L-theanine today instead of benzo!

Medications
21

Anxiety. Although it seems to be getting easier. I have anxiety caused by abilify, but I wonder how much was caused by benzo withdrawal.

I’ve switched the time of day I take abilify to the morning from at night and that made things easier yesterday.

But 300mg of l-theanine in the morning is doing the trick. I aslo take 300mg in the evening, but will drop this to 200mg in the evening soon probably as it feels just a little bit too much.

But it’s going on day 6 without a benzo and it’s getting easier not more difficult.

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22

This is where I get mine

http://m.iherb.com/Now-Foods-L-Theanine-100-mg-90-Veggie-Caps/853

23

My one week anniversary of being off benzos. I’m getting cocky about it now. I don’t miss/need benzos at all with L-theanine.

The only possible fly in the ointment is if I start to become tolerant to l-theanine.

300mg in the morning does the trick for most of the day. I’ll drop the evening dose to 200mg tonight and report back.

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24

Still having success with l-theanine. I’ve only taken 1 benzo in 16 days, and that only because I took a bcomplex which seemed to interact with abilify and caused a little bit of chest pressure.

I take 300mg in the morning, 300mg in the evening. And on a rare occasion I’ve taken 200mg just before sleep.

The effect of l-theanine isn’t as ‘heavy’ as it was when I first started taking it. I hope I’m not becoming tolerant to it.

25

If you succeed in about a month, I’ll make the switch, I relly a lot on benzos and would like not too. I suffer a lot with anxiety and if l-theanine helps, I’ll try it. Did you had troubles sleeping before?

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26

No, never had any trouble sleeping, while on abilify. But I did need to take an extra 200mg before sleep a few times which I just put down to benzo withdrawal. Just to calm my mind.

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27

Yeah, I have a lot of troubles falling asleep because of my anxiety, heart races, mind doesn’t stop thinking obsessive thoughts, I usually take half a benzo (2.5mg) before going to bed and it helps me. But I’m becoming addicted to it, can’t really fall asleep without it, starting to get me worried. Will discuss it with my pdoc on my next appointment.

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28

Lots of people also use Gabapentin for this - helping them relax so that they can sleep (and Gabapentin doesn’t have the addiction problem). You might talk to your doctor about it:

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29

Ah cool. Thanks for the info. Will talk to him about it.

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29 days and only 3 benzos. I think I’m becoming tolerant to l-theanine. Possibly. It’s weird, I feel it’s getting rid of my anxiety and I feel no need to take benzos, but it certainly doesn’t feel as heavy as it did in the beginning.

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31

Maybe you just got used to the feeling, that’s a possibility. Becoming tolerant in such a short time, I don’t know.

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32

hey hope you are really benefited by L-theanine. I am thinking of buying it .b.in our country they have different name like green tea or organic tea.I don’t know they work like L-theanine. let’s see…

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33

When do you take the L-theanine, and how much?

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300mg in the morning, then 300mg at about 4:30pm.

400mg causes mega depression, 200mg doesn’t seem enough, 300mg is just right.

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35

Just to let everyone know, this went horribly wrong. I started getting severe benzo withdrawals, like mania and anger.

I’ll have to talk to my psychiatrist about coming off benzos safely.

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36

Good luck, I started by giving up cold turkey too and felt terrible. I’m taking quarters of the pill now.

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37

Very sorry I didn’t see this thread at the time and send you this:

As noted in these articles, one needs to withdraw from powerful brain “remodelers” like benzos according to a schedule that may require several weeks or even months to work through depending upon the dose levels and the particular patient’s physiology, as well as the pt’s other diagnosed mental health issues.

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