Six Months Benzo Free

It's been an interesting year.  at the same time I was getting this monkey off my back I was losing my vision and am now legally blind.  Such is life.

I was on benzo's, Xanax and Klonopin for right at 20 years.  Max was 4mg/day and was at 3.5mg/daily for at least the last five, acombination of the two.  All prescribed and I never ever took more than prescribed.  Which is irrelevant I suppose other than as perhaps an indication of my attitude towards it. 

It was tough.  The first titrations were pretty easy.  Sleep, headaches, etc. but none that were insurmountable.  It was once I got down to 1mg/day and less that it was really hard.  I'm a recovered alcoholic and have been sober 40 years.  It was much easier to physically quit drinking than these.  One commonality is the support received, both good and not so good. There are a number of old timers on the site who seem to be more than a little pedantic, just like old timers in AA.  I know being a hard ass and touch love are held in high regard by many but it can be overdone and often is. 

I found some of the things that worked for me went against the common wisdom here.  Valium may have a longer half life as far as detection in the bloodstream but the clinical effect doesn't seem to track with that according to several doctors and my own experience.  My doc prescribed it for me but was skeptical and I found the skepticism to be justified, at least in my case. One of the important things I don't want to forget is that people are very different, both in brain chemistry and other regards.  I also found that, for me, if I made a cut and really, really struggled, there was no grievous damage done by reverting to the old dosage for a while.  Just the opposite.  That's how I finally got completely off.  I quit worrying about it and just took my .25mg twice a day for a few months.  At one point I just stopped.  That was it.  I was done.  I think it took that long to fully acclimate to the lower dose and then it was easy.  Again, contrary to much of the advice but it worked for me.

My reason for posting is not to bash anything or denigrate the support here.  Try it, by all means.  It helped me a lot in the beginning, just not once I hit the wall.  But be aware there is not just one way.  Listen to your body and your brain once you feel like you can trust your brain.  In the meantime I'm trying to relearn how to enjoy life, even with the new limitations.

Best to all.

Richard

congratulations Richard on being benzo free..... I appreciate your perspective , we are all so different and how this plays out for each of us is just not predictable. I like the listen to your body approach , It's what I am having to learn to do .

I wish you all the best , with your freedom from benzos, and also with your life now loosing your sight, that must have sucha  hige challenge all  of it's own.

I hope you have all the love and support that you need , thanks for posting your story ,

miYu

Congratulations, Richard!

I admire your attitude, and I agree wholeheartedly with what you say about everyone being different, and following one's own path.

Thank you for coming back to share. I wish you much joy.

Warmly,

Lara

It's been an interesting year.  at the same time I was getting this monkey off my back I was losing my vision and am now legally blind.  Such is life.

 

I was on benzo's, Xanax and Klonopin for right at 20 years.  Max was 4mg/day and was at 3.5mg/daily for at least the last five, acombination of the two.  All prescribed and I never ever took more than prescribed.  Which is irrelevant I suppose other than as perhaps an indication of my attitude towards it. 

 

It was tough.  The first titrations were pretty easy.  Sleep, headaches, etc. but none that were insurmountable.  It was once I got down to 1mg/day and less that it was really hard.  I'm a recovered alcoholic and have been sober 40 years.  It was much easier to physically quit drinking than these.  One commonality is the support received, both good and not so good. There are a number of old timers on the site who seem to be more than a little pedantic, just like old timers in AA.  I know being a hard ass and touch love are held in high regard by many but it can be overdone and often is. 

 

I found some of the things that worked for me went against the common wisdom here.  Valium may have a longer half life as far as detection in the bloodstream but the clinical effect doesn't seem to track with that according to several doctors and my own experience.  My doc prescribed it for me but was skeptical and I found the skepticism to be justified, at least in my case. One of the important things I don't want to forget is that people are very different, both in brain chemistry and other regards.  I also found that, for me, if I made a cut and really, really struggled, there was no grievous damage done by reverting to the old dosage for a while.  Just the opposite.  That's how I finally got completely off.  I quit worrying about it and just took my .25mg twice a day for a few months.  At one point I just stopped.  That was it.  I was done.  I think it took that long to fully acclimate to the lower dose and then it was easy.  Again, contrary to much of the advice but it worked for me.

 

My reason for posting is not to bash anything or denigrate the support here.  Try it, by all means.  It helped me a lot in the beginning, just not once I hit the wall.  But be aware there is not just one way.  Listen to your body and your brain once you feel like you can trust your brain.  In the meantime I'm trying to relearn how to enjoy life, even with the new limitations.

Best to all.

Richard

congratlations Richard wise advice.