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Short term benzo users


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Wanted to connect w/ people who only used benzos for a short period.  6 months and under- to see how our withdrawals are going compared to long term people who used them for years.  I'm almost 3 months out and hoping the worst is over!
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Hi.  I was on low dose xanax (.25 or .50) once per day for almost 3 months for insomnia.  I am on day 6 of CT withdrawal.  I am having anxiety, head fullness, and insomnia.  But I had those symptoms after being on xanax for 7 weeks.

 

I am taking l theanine when the anxiety hits, for me I found 300 mgs work.  It takes the edge off.  The insomnia is really bad.  Praying I will feel better soon

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Hi Meggiemay- I tried to CT my klonopin... At that time I was taking .25.  I lasted a week and I had a full blown panic attack.  I reinstated at .25 and began to taper by cutting my half pill into fourths. I took each portion for about 8 days before going lower. At the time I had no idea you were supposed to taper and my doc thought I was being ridiculous because he thought .25 was such a small amount it would have no effect on me.

 

You should talk to your doctor and see if you should reinstate and taper.  After I read about horrible w/d for benzos I decided I needed to taper my amount but you should talk to your doc.

 

I am hoping since we didn't take the benzos long term we would recover more quickly.  Not sure if that is the case.  I know everyone suffers from this horrible drug.  I do feel my w/d symptoms come in waves. I have good and bad days, but overall feeling slightly better almost three months out.  I hate I even took klonopin and never educated myself about what I was putting in my body. 

 

Insomnia has been one of my biggest challenges.  I did a rotation of benedryl, otc sleep aids, ashwaghanda root and even ambien when I was desperate.  Now I know ambien is a no-no, so I threw the bottle away so I wasn't tempted.  I'm in another support group for insomniacs, you should check it out.  I hope you start feeling a little better and glad the l-theanine has been working for you. I also drink holy basil tea whenever my anxiety strikes me and it's helped me a lot.

 

Take care and keep me posted on how you're doing

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See my signature.  Short term also. Xanax w/d was horrible and I had no idea what was going on for a long time.  Almost done with V taper.  I can say the V w/d symptoms during taper cuts do not compare to the X w/d I was going through. 

 

Went with 4 days no sleep to ER.  The dorks did not identify my X w/d and pumped me full of ativan and made things worse so hear I am.

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Hi.  I was on low dose xanax (.25 or .50) once per day for almost 3 months for insomnia.  I am on day 6 of CT withdrawal.  I am having anxiety, head fullness, and insomnia.  But I had those symptoms after being on xanax for 7 weeks.

 

I am taking l theanine when the anxiety hits, for me I found 300 mgs work.  It takes the edge off.  The insomnia is really bad.  Praying I will feel better soon

 

meggiemay,

 

You think you should find a pdoc and c/o to V?  You might still have some time?  I think the window is two weeks to re-instate but ask a moderator first, don't take my word for it.  Tapering might make your recovery easier for you.

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arcade79-good to hear that the valium taper is much more manageable.  I actually took Xanax for about two weeks...and I thought just taking it short term I would have no problems...but I felt so horrible & that's what lead to me getting on klonopin.  When is your last dosage?
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arcade79-good to hear that the valium taper is much more manageable.  I actually took Xanax for about two weeks...and I thought just taking it short term I would have no problems...but I felt so horrible & that's what lead to me getting on klonopin.  When is your last dosage?

 

Early June but I always hold until stable and there may be cases that I need to make smaller cuts.  The problem is I don't know how I am going to cut .25 without the pill crumbling.

 

Yep only took my body two weeks to get dependent on xanax.  Now caught up in tapering, working and doing the best I can in life until all this passes.  A lot of challenges ahead post taper also.

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I had to use a razor blade to cut so I know my measurements were not accurate.  Have you looked into titration?  Not sure how to do it.  I probably should have done a longer taper but I was so ready to be rid of it, I did it as fact as I could.  It will be the BEST feeling taking that last dose and hopefully w/ a correct taper your post taper will go fairly smooth!

 

I hope some other short term users can join us because I want to hear some success stories and quick recoveries!!

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I actually c/t before, but did not know i had withdrawal symptoms, just thought it was physical back then.

Now i took xanax 4 weeks, got an interdose tolerance , cold turkeyed as i did not know it was addictive and ended up in the hospital where they also did not know it was withdrawal and got on flurazepam for 2,5 weeks. Then did a very quick taper 50% every two days. So it's not a total cold turkey but it wasn't really a taper either.

 

So all in all 6,5 weeks of benzo.

 

I did get other meds too: seroquel and trazodone, and i want to taper that off.

I hope i'm getting better but i'm not sure right now. My acute has been all over the place. It was really hard, stayed in bed the first week. Had a better second week, third week was just really really horrible. Had a semi-good day today. It was bearable. I hope i will get more windows and i can get rid off this insomnia.

My sx are: joint pain, muscle pain, nausea, burning pain in eyes and longs, dryness of mouth, my periods are abnormal, i bleed very easily, heart racing, sweating, anxiety, insomnia, ocd, weird bladder issues, pelvic pain

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Even though I'm tapering I never feel 100%.  Today I have benzo anxiety that comes and goes.  I am fearful of what will happen when I jump.
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Remember each day away from putting that drug in your body is a step forward...even if it means suffering for awhile.  For me I felt decent for about a month after my last dosage (even though sleep was challenging).  I almost thought I had escaped relatively unscathed...and then BAM- major insomnia, and my hair started falling out like crazy....also waves of anxiety.  I think it was because whatever amount was still in my body had finally left after that last dose (1.5 months later).  I think I'm starting to get a handle on it now but am super cautious every day. 

 

In the end, you will healing your body after you stop taking the drug.  Everyone is different and metabolizes at a different rate.  Good thing is you'll have a lot of support as you go through the process.

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Remember each day away from putting that drug in your body is a step forward...even if it means suffering for awhile.  For me I felt decent for about a month after my last dosage (even though sleep was challenging).  I almost thought I had escaped relatively unscathed...and then BAM- major insomnia, and my hair started falling out like crazy....also waves of anxiety.  I think it was because whatever amount was still in my body had finally left after that last dose (1.5 months later).  I think I'm starting to get a handle on it now but am super cautious every day. 

 

In the end, you will healing your body after you stop taking the drug.  Everyone is different and metabolizes at a different rate.  Good thing is you'll have a lot of support as you go through the process.

 

Does your hair grow back over time?

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I'm just realising this now, but did you know that your hair falls out 3 months after something that happens. So a trauma or a disease, it always takes about 3 months. So maybe it was because of your initial c/t?
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Don't mean to scare anyone!  It could be that I also did acupuncture for three weeks after I tapered.  Maybe it could've been bad all along but once I stopped acupuncture all hell broke loose.  Who knows, everyone is different so I hope it only gets better every day for everyone else. 

 

I hope to God my hair grows back over time.  Right now I am still losing a lot.  This has been going on for over a month now.  Thankfully, I have a lot of hair so it's not too noticeable but I'm tired of seeing my hair all over the house.  I'm taking a biotin supplement, but not sure if it's doing anything.

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Don't mean to scare anyone!  It could be that I also did acupuncture for three weeks after I tapered.  Maybe it could've been bad all along but once I stopped acupuncture all hell broke loose.  Who knows, everyone is different so I hope it only gets better every day for everyone else. 

 

I hope to God my hair grows back over time.  Right now I am still losing a lot.  This has been going on for over a month now.  Thankfully, I have a lot of hair so it's not too noticeable but I'm tired of seeing my hair all over the house.  I'm taking a biotin supplement, but not sure if it's doing anything.

 

I have some expertise in that area, and i would suspect it's do to shock or stress from the withdrawal, and it will return to normal. I had this several times due to trauma. (i had such a wonderful life... :P) And it will stop and grow back.

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Hi, Took Ativan .5mg once day for about 4 1/2 months before a 3 1/2 week taper. Was really sick on Ativan & during taper.

 

Now about 4 1/2 months off.

 

My hair is coming back, can see it along hairline, eyebrows thicker

 

Insomnia was horrible, Had 2 weeks that was not so bad , slept a combined 7-9 hours night but woke up every couple hours but was able to sleep again. Sleep feels like real sleep now that real light stuff, like dreaming because I am normal in my dreams.

 

Things have gone downhill past 3-4 days, many old symptoms back ( strong but a titch better), sleep off slept 3 hours one night. Harder to go back to sleep. So hot or freezing, skin burning all over again. I was just getting to where I was not scared to go to bed.

 

Working part time but it is rough. Today I can only sit in a chair but am going to make myself go walk a couple miles. Have walked the whole time but it got rougher when this head thing started about a month ago.

 

Don't take any meds for sleep, nothing worked and I want my brain to learn to sleep again. never had insomnia before

 

Well, writing this made my vision hazy & face really burn. I know a couple others on here who are short term, some are better than me.

 

The average for wd is 6-12 months they say, someone has to be on the short end. It could be you. Kate

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1729,

 

I never heard of "viral hyperthyroidism"  what is that?  When the anxiety first hit and you were not a benzo, it was probably cause from hyperthyroidism, right?

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Hi Meggie May,

 

I had never heard of it before either. They said a virus or something affected my immune system and cause my immune system to attack my thyroid gland. You can get either high or low thyroid but mine went high.  My labs went back to normal in about 6 months with out any drugs. Said it could come back or I could get hypothyroidism but so far so good.

 

My symptoms hit overnight. I had incredible heart palpitations, sweats, hot flashes, muscle spasms neck and left shoulder, high BP, tingling and lost 13 lb in 10 days.  I don't think I was anxious, just scared. But I could have been anxious because the thyroid can cause it. My PCP said it was due to anxiety. I asked why anxiety would hit overnight when I had  never been anxious. Gave me BP meds. Kept getting worse, she kept saying anxiety.  I kept saying it wasn't After about 6 weeks she said..Take the Ativan, when all the symptoms go away you will see it is anxiety. Was tired of fighting and just wanted to feel better. Didnt get rid of symptoms but helped the muscle spasms.  Would take .5mg/day to get through work because of muscle spasms. Had only seen doc twice before for physical and sinus infection. Don't know why she went to anxiety except it was an easy answer.

 

Sad thing is that was May 29. I had made an appt with a cardiologist. It was June 5. He did blood work, called me back that day to get more, dx hyerthyroidism and started me on beta blockers.  If I had seen the cardiologist one week earlier, I would never have taken the Ativan.

 

Started getting anxiety while taking Ativan along with a million other symptoms that I thought was from the BP meds or thyroid. Took me 3 months to get wise.

 

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I was a very short term user too. I knew I had a problem around two weeks when I thought I'd just quit taking the Lorazepam. 2 days later got hammered with bad symptoms. You can see the rest from my signature. I was feeling really pretty good at 10 months off until 2 weeks ago when I got the flu. That's when all hell broke loose again. Crazy insomnia back that I thought I left back in month 3. Ug!
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It seems like any stress on the body can cause a recurrence of w/d symptoms...like the insomnia 😫

 

I feel like a lot of my symptoms feel like hyperthyroid, fast heartbeat, hair loss, anxiety, insomnia, hair loss.  Pretty awesome stuff. 

 

 

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I was also a short-term user. Took .5/daily for about a week but had another "episode" and my doc recommended taking it 3x a day "for a few days". I missed that or forgot it or something, and then it was 3 weeks of that and I was a mess. Crying all the time and totally feeling like I wanted more Ativan. That's when I knew it was a problem..I had been researching the whole time I was taking it because I was so apprehensive about it. However, it turned out that my panic-attack-like episodes were actually caused by gluten. It took me a bit to figure that out, but I cut out gluten in November and have not had one of those episodes since!

 

Since jumping at the end of January, I have mostly just felt "off", with varying degrees of health anxiety. And the past 2 nights I've had racing pulse, which I think is hormonal. I have a hard time attributing anything to withdrawal since I was only on it for such a short time, so I'm trying to be patient and wait for it all to pass.

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It is so hard to believe that it can get you in just a few weeks. By the time you figure it out it has already affected you.  Wonder why it hits some so fast. I stopped taking after about 4 weeks because I don't need it. After 4 days things got bad Never considered the Ativan did it. I thought I was taking such a small amount and it had such a short half life it would be out of my system. Exactly. How dumb was I?
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I was very short term also - nine days. I'm in month 15 now and doing so much better. Not 100% yet but hopeful that I will get there, and hoping everybody on here will get there too.
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That's the thing- my psychiatrist said it was very safe and I could take it short term as needed w/ no problems.  Absolutely ridiculous.  Even my brother, who's an ER doctor thought all my w/d symptoms were a manifestation of anxiety.  I knew after the first couple weeks something was off but I kept taking it as it would provide momentary relief. 

 

I truly hope recovery is quick w/ all of us!

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