sleepy51

This is my second post, I will bump the other thread if you want to read my journey, or descent if you will.

anyway I'm 6 days sober now, and had a follow up appointment with my doctor today. my vitals were back to normal, after doing a 4 day librium taper,
100mg first day
75 second
50 third
25 fourth

I asked him if he could give me something for anxiety, he suggested xanax, I've taken xanax before (family members for occasional anxiety), I suggested klonopin as from reading about benzo's it seemed less likely to cause addiction and withdrawals.

1. is this normal for a doctor to prescribe a benzo to a recovering alcoholic, especially so soon?
2. for anyone who's taken them, is there a hangover effect, the next morning (going back to work tommorow), granted I've been going to work hungover from alcohol since, well I can't remember
3. I'm kind of a realist, and have seen the % of people who relapse after their first try, so I gave my mom 15 .5 mg pills just in case i need to detox again. Don't get me wrong I feel good right now, but better safe than sorry.
I guess the question I'm asking, is if I need to, could I use the klonopin to safely detox.

I've always drank to mask anxiety, than depression, and then once i was physically dependent insomnia.

any help would be greatly appreciated

soberhawk

Concrats on the 6 days,

I do not know about the benzo, I would also be suspicious if that was suggested.

shay17

Hi Sleepy51,
I'm on day 10 and the only thing that helped my withdrawal symptoms was Klonapin. It was a gift since I went cold turkey at first and my central nervous system was totally out of wack. After 1mg of it my anxiety subsided and I was able to sleep, finally!

I dont get any residual 'hangover' from Klonapin and in fact I've taken it before for anxiety but never ever abused the drug. It's kind of like a chill pill when you're feeling anxious it actually keeps me from wanting to drink, especially in early sobriety. It's far better than xanex in my opinion.

Good luck and let us know how you're doing.

Shay

sleepy51

I'm not really suspicious, he's been my doctor for 12-13 years. I just find it kind of funny that he was reluctant at first to give me 10 25mg tablets of librium 2 weeks ago to detox, yet today he prescribes 60 .5mg of klonopin, 25 mg of librium is basically equal to .5mg of klonopin

Saskia

Klonopin (clonazepam) does not result in a hangover as far as I know. I've been on a steady dose for about 20 years. After being on it for awhile, one needs to gradually (rather than suddenly!) taper off. I used to take Librium many years ago. Although both drugs are for anxiety, they are not chemically the same.

Joe Nerv

Anxiety isn't the worst thing that can happen to somebody in recovery, and there are options other than medication to learn to deal with it. We have choices. It's become commonplace for people to grab for a pill to fix anything that ails us. It is my belief, AND OPINION, that this is sad. A big part of why I drank was because I didn't have the tools to deal with life. Alcohol became my solution, and it was an awesome one, until it wasn't any more. I wasn't offered medication when I got sober, because I got sober before meds were as popular as they are now. Had they been prescribed, I probably would have taken them. Because they weren't, I had no other choice than to learn deal with the anxiety. Had to learn breathing exercises, tweak my diet, learn new ways of thinking, new ways of functioning... and because of all that I've been given a life that truly has been beyond anything I ever hoped, planned, or even dreamed of. It wasn't easy, it wasn't fun, and it took time, but the investment was well worth it. I had a lot of hope and faith that things would get better and they did. Today the message that we're often given is that there is no hope, we have imbalances in our brain and we're fighting a losing battle, if we don't medicate. I was completely crippled by panic and anxiety, for years, and I am certain that there are ways other than medication to deal with it.

IMO medication should only be an option when all else fails.

This is not medical advice, I am not a doctor, I am not telling anyone what to do , I'm just offering my thoughts and a flip side to what's commonly said these days.

Saskia

Joe Nerv, in many ways I agree with you. I've got a number of tools in my toolbox for dealing with anxiety, including but not limited to exercise, mindfulness meditation, self-hypnosis and visualization. I've also come to the conclusion, strictly my opinion, that there are occasions when meds can help. I don't run for them first thing. I have had severe PTSD and Klonopin helped me get through the worst of it until I reached a point where my other tools are sufficient most of the time. We are all different and all, I believe, need to find whatever path works for us.