How do i wake up early on benzo?

Medications
#1

I take my benzo(clobazam) for anxiety/jerks. Its working great but I’m sleeping 17-18hours/day on it.

I take it all(12.5mg) at bedtime at around 9-15pm and wake up at 2-30pm

Should i try divided dose of my benzo ? Alarm is not working, when the sound comes, I just switch off the alarm and go back to sleep again. Also reducing dose is not helpful cuz i get anxiety attacks and crying spells.

Any suggestions u guys have ?

1 Like
#2

Always found benzo’s good for getting me to sleep but not for long hours. They are curious things though and you may be more susceptible to them. I’d try titrating down. Take a little less and see how you go. For me the best results for sleep I got from just doing regular exercise…I’ve moved from sleeping 10 hours a day to 8 or less. Just exercise.

I gave up benzo’s years ago after having a gran mal from stopping xanax abruptly. That wasn’t fun and I found other methods for dealing with anxiety and I think my sleep improved more from regular exercise!

#3

So if you don’t take the benzo you wake up when?

#4

maybe between 8-10am

#5

According to Google clobazam has a half life of 18 hours so it makes sense to me that you would be knocked out for 18 hours. I looked at some common other benzos and found that Xanax has a half life of only 11 hours. That was the lowest I could find. Why don’t you ask your pdoc to switch to Xanax at least you would be getting 7 hours back. That’s worth changing for.

#6

Take 12 hours before you want to wake up. This should give it plenty of time to get out of your system. If you are still sleepy, this is something I believed called the benzo hangover effect and some benzos cause it worse than others, it’s based on how long or short acting they are. If you go on a long acting one such as ativan, you will be less likely to experience this hangover.

#7

I have tried all other benzo, and only clobazam is tolerable

  1. Alprazolam 0.25 → worsening anxiety/psychosis
  2. Alprazolam 0.5 SR + clobazam 15mg → Bed wetting
  3. Clobazam 12.5mg(taking since 2.5 years) → Works great for anxiety/jerks but sedation problems and severe cognitive decline(memory problems) from 10mg and above
  4. Clonazepam 0.25mg(Took just 1 dose) + clobazam 10mg → crying spells
  5. Clonazepam 0.75mg → very sedated till afternoon, brain slow down, cognitive impairment, did not work for twitches at this dose, worsening hypotension
  6. Diazepam 2.5mg + clobazam 10mg → bed wetting
  7. Lorazepam 0.5mg + clobazam 10mg - worsening anxiety/psychosis, crying spells, feeling sleepy in afternoon
#8

Maybe it’s time to get off the benzos altogether and try some Vistaril instead.

#9

I have tried vistaril for other reasons but it caused increased appetite and carb cravings and i did not had any benefit on it.

Here’s list of meds i have tried

https://www.crazyboards.org/profile/40990-clinic/?tab=field_core_pfield_13

#10

I think its literally impossible.

Unless you’ve built up a good tolerance to it.

Waking up from a benzo is like waking up from a night of heavy drinking, BUT it doesnt feel that way when you take it.

I think a benzo really helps you dive into a good, deep REM sleep.