Diazepam and zoplicone withdrawal

[Hemps]

Hi I am trying to withdraw from diazepam and zoplicone Been taking them for over a year. If I drop half a tablet I notice within a couple of days I start to feel really anxious, tired, headaches. I am hoping this is just a result of withdrawal. I am going to try and drop just quarter but feels like it is going to take forever. The doctor won't give me more than 28 tablets at a time, so it is getting really expensive. At present I take 2 x 2mg tables and one half of diazepam a day and one zoplicone a day.

I was swapped to Exffexor 8 weeks ago. I think I am feeling better. This being the 3rd antidepressant in a year. Just sick of struggling.

I haven't even started trying to withdraw from zoplicone yet. Doctor reckons that won't be as hard.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I would love to hear some success stories of getting off these drugs. I only hear all the negative stuff!

[SADnomore]

Hi, there! I successfully withdrew from benzodiazapenes after having been on them for many years, it can be done! The most important thing to understand is that your mind as well as your body have become dependent on the diazepam, if you've been taking the tablets continuously for a year. The diazepam will leave your system and that will in turn make you feel increased anxiety, have headaches and so on, it has to be expected. The slower the dose reduction, the less strongly the anxiety will peak. Headaches and body aches and restlessness are all part of withdrawal, but so are mental impulses to revert to a higher dose, or even to give up the withdrawal altogether. Your brain will try to tell you you can't cope, or you are physically too unwell to continue, all sorts of stuff. This is the mental dependency talking. This is often tougher than the physical dependency to overcome, but of course you can do it, despite how stridently it's going to tell you otherwise! CBT can teach you some thoughts and actions to effectively counteract the negative thoughts and feelings you will have. Go ahead and say them out loud, it'll help!

There are a few different strategies for withdrawal for you to consider. If you decide on slow titration, then it is recommended to consider dose reductions two weeks apart if possible. It is suggested that the dose reductions as you begin taking the smallest amount of the drug, are kept even smaller than at the start of withdrawal, so that at the end there isn't a sudden drop. Some people have taken up to a year to withdraw from benzodiazapenes. It sounds like you don't have that kind of time. In which case, you can titrate down more rapidly but your withdrawal symptoms will be more intense but over with all the faster. It's great that you have been on Effexor now for some time and it's working, and you can also consider asking your doctor about a beta blocker against physical symptoms, but I didn't have access to these and made it through okay. You should be okay to take headache tablets and teas like chamomile, but check with your doctor.

It is also a big help that you won't be trying to withdraw from zopiclone at the same time, because you will want and need to sleep I started on Effexor 12 weeks ago and have just been prescribed Wellbutrin now as well. I asked the doctor about taking mirtazapine, which is another antidepressant instead and withdrawing from zopiclone (which I started taking a number of years ago), but he felt that Wellbutrin is better for my case, and is okay with me continuing on zopiclone. I am on the lowest therapeutic dose of Effexor and now also Wellbutrin. I take the 7.5 mg tablet of zopiclone, never more than one. I figure on being on the antidepressants for years to come, but would like to look at coming off the zopiclone finally.

On this forum you can read lots of posts about mirtazapine, the good, the bad, and the ugly, lol! Different drugs effect people differently, and mirtazapine is no exception. For some it has caused weight gain, others not. For lots of people it has helped them sleep and after the initial full-time drowsiness side effect is gone (a couple of weeks, usually, but there may be other side effects as well) then they can function fine during the day and still get a full night's sleep. There are a number of people on the forum who are taking a combination of Effexor (aka venlaxafine) and mirtazapine. Myself and another lady talked about coming off of zopiclone while going onto mirtazapine, and she posted a helpful schedule of how she did it quite painlessly. For at least 12 years after withdrawal from benzodiazapenes, I managed without a sleep aid at all. It is do-able!

Good luck, and forewarned is forearmed I say! Expect that from time to time you will start to rethink the withdrawal from diazepam or think "I'll just go back up for a couple of days", but this is counterproductive to getting off it for good, and would only strengthen the dependency. Fight back! You can do this! As for the zopiclone, when you are ready, the strategies are the same, and you can expect a good deal of sleeplessness in coming off of it if you aren't taking something else instead. You will sleep again, and if you once had good sleep patterns, you will have again, eventually. Meanwhile, a short course of beta blockers may help with the jitters, you could ask your doctor.

Take care!
Marie

[Phill2]

I was put on Lexapro and diazepam 10 yrs ago
I went cold turkey on the Lexapro 5 yrs ago but stayed on the Diazepam.
Been taking 2 x 5mg / day for 10 yrs now and don't see any reason to give up.
Just my thoughts

[yenool]

I was put on Lexapro and diazepam 10 yrs ago
I went cold turkey on the Lexapro 5 yrs ago but stayed on the Diazepam.
Been taking 2 x 5mg / day for 10 yrs now and don't see any reason to give up.
Just my thoughts

People talk about dependence, tolerance and addiction to Diazepam a lot.

I'm just wondering if after so many years on it, does the anxiety calming effects of the medication still work as well for you? Have you ever had to increase the dose to get the same effect?

[SarahH]

Look up the Ashton Manual for a programme of withdrawal. My GP was happy to follow it. Professor Ashton is a lecturer in medicine at Newcastle University.... and actually was my GP's Professor

sarah

[Phill2]

People talk about dependence, tolerance and addiction to Diazepam a lot.

I'm just wondering if after so many years on it, does the anxiety calming effects of the medication still work as well for you? Have you ever had to increase the dose to get the same effect?

No never increased it.It was still great after 5 years
Things changed and I gave it up 5 yrs ago
The gradual withdrawal thing didn't work for me (too long) so I just went cold turkey
Suffered head zaps for a couple of weeks then all good ever since

---------- Post added at 18:24 ---------- Previous post was at 18:21 ----------

Look up the Ashton Manual for a programme of withdrawal. My GP was happy to follow it. Professor Ashton is a lecturer in medicine at Newcastle University.... and actually was my GP's Professor

sarah

It's OK for all these doctors and professors to give advice but unless they've been a sufferer themselves they have no idea of what we go through.
I was lucky in that my GP at the time had suffered both anxiety and depression so she knew what she was talking about

[yenool]

No never increased it.It was still great after 5 years
Things changed and I gave it up 5 yrs ago
The gradual withdrawal thing didn't work for me (too long) so I just went cold turkey
Suffered head zaps for a couple of weeks then all good ever since[COLOR="blue"]

I'm a bit confused, did you stop the diazepam cold turkey after 10 years? If so that sounds a bit hardcore and potentially dangerous.

If you are talking about the lexapro I can understand though.... the brain zaps when you stop those type of SSRI antidepressants are nasty, but I never had the patience to slow taper with them either.

I've been using Lorazepam (similar to diazepam) for about 6 months now and my main concern is that I will get tolerant to the ant-anxiety effect, although it hasn't happened yet.

[Phill2]

I gave up the Lexapro
I'm still taking the diazepam 5mg/day and in spite of everything you hear about tolerance and addiction I have never increased the dose and it still works.
After all this time at such a low dose I'll admit the effects are probably more psychological than physical but it works so I'll keep it up.

[Hemps]

I really hate it that I have become reliant on these drugs. I never really wanted to take them in the first place, but the antidepressants make so anxious when I start them I can't cope.

I have gone back up to the half the diazepam I dropped and will then try dropping them by quarter of a tab again in a weeks time hopefully if I feel better. But at the moment I feel really upset that it is so hard to get off these things, considering my doctor says I am on a low dose.

With all these things I take I feel like a walking pharmacy. I hate anxiety and hate the fact I have to take drugs to help it. I do have counselling, but I feel it dosen't really do much.

I just can't stop worrying about how I am feeling. Weekends seem to be the worst.

[Phill2]

I know how you feel.
Believe it or not what made the biggest change for me was taking a high stress 7 day a week job.
Idle time is the enemy cause it gives the mind time to think.