Best way to get off a benzodiazepine?

Medications
21

Awesome
Happy you were able to get off it
Was it difficult?

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22

First we tried to quit all in once and it got unbearable.

But tapering went relatively smoothly.

23

Yeah
Quitting it at once didn’t work for me either…even though I’m on a low dose

Alright my pdoc is working on several issues…but yeah he said to consider getting off the benzo too

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24

im pretty knowledgeable about stopping benzos even tho i quit cold turkey and went through a year of hell, 0.5mg clonazepam is equivalent to 10 mg valium, valium is the weakest and longest half life so is best benzo for tapering. clonazepam and alprazolam are the highest potency benzos and harder to taper as even the minimum dose is comparable to the maximum of other benzos and they have short acting effects

generally the. best way to avoid extreme withdrawal is to switch to the equivalent of the benzo to valium, then begin a microtaper which is reducing the dose very slowly by 5% each month and staying at a dose if symptoms arise, then begin reducing once symptoms are gone, it takes like sometimes up to a year to completely be off, but you will avoid the withdrawal symptoms and save yourself a lot of pain, and potential seizures or brain damage/death

the ashton manual explains in alot of information why benzos must be done this way and how to go about it

4 Likes
25

Awesome thanks so much for this :raised_hands:

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26

You ween off slowly with a doctor’s help. That’s it.

27

I did it in all the bad ways. Doc advised me to just stop benzo plus seroquel, whenever. Bam, first psychosis.

I’d recommend you discuss it. But trust your own body and mind over the doctor. And never go faster than it tells you. I’ve always been rushed off meds by docs. These people are clueless. Be mindful of your own responses.

28

I was just about to make a thread about going cold turkey on clonazapam yeah maybe it’s best too gradually go down

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29

Oh yes …
With Clonazepam especially and other benzodiazepines , do not do cold turkey. I tried it once and it was bad

30

Hello, i read that buspirone brand named buspar Can help of withdrawal benzodiazepines.