leeside

Some more are: "thinking you are someone else", "fits of laughter", "thoughts have a different sound to them sometimes" and "temporary amnesia"

Jane63

Humm...that's odd...I am taking Xanax to control alot of those phobias/symptoms!

Thanks for sharing 2ala2! Hope this thread is helping you in some way!
Best wishes,
Jane

PS...I LOVE water!!! ;-)

leeside

The withdrawal symptoms disappear when you take the drug and appear when you discontinue. That is why it is called "withdrawal" symptoms.

Oh, and there is a snowballing effect the longer you cover up the withdrawal symptoms. The sooner you discontinue the less severe the withdrawal symptoms. IMO

Jane63

Thanks lee...not trying to be a smarta$$ or anything but I am quite familiar with WDs from having detoxed off Vicoden which I was abusing. {20-25 pill a day habit, yuk!} WDs vary but you can suffer them from discontinuing most anything your body has become accustomed to over a period of time.

Jane

emmer

Yup Jane ...There was this doctor tat told me I could also go off my effexor xr 300 mg per day for 12 years with no withdrawal.
The stuff never helped me anyway....well let me tell you, there is withdraw with that stuff.


Withdrawals from an anti-depresent ooooohhhh yeah.
Not near as bad as my benzo withdrawal but nasty enough.

leeside

Yea I am of that opinion. I am now convinced that all drugs should not be taken for an extended period of time and continuously switching from one drug to another is the same as taking drugs for an extended period of time. IMO

It is considered that over 4 weeks of taking benzos is an extended period. q.v.

ccgirl

I've gotta step in here and defend long term use of some drugs. I'm bipolar. Been on anti depressants and mood stabilizers for 20 years. I quit them last year for 6 months. I attempted suicide. So, for a lot of people, maybe they don't/shouldn't be on long term meds, but there are some major mental illnesses that require it. One wouldn't expect and insulin dependant diabetic to quit taking their insulin because of long term effects, because the consequences would be detrimental to their overall health. The same goes for schizophrenics and bipolar patients and a few of the other major ones.

Having said that, I do believe that doctors over prescribe anti depressants and benzos just to shut patients up way too often.

Barto

“Let me think, so the choice is suicide or benzos, hmm. Tough choice. Let me think. Hmm. Guess some of you would say ah, suicide ... right?” (He says calmly and somewhat laughingly).

That said, I prefer to off the meds, but I think I’ll trust my doctor(s) for now, if the other doctors here don’t mind. Thank you…

Do what you need to do ccgirl. If you’re honest with yourself and your doctor, well, what else can you do.

Alan

Hey 2ala2. I went cold turkey last year from a 25 Vicodin a day habit. I was taking 20 2mg alprazolam bars a day. The Vic withdraw went away after about 14 days but I was really messed up from the Benzo withdraw for a good3 months. I was very afraid to leave the house. Had every freak withdraw symptom at one time or another. The worst of it was panic attacks and racing heart, of witch I went to the e/r about 25 days into it. I was prescribed Zoloft and within days I felt much more grounded. It was a great feeling. I stopped the Zoloft after about a month but had lingering symptoms including bad cravings. I took 25mg of Dephenhydramine (Benadryl) when I felt like I was loosing it. I didn't sleep for the first 2-3 weeks ecept an hour or two on some nights. I took Melatonin to help me sleep. Its a natural ingredient and will put you to sleep if you take enough. So almost a year later, still free from Benzos. The only lingering effect I have is a loud ringing in my ears witch seems to be getting louder and louder. Not sure what to do about this, but taking a benzo will not be one of them. My Benzo withdraw changed me to some extent and figure if I got thru that, life should be pretty easy from now on.

emmer

Barto , You've gone from taking this thread very personally, to being sarcastic, to being insulting to some of us.
Why you don't move on to something that isn't so upsetting to you, I don't know.

Please Barto, Lets make keep a thread that we can all enjoy ...OK ?


ccgirl , I personally don't find anything wrong with being on anti-depressents or anti-psycotics ect , long term .... I agree with you, many people need them....

I have epilepsy, so I'm on anti-siezer meds long term.....without them I would siezer instantly and constantly.

Alan , the things I have been addicted to are,

cigarettes (withdrawal ...very challenging and frustrating)

Heavey caffine ( withdrawal ..... I felt nothing )

Codeine heavy ( withdrawal ...once not good , the second time easy compared to klonopin)

Pot ( Problems with sleep for a couple of weeks)

Klonopin ( An absolute living nightmare )

Take care all ........Joe

Barto

Look in the mirror, Emmer.

Nevertheless, this thread has become an opinion based thread (at least in part), and not a personal experience thread; that is clear. And all I can share is my personal situation. I don’t want to pretend I know better than someone else’s doctor, or someone else re: their personal experience. Frankly, I am surprised that the moderators haven’t stepped in yet, as much of this sounds like medical advice to me – same thing Ten got banned for, I guess.

I am going to take my placebo now. (A little sarcasm never hurt anyone did it?) Keep it light Emmer. I sense you are still resentful over the trinity thing, which in New Orleans is celery, onion, and bell pepper. And if you don’t like what I post, don’t read it!



Also, if you guys cut out that caffeine, you may find that your symptoms die down considerably.

ccgirl

emmer, except for klonopin, I heard cigarettes are the hardest thing to quit? True or not?

emmer

Hmmm ........I would have to say if not # 1 then cigarette are close to it. Although I didn't vomit for weeks (or at all ) weaning off smokes. They were just one very hard habit to break.

Barto- Your way too over analytical and sensitive for this topic. Save it for your hairdresser.

margo

*sigh*

Can you guys just agree to disagree and stop sniping at each other please? Enough is enough. Put each other on ignore if you don't like what the other says.

Barto

Emmer, I thought you were the hairdresser?

Okay Margo, I got it. But trace the thread and I think you’ll see what’s happened here. I'm out.

BTW, ala, I read all that benzo. org stuff last year. It's informative, but watch out for the island forum.

emmer

ccgirl - Getting back to the cigarettes verses klonopin topic.........

I found the weaning off cigarettes to be mostly about super strong cravings
where the withdrawal from klonopin was more about a feeling of extreme sickness,
no sleep, and another issue we aren't supposed to talk about ....those sorts of things.

I have heard some folks say that they had more success quiting and staying off heroin than cigarettes.

emmer

2ala2 - when i was detoxing from K, I went to the hospital and a nurse looked at the paper that had the amount I was on ( i had gotten down to 10 mg by then)
and she put her face in her hands like she was going to cry.

She looked horrified ... I now know why.

leeside

Another withdrawal symptom not on the list is "suicidal feelings". A really bad withdrawal symptom that I sincerely hope no one gets.

I took Benzos 20 years and had suicidal episodes and tapering off may have been the only way I could get of them safely. I am not suicidal and never have been. It is the drugs that caused it!

leeside

I hope no one sees what I post as a snipe. Neither do I intend to disagree, but if we do it is ok with me. I would be disconcerted if no one ever disagreed. I think this thread has been constructive and useful and if it becomes non-constructive I'll stop posting to it.

margo

Hi Leeside - my post was not directed at you. Disagreement is fine as long as we keep things respectful.