Oxazepam withdrawal and Tapering

[Loughborough53]

The doctors are trying to taper me off benzodiazepine tablets and it is hell . I have been taking a low dose for twenty years and they have been very helpful in my debilitating anxiety, now they want me to take antidepressants instead . Starting withdrawal at the same time as starting a new drug is very very hard .

After twelve weeks I feel dreadful and wish I had never started this. I also now have to take propranolol as well.

Has anyone else experienced this . They say benzodiazepine are addictive. I hear it is just as bad coming off anti depressants!

The psychiatrist told me I might never be able to come off them….. I don’t mind if I don’t come off them as they help such a lot …..

[Capital50]

Hi I’m on venfarline for anxiety I only started 8 days ago it can make upset your tummy I’m on 37.5mg and make u tired .I have suffered with anxiety over the years not all the time. I not good with changes in my life. Are u working?

[DaveSpice]

It took me 12-18 months to get off 1mg and there is a tapering regime that works, but it is slow. There are a number of Youtube videos and i have been trying to find the one I used to no avail. Search "tapering off benzos"

For me I went from 1 to 1/2 a tablet on Mondays only, the following week I added Thursday to the reduction and each week I added another day to the reduction until by week 7, I was on 1/2 a tablet a day. Then 1/4 tablet on Mondays only and so on.

Now I said 18 months and that demonstrates how difficult it was for me on a tiny 1mg dose for 6 months. I would relapse when I found it impossible to sleep and even now occasional have a tablet to help me sleep, but never more than 1 on two consecutive days, just to be on the safe side. If I encountered a problem taking a forward step in the tapering process, I would go back a step or two.

For people on higher doses the initial drop is more difficult and as the tapering becomes habit forming, I am told it gets easier, so the opposite to me.

Be warned "cold turkey" can be dangerous, even fatal I have heard. So get onto Youtube and find one that works for you.

PS. When you are off them it is fantastic, but then I hate pharmacuticals. That said I keep a box in stock for emergency use, times of stress, sleep problems. When I take one tablet now I go out like a light.

PPS. I don't know what doseage you are one but make it easy for yourself, these evil damn things have a hold on you, so treat them with care, like training a wild dog. Use some CBT psychology techniques to help you in the struggle and you will get there.

[Loughborough53 in reply to DaveSpice]

Thank you for this Dave. I was on 10mg , sometimes more when I felt really awful. At first I did t realise what was wrong with me , feeling tight chested, nauseous, generally very unwell. Then I would take more oxazepam and it would all go away. I am currently , via a psychiatrist, taking 2.5ml diazepam in liquid form daily with a reduction due next week. It’s been twelve weeks . The psychiatrist has given it in liquid form to make it ‘better’. I hate this

[Loughborough53 in reply to Loughborough53]

The psychiatrist has said I might never be able to come off them. The thing is I never went to see him to come off these tablets , I just felt very unwell (not knowing it was because my body begged for more) I actually get on too well with this drug . It helps me sleep and nothing worries me and I feel so well and at peace . I was,thinking, we’ll it’s too late now inAM addicted, it seems. My husband suffers from gout , if he misses his meds he’s in a right mess . What’s the difference? Or is there a secret now with these benzodiazepine that we aren’t being told about …are they causing cancer or something. When this withdrawal is T its worst I am afraid I’ll be crying my eyes out saying I would sooner be dead than feel so Ill. Anyway I’m trying v hard . Thank you for listening and helping so much

[DaveSpice in reply to Loughborough53]

I hate to keep repeating myself of this forum but doctors are trained by an organisation which is heavily financed by Big Pharma. Big Pharma are interested in profits and nothing else,,,go and join the dots.

There is an extremly inteligent and famous guy called Jordan Peterson, often on Youtube and he was heavily hooked on Benzos, really high doses, his wife was very ill at the time and it helped him cope. So it can happen to the best of us. Anyway he was in dire straits, so his children dragged him off the St.Petersburg, yes Russia, where he was cured, so it can be done.

For the rest of us, tapering is the answer and getting off this "quick-fix" highly additive drug is crucial and learning to cope using psychology and therapy instead.

Quick fixes rarely have any long term benifits, but are usualy very damaging.

[Hidden]

I suppose this is what the doctors are doing now because of the opioid crisis and some people abuse benzos and take more pills than they should. I don’t understand why they are doing this to everyone. I have taken Ativan for awhile, just a very low dose twice a day, once in the afternoon around 3pm and then at night. I don’t take more than the recommended dose and it really helps me stay calm. They keep trying to pressure me to get off of it.

[Loughborough53 in reply to Hidden]

It is insane….I never abused them and the debilitating feelings I experience now is horrid, I would not on anyone .