Adventures with Benzodiazepines and SSRIs

[Darkside]

Concerning Benzodiazepine Withdrawal/usage...

I know the internet again can be a bad place and when you come across these crazy hyped up videos on YouTube and other websites... It's scary.

How much truth is there in Benzodiazepine Withdrawal? Now, obviously, some people are obviously just doing silly things like taking a large dose for years and not steadily coming off of it. But what about the other end of the scale of people who take them in low doses such as just 0.5mg a day? From what a read, Benzodiazepines should be used ideally for short term, like a month... In this case, could someone take 0.5mg a day for a month and then just stop and be fine or they'd still need to go down to 0.25mg a day for the short term?

I've personally started off on 0.25mg a day and even though it's only been 3 days taking it (Alprazolam) and a few days before that (Clonazepam, which was 0.5mg a day) (before they switched it), so 7 in total, so far roughly, the 0.25mg a day is not enough for the whole day. Just don't want to keep raising it though... Hope that the next psychiatrist visit will put me at 0.5mg and stay there. And hope that this will be a short term thing, like 4-5 weeks until I can get a bit more balanced out by my sessions with the psychologist also (even though it's still going to take another week pretty much until I get set up with one which sucks).

It sounds to me like you know what you should do. Take the benes until the SSRI kicks in and then stop. It may not be true for everyone, but from my experience long term use of benes was not good for me. I took klonopin for over 6 years as a treatment for nighttime leg jerking and anxiety. At the urging of a doctor friend I quit last June - slowly. (1 mg - .5 mg - .25 mg, then every other day, then stop) I feel better and sleep better than before. After so many years I believe the klonopin was actually making things worse.

Like you said, as a short term treatment it helps treat anxiety until the SSRI kicks in but beyond that I think it is risky.

 

[AmZ]

I take an SSRI and a mood stabiliser, in fact two but they don't work for my anxiety so I'm still taking Clonazepam (Benzo) as and when I need it. I try and keep my usage to a minimum however.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

It sounds to me like you know what you should do. Take the benes until the SSRI kicks in and then stop. It may not be true for everyone, but from my experience long term use of benes was not good for me. I took klonopin for over 6 years as a treatment for nighttime leg jerking and anxiety. At the urging of a doctor friend I quit last June - slowly. (1 mg - .5 mg - .25 mg, then every other day, then stop) I feel better and sleep better than before. After so many years I believe the klonopin was actually making things worse.

Like you said, as a short term treatment it helps treat anxiety until the SSRI kicks in but beyond that I think it is risky.

But that too is about you and your experience and would not necessarily apply to everyone. The number one guiding principle here is to follow the recommendations of your own doctors, who have your medical history and current symptoms to guide them. None of us has that information and we should not be second-guessing those who are actually treating the patient face-to-face.

 

[Darkside]

But that too is about you and your experience and would not necessarily apply to everyone. The number one guiding principle here is to follow the recommendations of your own doctors, who have your medical history and current symptoms to guide them. None of us has that information and we should not be second-guessing those who are actually treating the patient face-to-face.

Yes, this was my personal experience.