature and giving me benzodiazepine was a huge mistake.. I have been using them for 23 years and now that I have battled cancer twice in the last 3 years, I highly doubt I will get rid of them…I do want to add, I did quit smoking at the ripe age of 61 and I felt like a rockstar, unfortunately I was diagnosed 9 years later with cancer…I was to learn later that this is common because it takes about 15 years to get tobacco out of your system not to mention, I also learned later that there’s a certain cancer that only ex smokers can get. With all this information I am still happy that I quit because it really helped me to stop feeling like a victim. The battle against depression and anxiety is life long and you must not give up the fight to get your life back. I truly hope that they will find better ways to combat depression, like everything in life, the things that matter the most do not come easily to us.
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Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsThank you. I needed to hear that. My psychiatrist is suddenly speeding up the taper despite my request to keep it as is (6-8 weeks then decrease). This is because I am turning 65 in a few weeks and their practice does not see any patients after age 65. His "goal" is to have me completely off Klonopin by my birthday because he doesn't want to prescribe any medication after he discharges me. I'm on week 5 at .25mg and had planned to do that another week or two, then go to .0125mg for a month or 6 weeks and off. Because of this push, I have felt more anxiety and had more trouble sleeping. It is the end of Klonopin but also the end of a one year relationship and psychoanalysis with this doctor. I don't think he will prescribe more than 2 more weeks. So I am feeling a bit frustrated. I am trying to be strong. Nothing lasts forever.
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Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsI agree 100%. More and more my doctors appointments are about 10 minutes long and scheduled for every 3 months. I spend more time with his nurse taking my vitals than I do with them (I have several). Missing are yearly physicals. They don’t do that anymore ( even my PCP.)
They talk over their patients and don’t give you a chance to talk about your health issues. I recently seen my PCP and I told him about my torn aortic aneurysm. He says “yeah yeah yeah. You’re ok” That cuts me off. I have many instances of lightheadedness and dizziness and I want to reduce my weight producing Seroquel. He just smiled and said “I’ll see you in 3 months”. That was the extent of my appointment. “All vitals were good” he said before closing the exam room door.
I spent more time in traffic and with the nurse. If you need opioids then by all means get them. I have nothing against treatment that is effective. No matter what big pharma says.
But the agencies that control medicine have been de-regulated. I’m not going to get into political parties but I have strong opinions on this.
Good luck
-
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Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsThat is terrible! I've had Dr's treat me like that, I won't go back and keep looking until I find one that listens. I've been lucky and have had some really great Dr's. My specialist now listens, understands and does what he can. I'm lucky that he is willing to prescribe my meds at all. He knows of Dr's that have been harassed by DEA, they do have every reason to worry and hesitant to prescribe controlled meds. Not just Dr's but pharmacies too. I was in Walgreens when the DEA came in with papers to go through records of patients prescribed controlled meds. I couldn't believe it and it was all I could do to sit there and keep my mouth shut.
@sleepstate, I just read what you said and I am seriously trembling…until now I have read many posts here by others about their struggles with drug dependency and the doctors being difficult in helping us but what you experienced in Walgreens pharmacy…the DEA coming in and going through personal files is just like something out of a horror story…here I was under the misconception that we live in a free country and that this type of behaviour is anything but dictatorship…I don’t want to say anything disturbing because I feel that the people here have suffered a lot and still do so I don’t want to add to their worries as well as my own…I wish that there was something we could do to fight for our right to live life on our own terms…the people who are doing this have their motives in mind and they are not sharing this with us…we are sadly the victims of big pharma and the government…I wonder if there are any lawyers or political groups that would hear about the problems we’re facing and will come on board and advise us as to what our rights are and what we can do…I posted a comment earlier today about smoking…it’s probably the biggest addiction in the world, imagine for a moment if they decided to ban cigarettes completely, what do you think will happen.
I weaned off of benzos two years ago. There is no repairing the damage done by the person I became. I have been forever changed because of taking Klonopin.
I am sad and furious.
I recommend everyone wade the super fine print a potential side effects. You may become and be capable of doing things you never believed possible and will carry the shame with you forever. No one warned you could lose all of your friends and marriage your family and still expected to function. No support no job and no explanation as to what happened. My panic disorder is not cured my anxiety and depression are not better and now I have nothing.
I would have suffered the panic attacks had I known.
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Helpful -
Hug
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