The Great Benzo Debate

[Deleted member 10686]

I have tried a lot of things. SSRI's all give me bad reactions and are unhelpful, I have also tried tricyclic antidepressants (amitriptyline) which made me feel like a very high zombie, allergic to the sunlight. I have also tried Visteral, Buspar, as well as Ativan and Xanax. My problem with Ativan and Xanax were that they worked for such a short period of time. If i took one for a panic attack it would help, but if something else triggered me shortly after, its like my body would burn off the medication and have no use.

I just started taking Klonopin 3 days ago. So far I have been able to go to bed at midnight, instead of staying up until 3 am or later. i am still having nightmares that I wake up panicky from, but I guess the klonopin makes me so tired that I can get back to sleep easy for the next round of nightmares. I went to the park today and was actually able to lay in the grass and close my eyes for 5 minutes at a time, something that would never usually happen. I was still aware of sounds around me and on alert but the fact I could stop scanning (with my eyes at least) for 5 minutes surprised me. So I do have to say....Klonopin is the only thing that has even touched my anxiety. I still have constant anxiety, but it feels like maybe it has lowered a level.

 

[friendlybadger]

I hear that Xanax SR is the go-to drug of choice now due to the powerful Xanax anxiety-killing effect and the lack of addiction (or so they say). I'm on regular Xanax though and am just fine with that. I take a very miniscule dose which my psych. increased earlier this year. Still under 1mg for the whole day, just spaced more evenly through out.
I find the spacing out of the doses helps me best. I don't get the mid-afternoon panic attacks that were so debilitating I nearly quit my job. I still have anxiety driving home in heavy traffic, but it's manageable. And a dose before bed helps me sleep without having night terrors. I used to wake up screaming alot and that's gotten much more infrequent.
I don't feel this dosage makes me feel anything special--just kind of more 'normal'. It really helps me hold myself together because I have alot of dissociation problems.
I can't say anything good about antidepressants. I was initially given Lexapro, and after taking 1 pill had every side effect imaginable and wound up in intensive care. No more antidepressants ever!
I was on Ambien briefly when I first left my ex-husband, following the abusive episodes. Ambien is horrible stuff. It helped me fall asleep ok, but I was still a panicked mess going to sleep and I'd wake up still terrified and panicked but groggy. It gave me hallucinations and incredible feelings of dissociation. Horrible stuff!
For me, Xanax has been a lifesaver. I'm able to do my CBT things during a panic attack because the Xanax controls and stops the physical symptoms.

 

[Gamereign555]

My antidepressant worked for me so well I hardly need Xanax anymore. When I first got ptsd, I was hurting so bad that nothing else yet compares, I kept myself low on the benzo doses as needed the whole time and the doctors seemed to prescribe in that direction for me anyway, it was often not enough but I feel I was able to build up a tolerance being exposed to my symptoms.

I have xanax but the doctors know its actually for panic and not just daily anxiety, or I would be eating them like candies whenever I had issues and would be back for a refill in 20 days. The panic symptoms though bothersome are what they are, sometimes you just need them.. I have had panic for days at a time, something that would have gotten better had I had a pill to pop, I just ended up in urgent care anyway, waiting to receive a shot of Lorazepam. It doesn't mean all panic attacks will spiral into a daily affair. It is important to see how far you can go to 'handle' the anxiety before taking that pill.
I treat sleep aids and sedatives the same way.

 

[Kris1984]

Benzo's have a pretty excellent safety profile aside from what you are talking about, the possibility for addiction. Psychotropics are some of the most potent drugs you can give a patient and they have a wide array of serious adverse effects. The most serious being NMS, extrapyrimidal symptoms and tardive dyskinesia. Depending on the type of muscle issues you were having while taking the antipsychotics, it would probably fall into one of those later 2 categories. BuSpar is regarded as a pretty awesome development for ADHD and anxiety treatment because of the non addictive profile.

I would recommend that you try a nonbenzo which is recommended by the FDA for long term treatment of insomnia because unlike Benzo's they avoid dependency. Those are Lunseta and Ambien.

Hope that helps.

 

[Srain]

umm yeah, for every 'addition' I wrote on my post, I meant addiction....sheesh, :speechless:, sorry.

I do agree that if you can find relief through some other avenue at first and then later - great!!

However, if at first you are suffering so badly, do your homework, make an informed decision with your professional, and do what you have to...I believe that
#1 sleep is essential to being able to assimilate information for your recovery and
#2 living in constant horrid anxiety, paranoia, and panic attacks is just not necessary anymore...I believe we have suffered enough, so with help, we deserve relief.

 

[Gamereign555]

Most of us have tried buspar. Most of us can't tell that it does a damn thing.

 

[Blondie362]

I have been on Nitrazepam and diazepam for 16 years - yup well and truly addicted.

 

[heidi]

I wonder if anyone else has any more experience with this? Or can offer updates? Also can you say how long you were on the drug? It's the long term use I'm curious about. It obviously works at first.

Also that is great so many people were wise and diligent enough to not use daily.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I wonder if anyone else has any more experience with this? Or can offer updates? Also can you say how long you were on the drug? It's the long term use I'm curious about.

I am the OP and much has changed since I started this thread almost two years ago.

I am now med free except for Ativan which I take as needed (1/2 - 2 mg depending on which symptom I'm trying to treat...thought rumination, anxiety or insomnia). I try to take as little as possible. Last year a three month script lasted me 9+ months. This year I didn't fare as well due to a stressful life event, but now I'm back to using it fairly infrequently.

From where I'm sitting, if I have a script for the rest of my life, so be it as long as I don't become dependent again (I was dependent on klonopin and coming off was a horrid experience.)

 

[Flamengo]

I really dont know what to do. I just found out my liver enzymes are elevated and doctors want me off Remeron. The only thing that helped me was klonopin but I'm so scared of taking it for fear of addiction. I had a friend who took klonopin for over a year and was able to stop it super easy. I dont know if I could do the same but at this point I'm not sure what else to do. I'm still not sleeping well and now I have one less drug to depend on. The great debate for me is now; to benzo or not to benzo. If I could get away with only taking it every few days that would be awesome.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Flamingo,
Some come off the drug easily, some not so easily. I have a family and personal history of addictions of sorts so that may have played a role in why I became dependent while others don't.

If you take the drug every evening for sleep, your body will likely become used to it and if you stop you may develop rebound insomnia.

Have you considered seeing a sleep specialist? I have and she took me from a solid two years of being unable to sleep without drugs to being able to sleep 8+ hours a night without any meds at all. Everything she taught me is part of sleep hygiene, but what she taught me cant be learned in a book as it was tailored to me and my specific sleep issues and patterns. (And she flat out refuses to give me sleeping pills.)

 

[Flamengo]

Thank you! I'm thinking about trying lunesta but I did think about going to see a sleep specialist! I think its time!