Benzos Benzo wd right after sub wds and could use some help

[Bad Obsession]

Searching for sides can definitely be problematic. Dr. Google always seems to lead back to something chronic or terminal and your mind can definitely play tricks on you.
I wish I could say the side effects I developed from taking xanax was all in my head, but the stuff I've been experiencing is most definitely not fiction.

On the positive side, I am feeling way better today comparably speaking, and it truly feels as if the healing process has begun.
Definitely not to my destination yet, but at least now I feel I'm headed in the right direction.

I've had a few small conditions improve in the last few weeks.
I won't list them all for the sake of brevity, but for one minor example my skin is back fully hydrated/oiled. I have never had an issue with dry skin/scalp. Pretty much total opposite as far back as I can remember. Xanax definitely screws with the endocrine system. I definitely have had Androgen deficiency, which thankfully seems to be fixing itself.

Still having typical anxiety in the A.M., but the psychosis has lessened tremendously.
I believe I am exiting the acute phase of benzo wd.
I tapered to 150 mg of gabapentin today. I didn't really feel any noticeable effects from that dosage, so if I probably hold there for a day or to and make one last cut to 50 before stepping off it.

But enough about the retarded suffering I brought upon myself



That's no small feat. Usually once I've been strong enough to tell the pushy dope man no thanks I knew I was ready to quit. Even though you tell them you're done they always going to call to "make sure you ok/don't need anything".
Sucks when they do it a few hours into detox because that's when personally I am at my most vulnerable. If I make it a day or so I generally never wanted to waste that suffering.




You seem very similar to me in that regards. Definitely a mind over matter thing.
Don't get me wrong, it's definitely not all mental, but usually if the mind is truly willing then the body will follow.

Good luck with both your detoxes. Tapering the benzos is definitely the way to go, and I don't believe you'll have much trouble with less than a week binger on the H.
I wouldn't take it too much further, tho. H wds tend to compound by the day and then it's generally worse after a couple weeks.
That's my experience anyways.

All the best and has been great chatting with you over the last week. I'm not sure if this thread ever ends up helping anyone else, but if nothing else it has for sure helped me.

Glad to hear ur feeling a bit better as the days go on.... like I said remember this time so it acts as a deterrent if ur ever tempted again. Yeah my dealer has all his customers in a group on his fone so he sends the same msg to all of em saying he's on for anybody needing anything. Got another one very early this morn but ain't been tempted to go see him. It helps that he's a 20 min drive away, if he was just round the corner then it'd be easier to cave in. Keep on keeping on buddy, sounds like ya got this

 

[OCD2DOC]

Glad to hear ur feeling a bit better as the days go on.... like I said remember this time so it acts as a deterrent if ur ever tempted again. Yeah my dealer has all his customers in a group on his fone so he sends the same msg to all of em saying he's on for anybody needing anything. Got another one very early this morn but ain't been tempted to go see him. It helps that he's a 20 min drive away, if he was just round the corner then it'd be easier to cave in. Keep on keeping on buddy, sounds like ya got this

Buddy, I think this last wd is going to permanently be burnt into my psyche.
Like I said, I haven't been having fun/feeling good taking anything in a long time anyways.
If I can get some energy reserves back I believe I'm going to live

I don't know if you have access to Kratom, but it really helped cushion this last sub wds for me.
First time I ever took it. Not really my cup of bitter tea, but it got the job done.
I took it for like 3 days or so.
I guess the DHC probably works the same way, but I never really used them.
I did try some cold water extraction before, but damn that's a lot of work, IMO.
If you used it before I'm sure you know what your doing.
Sincere best of luck to you.....

 

[Nas47]

Hard times for yu bro.heart.wish you luck and recovery

 

[OCD2DOC]

Hard times for yu bro.heart.wish you luck and recovery

Thx for reply.
Hard times indeed.
PAWS kicking in today. Woke up about 3 a.m. to about 3 hours of restless legs and medium psychosis. The derealization is pretty tricky to deal with. It feels like what I imagine shell shock feels like. Just sitting there staring off into space and feeling like I about to get the shakes. Thankfully, not doing much actual shaking. I'm doing more rocking to try to combat the restless leg/ humming vagus nerve.
Definitely not as bad/intense as first few days, but more or less still debilitating.


I took about 100 mg of gabapentin but haven't felt much relief.
I may have to up the dose just a hair. I'm trying to take as sparingly as possible as not to get myself a new habit. I have no idea how long it takes to form a dependency on the gaba.

I see my psychiatrist tomorrow. Don't know what actual help she'll be as I'm not willing to go back on benzos at this time. I'm getting some relief from the sides I had while taking xanax, so at this point it's the lesser of evils.
I solider on tho.....8)

 

[Nas47]

It's a better to quitt one substance than two.If you are hooked on bupr and benzo better quitt one of the two first....than after some period can try to quitt the other.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Buddy, I think this last wd is going to permanently be burnt into my psyche.
Like I said, I haven't been having fun/feeling good taking anything in a long time anyways.
If I can get some energy reserves back I believe I'm going to live

I don't know if you have access to Kratom, but it really helped cushion this last sub wds for me.
First time I ever took it. Not really my cup of bitter tea, but it got the job done.
I took it for like 3 days or so.
I guess the DHC probably works the same way, but I never really used them.
I did try some cold water extraction before, but damn that's a lot of work, IMO.
If you used it before I'm sure you know what your doing.
Sincere best of luck to you.....

Thanks man, yeah dhc has no paracetamol / acetaminophen in it so no CWE involved thankfully. U sound as tho ya got a positive mindset towards ur recovery which is a big part of it ime. Wish ya the best of luck too pal

 

[Bad Obsession]

Thx for reply.
Hard times indeed.
PAWS kicking in today. Woke up about 3 a.m. to about 3 hours of restless legs and medium psychosis. The derealization is pretty tricky to deal with. It feels like what I imagine shell shock feels like. Just sitting there staring off into space and feeling like I about to get the shakes. Thankfully, not doing much actual shaking. I'm doing more rocking to try to combat the restless leg/ humming vagus nerve.
Definitely not as bad/intense as first few days, but more or less still debilitating.


I took about 100 mg of gabapentin but haven't felt much relief.
I may have to up the dose just a hair. I'm trying to take as sparingly as possible as not to get myself a new habit. I have no idea how long it takes to form a dependency on the gaba.

I see my psychiatrist tomorrow. Don't know what actual help she'll be as I'm not willing to go back on benzos at this time. I'm getting some relief from the sides I had while taking xanax, so at this point it's the lesser of evils.
I solider on tho.....8)

Keep on keeping on buddy

 

[OCD2DOC]

It's a better to quitt one substance than two.If you are hooked on bupr and benzo better quitt one of the two first....than after some period can try to quitt the other.

I kinda did. I waited until the lions share of the sub wds were gone to jump off the xanax.
I did start to taper the xanax at the beginning of the suboxone jump, but it was more out of necessity than anything. The xanax was knocking me out for like half hour or so, and I was waking up feeling twice as bad as before I passed out.

I agree tho in a perfect world you want to do one before the other.
If you could detox of the benzo completely before you do your sub wd that would probably be ideal ( ha, ideally you never want to mix the two, kids). I'm just not sure how feasible that would have been for me because 100% the 2 drugs were synergizing in me. I was an utter wreck just taking suboxone without my xanax.
As I was saying earlier these wds have sucked for sure but the combination of the two still has yet to top my cold turkey wd of just methadone.

 

[OCD2DOC]

Thanks man, yeah dhc has no paracetamol / acetaminophen in it so no CWE involved thankfully. U sound as tho ya got a positive mindset towards ur recovery which is a big part of it ime. Wish ya the best of luck too pal

Yeah, mentally I'm more stubborn than anything, but any edge you can leverage when detoxing the better. I'm feeling better as the afternoon approaches and a long hot shower.
I think that little bit of gaba I took is finally taking a small effect.

Thanks for the encouragement, my friend. I wish you best of luck on your taper.
Your smarter than me kicking that opiate first and weaning down with valium.
I just really didn't do my homework before I stared this last detox.

Like I been saying, I honestly didn't expect to do a benzo taper.
I had planed on doing a water titration for the xanax, but now that I know about how ridiculously short the half life of xanax is in regards I'm not too sure how fun that would have been.
I'm sure some supplemental gaba during the process would makes things a lot easier as far as weaning down.
There is definitely a better way to do benzo wd than the way I approached it.
Maybe I can serve as a benzo wd cautionary tale
Or prehaps some poor soul comes along in my shoes and they find the some gabapentin and ride the wds out.
Best luck to ya. Thanks again for the encouragement.

 

[OCD2DOC]

What a difference a day makes. 24 hours little hours as the old song goes.
Got a full night's sleep (7 hours or so), and when I woke up today I noticed a nice improvement from yesterday. After a long hot shower, I feel pretty good.

No restless legs, tinnitus was barely present, agitation and light sensitivity was gone, and most notable the psychosis is barely noticeable at this point.
What I was hoping seems to be the case. I believe I experienced a little rebound from cutting the gabapentin. I only took 100mg yesterday and never really noticed any effects from it, so I'll probably not take any today.

Just giving an update for any following and for anyone reading in the future.
2 week fast taper and 7days since abstinence from the xanax, and I feel I am going to make it.
I'm sure I'm going to have some PAWS, but as long as I can get some breaks in between any potential waves I believe I can maintain.

Going to psychiatrist today, but I don't expect much support.
I''m starting to realize that the place I go to is basically akin to the pill mills of the oxy Florida days.
I got more support from counselors at the methadone clinic I went to in the past.
All good tho, I never expected more from them than the benzos.

 

[Nas47]

It's great to wean off such addiction from xanax.Congrats!That's the way!

 

[OCD2DOC]

All apologies, missed a day there. Been trying to stay busy, but I do want to document these first couple weeks of wd.

Going on 10 days since I stopped the xanax, and feels like protracted wds have kicked in.
That or I'm at the tale end of the acute wds and they are making their final stand, not sure which tbo. I am sure that benzos don't want to let go once they get their hooks in you.8)
I am metally prepared for this to take a few months, tho.
I'm not under any delusions recovery will be quick.

As far as the symptoms, they are mostly confined to the a.m.
I for sure seem to get better as the day goes.

That being said, the mornings are pretty rough. It takes me 3-5 hours to be able to function.
I go from the bed, to the couch, to the shower. From there I kinda get my legs under me (physically and mentally). This can take a few hours, tho.

Symptoms are mild to strong psychosis in mornings, next level fatigue early and before bed, tinnitus ( mostly in first half of day), and nausea in the a.m ( feels like what I imagine morning sickness feels like). Neck stiffness and headache can appear at pretty much anytime but has necessarily been a constant.

Looking back since I made my last cut tapering, I have almost without fail have had a good day followed by a bad day. Today is par to that as I feel ok after about 2 hours awake
( yesterday was a bad day).
I was able to get like 9+ hours sleep last night, so I was very grateful for that.
It wasn't uninterrupted, but I'll take it.

The extra sleep was probably due to the fact about 3 a.m. I took about 150 mg of gabapentin. I went 48 hours without, and I woke up with stiff neck and headache along with general 'benzo flu'; so I decided to give myself a little break. Definitely helped me sleep, but woke up to being spaced out with my head ringing. For sure has improved in the last couple hours.

I saw my psychiatrist day before yesterday, and the visit went basically as I expected .
No new meds prescribed, but I was offered a SSRI/serotonin agonist combo. Can't remember the name but started with a V.
My doc was partly encouraging, and partly letting me know the xanax is there if I need it .
I know taking it would solve the problems I have temporarily, but I know long term
taking xanax is not even an option for me. Not even a possibility in my mind at this point.

I have another Dr. appointment today, so that should keep me occupied.
I will try to update in another day or two.

 

[Nas47]

Headaches and neck stifness are present very often,when i quit valium.Insomnia is terrible too,but psychosis are very hard to battle.This ad with V probably is venlafaxine?Hope that this resolve more quickly,than you think.Never been hooked on xanax,but is short acting....so acute symptoms are maybe in their final stage.Keep on the fight!Hats off!

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

There's a chemical in chamomile tea that binds to gaba receptors I believe & can help withdrawal, but you have to drink excessive amounts of it.


A few beers can also help mitigate benzo withdrawal (or make it worse, depending on how much you drink).

 

[OCD2DOC]

Headaches and neck stifness are present very often,when i quit valium.Insomnia is terrible too,but psychosis are very hard to battle.This ad with V probably is venlafaxine?Hope that this resolve more quickly,than you think.Never been hooked on xanax,but is short acting....so acute symptoms are maybe in their final stage.Keep on the fight!Hats off!

I believe I am probably still experiencing the intiial wd, and hopefully it fades to just waves here and there over the next couple weeks.
From what I read when you come off the valium taper you can have very similar symptoms, so all in all I am satisfied with how things are going thus far.

It really is quite a stark difference between the days and times I feel ok and the days when the waves of wds seem to last most the day. As I was saying, it has literally been feel halfway decent one day and like I got hit with mack truck the next.
Very odd, but all things considered I'm very thankful to get these windows of relief.

Thx for the the reply/support

 

[OCD2DOC]

There's a chemical in chamomile tea that binds to gaba receptors I believe & can help withdrawal, but you have to drink excessive amounts of it.


A few beers can also help mitigate benzo withdrawal (or make it worse, depending on how much you drink).

I actually planned on stopping at a nutrition/supplement store today while I am up in the city. I meant to stop the other day, but forgot.

I will look for the tea. I have drank it before.
I also have a few things in mind I believe may help.
I'll just have to see what they have at the place I go.
I may have to order offline. I am little leary about ordering online tho as you never know what you might get from some of these vendors.

I will probably just get some things that will aid my brain/nervous system in rebuilding.
Essential vitamins /amino acids and what not.

Appreciate the suggestion

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

I actually planned on stopping at a nutrition/supplement store today while I am up in the city. I meant to stop the other day, but forgot.

I will look for the tea. I have drank it before.
I also have a few things in mind I believe may help.
I'll just have to see what they have at the place I go.
I may have to order offline. I am little leary about ordering online tho as you never know what you might get from some of these vendors.

I will probably just get some things that will aid my brain/nervous system in rebuilding.
Essential vitamins /amino acids and what not.

Appreciate the suggestion

No problem!

I have helped a handful of people in benzo withdrawal by recommending high dose chamomile or having a few beers. It can really take the edge off.

If you're going to a supplement store, you can even look for Apigenin. Which is the main thing in chamomile that works on benzo receptors.
I've never taken the supplement before, but it might be an easier route if you don't want to have to drink a strong tea.

Otherwise, normal chamomile tea bags at any store will usually do. To really get any kind of relief you will have to go with a lot of tea though, like multiple tea bags.
Chamomile over all is quite safe, unless you're allergic to it.

There's also valerian root which has been shown to work on benzo receptors. It's incredibly mild, even in high doses, but a combo of valerian & chamomile might do wonders in withdrawal, maybe even put you to sleep. Hopefully you find something that helps!

Even though both act on benzo receptors, they are not addictive/dependence forming that I'm aware of.
There is also kava kava, which is much stronger than either valerian or chamomile, but probably not the best route to take if you're looking to avoid drugs altogether.
Cheers!

 

[Nas47]

I believe I am probably still experiencing the intiial wd, and hopefully it fades to just waves here and there over the next couple weeks.
From what I read when you come of the valium taper you can have very similar symptoms, so all in all I am satisfied with how things are going thus far.

It really is quite a stark difference between the days and times I feel ok and the days when the waves of wds seem to last most the day. As I was saying, it has literally been feel halfway decent one day and like I got hit with mack truck the next.
Very odd, but all things considered I'm very thankful to get these windows of relief.

Thx for the the reply/support

Ye..benzo withdrawl is weird....and it comes in waves-that is true

 

[Nas47]

Thx for reply.
Hard times indeed.
PAWS kicking in today. Woke up about 3 a.m. to about 3 hours of restless legs and medium psychosis. The derealization is pretty tricky to deal with. It feels like what I imagine shell shock feels like. Just sitting there staring off into space and feeling like I about to get the shakes. Thankfully, not doing much actual shaking. I'm doing more rocking to try to combat the restless leg/ humming vagus nerve.
Definitely not as bad/intense as first few days, but more or less still debilitating.


I took about 100 mg of gabapentin but haven't felt much relief.
I may have to up the dose just a hair. I'm trying to take as sparingly as possible as not to get myself a new habit. I have no idea how long it takes to form a dependency on the gaba.

I see my psychiatrist tomorrow. Don't know what actual help she'll be as I'm not willing to go back on benzos at this time. I'm getting some relief from the sides I had while taking xanax, so at this point it's the lesser of evils.
I solider on tho.....8)

I have taken pregabalin for a month in daily dose of 200mg,when quitting valium.Succeed than to quit benzo and after stopping to take pregabaline feel absolutely no withdrawl

 

[Conky]

No problem!

I have helped a handful of people in benzo withdrawal by recommending high dose chamomile or having a few beers. It can really take the edge off.

If you're going to a supplement store, you can even look for Apigenin. Which is the main thing in chamomile that works on benzo receptors.
I've never taken the supplement before, but it might be an easier route if you don't want to have to drink a strong tea.

Otherwise, normal chamomile tea bags at any store will usually do. To really get any kind of relief you will have to go with a lot of tea though, like multiple tea bags.
Chamomile over all is quite safe, unless you're allergic to it.

There's also valerian root which has been shown to work on benzo receptors. It's incredibly mild, even in high doses, but a combo of valerian & chamomile might do wonders in withdrawal, maybe even put you to sleep. Hopefully you find something that helps!

Even though both act on benzo receptors, they are not addictive/dependence forming that I'm aware of.
There is also kava kava, which is much stronger than either valerian or chamomile, but probably not the best route to take if you're looking to avoid drugs altogether.
Cheers!

No tea will make you sleep during BZD withdrawal

Kava kava won't either but it will make you less of a basket case

Only thing that got me to sleep was...yep...benzos and possibly a FAT fucking shot of Haloperidol...