Whats your experience with benzos?

Despite being only on 7.5mg of abilify, I find that it’s torture, due to the anxiety side effect.

I’ve got an emergency supply of benzos which take away the anxiety for about 6 hours.

I don’t want to use them, as I’ll probably get addicted and they’ll stop working or the doc will stop prescribing them some day.

What is everyones experience with benzos? Are there any anti anxiety alternatives, I mean what do people with chronic anxiety get prescribed?

I get klonopin even though I had two bad experiences abusing them. I don’t abuse them anymore, because I’ve found out if you have anxiety, they don’t “get you high”. My Dr. was hesitant giving them to me but I’ve learned my lesson and would never abuse them anymore. They just make me sleepy if I take too much and/or cause me to blackout. Don’t abuse benzos! (Not saying you are), but it’s not worth it. Just saying. But without them Idk what I’d do. I have really bad anxiety. I got away with taking .25 of klonopin the other day when I had nothing going on, but when I have to drive and have a stressful day usually I need the whole 1.0

What do you mean by abusing them? Do you mean simply taking them every day?

No I take them every day and don’t abuse them…I took 7 MG once like 5 years ago trying to get high and I blacked out and had to go to the hospital…you make really poor decisions on benzos. I have a history of substance abuse and used to do anything to get high. Benzos seemed like a good option until I tried it…

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I used to be on 6mg klonopin (clonszepam) when I was hospitalized and lied about not hearing voices, which is why they thought it was just severe anxiety. I’ve been off them for 3 years and I’m pretty anxious. They def helped with anxiety, made me joke more and take life less seriously.

But I still wouldn’t want to be on them, I’d rather deal with the anxiety in other ways besides drugs.

In terms of alternatives, there’s picamilon, inositol, sarcosine, and many other supplements I haven’t tried. CBT may help too… Acupuncture is also very relaxing but I doubt that it has a lasting effect.

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i tried gabopentin (sp) but it made my anxiety worse

my doctor really likes klonopin for some reason…its an effective drug i guess

would be scared to go off it

I was on 3 mg daily of Klonopin for a few years. I used to put in extra in my med. tray to use for things that made me nervous, like going to town. My pdoc took me off them when I told him I had given a couple to a girl who was jonesing for heroin. I was pretty nervous when I first came off them, but now I can do without them. One time I came across a bottle of 13 one mg pills of Klonopin and 28 one mg of Atavan. I took all of them trying to get high. When my case manager found me I couldn’t walk. I don’t remember any of it, but I know they took me to the emergency room. I don’t remember if they pumped my stomach. After that they took me to the mental hospital.

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I personally am on both xanax and klonopin both of which I use sparingly and find they are not even slightly addictive for me. Sometimes I go two weeks without using any, now that I know how to handle my anxiety.

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Anyway, I’m giving in for today and taking one.

This has been my experience with them: I take 0.5 mg of Ativan every night. I once took four of them (2 mg total) to help me get off to sleep. First and last time I ever do that. It made the next 48 hours a blur, and I started babbling to people about private issues (I guess you could call it “reduced inhibitions” - kinda like alcohol, which I don’t touch either). Now I take my one tablet every night to help get to sleep, and we’re golden. It’s great at helping me sleep. My mind ruminates, and I get all caught up in my head at night. I have trouble with my thoughts, and at night my mind goes haywire. The Ativan stops that.

I’m on lorazepam and was taking diazepam but a higher dose. I’ve seen how a person becomes after abusing benzos. My brother in law abuses them. He’s on a much higher dose than me. I take some sometimes everyday, sometimes every other day other times I can go days without.

I take the same dose of Klonopin everyday - only 0.5 mg, I have to cut it in half and take 0.25mg in divided doses at different times.

I quickly get tolerance to them - if I take a little more it does not work like in a couple of days, so I need more and more etc…

My anxiety is pretty bad and so is my OCD - Extra Klonopin is good for panic attacks, but thats it really - it does not address my chronic anxiety - I will need more and more of it - I already feel like a zombie when I take a little extra - completely zoned out!

I am thinking about asking my pdoc about Gabapentin once again - but I hear that it can be activating for some people and trigger mania in some. Not looking forward to possibly getting manic on it.

Psychosis - Psychosis from hell to be precise. Was a change of meds. Sucks too as the weight from my meds just melted off in a few months. An long involuntary hospitalisation that I have little memory of in the closed ward. Had to rely on what staff and other patients as to what I got up during that time. Also my physic file. Was rather disturbing what I did get up to.

Pdocs have pretty much put their foot down on changing my meds mainly because of it. So back to what seemed to work for me and of course the weight gain returned. Despite my arguments Seems to be the case though. Every time we touch my meds all hell breaks loose, even playing with the levels. Can’t remember what it was but have it written down somewhere.

I got severe insomnia trying to reduce meds, was put on lorazepam as a sleep aid, 2-5 mg a night my discretion as to what I needed. It kinda worked, on a good day I’d use 2, on a bad one I’d go through 5 and still not sleep. Risperidone is awful stuff to come off.

I think I would loose my ■■■■ if i didn’t have klonopin to fall back on. I think it’s what keeps me from getting drunk. I don’t feel high or anything but it makes my mind switch to I think I’m calm mode. Actually I don’t even feel them so I’m not sure what it does. But I’m still glad I have something.

For about a year i was on 20mg of diazepam, and 10mg of nitrazepam(Sleeping tablet) daily. I know the nitrazepam was at maximum dosage as sleeping has always been a serious problem for me, not sure what the max on the diazepam is. They were both real good at what they did. Nitrazepam would put me straight to sleep. and the diazepam did help when i was feeling paranoid or stressed etc, genuinely couldn’t leave the house without it. I think the longest you are supposed to be on them is a few months? I don’t remember i read on the pamphlet you got with them they were “highly addictive” but when i tried to get a motorbike license I felt i couldn’t because of them, so I weaned my self off the sleeping tablets over the course of 2-3 weeks and the diazepam while I felt i was slightly more dependent i managed to stop taking cold turkey, with what i could tell was no side effects.

Uh…, well… if Abilify is the cause of the anxiety (which is a statistical longshot, but still possible), I would go to my prescriber, tell him or her that, and look into the many alternatives… before I’d start depending on any medicinal solution for anxiety over any period of time greater than a week or two. Benzos (aka “minor tranquilizers”) & sz are rarely a great combination, though the benzos may reduce the anxiety in the short term.

In sz, anxiety is very often the result of distorted cognition… which neither anti-Ps (aka “major tranquilizers”) nor benzos treat. I’d suggest a course of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy to see if it will clear up the anxiety without risking dependence on habit-forming, potentially anxiety-worsening benzodiazepines.

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I’ve found Lexapro to be immensely helpful. It’s an SSRI and technically an antidepressant, but many SSRIs have great anti anxiety benefits, Lexapro is one of the better ones. It will take time to build up and it throws a few more complications into the mix. Benzos can be great for an instant calming effect. If you’re finding you need them regularly, there are a ton of reasons why they will become ineffective or lead to a negative outcome. I’m taking Lexapro and I use Ativan as needed still. It’s not an easy fix but I thought I’d share.

I feel so much better after taking the benzo. This is the following day and there’s very little ‘torture’ compared to usual. I’m going to have to have a serious talk with my psychiatrist who will probably be anti-benzo long term.

I mean, they prescribe stuff like this long term to people who have panic attacks (don’t they?).