I am trying (really hard) to wean myself off of benzos. I’ll be honest: my pdoc doesn’t know I’m doing it. She’s never pushed them or questioned why I need refills so rarely (I don’t take them 3x/day as prescribed), so I don’t think she’d mind, and I’ll bring it up with her at my February appointment. In the meantime, I’m down to taking only 25% of what I had been. I’m pretty pleased with myself. I don’t know if I’ll be able to go lower than that (that’s half a tablet at bedtime) because that quiets my racing thoughts long enough for me to go to sleep, but at least it’s less! No ill effects thus far.
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That’s incredible. Good job. You’ve been doing a lot better since you switched ads haven’t you? You’re taking Prozac now? You’ll feel more energetic without the sedation of the benzos, I’m sure. Sometimes I wish I had an Ativan but overall I think I do better without because it started to cause memory problems. And I was up tp 2mgs.
Yeah, Prozac seems to really be helping. 
My pdoc had me on 10mg 3x/day of diazepam. That’s a lot! I don’t mind having that kind of dose on an airplane ride, but otherwise, I just don’t need it. So now, I’m down to 5mg at night. I’d like to see about getting 5mg pills, and cutting those in half so that I’m only on 2.5mg at night. That way, I still have 5mg pills for major events like going into the city, but I still have the ability the halve them.
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That’s excellent. I really applaud you.
I have cut down my lorazepam to what it is actually supposed to be - as needed. I haven’t taken any since last week when I was only taking one 0.5 mg a day. I get prescriptions for 3x a day but I think my doctor is going to take me off or at least cut my dosages soon, she acted a bit concerned but I was just thinking ‘why be concerned 2 years later’ ha.
I do want to see if my memory improves, I have a feeling schizophrenia and not benzos is responsible for my memory problems though.
I quit clonazepam 0.5 a day. I found it really difficult to quit. I use L-theanine and Broccoli sprout extract as a substitute now.
Good luck with cutting down on them.
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I take benzos only when I have an episode
I replaced my benzo (ativan) for CBD, mostly. The only time I take ativan is if I’m driving somewhere I’m unfamiliar with. But the CBD has really helped, so much so that I don’t need a benzo. It works that well for me. My pdoc is fine with me taking CBD in place of ativan.
When I take benzos, I can’t speak or walk properly. It’s like weed, as if being high etc. I don’t enjoy it
ive been off clonazepam a while now, didnt taper and had some pretty bad withdrawal and then a month later once i was far out of acute withdrawal i started taking it again for a few days because of anxiety. since then ive been off now for 33 days and i plan on not having to take it again. dont try to drop the dose too quick, diazepam is the best to taper with because it has a very long half life but some people take months or even years to taper depending on how long they’ve been on them and how high of a dose
Thank you for the advice. I will certainly keep that in mind. I don’t want bad withdrawal symptoms, that’s for sure.
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When I was on 5mg I reduced by 0.5 every 3-4 weeks
This was the only way I could do it without cravings
Advise slow as you can
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