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How long does it take for benzos to leave your system?


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Only that, that was a good post Welchie.

 

Does being really skinny make a difference?  Like, I have no fat. 

 

I'm am maths challenged. 

 

Dee x

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I can't speak for any other drug but I've read a LOT about clonazepam, and at least one study I remember said 13+ days.  It's gone from most people's system around 13+ days, and occasionally shows up a bit longer, like 21 days. 

 

So rather than go by half-life math or anything like that I figured the detection study was good enough.  But that's just my own assumption.

 

Keep in mind that drugs that slow your metabolism might prolong this, but maybe just by a few days?  As the Ashton manual, I believe, talks about.  Certain antidepressants etc. I'm on one now that definitely seems to have that effect - Mirtazapine. 

 

I wish I could say I'm a chemist or something to back up what I'm saying but I'm not, nor is my memory perfect since I read that stuff quite a few years ago, so as always do your own reading and research and use the best most updated information you can, your best judgement, etc. I'm sure the vast majority of you here are really smart, praying the best for all of you in Jesus Name. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Yeah I have to agree with all the posts here. I would think a lot of us may look at our bottles and pill counts until the next script is due.

I will speak for myself, I have looked at the bottle and felt " just go ahead and have nice day ", but then all of the sudden I think I am going to run out and I would not like asking my Doctor for an early script as I taper. It's hard, but I would never just say the hell with it and take my last pills and go cold turkey. That was a bold move and one you may pay for dearly. I don't know. I am not coming down on you. I would never do that to anybody. I have been in that position as I said and have up dosed, but not like that I would have to leave something till the next script. I hope you are going to be okay. I know it's tough and you want that peace, but at the same time you broke the plan and only you will have decide whether it was worth it or not. It doesn't matter what any of us tell you or suggest.

 

Peace, Love, Happiness

DG

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Dave you are so right.!  Tempting to take enough to get free of symptoms and have a chilled day, and psyche said take as much as you need and no need to come off!

So how do we cope with months of vertigo, headache , nausea and diarrhoea?

Why do we bother when we could be run over by a truck tomorrow ?

 

I thought I was on 17.5 of Diaz and now 9th day on just 15mg. It’s pretty dire after 43 years on benzos. ( I then realised I had been cheating most days so really dropped from over 20 to fifteen.)

And another 26 weeks minimum of symptoms. 

I dare not tell the family as they say just take the stuff!  Perhaps they have a point.

 

So how does one overcome this desire to be out of all ( not suicidal) and keep going ?

Rant over—- thanks for being there

Dick

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In Australia at least, staying on the crap is not an option as it's becoming much more difficult to obtain it. Not to mention the tolerance issue..so there's really no choice but to quit asap for me
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Dave you are so right.!  Tempting to take enough to get free of symptoms and have a chilled day, and psyche said take as much as you need and no need to come off!

So how do we cope with months of vertigo, headache , nausea and diarrhoea?

Why do we bother when we could be run over by a truck tomorrow ?

 

I thought I was on 17.5 of Diaz and now 9th day on just 15mg. It’s pretty dire after 43 years on benzos. ( I then realised I had been cheating most days so really dropped from over 20 to fifteen.)

And another 26 weeks minimum of symptoms. 

I dare not tell the family as they say just take the stuff!  Perhaps they have a point.

 

So how does one overcome this desire to be out of all ( not suicidal) and keep going ?

Rant over—- thanks for being there

Dick

 

That is a great question:  one that asking myself.  You may be hit by truck tomorrow so why go thru the misery?

 

It seems that 99% of people getting off, either are sickened by their meds or ds. force them off.  If they were taking and ok on it... that would be a reason to maintain I would think.

 

But I am one of the worst cases out there and unstable.  Valium does make me sick if I take more, was going by crumbs back to clonazepam, but today really awful andhave tried this slow shift maybe 6 weeks.

If you take more of whatever benzo and feel better, then you are not in tolerance, right? I'm so stupid at this and with no phone support reading thru emails onscreen very hard for me, period.

 

Anyone feel free to message me it is easier for me than boards...

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Barbara,

 

After 12 years and three docs prescribing ... I was forced off CT.  I had never hit tolerance on my 2-3 mg a day.  If I weren’t 60, I may have considered finding a new doc.  After 5 weeks of brutal acute withdrawals,  I know I would not ever want to suffer through that again.  So now, I’m suffering through withdrawals.  Early month 4 and sxs are not as strong as months 1-3. 

 

SS :smitten:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello again, I f low frequency of felt I needed o post on this again because there are questions that keep floating through my mind.

 

I will speak entirely of my own situation. Of course everyone is different, but we all have something in common...we started on Benzo's and if you want to be on them for a lifetime. Well I believe there is more danger in the environment than the prescribed chemicals for us to function, however I have found that even if you up dose from your taper, I wouldn't expect all of your symptoms to go away in a day. That has not been my experience. Your body needs time to adjust again. Just has the hell you go through tapering and why is benzo so bad ? I can only believe because it is a brain, nervous system drug.

Tinnitus, the damn skip beats become more for a lot of people. I had tinnitus since I was a kid went on I wasn't on any drugs.It was very a very low frequency of ringing went I went to taper it was if I was watching the emergency broadcast system test on T.V. went I was not asleep.

 

I have the zaps and these strange rushes at night that seem to come over my body to my head. The tremors, insomnia, agitation and that fatigue from not sleeping just makes it all worse. Acid reflux and I have to admit what would be the big deal if I stayed on them. I don't know...I I think a lot has to do with pride and having to take a drug to keep you semi-normal and I use the word " normal " for lack of a better term and some of us who are older and men always are going to think we will be judged as weak. I am not weak in the slightest. Genetics played a huge part and I have 6 passings in the last 3 years and I broke my fibula in half which is the shin bone and now have a 10" plate and 9 screws in my leg and that is what started it all again for me. Not to say I did not have anxiety before. I did since I was a kid it got really bad at 25 and I forced myself to get out of it, but it took two years before I started to feel " normal " again. 25 years later it comes back with a vengeance and I have been on benzos starting probably 6 years ago 0.25 as needed. The highest Xanax for me was 3 mg's a day and I got it down to 1.5.

 

Now I am struggling not only with the symptoms and a lot of us have the same so if anyone out there is scared of the symptoms and start in to health anxiety as we all do at some point. We know deep in our anxious minds if you were checked out by a doctor and I only say that because I have to. That is another problem some docs just write anxiety on your forehead in sharpie, metaphorically speaking and that is a huge issue for some people and do not take you seriously.

When you are looking for reassurance, compassion and understanding. This pisses me off. My doctor who I have had for years just retired and I have a new doctor who I will be seeing and I emailed him and let him know my situation and to please not stick that label on my head. This is a serious disorder and it is real.

 

So going back to...the original post of  " Why not take them for life and what made you want to come off ? "

There is a n individual answer to that question a lot of the answers I am assuming will be the same and some will be different. I am not going to lie and say " well I haven't ever thought about, staying on them for life " . My doctor who retired once told me "you may have to be on them for life" at the time she told me that I didn't think much about it. I could see past anxiety and my symptoms. Is there a clear cut answer ? I don't think so. Like I said at the start, the environment is far more dangerous then a Benzo. The air, pollution, pesticides, the process foods, the water, the fish that are dying from all the crap we have dumped in the ocean and I could on and on and on. Speaking for myself...I started to taper because of pride and having to take a benzo to be "normal ", but even on benzo's I was still anxious. I still get scared like everyone else at times. One thing I do believe is don't stay on them because of the w/d hell of coming off. This is just my opinion if your going to stay on them it probably should be because you have came off them and were like me. Anti-depressants never worked for me. Therapy is okay for a while , but how long can you keep repeating the same conversation, but with different words it becomes just a cycle of the same story over and over again with just change of the grammar for me.

 

I told you I emailed my new doctor and he said will discuss your medications when I see you and he also said " I see you haven't seen your mental health provider in 2 years ". I don't believe it has been that long. I have read every book and studied the why's and know the self help techniques more than a therapist. If they have ot experience the hell of having an anxiety disorder or panic, can they relate ? Hell no ! I believe in discussing anxiety disorders with folks who have been in it and through it to manage it. I am not a dysfunctional anxiety sufferer, but that doesn't mean I am any better than someone right now who is in a bed believing they are dying. We are on the same boat just I am working the oars and they are not. Functional or dysfunctional there is very little difference in the hell we both go through. Years ago I was the one not paddling the boat. I feel no difference.

 

So I guess in the final analysis...if you want to stay on them and your doctor doesn't mind, you need to do some thinking and what is best for your situation. If you want to come off because of pride and believing you can manage it without medication...that is fine to. It is up to the individual the life you are leading and whether you believe anxiety has the control and your life is suffering because of it. I don't know what to do the plan is to eventually get rid of the damn things, but in a month I may choose a different path. I have empathy for all who suffer regardless of functionality. Do not let yourself be labeled and not taken seriously. You never hear of research and millions of dollars being spent on research for anxiety disorders and why ? Because it isn't a life threatening illness. I beg to differ, I know as in depression and there are a lot of folks depressed because of anxiety who in fact have taken themselves out and that is a sadness that deserves attention from the medical community. Depression seems to get more focus then anxiety in the world, but anxiety leads to depression. Why not get it when it starts and not wait until the rose begins to wilt and die. The pharmaceutical companies love to pump out the benzo's. I think I was just born without serotonin and I hoped and wished every time I started a anti-depressant that it was going to help down the road months later I was no better they don't work. Therapy is good for a while, but like I said it becomes a loop that keeps playing over and over and there comes a time to end it and if you don't have insurance and you are paying for it out of your pocket. I feel for you. Is that investment bringing in returns for you ?

 

So many questions and not enough answers...research it medical community. I understand that life threatening illness should take precedent, but this to can become life threatening to some and deserves attention as well instead of letting the Pharmaceutical companies run the illness, with medication. I don't knock medications because medicine keeps people alive in this disorder and some do call it a disease...the research seems to be only in finding medications to band aid the problem. Instead of actually looking and researching the brain. Instead of just talking serotonin and what happened in your childhood and life. I believe it is much much more than that. I wish everyone fro my heart that we all do not get labeled as misfits of the brain and being taken seriously by all doctors and not just some and hopefully someday. Instead of just throwing pills at you explain the disorder in detail and have the definitive answer to what causes it 100% and how to cure it at a 100%. Because although it is not a terminal illness it is an illness and one I think takes life away so in that sense it does little by little kill you. Your spirit, your livelihood, your relationships, your will to get up in the morning, your self esteem, you brain, your behaviors, your life.

 

The time has come to be gone or at the very least finding the path to recovery and freedom.

I am sorry for the long post, but I have to say it like it is and I felt it needed to be said.

 

Peace, love, health and happiness to all,

David

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  • 6 months later...
When I reach the end of my road and jump off clonazepam (I am at just the beginning with 8th cuts roughly monthly) how long until I am Benzo free if we use the 50hr half life for instance (math has never been my strongest)?
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  • 1 month later...
After you take your last benzo, there is still the matter of healing from the damage done by that benzo. For some people, that may be shortly after you're done and for others a long time. There is no way to tell. Everyone is different.
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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

Appreciate the reply. I am having a very hard time and feeling very hopeless. 3 months of suffering has worn me out. Depression and anxiety has been overwhelming. I can’t watch tv or even listen to conversations without getting anxiety. I have no life outside of forcing myself to go to gym a few days a week. I have a support system but nothing seems to help, sit most of day crying or staring at the walls

Thought about either taking a chance and c/t .375 or just staying on the meds going to Valium. Just overall worn out. Sorry to vent here but I’m really miserable

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