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people on pills (pg. 7)
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| Looney4Clooney |
you become dependent on them if you use them regularly. It has nothing to do with dosage. Your body quickly gets used to the dosage which is why ssri's are used in favour. It is inevitable. It is why anyone taking them and stops has the dosage tapered rather than stopped. Unless you are giving a few pills for isolated events which would not require daily use.
for someone in the pharmaceutical field , at least in your studies, you are rather clueless.
Regarding Benzo withdrawal, you can only go by anecdotal evidence as I don't know of any study that has compared opiate withdrawal compared to benzodiazepine. The general consensus is that it is longer, more mental, and according to some much harder and prolongated.
My own experience. Having gone thru every other medication for GAD including off label use of certain drugs that have worked very well for some including seroquel , neurontin or its newer version sold as lyrica, Having been on them for 6 years usually taking a break when i went home for the school holidays was about 1-2 weeks of being in a constant state of fight or flight, and just pain but not physical. You don't get physical symptoms like you do with opiates but your mind is put to the test and it is not fun.
I did it voluntarily just to cleanse my system for the new year and it isn't the way you would normally stop taking them but i was young and i wasn't worried about having a seizure which can happen. I also wasn't taking them recreationally but they are incredibly habit forming and should only be used 1-2 months periods. In my case, i had tried everything and it was the only thing that worked to make me functional. And yes, i exercised, didn't drink coffee, didn't drink , stretched and did yoga everyday. In the last few years, i've found ways to take breaks by cycling with other drugs that are effective for a few weeks and try to keep the dosage stable.
Like opiates. you can't take them intending to achieve a target without increasing the dosage. It is not possible. Your body will adapt and your dosage will need to be increased. |
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| Silky Johnson |
Yeah. She actually started off taking a totally different class of medication altogether - I believe it was Effexor. She had a hard time getting off that too. I think she ended up weaning herself off with the help of a naturopath (because her MD attempted to do it by giving her lorazepam instead, lol), but then because of her persistent anxiety issues had to go back on something, which the name escapes me now...and then finally ended up on clonazepam instead.
edit: lol sorry, my whole point was that it took her a long in time to get off any of that . It doesn't help that she makes really ty life decisions and creates undue stress for herself - but yeah, she got linked up with a therapist at the detox centre and is just fine without it. |
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| Silky Johnson |
| My bf's dog has to take clomipramine, lol. |
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| djnitride |
There are alot of "pill mill" type places near where I live where they hand out opiates and benzos like they are candy. All the kids like to take a bunch of xanax and go commit felonies, quite a few of my shady old associates pretty much ruined their lives going on xanax benders.
I wouldn't touch any of that crap with a 10 foot pole. It feels like whenever they were on it they didn't even have the loosest sense of right or wrong. |
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| srussell0018 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Looney4Clooney
you become dependent on them if you use them regularly. It has nothing to do with dosage. Your body quickly gets used to the dosage which is why ssri's are used in favour. It is inevitable. It is why anyone taking them and stops has the dosage tapered rather than stopped. Unless you are giving a few pills for isolated events which would not require daily use.
for someone in the pharmaceutical field , at least in your studies, you are rather clueless.
Regarding Benzo withdrawal, you can only go by anecdotal evidence as I don't know of any study that has compared opiate withdrawal compared to benzodiazepine. The general consensus is that it is longer, more mental, and according to some much harder and prolongated.
My own experience. Having gone thru every other medication for GAD including off label use of certain drugs that have worked very well for some including seroquel , neurontin or its newer version sold as lyrica, Having been on them for 6 years usually taking a break when i went home for the school holidays was about 1-2 weeks of being in a constant state of fight or flight, and just pain but not physical. You don't get physical symptoms like you do with opiates but your mind is put to the test and it is not fun.
I did it voluntarily just to cleanse my system for the new year and it isn't the way you would normally stop taking them but i was young and i wasn't worried about having a seizure which can happen. I also wasn't taking them recreationally but they are incredibly habit forming and should only be used 1-2 months periods. In my case, i had tried everything and it was the only thing that worked to make me functional. And yes, i exercised, didn't drink coffee, didn't drink , stretched and did yoga everyday. In the last few years, i've found ways to take breaks by cycling with other drugs that are effective for a few weeks and try to keep the dosage stable.
Like opiates. you can't take them intending to achieve a target without increasing the dosage. It is not possible. Your body will adapt and your dosage will need to be increased. |
No. I'm prescribed up to 3mg daily as needed of clonazepam for about 2 years now. I rarely take that much, but prolly take 1-2 mg about 5 days a week. I can go days or weeks without taking it without any withdrawal effects whatsoever. |
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| Alex |
| quote: | Originally posted by Silky Johnson
A friend of mine had to go to detox to get off clonazepam. The side effects were too much for her and she was super dependent on it. |
Damn, that sucks.
The one drug that I couldn't handle was that Haloperidol that they use to "calm" you down during a psychotic break. The way it makes you feel is absolute .
Edit: Yes I know Haldol isn't a benzo. :toothless |
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| Silky Johnson |
;)
Ahhh good old haldol. Dunno how we'd handle post op delerium without it, lol. We give it in small doses every 8 hours for 72 hours prophylactically to prevent it in patients identified at risk. Really does the trick! |
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| Alex |
| quote: | Originally posted by Silky Johnson
;)
Ahhh good old haldol. Dunno how we'd handle post op delerium without it, lol. We give it in small doses every 8 hours for 72 hours prophylactically to prevent it in patients identified at risk. Really does the trick! |
I'm not denying it's usefulness or effectiveness. I just hated it. |
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| Silky Johnson |
| I wasn't disagreeing...just adding in. :o |
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| Alex |
| quote: | Originally posted by Silky Johnson
I wasn't disagreeing...just adding in. :o |
Ahh.
I think it's one of the most effective "chemical" restraints. |
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| Silky Johnson |
| Oh yeah, especially in the elderly - many of the drugs typically used (like benzos) have the opposite effect. Makes some people go completely off their rocker. |
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| Looney4Clooney |
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
No. I'm prescribed up to 3mg daily as needed of clonazepam for about 2 years now. I rarely take that much, but prolly take 1-2 mg about 5 days a week. I can go days or weeks without taking it without any withdrawal effects whatsoever. |
Well you are clearly superman , not telling the entire story or in denial. It is tantamount to saying i can drink 20 litres of water and not need to pee for 7 days. The tolerance is not something your mind can control. Perhaps you don't need the medication and the withdrawal and subsequent rebound effect are not as pronounced or you mask it with alcohol. Either way, you are probably the only person on the planet that is immune to benzodiazepine tolerance and it either means you are from Krypton, are a wood elf or do not have the ability to adapt to incoming chemicals which a healthy person would and should probably get that checked out.
And 2 mg is quite a bit. 4 times the starting dosage. Unless you are just really fat or something. And you should know the half life of clonazapam having studied pharmacology and understand why you won't start feeling the withdrawal until about 2 days. It is one of the longer acting benzo which given that you don't take them on a regular basis rather prn is kinda the wrong medication to be on. But whatever. |
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