# Another BENZO withdrawal/DP/DR question



## AHuseman (Jan 29, 2005)

Alright, for those of you really familiar with the benzo withdrawals and such; I got a question...A few months ago before all this DP and Xanax withdrawal sh*t started happenin', I was perscribed a vitamin supplement (B6, Folic Acid, B12). I never got around to taking them but now I realize I should. So since I'm going through this Xanax withdrawal/DP here, do you guys think it's OK to take them?...Like will it "interfere" with or "screw" up the withdrawal/DR/DP? Or is it perhaps a good thing to do? Sorry If I sound rediculous, I'm now medicine phobic.


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## dakotajo (Aug 10, 2004)

Hi,

Early in withdrawal, I couldnt handle the b vitamins. They seemed a bit stimulating for my cns. It might have just been in my head tho too. B vitamins are very essential for a healthy cns so if you tolerate them, then go for it.


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## [rula] (Jan 16, 2005)

yea, what Joe said, they also help rebuild your NT's. I took my B's during and after, never had a problem.


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## AHuseman (Jan 29, 2005)

ok thanks. what are nt's? just curiuos


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## [rula] (Jan 16, 2005)

neurotransmitters, like GABA and Serotonin, and all that good stuff your brain needs.

-r


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## AHuseman (Jan 29, 2005)

ohh then that should be good


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## jft (Jan 10, 2005)

I am admitedly ignorant of benzo withdrawal but am confused.
I was on xanax for many years at 2 mgs per day and later at 3mgs per day and decided on my own to quit, which I did in two weeks with slow tapering and had some discomfort, but nothing like you guys speak of. The list one of you put up of symptoms all sounded like anxiety symptoms relived after not having them for awhile. But I am ignorant. 
I know we are all different, but your experience is not mine. I seem to remember that true nasty withdrawal does not occur unless the dose is higher...over the 3mg level. Is this not true?
I write this becasue I think benzoes get bad raps for those peeps that really need them. Added to this is the abuse that occurs with booze and recreational use and this makes them bad bets by docs trying to avoid the lawsuit. But I think sometimes some folks with very legimate needs are denied these meds, even long term, becasue of bad reporting and other issues.
I keep a bottle of xanax with me always and use as needed, which amounts to about three pills a month. I am one who went five years heavily into recreational drug use including heroin and other opiates. I was also labeled by my chemical dependency doc as the classic "drug prone" personality. Benzoes never ever approached addiction for me in the dose I was prescribed. 
I am not at all denying anything you guys are saying, I am ignorant and it jsut does not jive with my experience.
jft


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## dakotajo (Aug 10, 2004)

Then consider yourself lucky. Benzos are documented tolerance producing, highly addictive drugs. The withdrawal syndrome occurs for a reason and once it starts there is nothing you can do but ride it out. Some people, like yourself, dodge the bullet with these drugs and some dont. Its all in a personal chemistry. I was on 1.5mg of klonopin for 9 months and after a ct withdrawal experienced seizures,life threatening blood pressure, hallucintations etc. It took 2 months for the serious stuff to go away and a full year just to become semi-sane. At 2+ years off I consider myself recovered from my benzo mistreatment.

Joe


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## [rula] (Jan 16, 2005)

jft, were you DP'ed before or after you went off Xanax? just curious.

but yes, consider yourself lucky!! ""The biggest drug-addiction problem in the *world* doesn't involve heroin, cocaine or marijuana....it's benzodiazepines" the law suits you're hearing about have nothing to do with abuse/recreational use, it's from ppl legitamately prescribed the poisons and having years of their lives ruined by them. Doctors are handing this stuff out like candy.

if you understand how benzos work, then you know they don't actually *fix* anxiety problems, they only hide the symptoms so you don't have to think about them. if the symptoms someone listed sounded like anxiety relived, it's cause that's exactly what happens. your brain slows down on making GABA after long term use, and when you quit benzos your anxiety would retrun but *way* worse than before.

people experience protracted withdrawal symptoms long after they come off the meds, but they don't even *know* they were caused by the benzos. i mean, you're here for a reason, right?

food for thought: "_In summary, the FDA Xanax study really shows that most patients were better off if they had never taken the drug_."

k, i'll stop my anti-benzo rant for today ^_^

-ru


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## Guest (Feb 8, 2005)

It's just different for different people. I had no trouble coming off Valium (a TINY bit of trouble, but nothing compared to stopping Paxil which was awful for me)

All we can do is be informed and realize the risks regarding any med and dependency. But there is no iron-clad rule. Some people have horrid experiences, and others, every bit as ill, have no trouble at all. Many people have some trouble, but not much. No way to find easy answers re: the brain.


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## [rula] (Jan 16, 2005)

JanineBaker said:


> It's just different for different people. I had no trouble coming off Valium (a TINY bit of trouble, but nothing compared to stopping Paxil which was awful for me)
> 
> All we can do is be informed and realize the risks regarding any med and dependency. But there is no iron-clad rule. Some people have horrid experiences, and others, every bit as ill, have no trouble at all. Many people have some trouble, but not much. No way to find easy answers re: the brain.


sorry, I could apply that exact same logic to illicit drug use, there's no knowing, no iron-clad rule as to who might end up with a mental illness. far less people actually have serious problems than those taking benzos. yet despite the fact that benzo addiction is by far worse than heroin, cocaine or marijuana, despite dp/dr being a withdrawal symptom, we're relatively accepting of the meds, cuz they're legal? I don't hear anyone here saying go smoke a joint, you may or may not have any trouble at all.

it's like allowing doctors to play russian roulette with people's health. great for the *lucky* ones!


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## jft (Jan 10, 2005)

Thanks ya all. I am learning. I had a feeling I would get a tweaking for my post. And I respect everthing you said.

I liked the illustration Rula about recreational drugs and how we don't know who and how many who wind up with problems...it is indeed a crap shoot. And we all of course tell everyone...everyone....to stay away from illegal drug use. And that is sound advice.

I want to say "ya but" here, but don't know if I dare. Allow me just one thought. At a time when I was having alot of stress along with everything else, I went in for a script from my doc (who was my prescriber for years)..He admitted denying me becasue of possible lawsuit, said he had to follow guidelines even though my xanax past was sound. So I went to another doctor who knew me and knew my propensity to use alcohol as medicine and his comment was "I would rather see you in a possible addiction to xanax than to have you rot your organs out with booze and whatever else might occur on the journey". So he offered me a full script and I said no..I only need a lighter dose and one refill.

I wonder how many people who start out on this journey of dp/dr/panic/anxiety/fear of flipping out/fear upon fear would have benefitted from a short term script that was witheld by their doc. Common knowledge here seems to say that the earlier the intervention of this the better ones prognosis is. The fears jsut seem to blow this out of the water and, as maybe in my case, possibly entrench it into chronicity...I do not know. I do know that an awful lot of folks find booze in a real hurry and begin a relationship with it that eventually will sneak up and bite em hard. Others are in such discomfort they even think of offing themselves. Others go to docs who will not allow them benzoes, but are quick to give them meds like powerful antipsychotics that many times jsut screw us up worse and the patient gives up. Or a trial and error that goes on for years of ssri's and seizure meds and it might fail and then one gives up. I know, all of the above has happened to me

I am sure you all have argued this whole thing into the ground before. And I know it is a risk issue. And I know many get burned. But it is a risk issue both ways, as I mentioned above. I wonder what I would do if I was a doc...this is a good question for me.

I will error on the side of caution and believe what the "anti's" are saying here, every word of it. But I guess I will still carry my little tin of xanax.


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## [rula] (Jan 16, 2005)

ok, temporarily switching sides from anti-benzos to anti-ignorant-doctors! 

yes, you are absolutely right, benzos CAN be very useful if given as last resort treatment, for the lack of a better option, and if doctors actually take the time to explain side effects, addiction likelyhood, yada yada...

but...doctors are prescribing them for anything from insomnia to a muscle cramp. they routinely ignore the guidlines for prescribing them too, 2-4 weeks ONLY.

I went in to see my GP complaining of "feeling lightheaded, almost like i'm high", i had no addictions, i wasn't suicidal or depressed. he could've maybe explained to me what anxiety/adrenaline rush is, maybe even handed me some litterature to read, but no, he only handed me my Xanax script. i had no prior history with anxiety or panic attacks, i understood nothing about what's happening to my body, but instead of him wasting 15 mins of his precious time explaining to me wassup (despite the fact that i waited for an 1 1/2 to see him), he needed to get me out the door and his next patient in ASAP. $$$

every other doctor i saw after that said to me "wow, Xanax was way too extreme for you". imho, it's doctors who are causing the real problem.

http://www.benzo.org.uk/sun1.htm

-ru


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## dakotajo (Aug 10, 2004)

Where I am from you have to doctor shop just to find a doctor ignorant enough to prescribe benzos long term. Ive talked with different doctors in the same hospital. One said benzos are bad news and the eventual outcome is always addiction. The other said I need benzos like a diabetic needs insulin. Its amazing now cause after my brain healed from the beating it took from benzos, I no longer need any pills. I function at 100% and Im completely drug free. It goes to show how unprofessional the psychiatric community really is.


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