Originally Posted by
sicilia1414 
Hi all,
please please PLEASE listen to me...I was on benzos for years. I started when I was 15 and stopped when i was 25.
getting off them is NO JOKE. the withdrawal is real and it is not in your head.
you have to do it slowly, as slowly as you can. even if it seems ridiculous, get out a razor blade and only cut teeny tiny bits off every few days.
i was on klonopin and ativan. i got up to 10 mgs right before I quit. I did not taper off them slowly enough, and it was the dumbest mistake i ever made.
It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I learned from it. The benzos do not help. they just cover up the issues. that is what i have realized about alcohol too. The benzos will work for a while, and then you will have to take more and more to get the same effect.
but believe me, if i can get off those pills anyone can. there is an awesome forum like this for benzo withdrawal, i will find it and repost. without that website i would not have made it.
i am 8 months sober after abusing xanax amongst other drugs for over a year.
i was up to 20+mg a day of xanax, and upon arrest, had over 50mg in my system.
needless to say, i had no choice but to go cold turkey, and the first five days in jail were as horifying as anything you can imagine.
i was hallucinating for days at a time, constantly loosing conciousness, loosing massive amounts of weight as well as runnnig a huge fever and possibly having seizures, which has never been confirmed since i received no medical attention until day 6 when i got out on bail.
withdrawing from benzodiazepines is the most dangerous thing you can put your body through. by no means should you ever attempt this on your own, because you can put your body at risk of a heart attack, massive seizures as well as brain damage and much more...
seek the help of doctors and a detox facility. no matter how much or how little your on, the dangers of benzo withdrawal are always there, and are no joke.