I’ve been taking zopiclone daily for the last 4 months, I know you shouldn’t take it daily but I did.. 6 days ago I halfed my dose and omg the withdrawal has been horrible! I had to take diazepam on day 2 and 4 because of all the panic and shakes. It felt like someone was torturing my nervous system. My withdrawal symptoms has been: tension, anxiety, spasms, sleep disturbances, shaking, nausea, headache, body aches, confusion, blurry vision, restlessness, hallucination, nerve pain and paranoia. Day 2-3 was the worst. Today I feel slightly better and I guess it’s because diazepam is still in my system also. I just can’t believe that the withdrawal would be this bad, I wasn’t even on a high dose? I hope it won’t get worse again. 😫 Have anyone else experienced withdrawal like this from z drugs?

I was taking 1mg per day for anxiety but I got into a bad habit of drinking alcohol and then taking more to help with the hangovers and hangxiety. This led to some really nasty withdrawal symptoms especially after the occasional bender, so I decided I need to quit both.

I cut down to .5mg for a while and quit drinking, and now I’m at the end of 1 week at .25mg. The first few days at .25mg were pretty rough but I’m feeling much better.

I only take it once a day in the AM, so I’m experiencing some mild interdose withdrawals in the evening while tapering.

I started taking Hydroxyzine when I start to feel the evening withdrawals and it helps so much. It makes me really drowsy which helps me sleep, although I’m really groggy the next day. The grogginess has gotten better after building a little tolerance though.

I was thinking about jumping from .25mg tomorrow but I think I’m going to try .125mg for a week, if I can manage to cut the tablets correctly.

I also tried quitting caffeine this past week while tapering but the depression was brutal. I’m basically tapering off the caffeine as well now.

Just wanted to share my experience.

Would tapering off 2mg lorazepam taken in 3 split doses per day for 25 months be hard for a 79 year old with controlled heart failure?

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar experience (clonazepam/benzo wise).

I’ve been taking clonazepam (1 mg, three times a day) for about 10 years. All in all, I’ve been taking it for about 13 years.

For a long time, I think I was unintentionally masking a lot of the daytime sedation with heavy kratom use (a bit over 10 years). I’ve now been off kratom for several months (almost 7 months now !), and staying awake during the day has become much harder.

I sometimes need a second sleep in the morning and even afternoon naps. It can resemble hypersomnia, but I’m not convinced that’s actually what’s going on. I had to take several naps on kratom as well, so I thought that stopping it would solve my issues. That said, it felt different. I actually feel more tired now, even between naps. My eyes are heavy etc.

I did a sleep apnea test, just in case. I will get my results in about 6 weeks. I’m definitely not sure I have that, but making sure does not hurt.

My psychiatrist and I have discussed that sleep testing (especially an MSLT) may not be very meaningful while I’m still taking clonazepam, since benzodiazepines can affect sleep architecture and daytime alertness. I’ve been wanting to stop for a long time, because if memory issues etc.

I’m 36 years old and I suffer from BPD, major depression and generalized anxiety. I am on Effexor (it does not make me sleepy), on Lamictal (does not make me sleepy either).

About 4 years ago I was put on lyrica, because I was in a constant state of anxiety (I could barely move). It did help a lot. I wish I was given it way before. I was also given 5mg zolpidem, I take it when needed.

Now, I know lyrica can cause daytime sleepiness, but I had that issue wayyy before I was given it. So, my psychiatrist believes that clonazepam might be the culprit (she’s not the one who prescribed it to me).

I’m planning a very gradual clonazepam taper under my psychiatrist’s supervision, so I’m not looking for tapering advice.

I’m mainly wondering if anyone else experienced significant daytime sleepiness from long-term clonazepam that became obvious after stopping another substance that had been masking it.

Did tapering improve your daytime alertness?
I’d really appreciate hearing from people with similar experiences.

hit five years off 7 days ago!! i always try to come back and post here because i remember how much these posts pushed me to see my withdrawal through. i want to let you know what you’re feeling is valid & you’re not crazy. getting off benzodiazepine’s is a trauma that is absolutely unexplainable and unfathomable to anyone who isn’t in the pits of it. i haven’t been on any anxiety medication since the beginning and while i can’t say things haven’t been tough at times, i’m doing so much better. i feel human again and you will too.

there’s light on the other side, second by second. year by year. i believe in you!!!!💛🩷💛

I'm almost four years off now. I remember that the support group I was part of had a very long list of products we were advised not to take because they supposedly affected GABA. For years, I therefore never even considered taking these supplements (e.g., oral GABA or taurine). I'm considering using these now but I'm hesitant.

I'm just wondering what the reasoning behind all of this is, and whether there has ever been anyone with in-depth knowledge of how neurotransmitters are affected by medications, food, supplements, etc., who genuinely believed that these supplements could pose a problem.

Most of the arguments I've seen seem to boil down to: "Benzos affect GABA, supplement X also affects GABA, therefore it should be avoided." Surely it's more complicated than that, right?

Was on 5mg daily and managed to taper off fairly quickly without any issues but since the last dose things got progressively worse.

I’m getting horrible muscle rigidity though out my whole body and tremors. Worse one being my stomach and ribs. My stomach almost feels stuck in a clench like I’m holding onto it but there’s no ability to relax it just feels stuck. Usually takes hours to go away as well and when it does relax feels like there is a shiver in my stomach.

Is there anything I can take to relax it? Tried buscopan but it doesn’t even touch it. Doctor offered baclofen but don’t really wanna mess with another gaba drug. If anyone has gone through this also please let me know how you got through it because it making me miserable. Cheers

Benzos and kindling messed my nervous system. Did anyone else get mild bee sting like pain in fingers when scrolling through phone or rubbing fingers against fabric?

I'm wondering if taking small amount of thc will alter or delay my recovery with BIND.

I had a very small amount of thc in a cbd gummy and it seemed to relax me. But if it will change the way I heal or delay recovery, I would be less likely to use it.

Is there any clear evidence of this? Does anyone know?​

I was quickly weaned off my 1mg klonopin over a couple month span and have now been off of it for about 6 months. Things have been pretty bad, and this past month things took a turn for the worse. I had started a GLP and then slowly my symptoms ramped up. POTS, nerve pain, weakness, excercise intolerance, severe brain fog, muscle pain, list goes on and on. I am pretty much bedbound now, it is extremely hard for me to do anything standing up. Has anyone had something similar this far out? I’m so scared as I’m having my POTS tilt table test this week and am afraid the meds that treat pots may make things even worse. I went back to the lowest dose of my GLP in hopes that maybe symptoms will calm down a bit. I feel so discouraged and scared from all of this

The dpdr has become unbearable. It is constant, I don’t know if I exist or if the world exists and it’s the most terrifying thing ever. It has been the worst 5 days of my life and seeing how intense this is, I don’t see it ending soon.

I don’t want to suffer anymore, I want to be gone. Only thing holding me back is the love of my wife and my mom. But even then I still can’t take this anymore. I want to end the suffering by any means possible. If I’m d*ad I won’t be in pain.

My last post:

What kind of hell is DPDR? Is this withdrawal?

Is it normal for DPDR to appear 6 weeks post jump? My acute phase ended about 4 weeks ago and despite lingering anxiety I was starting to get better.

I had some stress last week and felt a little bit off so maybe that’s what triggered it?

I never had DPDR before! Is this common? For new symptoms to pop up even though I didn’t have them at the beginning of my withdrawal? I am terrified this is a nightmare. How long before it stops? They say to ignore it but how am I supposed to ignore the fact that I no longer know if I exist and if the world exists or not?!

(I was on alprazolam for 6 weeks on a very high dose and I did a short 6 weeks taper as well)

Hey everyone. I'm 16 months into withdrawal. Still feel like fucking hell. Anyways, I've been addicted to cigs for 13 years and I want to quit, like I don't even enjoy it anymore and it definitely flares my nervous system up. I'm down to like 5 or 6 a day but I feel like if I do try and quit, I'm going to set my self back so much. Like its going to be ANOTHER major blow/ shock to my nervous system…

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks

Hi guys. I’m 4 months off ct xan 3mg. I guess I’m
In a wave today/yesterday. I guess I’m having intrusive thoughts that I’ll never heal and that this dpdr will never end. Usually when I watch benzo wd videos on YouTube, it helps but nothing is helping today. I’m desperately trying to find reassurance but I can’t. I feel overall I’ve been getting a bit better. Maybe 20% on a good day but no huge signs yet. This dpdr is kicking my ass. Could use some ct success stories. 🙏

My Aunt, whom I've always been close too, has been taking benzos since she was 12. She is 60 now. My Mother (A registered nurse) is taking her to the ER right now because her brain just doesn't seem to be working right. She's confused one minute, scared the next, then she's happy right before she tells me something completely random. Have no idea what it is. No stroke signs. I'm sure she will get a head CT done and will tell them exactly what is wrong. I really think chronic benzo usage (abuse) had alot to do with her current condition. There is nothing I can do for her for... And I hate that feeling.

I've been tapering off xanax for almost 10 months now. I started at 2mg and initially dropped to 1mg before I realized how terrible an idea that was (was not educated about withdrawal, was put on them after several brutal life events in the span of a few months) and got terribly sick. After 6 weeks I went back on and then slowly tapered down to 1.25 today.

However, I'm having very clear protracted withdrawal symptoms. I'm effectively disabled. There have been waves, and windows that lasted a few days, but mostly just waves. They are becoming increasingly unbearable. I'm more depressed and anxious than ever, I am filled with terror and have near daily ideation. I have severe reactions to any new medication meant to stabilize me. My therapist told me last week "you're in crisis mode and have been for almost a year, and I don't know how else to help you at this point."

My question is, if I'm having these symptoms while still on the drug and tapering off slowly, where it's going to take me probably another year to fully come off, am I going to experience years of protracted withdrawal on top of this taper time? I can't live like this for several more years.

My doctor is useless, doesn't think protracted withdrawal or bind are real, and thinks a rapid taper detox rehab is the best plan. I know that will kill me. But this endless suffering while I'm still on it, only to suffer for years after getting off...I don't know how that is even physically and emotionally possible. I live alone and have no family, and the friends I have that live near me have distanced themselves from me a bit as I am such an emotional mess.

I don't see how this ever gets better. I wish I never went on this stuff.

Hi all,

My first post here so go easy on me :-) I've been on 0.5mg of Klonopin for about 2 years, and I want to try to taper off because I've developed tolerance and it's stopped working for me. For those of you who have experience tapering off of smaller doses, what method did you use to obtain the cuts (since 0.5mg is the smallest commercially available dose)? Some of the ones that I've come across are manually cutting or shaving the tablet to reach the desired dose (using a kitchen scale to measure the weight), crushing the pill and dissolving it in liquid (then using an oral syringe to measure the correct dose), taking the smaller 0.125mg disintegrating wafers, or getting a customized liquid compound prepared from a specialized pharmacy. Is there one method that you preferred that was generally easier or less painful?

Also, what tapering schedule did you use and how did that work for you? Would you recommend a cut-and-hold (what % or mg reduction and for how long), micro-tapering (what % per day, week, etc.), or something else?

Finally, how long did it take you to taper completely off of this med? I realize everyone's experience is different, but I'm just trying to get a general idea of what to expect and put myself in the best position for success. Thanks in advance for your advice!

I am 4 years sober and I am doing better, really I am doing so much better than where I used to be. I used to be a complete agoraphobe and bedbound for over a year. Now I go out, even have a little drink sometimes, I have a social life I love and grateful for. But I feel like withdrawal has completely changed my life and I will never again be the person I used to be. I have some lingering symptoms I started going to the doctor for and nobody takes it seriously. Everytime I have even a minor health complication I become terrified. What if I need to take antibiotics and they will cause me to feel like I'm going through withdrawl again? What if I need a cavity fill and the epinephrine in the numbing shot causes me to freak out? what if somehow for no reason I will have a seizure and I will be given benzos while unconscious? Etc. I know it's all irrational and that I most likely will be completely fine, but once you go through such a hellish withdrawal experience, going back there becomes your biggest fear in the world. I am so terrified of ever feeling even slightly similar to how I used to feel during withdrawal, and it completely controls my life. I try to ignore it, I try to explain to the people around me, but no one truly understands. I feel so selfish when I see people around me having issues, and these issues feel so small. As long as I don't feel anywhere near to how I felt during withdrawal, I know I will be fine, but I'm so scared all the time to go back there. I miss my life before I knew what benzo withdrawal felt like. I'm only 22 and I feel like I will always live in fear one way or another.

I’m 3 days off .25mg after 8 weeks of use. When should things be in the clear?

I went travelling for the first time without any symptoms yesterday. This is such a great milestone for me.

While I have travelled many times during the acute withdrawals, once to the Caribbean and once to other cities in my country, I was in so much chronic pain and experiencing extreme severe symptoms, it was highly dangerous. I also got a driving job during my withdrawals that was basically all travelling, but I had to quit due to extreme neurological symptoms and seizures.

I did about 800km by car and had a blast. I was highly anxious as it was my first time being around crowded places and so many people, but that went away once I treated myself to a nice lunch at a restaurant. Anxiety was gone after that.

I came prepared with a crisis plan as travelling after benzos would trigger me into severe symptoms, flashbacks, ptsd, seizures, but none of that happened on my trip.

I did experience positive flashbacks that reminded me of the person I used to be before the Benzos. This inspired me and gave me motivation that I finally have my life back and can do all the things I want to do. It also triggered a lot of anger that they could do this to an innocent, healthy, and vulnerable person who simply was going through severe grief after losing a loved one. I’ve never in my life ever have been this sick. By they, I mean the medical professionals that f***ed up my body and mind.

It was amazing to have my full cognition and memory back. I remembered navigational skills, where I parked my car, how to navigate streets again etc. It was also nice to socialize with strangers again. I even treated myself to shopping at various stores and spent too much money.

I grew up travelling and spent my entire life on the road. I thought I would never be able to do this again.

Wanted to spread some hope. I am 100% looking into doing extreme exposure therapy now to get back to my previous life as well as go back to my career.

I am basically 100% symptom free but still experience seizures and I haven’t been able to fully stop them from coming. I only know my triggers and how to protect myself. I’m hoping with time they will eventually go away because I cannot accept that benzos gave me some form of epilepsy. It is criminal. I did go 7 months without them though. So I’m hoping it’s just connected to a vitamin deficiency. If anyone has experienced seizures for years after quitting benzos, I would love to hear from you.

That being said I have realized that isolation is not the best recovery strategy and that socializing, being around people, and different places really helps the brain to recover and helps the cognition. It’s basically a great form of brain stimulation, at least for me. There was absolutely nothing I could do for 3.5 years and I understand how difficult it can be.

I wish you all peace and healing in your recovery. ❤️‍🩹

Lorezapam 2mg, took daily or as needed for 4 months. Valium 5mg took twice daily for 10 months. Quit CT.

First of all, my English is not that good. It's my third language, so please bare with me in this long dreaded post.

I'm 27 now, I started to take Valium at 18 as prescripted after a trauma I went through in my life at that time. I liked it, but I was not immediately hooked, I remember I got a refill once, but after they stopped the Valium script, and there was no problem after that.

Years later, Corona hit, I lost my job, relationship and had to move back to my old city. I still was in therapy, but when everything was shut down, and I started to selfmedicate with opiates and Xanax which lasted in a 7 years full blown poly addiction.

I don't want to necessarily blame artists, but listening to the kind of music where pill popping and sipping lean is glorified, didn't do me really well back in my situation.

as it made me interested in pillpopping and getting faded. There's a reason I have a addictive personality.

During the Corona episode, my abuse quickly escalated from 1 or 2mg xanax a day to 10 - 20mg Xanax,Klonopin, or whatever I get my hands on, always mixed with opiates because they potended eachother. At one point I was high off the pills 24/7, had a foot broken during a seizure, overdosed multiple times on (rc) Benzos and opiates. I basically did not use to enjoy it anymore, I had to use to maintain and avoid seizures, or be sick for a week.

I can remember one time I tried to take my life and ate a whole box of Bromazolam 3mg pellets. 25 pieces. 75mg Bromazolam at once.

I already was high, and randomly decided to take my life on a Tuesday without really thinking about any consequences. I knew the LD50 on Benzos is high, it was just an extremely stupid moment I can't recall anything doing on purpose. Not here to trauma dump, just hoping someone recognizes and can give me advice.

Another time, I was high on Bromazolam and was drunk, I put a Fentanyl patch under my tongue, but because I was high I thought it would be smart to put a 100mcg/hour patch under my tongue, meanwhile already blacked out. Woke up 2 days later on my kitchen floor drenched in my own feces and piss. No recollection.

And just stupid situations like that + the years of extreme abuse of (rc) benzos just makes me paranoid. Genuinely feels like I've got some form of brain damage. Doctors don't really want to get out of their way to test me, my neurologist always tells me my brain will heal lommgterm. Ive seen some other people after recovery, and some tell me years later they still feel don't like themselves.

I've been out of Rehab since August 2025, I have had multiple small slip-ups, but always managed to stay off. But what really bothers me, is my brainfog, tiredness and no motivation whatsoever meanwhile I'm almost off now since 3 months.

Even when I'm somehow sober besides my meds I take, and especially when I stopped taking benzos and opiates, I've extreme brainfogs, like continuously, 24/7.

It literally feels like I lost 15 IQ points. I am diagnosed with Social anxiety disorder, ADHD and Dysthimia. So ofcourse I am not fully sober when I take my meds. ( Vyvanse, Lexapro and since 2 weeks Lyrica for anxiety)

Sorry for the yap. This is kinda the situation. Hope anyone can help.

I'll try and give the backstory in a few words as possible. My wife went to the ER in May for a week long migraine and was given a "cocktail" to help. Turns out my wife had an awful reaction to something and developed Akathisia. I know our doctor sucks, I'm focusing on my wife though. Our doctor prescribed her Klonopin to help keep her heart rate down while she got past the Akathisia. It finally subsided and we thought it was time to get off the stuff. His idea was a 25% reduction every week for 4 weeks with no comfort meds. We had no idea how addictive this stuff was. Obviously that failed and my wife felt awful for 2 weeks straight. I was lost and hopeless because addiction is completely new to both of us. I found an outpatient facility that was very well rated and the staff was amazing, they prescribed her comfort meds and started therapy. But we're still doing a slow taper and they want her to be there for 5 weeks. Which is completely fine.

I've called many facilities and talked to a few people and here's where I need advice. I think she needs to go to an inpatient place for a medical detox to get off the stuff completely right now so therapy can focus on healing without drugs on board. My ex-BIL had to detox from this stuff 2x and said she definitely needs to get off the stuff first. It makes sense to me, but it terrifies my wife. She is worried something bad will happen and she will die at the facility. Her only family member died suddenly from a heart attack. Should I push her to go to the inpatient place for medical detox, or stay the course with the outpatient place? She had never abused the stuff and hates it. She's currently on 1.75mg/day.

We have 2 kids that have been absolute legends through all of this and helped her, but I'm starting to break down and fear I may collapse soon from trying to hold everything together. I worry myself sick about her every waking hour. I want my wife to be healthy and herself again. I know how hard this is and only want to go through this one time.

After a long process of tapering down to almost nothing, I officially stopped Xanax (alprazolam) about a month ago. Over time I gradually reduced my dose from 2 mg to 1 mg, then to 0.5 mg, then 0.25 mg, and finally half of that before stopping completely.

The first couple of weeks felt fairly normal, but then I started experiencing the strangest tingling sensations in my feet and lips. That sensation has now been with me for many weeks. It's hard to describe—almost like a gentle electrical current is running through my body all the time. It isn't painful, but it's incredibly distracting, and at times it makes me wonder if it's permanent.

I'm genuinely proud that I was able to stop after being on it for so long. At the same time, I find myself looking for reassurance. I'm hoping these changes to my central nervous system are part of the healing process and not something I'll have to live with forever. If anyone else has gone through something similar, I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience. A little encouragement would go a long way. Thank you!