Detox plus rehab or c/t ?

[[Buddie]]

I am currently down to 1mg clonazepam from 1.5mg originally. I have been on them for 6 years but during the first few years never really took full dose, mainly at night .5mg  and as needed during the day which varied. I took care of my younger brother moving him in as he baled stage 4 cancer that was in 2016 and that's when my benzo experience started. My brother died in my arms November 2019, the last couple weeks was horrendous but I survived it. I was grief stricken but still carried on with life. I think though it was about that time I started using my full daily dose. Everything was still fine. ..I played with my granddaughters, ran my small candle business I worked so hard to grow into a great second income, I drove, I laughed other than missing my brother my life was still great.
I did cut back to 1.25mg mid summer 2020 (just had a funny feeling something was changed and not right with my anxiety)

Then late August 2020 hit and seems like I woke up one morning and my whole life turned upside down!  I couldn't get my anxiety under control, I let the pandemic start getting to me, I couldn't walk out the front door, I was just like an empty she'll of a person and I didn't have any idea what was going on! Long story short and many doctors and ER visits I myself through sites like this figured out I was 100% in tolerance withdrawal and even though I started dosing 4 times a day I am having inter dose withdrawal.

As long as I've been sick for almost two years now, if I would have known what was going on back then I would have stated getting of this drug sooner. I am doing a very slow taper due to not being stable or functional in so long even before taper. I'm not sure I can do this show off a trailer as family relations are getting very stained including my 40+ years of marriage!

I am thinking about doing a detox and then rehab just because I don't think I can do a long taper. I even thought of cold turkey, I don't feel 1mg is that high of a dose to seizure on. Please any suggestions would be appreciated.
If I do detox am I in any more risk of paws than a taper?

SORRY  for the long post, trying to give a little background info.

[[Buddie]]

I'm sorry to hear things aren't good with your relationships, this process puts a terrible strain on everything and I understand your desire to be free of the drug.

A medical detox is one way to get off of the drug, and as long as you understand going in what to expect it's certainly an option.  They'll withdraw you quickly, they'll put you on other medications which may or may not help but will certainly require tapering off at some point.  You will then be sent home to suffer while you recover and it will most likely take months, I quit Klonpin cold turkey and it took about 14 months for me to heal.

I'm not sure what you mean by rehab, I think of rehab as something alcoholics and drug addicts need to do in order to learn how to live life without these substances. This isn't something someone who is dependent on benzo's, taken only as prescribed needs to learn.  What you need is to be free of the drug and to recover from the changes it made to your brain.  I think therapy once you get past the acute stage of recovery would be a good thing but not sure if doing that while in acute would be beneficial.

Going cold turkey on your own is also a possibility, I did this but I had a prescription for phenobarbital that may have saved me from seizing, I don't know but it might be something to talk to your doctor about if you want to go this route.  This is my story.  [...]’s Success Story

[[Buddie]]

[...] gave good advice. We all understand needing to be off the benzo!! It sucks. But just do your research first so you can make an informed decision. Detox is VERY rapid and is not usually what people expect. It is usually done in a matter of 6 days. Like bam, then they cut you off. So it's basically a CT. And typically things reach their peak after you get home unfortunately. I hate it, but it's true. I think these places hold a purpose, but most are not great with benzos. So if you talk to facilities ask a bunch of questions like:
1.How many people have they helped off benzos?
2. What other meds do they plan on using?
3. What do they do with people with extreme wd symptoms?
4. Do you get a private room?
5. Do they understand the difference between an addiction and a dependency?
6. How long do THEY expect WD symptoms to last? (This is a good one because they are usually not accurate)
7. Can you decide to refuse extra drugs without being seen as non compliant if you wanted to?
8. How long is their typical detox program?

Hope that is helpful
Wished someone had told me these things just so I could make the best choice for myself, especially when I was already suffering it's hard to think of those things during that.

[[Buddie]]

One of the main things that inpatient detox offers is getting someone off benzos (or other substances) safely in a monitored enviroment.  True recovery/healing happens over the days, weeks, and months after someone is deemed "out of the woods" and goes home.

[[Buddie]]

Inpatient is only for so long and then it's home. I cant imagine longer than 7 days. It's not a great relief to be inpatient. You will miss your own bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Usually you're sharing a room and with meetings all day. [...] has a lot of great points. The work starts afterwards.

I reduced 40% of my dose in 7 days inpatient. But I tapered for 20 months, off of Librium.

[[Buddie]]

I'm sorry to hear things aren't good with your relationships, this process puts a terrible strain on everything and I understand your desire to be free of the drug.

A medical detox is one way to get off of the drug, and as long as you understand going in what to expect it's certainly an option.  They'll withdraw you quickly, they'll put you on other medications which may or may not help but will certainly require tapering off at some point.  You will then be sent home to suffer while you recover and it will most likely take months, I quit Klonpin cold turkey and it took about 14 months for me to heal.

I'm not sure what you mean by rehab, I think of rehab as something alcoholics and drug addicts need to do in order to learn how to live life without these substances. This isn't something someone who is dependent on benzo's, taken only as prescribed needs to learn.  What you need is to be free of the drug and to recover from the changes it made to your brain.  I think therapy once you get past the acute stage of recovery would be a good thing but not sure if doing that while in acute would be beneficial.

Going cold turkey on your own is also a possibility, I did this but I had a prescription for phenobarbital that may have saved me from seizing, I don't know but it might be something to talk to your doctor about if you want to go this route.  This is my story.  [...]’s Success Story

I found a couple places that have experience with benzos.  After detox I would enter a rehab facility to learn coping skills, some even offer acupuncture, massage, nutrition and one on one therapy plus group therapy. I know the detox would be rough and even after a 30 day rehab stay I know I'd still be going home with a lot of healing to do. A part of me says no do the show taper but there's a part of me that says until I get this drug out of me I won't start healing!  You know from past posts that I am suffering a lot, especially with eating and severe anxiety and just wondering if some time in a nice rehab would help with that?

[[Buddie]]

Whatever you decide is best for you we'll support and it appears you're going into this with your eyes wide open.  You understand they can safely get you off the drug but you also understand the facility can't hasten your healing, that will depend on your genetics, your general health, your stress levels, how long you took the drug and many other factors. 

One of the reasons I left the detox facility the same day I checked in was the thought of going to classes and group therapy feeling like I was.  I needed and wanted to be home where I didn't have to face people while I was in so much pain.  But, we're all different, it may be just what you need.

[[Buddie]]

My own experience is that my taper imploded in February.  I got to about 1mg/day and in late March said "eff this" and just quit taking this.  Roughly 60 hours later I was in the ER with uncontrollable tremors and highly elevated BP and heart rate.  I earned myself a 3 day stay in the hospital where they gave me lots of IV ativan and got things calmed back down.  That's my first and last cold turkey experience.  I'm holding on 1 mg and then starting slow taper maybe next week or the week after that.  Best of luck to you.