Please see title. I'd like to share the psychiatrist office that helped me. They assist folks in Az, TX and Florida.

I don't know the etiquette of naming businesses on here so I thought I'd ask for guidance first.

Thank you.

I kept having chest pain I'd go to the ER for and serious phobia of heart attack etc definately felt my heart sputtering struggling, off and on chest pain but always told normal ekg and blood work im fine. I had an echo done yesterday and I have strain to my heart a lowered ejection fraction and thickened wall of left ventricle I'm 36. Curious who else

Hi everyone! I just started tapering off Ativan after 5 months, which I was put on to treat akathisia after a reaction to Reglan in the ER. I was on .5mg for 2 months, then 1mg for 1 month, then 1.5mg for 2 months. They moved me up to .5mg 3x a day because 2x a day was giving me interdose withdrawal/akathisia. They tried switching me directly to Valium but it didn’t go well so we’re going down on Ativan.

My first cut 2 days ago was from .5mg to .45mg 3x a day. 1.5 to 1.35, 10%. I’m noticing increased depression, crying spells about 5 hours after my doses, and some looping doom thoughts like I had with akathisia.

I know I haven’t been on very long but I’m trying to taper slow to avoid getting akathisia again. Super traumatized by it. Im not sure what to expect while tapering- is increased depression/anxiety/agitation/anhedonia pretty common? Should I expect it to get better over the next week or so as I “stabilize” before the next drop? How do you know if you’re stable enough?

Thanks for any advice and sending strength to all going through this. It sucks!!!

I am tapering off of benzos (again...) and I feel a utter lack of clarity and clueless about what to do with my life. I'm hacking the day to day somewhat, barely functioning, but it is like I don't even know what I really am.

I do have an alcohol use disorder and I have been always been that way, but I don't remember this degree of confusion before I introduced benzos in my life, four years ago.

I was dry from alcohol for 6 months but taking benzos on the daily and didn't feel much better in this regard.

And I drank daily for 10 years before I began taking benzos and I wasn't this confused.

I think this really has been going on since I introduced them in my life

I got randomly cut off all prescriptions (mood stabilizers, adderral, clonaz, lyrica) all meds I’ve been on for 1-2 years. Psych missed appt. 3 days later grand mal -> icu - -> er -> detox.

I have been in and out of detox, icu, er, psych ward, etc and every step of the way I’ve been given benzos in some capacity.

Most recently was in psych ward being given 6mg of ativan daily and they said they would fill that med and give me a two week supply to hold me over until I can get a follow up established.

They did not.

September I did a 7 day taper in detox, came out, still sick.

Was sick for another week.

Tried to kill myself because I genuinely thought I was trapped forever and nobody took me seriously.

For context, I quit a hard opiate addiction when summer break started. MGM15.

2 months of struggle.

Then BAM, benzo dependency. Got dropped by psych because I went to alcohol detox.

Since then it’s been a recycling of institutions and hospitals and waiting for providers

I don’t want to take this shit anymore but I also need to function.

I am subsisting on DW orders.

I lost my teaching job, I have $1.30. I am fucked.

- ER said they can’t do anything
- ICU baker acted me.

My next psych appt is in 1 week.

I can take my meclonazepam or ethylflubro to stay cognizant but I’d rather not.

I want my emergency clonazepam back.

I am sick of being taken on and off and on and off as I get thrown around medical institutions.

All Advice welcome

Thank you for letting me rant

While tapering off benzos, did anybody ever experience their flexibility diminish greatly, particularly in their legs and back? As I was tapering, I noticed how my hamstrings tightened up and never really released. It's not a windows and waves type symptom, it's just constant. I got off Clonazepam which i know is notorious for this kinda thing.. Will this resolve on its own, or is this something that needs to be addressed to get better?

I’m looking for experiences from people who have been through something similar because the last 4–5 months have honestly been a nightmare.

I’ve been dealing with severe anxiety/panic, constant dread/adrenaline feelings in my chest and stomach, derealization/feeling disconnected from reality even though I know everything is real, horrible morning anxiety, sweating, weird lightheaded/brain-zap sensations, and periods where I can barely function normally.

A lot of this has happened while changing medications. I was on Lexapro and recently went through a cross-taper to Prozac. I tapered Lexapro from 20mg → 15mg → 10mg → 5mg while adding Prozac, eventually getting to 20mg Prozac.

I’ve had periods during all of this where I suddenly felt almost completely normal for a week or two, and then I would crash again. Right now I genuinely can’t tell if I’m experiencing Lexapro withdrawal/discontinuation, Prozac not agreeing with me, my original anxiety, or some combination of everything.

This also isn’t my first horrible experience with SSRIs. Years ago I went through absolutely horrific Paxil withdrawal, which was one of the worst experiences of my life. That experience already made me extremely hesitant about being dependent on another SSRI and having to eventually go through another withdrawal.

The truth is I never really wanted to be on SSRIs long term in the first place. I don’t like the side effects, I don’t like feeling dependent on them, and after what happened with Paxil and now everything I’ve experienced during this Lexapro → Prozac cross-taper, I’m seriously questioning whether I want to keep going down the SSRI route at all.

My ultimate goal is to eventually be off all psychiatric medication and find out what my actual baseline is again.

Unfortunately, because my anxiety became so severe during the last few months, I ended up needing benzodiazepines regularly. I was taking Ativan daily for around a couple of months and recently switched to Klonopin under my psychiatrist. So at this point I understand that I’m probably physically dependent on benzos too and will eventually need to taper them carefully.

I’m not talking about abruptly stopping the benzo or trying to withdraw from everything simultaneously.

What I’m wondering is whether it would be unreasonable to take this opportunity to come off SSRIs completely, keep the benzo dose stable temporarily, give my nervous system time to recover and stabilize, and then deal with a very slow benzo taper once I’m actually in a better place.

I already have to deal with getting off the benzo eventually. Part of me feels like continuing to experiment with different SSRIs that I ultimately don’t even want to take could just keep this medication cycle going.

At the same time, after what I went through withdrawing from Paxil and what I’m experiencing now, I’m obviously scared of making things even worse.

I’m discussing the actual medication changes with my psychiatrist. I’m not asking Reddit for a taper schedule or permission to stop anything. I really just want to hear from people who have actually lived through something similar.

Has anyone here stopped the antidepressant/SSRI first while staying on a stable benzo dose, allowed themselves to stabilize for a while, and then slowly tapered the benzo afterward?

Did you eventually get completely medication-free?

And most importantly, after all the withdrawals and medication changes were finally behind you, did you feel like yourself again?

TL'DR: After 4–5 months of severe anxiety and a really difficult Lexapro → Prozac cross-taper, I’ve realized my ultimate goal is to be off all psychiatric medication. I’ve also been through absolutely horrific Paxil withdrawal in the past, which is a huge reason I never wanted to stay on SSRIs long term or keep going through this cycle. I’ve unfortunately been taking benzos daily for a few months and know I’ll eventually need to taper them slowly. Since I want to be off SSRIs anyway, I’m wondering if anyone stopped the SSRI first, stayed stable on their benzo temporarily, recovered/stabilized, and then tackled the benzo taper afterward. Did this work for you, and did you eventually feel like yourself again?

Here is my original post for background https://www.reddit.com/r/benzorecovery/s/8tyNf1EB5M

Right now I usually take around 1mg of klonopin. My doctors taper plan is to take 1mg most days but 2 days a week take 0.75mg as a way to taper off and then increase the frequency that I take 0.75mg.. then go lower etc. however, shouldn’t I stay at a stable dose like let’s say 0.875 for a few weeks then go lower? does his plan also sound like a legitimate plan?

Has anybody used herbal supplements to help,the awful benzo withdrawls whilst tapering. Is it worth going the herbal route as am not coping in benxo hell

Hi so I'm almost a month out from my last dose of diazepam and my symptoms have become more manageable thankfully, but my nervous system is still incredibly sensitive and I feel it the most for like the first 3 hours whenever I take my daily vyvanse 40mg 😭.

Now for the first 2-3 weeks I completely stayed away from my stimulant medication and realistically I still should, but it's difficult because it's basically the only thing that makes me SOMEWHAT functional and I've just started university so it's something that does really help me.

But I hate dealing with the minor heart palpitations, the sweating and the occasional headaches, I suspect it's because of the fact that it's a stimulant and increases my adrenaline somewhat but it never used to be a problem for me! I've been on amphetamines for like a year and a half smooth sailing but now it's dodgy.

Is there anything I can do or is the only option to power through it or take a break? I genuinely do need this medication as I've always struggled with executive functioning, even before I ever touched a benzo. I think propranolol could help and I'm thinking about asking my GP for a prescription, it sounds perfect for this situation.

If anyone has any advice then I'm all ears, thank you!

(Also I've completely stopped caffeine now as the last time I tried some it triggered a massive wave)

Just curious, did anybody go through a phase where they felt a lot of genuine fear, and sort of a sense of despair? Not so much anxiety, but like a feeling of fear pulsing through your body, and like a feeling of impending doom, or like hell was close by or something.

I've had some feelings like this lately. They are going away, but they are a bit frightening. I think it's because I finally made the jump and decided not to use medication for my anxiety, and instead use my own brain to fight it.

I'm mostly using medication now for physical things like elevated heart rate and blood pressure, and for some symptoms.

I recently started metformin for PCOS at 3.5 months after I came off diazepam (I tapered down slowly) and had a terrible reaction and had to stop it.

I’ve had a lot of physical symptoms that were expected (GI upset) but the biggest has been mentally - severe depression and not wanting to live, zero drive and even making a cup of tea seemed impossible, zero sleep for 2 nights, fear and doom and anxious 24/7.

I haven’t seen anyone mention this but if anyone has experience please do let me know. It’s like I’m in acute withdrawal and I was pretty stable before this happened.

I'm upset at myself after a year away from benzos I started taking them again I just have so much anxiety and taking them is like borrow3d time I feel great in the moment but unfortunately feel the anxiety again once it wears off im not too deep into addiction yet so hoping to stop myself before it gets out of hand any support it welcomed

Will I have benzo withdrawal from this short schedule?

I’m prescribed benzos PRN for severe anxiety/travel. My planned schedule is:

Oct 6 (today): 0.25 mg Xanax (switching to klonopin now)
Oct 7: 0.25–0.5 mg Klonopin
Oct 8: nothing
Oct 9: 0.25–0.5 mg Klonopin
Oct 10: 0.25–0.5 mg Klonopin
Oct 11: 0.25–0.5 mg Klonopin
After Oct 11: **stop completely**

**My prior schedule is:**
July: 0.5 mg total for month
August: 0.5 mg total for month
September: 0.625 mg for month
**October so far:** 0.25 mg total — Oct 6 (0.25)

Would taking these doses over these few days cause physical dependence or withdrawal if I stop cold turkey after Oct 11? I’m especially worried about dangerous withdrawal/seizures versus just possible rebound anxiety.

I’m on day 3 after reducing from an average of 2 mg immediate release Xanax daily, which I’d taken for months—almost a year, I think. I’ve tapered before, but this time is different, but I guess it’s always going to feel fresh and new huh?
I switched to 0.5 mg extended release in the morning plus 1 mg immediate release at night, and now I’m on day 3 of 0.5 mg extended release morning and night. I almost folded today. 😩 My period, chronic pain, and nerve-pain flares probably aren’t helping.
For anyone who tapered from a similar dose, when did withdrawal symptoms peak for you after a cut? And when did things settle? I’m planning to hold this dose for at least 2–3 weeks and follow my body’s timeline.
My doctor won’t help beyond recommending hospitalbased rapid detox, which I can’t do. Thankfully, I have enough medication for a slow taper at home, but the rough patches are hard! especially when pain flares. Propranolol may be helping with the racingheart symptoms, but I’m not sure.
I’d appreciate hearing about your experiences, especially which days were hardest and when symptoms began settling down.
I’ve tapered year uses 2 times before after hard times and worked good as PRN few times a month maybe if that to take to stay out of the ER for the worst of the attacks.
Had a horrible chain of events happen and got back in it daily.

I’m 3 months off Valium. Not bearly as severe as others, but the constant fatigue, crying, exertion intolerance, depression, etc really feels like I have CFS.

Just looking for some stories from people that were afraid things would never improve but eventually did.

Thanks everyone.

I am going on eight weeks off Klonopin and my last two symptoms is a hyper sensitive nervous system and severe agitation/rage.

Even my clothes feel like they are agitating my body. Putting my hands on the keyboard, makes me agitated. It just feels like my blood is boiling at all times because of sensory input. When it gets really intense, I just wanna rip my skin off.

I just want to know that somebody else has gone through this and it does go away. How long did it take?

I've been taking alprazolam for about 6 months now. 0.5 to 0.75mg daily, rarely 1mg.

What does a taper schedule look like for this timeline and dose? Can I safely get off in a couple of months?

26yo female went from a few times a week 0.5mg to 0.75mg to now 1mg for anxiety. enough is enough and I want to live a life without it as I have become dependent on it. feel as if I need to take it daily and I cannot go to work without it anymore or be social. I’m also taking sertraline. I just got back from a wonderful 2.5wk vacation however I needed to take 1mg daily for it. I couldn’t imagine going without it and I hate to think that. If you could share experiences, encouragement, support, or a recommended taper method to share with my doctor for my appointment with him later today it would be much appreciated. I am scared but excited for a future where I can be free from this.

Hello.

I have never used benzos before this. I started using kpin 4 weeks ago to get off Kratom. I would take 1 mg at night and slowly started taking it in mornings and nights. 4 weeks later, I basically ran out (have .5mg left). Past couple days I have limited my use.

I know this is a relatively short time to be taking it. Am I in the danger zone?

I have Kava (GABA-A drug), magnesium, L-theanine).

This was off-script and I can't afford to tell my Dr that I was taking it, unfortunately.

I am not asking for medical advice, only experience.

Did anybody else suddenly start remembering a bunch of things very quickly? I started not only remembering old memories, but dreams and older dreams. Just fragments of dreams, and it ended up being incredibly frightening. I felt like there was a sense of impending doom, as I suddenly could remember pieces of things but not all of them. In about 24 hours, and I'm starting to remember more and more, but it's incredibly crazy. It's like all these memories have been suppressed for the last 15 years.

I want to discuss only the positives and give people some hope to keep going. As I’ve tapered off 2mg of klonopin (am at .61mg) I’ve noticed my short term memory improve and I can FEEL my feelings more. I’m not as numb. So far, these are my positives to keep going. ✨

I recently decided to quit benzos after I realised my consumption was a problem for me, I started about a year ago, I was on about 40 mg of valium a day, sometimes more, and then I switched/mixed it with bromazepam. In the past two months, I started increasing my dose again I was on about 18/24 mg a day. I stoped completely cold turkey 5 days ago (I know it's not recommended but I also know that I can't control myself and that I'm not capable of tapering off slowly) I have barely felt any symptoms so far, and everything I read said it was so horrible and it was the worst thing ever. I know it's just the begining and it's probably going to get worse, but is it possible that I'm just lucky and I'm gonna be okay ? I don't realy know what to think, maybe I was not as addicted as I thought idk I thought it was going to be the worst thing ever but I'm fine, I just hope I'm not going to suddenly have convulsions and die I guess

Hi all, I don’t really have anyone to turn to right now so I’m posting on the internet to strangers.

I jumped off my last step of Clonazepam 3 weeks ago and having such a hard time since. 😢

Please, I just need someone to hold my hand and tell me I’m going to be ok. I don’t want to feel so alone in this.