Interdose Withdrawals....

Hello, I have posted on this site a few times and I’m so glad to be able to talk with others about what’s going on. I’ was reading what I thought were success stories about Benzo withdrawal and I was reading all sorts of stories that really scared me. I was on up to 3 mg Ativan for 3 years. I was down to 1 mg at night and 1/2 mg during the day. Without knowing what I was doing, I cut out my daytime dose cold turkey. I had severe anxiety for a month and then cutan 8th our of my night time dose and got tinnitus. That’s when I saw my doctor. He really doesn’t know what’s going on with me so I need some advice. I am having interdose withdrawals still...mostly anxiety and leg trembling in the morning. I also have joint pain and I can only walk now and do some arm exercises after years of going to the gym and being fit. I’m also losing muscle tone. I see my doctor next week and I need some advice from you all if I should ask him again for a Valium crossover since I have some depression and I’ve read that it can cause depression or should I continue my direct taper from Ativan? I have pain in my joints and lower back and I find that after I go to my chiropractor I feel worse. He is a friend and I’m thinking of telling him what is going on? Maybe he’ll throw me out but maybe he’ll help me? Any advice is appreciated. Again, I am so glad I found B.B. I haven’t received many messsges from my posts so I think I might be posting in the wrong place. Please help me guys! Thank you!

Hi there-

 

Sorry you are struggling.

 

Try not to read to many horror stories. The percentage of folks who get those god awful symptoms that linger on for years in very small like maybe 3% of the population of benzo users. Most people get off with minor symptoms & they heal in a reasonable period of time.

 

3 years on 3mg is a significant amount of time & benzo. How long did it take for you to taper to 1 1/2 mg?

 

Crossing over to Valium would probably help with the interdose withdrawals. The depression is something to be concerned with especially with Valium. So that is a tough call. I had all that joint pain & muscle loss too. It will all go away once you get off benzo & get healed up.

I'm on 1mg xanax every 4 hours and at the 3 hour mark I start having rebound anxiety and panic attcks, 3 and a half hours in counting down, than sometimes 45 mins for relief. I can't live like this but I'm too scared to try kolopin.

I would try the Valium. Long half life should help with the interdose issues you are having.

love4 I agree that a cross to valium might be helpful. It was the interdose withdrawals on Ativan that did me in. Once I switched (do it gradually . . . the Ashton Manual is a great help) they disappeared.

 

Ativan once a day must be brutal. I can't imagine it. It has a pretty short half-life and is meant to be taken several times a day. I'm surprised your doc didn't catch this. But kudos to you for getting down as low as you are. A crossover will really help imo.

 

I hope you find relief, get stable, and then can start a taper. And don't read the horror stories. Not everyone has a horrible time.

 

Katz