How Many People Are On A Daily Benzo?

[cdg]

Lets get past the battle. Who takes it and how much? Who takes it daily?

(not that its a good idea etc. in advance out of respect for the above poster.)

 

[Olivia Felton]

I take a daily benzodiazepine, Klonopin, 2mg at night. I also have permission from my doctor to use it sublingually in moments of acute attacks that I haven't identified a trigger for.

God bless my psychiatrist, who is also a former police officer. He decided to go to med school to help police officers who suffer from PTSD and anxiety/hyperawareness issues. Every ones talks about the soldiers (don't get me wrong, they DEFINITELY deserve our help, understanding, and support), but many doctors don't understand that over the course of a 25 year career, law enforcement, firefighters, and paramedics will suffer from PTSD too. It is just considered cowardice in our lives of duty.

I feel forgotten and kind of pushed to the side.

 

[cdg]

I'm sorry you feel that way and your service is appreciated here.

 

[Indigo333]

I have taken Xanax for over a year daily...1 1/2 mgs- 2 mgs

I weaned off of it because I couldn't sleep without it. After a few months I was able to get some sleep pattern back but now I just take it for extreme emergencies.

 

[Spiderallis]

I was on a daily dose of .5mg of klonopin for a few months, with 1.5mg daily for as-needed use. It worked quite well. I never had a bad enough day to need the full 1.5mg. After switching onto remeron as an antidepressant I only take .5mg as-needed, which isn't nearly as often as it was. I went off the daily benzo while starting the remeron so I couldn't tell the difference between withdraw and side effects of the new meds.

 

[Olivia Felton]

Ah Remeron. Spiderallis, I am glad it works for you. I ended up with Serotonin Syndrome on it and that was not fun. Lexapro has been very helpful for me, but I still take the benzodiazepine on a prn basis. Now, if they could find a drug to help me sleep longer than 4 hours, I would be a happier camper.

 

[mamachick]

Daily....xanax .5....3-6 pills....depending on panic....too much....know consequences.....nothing else has helped

I dont care if I get addicted. Others get drunk and act like fools. I calm and hopefully sleep. Not much of a life at times, but existance

 

[cdg]

How long brat17? Just curious.

 

[ericaboo]

I'm trying to get off benzo's...

I was on 4mg/day of clonazapam, got it down to 2mg, replaced it with 40mg diazapam.

Tomorrow I start titrating down - will only take 35mg diazapam.

:wacky:

 

[Chincho]

I am on 2mg/day of clonazepam.

I was thinking of starting to taper off, but my husband was diagnosed with a very strange type of lung cancer yesterday. So I'll keep taking it for a while.

 

[ericaboo]

I started taking 0.5mg Klonopin for sleep problems due to nightmares and insomnia, but then my symptoms got way worse due to a threatening workplace incident. (plus I was right in the middle of a divorce) They raised my dose to the maximum "allowed," and I developed a dependency fairly quickly.

Basically, even at the highest dose, I was having very frequent panic attacks and withdrawal type symptoms. So - for me, it was just not helping anymore.

I am now trying to deal with my symptoms through Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Meditation and Cymbalta...

Once I get off diazapam, I may try taking 0.5 klonopin for the sleep issues like I did before - that seemed to work well.

 

[StarChild]

but my husband was diagnosed with a very strange type of lung cancer yesterday.

Oh no! I'm so sorry to read this Chincho... Right now, I don't know what to say, just "I hate cancer!" Thinking of you, really.