Posted by viridis on October 26, 2002, at 13:13:09
In reply to Re: RATIONAL USE OF BENZODIAZAPINES (5.) » hiba, posted by Squiggles on October 26, 2002, at 10:32:44
Hi Squiggles,
I'm sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with benzo withdrawal, and I know that some people do react in very negative ways. However, the weight of scientific evidence indicates that withdrawal for most can be managed very effectively by slow taper and careful supervision. You spoke in an earlier post about "variables" and "objectivity". When dealing with medications, the patients themselves are major variables in the sense that different people have different reactions to both the drugs and discontinuation of the drugs, whether you're talking about benzos, ADs, blood pressure meds, or most other classes of medications.
I haven't attempted benzo withdrawal, and have no plans to do so in the near future, since Klonopin has been so beneficial for me in terms of anxiety, depression, and general quality of life. So, I can't offer any personal experience there. However, I can relate my pdoc's experiences and advice based on his use of benzos for numerous patients, both short and long-term. He screened me very carefully before prescribing benzos, explained that medical dependency was likely to develop, and said that he is very alert to signs of escalating dosage and misuse (although he was also very willing to increase the dose if appropriate). After well over a year at the same low dose of Klonopin (1 mg/day) plus occasional Xanax, he and I are very pleased with the results. When I asked him about what would happen if I decided to discontinue it, he said that he's rarely seen a problem as long as the withdrawal is gradual. He emphasized that these are not drugs that should be stopped suddenly, but said that supervised withdrawal is generally quite straightforward in his experience.
For me, though, he predicts that discontinuation would return me to the same pattern of anxiety/ panic attacks/ severe depression that I've experienced since childhood. I'm not willing to live that way any more (and I expect it would shorten my life -- not that I'm suicidal, but chronic anxiety takes a toll on a person's mental and physical health). Approaches such as antidepressants, therapy, alternative treatments, and lifestyle changes were of no or limited use, or actually made things worse (SSRIs, Wellbutrin). So for me, long-term use of Klonopin seems like the most sensible option, and my pdoc agrees.
poster:viridis
thread:124171
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021025/msgs/125320.html