Why stop benzos if they help?

What makes benzos so much worse than any other medication for other co ditions? If taking a rherapuetic xose and not abusing them. I was put on klonopin because i was having panic attacks all xay every day. I tapererd down amd guess what? Back to continuous panic attacks. Ive been on it for arou d 14 years and have no sixe effects that i k ow of. No tolerance witjdrawal. Whatever that is which doesnt even really make sense. No memory loss that im aware of. So why is this drug labeled so horrible if it helps? Why suffer instead of taking something? Its just my opinion that those that are supposedly protracted for years and so on are just back to their same problems and not being medicated properly.  Thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

Benzos works very well until they don't. They can work months and years...Suddenly you will hit tolerance and get tolerance withdrawal...and the hell has started

What exactly is tolerance withdraw? Wouldnt Tolerance and withdrawal be 2 different things? The same doseage has been effective for me going on about 14 years

What exactly is tolerance withdraw? Wouldnt Tolerance and withdrawal be 2 different things? The same doseage has been effective for me going on about 14 years

 

I kinda think how you think honestly .. it helped and idk why I stopped ..

But may I ask what makes you wanna taper then ?

You're body gets so good at metabolism of the drug that you actually withdraw from it on the same dose. It is an unfortunate inevitability with most people hence their need to updose. Over time, and studies have been done, benzos alter your brain chemistry and mechanism of action and can cause permanent damage. They are not a long term solution.

Imcrediblemulk ive been on the same dose for 14 years  so you are saying i will some how go into withdrawal while still takimg my same dose? I have to disagree.    Lovely duck i tapered due to reading horror stories on the internet about you shouldnt take them long term and other horror stories on here amd then i realized i was better off on my medicaTion  instead of pointlessly suffering with anxiety

What kind of permanent brain damage has been proven? Especially at therapuetic levels? Ill just have to take my chances with the brain damage because nothimg else works for me to have a normal life. Healthy eating, exercise daily, talk therapy, meditation, low stress environment, positive thinking. Nothing works for me but medication. Many people dont have much trouble tapering and just in my opinion, the people tjat have a horrible time have amxiety and its not being treated so you end up thinking you are in withdrawal forever but its actuLly just alot of original symptoms

Bottom line, they dont help long term.

Maybe im just a rare case then since they have helped me so long

I think this is an interesting topic.  I maintained the same low dose for 20 years, with no tolerance withdrawals, so I do think this is a highly individualized thing.  As long as I had my daily dose, I was fine and functional.  If I missed a day, I found myself curled up in a corner, unable to leave the safety of my home.  Without a doubt, I was in a very bad way and Xanax gave me immense relief.

 

I believe that when Xanax was first prescribed for me, that it truly gave my life back to me.  I am grateful that my doctor allowed me to continue using it because nothing else worked and I am certain that it was the best medication for me at the time.

 

But then, when it dawned on me that the original condition that put me in my constant state of panic had been resolved, that maybe I didn't need it any longer -- I couldn't seem to get myself off it -- I started to wonder, was it really helping me, or had I created a condition within myself that required my continued use?

 

Before I began reading about benzos, issues that others have getting off them, cognitive issues that can happen with long term use,... I viewed my prescription as my needing it to control my anxiety, not that perhaps I had become dependent. I am relieved and surprised to find that my anxiety is being controlled, even as I'm beginning my taper.  It gives me hope that if I do this correctly, that I can calmly live without the aid of any drugs.  (I'm only a month in, but if you'd asked me six months ago if I'd be tapering today, I would have looked at you cross-eyed!)

 

The thing that makes most sense to me is that if one isn't fully on board or motivated to get off, then they can't.  For me, the benzo dependency is as much emotional as it is physical.  And we have to be fully engaged with the process.  If you don't believe that you are ready, or you feel strongly that you need this medication to function, then now might not be the right time to remove it. 

 

That being said, you should educate yourself on the costs/benefits of long term use.  We know a lot more now about these drugs than we did 20 years ago, when they were so freely prescribed.  They are not as safe as previously thought and we know now that they do create dependence.  I'm glad that the medical community is finally catching on to the problems, but they're woefully uninformed about realistic ways of getting us off them, putting us in extremely vulnerable positions if/when we do want (or are expected) to stop.

 

I guess, bottom line is that if your doctor supports your use and you believe that you still need it, then it's not our place to tell you you should not be taking it.

 

I agree with Chris82.

 

When I started taking Xanax I was fully prepared with the idea of being on them for the rest of my life.  As well my doctor was okay with that as long as we controlled it; he called it a "controlled addiction" which is what I have now.

 

He is okay with me staying on them or coming off because of the changes I have made in the past 5 years.  I've quit drinking, smoking and lost 150 pounds.

 

HOWEVER - the "what-ifs" still get the best of me and the best alternative is to be OFF Xanax but to have some on hand for only when it is absolutely necessary.

 

The reason, there are things you can not control which could separate you from your ability to take or even get your medications.  In our volatile world, what if a rogue nation hit us with an EMP (very plausible) then there would be no electricity for years - no pharmacy, no refrigeration - just you against the elements with an addiction to Xanax.  The scenario doesn't even have to be that harsh.  Just any situation no matter how great or small that keeps you from receiving your doses  - well, then we're screwed.  Instead of survival we're facing the possibility of grand mal seizures and mentally horrific deaths.

 

I too hated life before xanax, but in the event i could not get to them I would rather suffer just panic and anxiety as opposed to panic, anxiety and cold turkey withdrawal.

Hi Chris,

 

I know what it's like to reconsider actually stopping benzos, but ended up with no other choice, for the same reasons you mentioned in your Intro (below). I took Ativan as prescribed for years, and never needed to up the dose - until they stopped working and, out of desperation, I quadrupled to over 5 mg at the end.

 

But I couldn't stabilize, and tapering became hellish. Ended up having to do a rapid taper, which led to a cold turkey. Every single day, I am grateful that I'm off those accursed drugs. Nothing about my withdrawal and recovery had to do with any of it being in my mind, either.

 

Just my opinion and experience, but I suggest you get off while you can. Once benzos stop working and there's no going back, the way off may be far worse than anything you've already experienced.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide though. 

 

Leslie

 

Hi. I have been taking klonopin as prescribed for around 12 years. 90 percent of the time I was taking 1mg a day. About 2 months ago I started a taper. I took .5 mg for 30 days and felt great for 3 or 4 days so I cUT it to .375. Did that for 2 weeks and it wasn't too bad just some panic attacks. 2 weeks later I cut to .25 for 10 days aND began having continuous panic attacks, confusion, fever, chills etc wHicham I can no longer tolerate so 2 days ago I went back to taking. 75 mg a day and the withdrawal symptoms will not stop. Ringing in my ears and panic attacks are as bad as when I was at .25 mg. Has anyone tried to raise their dose after tapering too fast? WI'll this go away? My insurance isn't. VEry good and the dr I have seems to not be educated on getting of this. Any help hear would be appreciated

 

I felt this way the first time I tapered.  I was only going down on the klonopin to be pregnant and as soon as the pregnancy was over, I went back up.  Honestly, I thought I was doing so much better on it.  It's only in hindsight, that I think, wonder, I'll never know for a fact, that klonopin was actually effecting my life adversely.

 

I struggled to study and retain information in college and was just a really anxious person.  I got a diagnosis for anxiety disorder or panic disorder and any time I mentioned any of my problems, my therapist or psychologist or doctor would say it was normal for people with anxiety to have these problems.  I came to own all these issues as part of what was my life and now, ya know, I'm not really sure that would have been true if I wasn't taking klonopin.  For sure, I would have had an easier time learning things.

 

Why did I finally end up quitting?  A few factors. 

 

One:  I switched from a old retiring doctor to a new doctor and she thought I was on a really large dose. Which made me consult a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with "physical dependence on benzodiazepenes".   

 

Two:  My Dad kept sending me emails with articles linking benzodiazepenes to memory problems and dementia.

 

Three:  The most deciding factor, I went on zoloft, and in a month, it did more to quell my anxiety than klonopin had done in years.  It felt sort of like klonopin did in the beginning, during those first three months, and that's when I realized that the klonopin was no longer working for me.

 

Once I opened my mind to the idea that it wasn't working for me, I got less defensive about it and real curious to just exactly what it might have been keeping me from doing with my life.

I am struggling with this question too.

 

I have tapered to half my dosage and have been holding but still feel am having a lot of constant nausea--I have been feeling this way for much of the past two years, which, honestly, is depressing. I did not have this before tapering and it is such an unsettling feeling to feel not quite right for so long. Plus I have added a drug to feel stable, although I firmly believe the remeron I am on is what should have been prescribed to me all along, as it has helped me so much with insomnia..

 

I continually ponder going back up to my original "full dose" of 1 mg of Klonopin. But I was originally prescribed this for insomnia, and it does absolutely nothing now to help me with sleep. So then I think--why should I go up? But it might help with the nausea. I have no idea.  I have never had any issues with memory or of not feeling like I am living my life to the fullest when I was on the 1 mg. This is definitely an individual question--life is so short, so I would say if you really feel okay on the dosage and aren't concerned about possible long-term ramifications, then you would have to decide why you would taper and what the benefit is.

Njstrength i was also on 1 mg  after months of tapering i realized there was zero benefit unless i wanted to suffer panic attacks forever. I take .75 mg a day now and dont plan on tapering again unless tjere is another med to control my anxiety better than klonopin

Eventually for most people they stop working.  Also, they tend to cause other health problems you never attributed to the benzos.  I took 1mg daily for years for sleep.  I always thought benzos were helping me.  I tried to taper off last fall to have a baby.  It wasn't until after I tapered that I realized how many issues the klonopin was causing me - an increase in anxiety, increase in ADHD symptoms, and chronic migraines that I have been trying to treat for years (Ironically, one neurologist considered upping my klonopin dose, because it is sometimes used for migraines).  I had a lot of brain fog and memory problems that I don't have now that I am off of klonopin.  Additionally, taking benzos puts you at increased risk for cancer, dementia, alzheimer's, bone fractures, and pneumonia (in older people). 

 

Even if you don't want off the meds, and you didn't have severe withdrawal, it is possible that as you continue taking them, they will not only stop working for you, but also cause a mess of health problems much worse than anxiety attacks.  Even if it doesn't, you could be cold turkeyed at almost any time, as more and more clinics are going benzo free.  If the changes in your brain that make withdrawal so severe happen to you, a cold-turkey is absolute hell!  (For people who the brain changes have not happened to, it can still be somewhat bad, but is usually over in a week or two).  Imagine having panic attacks 10 times worse than the ones you have now on a daily basis lasting several hours a day!  Additionally, do you really want to be on a medication that if you lose it, or forget it while going on vacation, you could end up in a life threatening seizure? 1 was only on 1mg of klonopin for years.  Being on a "low dose" does not prevent seizures.  A few years ago, my pharmacy switched my brand of klonopin.  For some reason, the fillers affected the way I metabolized it, and I had a small seizure.  I was still taking 1mg daily, but just the change in metabolic rate for this med lead to a seizure.  Almost everyone thinks benzos are helping them in the beginning, and sometimes even after years of taking them. Then one day, they just stop working (it never seemed to stop working for me, yet it still damaged me severely)  Realistically, benzos could be doing more damage to you then you ever thought possible.  I have actually lost the ability to walk (without the use of a muscle relaxer) due to damage to my central nervous system from years of using klonopin daily EXACTLY AS PRESCRIBED. 

Finally, the anxiety people feel isn't just a return of their "original issues not being medicated".  I took klonopin for sleep, and never had a panic attack in my life, yet I had them daily while tapering off the medication.  Many other people have taken benzos for non-mental health reasons, and got slammed with panic, anxiety, and/or depression after stopping the medication.  This has even happened to some people in a little as a few weeks, although this is relatively rare. 

I forgot to mention that some people who started benzos for panic attacks, after they fully heal from withdrawal, are completely "cured" of panic attacks.  For many people, when the benzos stop working, their panic attacks get 10 times worse until they "heal".  Once they heal, after dealing with the withdrawal induced panic attacks, their "old" panic attacks are like a walk in the park, and they are able to make them stop completely.

Benzodiazepines affect primarily GABAA, especially once dependence/tolerance has been established other neurotransmitters as well as other factors may be affected too.

 

As I understand, drugs like antidepressanst are much less likely to do that.

Dolphinator thats the reason i tried a taper in the first place is reading horror stories such as some things you say such as benzos can cause cancer and they can make you lose the ability to walk. You can find anything on the internet. Id like to find an antidepressant that works then tapering wouldnt be a problem and my anxiety would be controlled. Tjen again, every antidepressant i try they have a million side effects and klonopin i dont have side effects

After my CT, I knew I had made a terrible mistake by not tapering and wondered why I did this to myself... I thought that Xanax only helped me/didn't hurt me (lol) and I remember someone here said basically that people who say they were fine on these meds are liars. I remember thinking they were wrong. I really didn't think I had an adverse effects, but as time has passed I see that I was very wrong. Not saying that is true for everyone, but in my case it definitely is. When I said that it worked and I didn't have any negative side effects I wasn't lying, I just didn't know what I didn't know and the suffering was so horrific I thought coming off was a dreadful error on my part. Now I see the bigger picture and all the negative ways it did impact my health. I'm grateful to be off and healing. You will figure out what is best for you. We all digest this stuff at our own pace.

Chris. I used to think like you. I had really bad anxiety and panic attacks and took klonopin for 20 years at the same dose. It did eventually stop working and I had to start tapering. It all depends on if you ever become tolerant to the drug. If I hadn't I would have taken it the rest of my life. My mom has been on xanax and then klonopin for 40 years for panic and she's fine.  I know of two other people that have been on klonopin or valium for over forty years and are doing fine. It's kind of a gamble. I do think it's harder to taper off of once someone hits tolerance if they ever do. Remember there are a lot of people out there taking this stuff with no problems. I wonder what the percentage of people that hit tolerance is? There are many studies that prove they do cause dementia in some older folks.

Hindsight is 20/20. You may think everything is fine now but I recently was cut off from my medicine out of the blue and had an absent seizure at work and ended up in the psyche ward off my local hospital...at a one mg dose. These drugs have a way of making you believe life is impossible without them but seriously stop and think about how you lived life before you had this medicine? Imagine if it had never existed to begin with?

That is one thing to worry over. I had the same thing happen to me. They said they weremt perscribing benzos anymore so i had to go to a different dr. I dont have very good insurance so i was stuck going to that place which was primarily a place for substamce abuse i guess is why they stopped prescribimg. Luckily i had plenty until i could chang doctors. Incrediblemulk what was the reason you were cit off cold turkey on your perscription?

Chris . Another thing you might want to think about. When people get older and have to go into nursing homes the states require they take them off these drugs for awhile. I don't know why. Some kind of evaluation. They did it to my 90 year old aunt and she went thtough hell untill they put her back on it. Also the laws may get tougher and everyone may have to stop them . I know in parts of newyork they can only prescribe them short term.

Yea its not right they take people off against their own will after being prescribed long term. Guess i can worry about tjat when and if the time comes