Short term K user

Hi everyone. Let me first just say thank you to every single person who posts on this site. You guys made my life so much more bearable these last 3 months. Although I have never posted I spent hours reading and always found the answers I was looking for.

 

I was prescribed K June of 2019. I am a recovering heroin addict (7 years clean)and was Leary of becoming dependent on K so didn’t start taking any of it until August 2019. I was prescribed K for trouble sleeping. Waking up in middle of night was my issue, not falling asleep. In aug 2019 I began taking 1/4 of a .5 mg K once a week. I took it only Sunday nights when I knew I would have trouble sleeping since I didn’t workout on sat and sun and by Sunday it was always hard to get a good night sleep.

 

So do the math, that’s .5 mg of K every four weeks....not much at all, right? Wrong. I did this up until March 2020 and beginning March 2020 I started taking 1/2 of a .5 mg K on sundays. So that’s 1mg total every four weeks. Well I guess it was in my system long enough each week for my body to become dependent on it. I first noticed what I now know as interdosal withdraw around early April. I would get hit with extreme cold chills and become slightly nauseous. In mid April I found benzo buddies and knew I had to stop. So I did. It took me 4 days from my last dose on May 19 2020 for symptoms to hit and when they did I wanted to die. I was so mad at myself. I was so careful, how could this happen. I almost went and saw a psychiatrist but found BB and knew I had to just ride it out.

 

I thought I would be sick forever, I was sick at day 4-8 then it went away entirely and had no clue the worst was yet to hit. Day 12 it really started and I lost my appetite, couldn’t sleep, had diarrhea, couldn’t concentrate or work, had the electric jolt of energy the second I would wake up in the am after only 2-3 hours of sleep. Pins and needles running thru arms and legs. Burning sensation in legs. Crying spells and what seemed like severe depression. The interesting part is that I had windows from the start almost (day 12 onward). They would last 1 hour in the early days and started having half day windows around week 5-6. I consider myself very lucky after reading story after story on BB. I know I was on a low dose and I feel silly for even posting a story bc I haven’t lived the nightmare 99% of the people on this site have. But maybe my story will strike a chord with someone someday. Every week after day 21 has slowly gotten better. Each week the symptoms are still there but significantly less these last two weeks. Forgot to mention the extreme agitation, furious at drop of a dime at anything and everything. Couldn’t control any emotions. Today I’m close to 12 weeks out and would say I’m 95% healed. I can not believe this stuff is prescribed so cavalierly. For insomnia...K should NEVER BE PRESCRIBED.

 

Again thank you to all the people on this site. You helped me through the worse time in my life. Even worse that withdraw from H. At least Heroin withdraw was done by day 11-12 and never waxed/waned. Much respect for all of you going through this nightmare. Your the most courageous people on the earth for sticking with it month after month. Not sure I could have kept up had I been taking higher doses for longer.

Do not feel silly for posting what you did - it goes to show these meds can go wrong very quickly - this is a great example( sadly at your expense).

 

I am so happy for you that you are free and you feel you are 95% well!

 

Question ...in your opinion was this worse than coming off of heroin? I had some addiction issues in my early 20's and I would take recovering from that anyday  over this. 

 

I pray you future is bright and happy....spread the word about these meds

Hi Eskimo,

 

It's so important that you wrote your success story, we get many short term users who just need to know how long it's going to take and now I can point them to you, thank you!  You took so few pills, you were so careful, you trusted but were wary and you paid for that trust.  I'm so happy you're feeling well now, getting and staying clean and sober is a huge accomplishment, you're an inspiration.

 

Pamster 

Thank you ladies for the encouragement, very kind words!

 

Yes, I would rate this withdraw much much worse than the withdraw from H. The intensity of the H was far more debilitating during the 10-11 day period it lasted, however, the length of time that benzos take to w/d from is so severe. Now, had i taken higher doses or even a regular dose once a day, im sure the w/d would have been just as debilitating as H was, for me. I cannot fathom what i would have experienced had I taken larger doses for longer periods of time. If i could trade one for the other, i'd gladly have taken an 11 day w/d from H over the 2-3 mths I had on benzos.

 

The hijacking of ones brain by this drug is so insidious, and the sad part is that (for the majority, it seems) its victims are not ppl struggling with addiction (and no knock on those ppl, im one/was one of them!), its people trying to find relief from a number of real issues and doctors frivolously write scripts like its candy with no warning. It's beyond me, i cannot wrap my mind around it, how the govt across the wrold has not banned this drug. I refuse to believe that people on this site are the minority, it would seem most anyone who takes these drugs for any extended period of time would experience some kind of serious withdraw.

 

I'll always come back to this site and check in, for years to come, i hope my experience can help someone someday. I remember searching for short term user stories and posts for hours when i first came here, and i found some, they helped tremendously. I dont know what i would have done without this forum. Thank you again

Thanks Eskimo..

-Im glad I read a SS for a change today..!!

 

I can only imaging your thoughts when you realised such caution was to little avail, and the potential of what might follow..

Simply, -Well done..

 

Just quickly, Im “opiate dominant” (along with insane and extended antibiotics, and the induced coma meds, etc, etc..) and it often is hard to distinguish what fits where in all this.. What you wrote has added a little tick to some of my vague questions, or supported a few of my more recent thoughts a bit..

I wont sidetrack your SS with my speculative confusion though...

 

I do hope you can hang around a bit, -as mentioned, your journey is important too, both validating and encouraging...

Best wishes into the future...

 

 

I made a huge mistake posting a success story. I am no where near healed. Month 4 was like acute again.

I made a huge mistake posting a success story. I am no where near healed. Month 4 was like acute again.

 

 

sorry to hear, it can be like that for sure.

What kind of symptoms are you dealing with?

I'm an alcoholic and found the acute of alcohol withdrawal a breeze compared to benzo!

I made a huge mistake posting a success story. I am no where near healed. Month 4 was like acute again.

Hey, -what a bugga..

Try not to take it too hard... -lots of emotions when one hits a bigger bump in the road, ride them out in an accepting way, then dust off and step your way through it..  lets hope its short lived, just things cycling through as is often the case...

(Note to self here too..)

-Nothing wrong with two success stories, just think of it as a practice run, or better still, -positive reinforcement along the way..

So do the math, that’s .5 mg of K every four weeks....not much at all, right? Wrong. I did this up until March 2020 and beginning March 2020 I started taking 1/2 of a .5 mg K on sundays. So that’s 1mg total every four weeks. Well I guess it was in my system long enough each week for my body to become dependent on it. I first noticed what I now know as interdosal withdraw around early April. I would get hit with extreme cold chills and become slightly nauseous. In mid April I found benzo buddies and knew I had to stop. So I did. It took me 4 days from my last dose on May 19 2020 for symptoms to hit and when they did I wanted to die. I was so mad at myself. I was so careful, how could this happen. I almost went and saw a psychiatrist but found BB and knew I had to just ride it out.

I have done myself in in the similar manner. It's not that it was in your system, that doesn't matter much with benzos (hence why short half-life benzos can be the nastiest and most addictive). Unlike other drugs it would appear that taking benzos intermittently is the worst possible way to take them. Owing to the kindling mechanism, each time you take a dose you suffer a withdrawal afterwards. Each subsequent withdrawal is worse than the previous one. Initially it's just a bit of rebound anxiety. Over the time it progresses into a full-blown discontinuation syndrome.

 

 

The hijacking of ones brain by this drug is so insidious, and the sad part is that (for the majority, it seems) its victims are not ppl struggling with addiction (and no knock on those ppl, im one/was one of them!), its people trying to find relief from a number of real issues and doctors frivolously write scripts like its candy with no warning. It's beyond me, i cannot wrap my mind around it, how the govt across the wrold has not banned this drug. I refuse to believe that people on this site are the minority, it would seem most anyone who takes these drugs for any extended period of time would experience some kind of serious withdraw.

I was just thinking these days how there's something inherently evil and sadistic about psychiatric drugs. Here are people struggling with insomnia, anxiety, depression, psychoses, etc. and you give them drugs that in the long term not only make their existing issues worse, but give them innumerable new ones. And compared to street drugs, these drugs all but impossible to come off of. Not only that, but medical community never even attempted to develop techniques and strategies for getting people off of psychiatric drugs, or treat these discontinuation syndromes. Whatever happened to first do no harm?