jshnyda
Member
Reged: 05/06/02
Posts: 174
Loc: Home of #14
|
|
I need advice!! Here is my situation.
WHAT MY DOCTOR PRESCIBES ME:
Percocet 10mg three times daly- One year(back injury)
Klonopin .50mg three times daly- Three years(Panic Atcs)
WHAT MY DOCTOR DOESN'T KNOW (or prescribe):
Xanax! I have had Panic disorder all my life. Three years ago after trying all the SSRI'S, I was put on xanax .50 mg but it made me too tired. So, the doc put me on Klonopin, it works well, and I can function all day long without being drowsey. However, as anyone who suffers from Panic disorder can agree, I always keep a 2mg Xanax bar in my pocket at all times! Having that in my pocket, even though I rarely have to take it allows me to go ANYWHERE and do ANYTHING without being afraid of having a full blown attack.
HERE IS THE PROBLEM:
As my partying days come to an end and my girlfriend living with me now, I no longer have my 4-6 beers before bedtime. Instead,my DUMBA** started taking 1 or 2mg of xanax to fall asleep at night. I have been doing this for about SIX months now.
AM I IN TROUBLE? After reading some of the horrer stories about xanax withdrawel I am scared to death!!! As of tonight I will start a taper, a slow taper. Is 100 2mg Bars enough to successfuly taper? Do I tell my doctor?
Any advice would be great. I know that the medications I am taking are all habit forming and so does my doctor, with the exception of the xanax. The Percocet will eventually go away(hopefully) when I start seeing a Physical medicine and Rehabilition specialist. I know the W/D from that is hell too, and my doctor says that when the time is right he will slowly taper me off them.
Thanks in advance......Jeff
|
neonsign2003
Veteran
Reged: 12/26/02
Posts: 522
Loc: midwest
|
|
I WOULD TELL MY DOCTOR. THEY MIGHT NOT APPROVE, BUT THEY WILL FOR SURE SET YOU UP FOR A LONG SAFE TAPER. I HAVE THE SAME GAD W PANIC, PLUS SEVERE BACK PAIN THAT HAS SENT ME TO THE E R ROOM MANY TIMES IN THE PAST! I USE JUST KLONOPIN BUT KNOW THAT XANAX IS BETTER WHEN SOMETHING COME UP FAST AND YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO "ADJUST" YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG! DON'T EVER FORGET THAT. K WAS NOT DESIGNED TO HANDLE PANIC ATTACKS........TELL YOUR DOCTOR! IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT, GET ALL MEDICAL RECORDS FROM YOUR CURRENT DOCTOR AND THEN FIND A UNDERSTANDING DOCTOR. I DON'T FEEL RIGHT ABOUT TELLING YOU WHAT AMOUNT OF XANAX YOU NEED TO TAPER, BUT I KNOW 100 2MG BARS CAN GET YOU DARN CLOSE.YOUR KLONOPIN WILL HELP SEIZURE PROBLEMS FROM DETOX. ALL THIS IS MHO.
GOOD LUCK! NEON
|
tone
Veteran
Reged: 06/29/03
Posts: 554
Loc: Chicago
|
|
maybe ask your doctor if an anti-seizure medicine would help withdrawl, along with a taper
|
Listvoer
Old Hand
Reged: 01/14/04
Posts: 411
Loc: New America
|
|
Realize that klonipin and xanax are both benzos and there is definitely a cross-tolerance. It just might not be that hard to switch to just klonipin albeit at possibly a higher dose until you can taper yourself down to the level that you're currently prescribed. Quitting a benzo like xanax completely, as compared to quitting xanax while still taking klonipin is quite different. The klonipin should do a pretty darn good job of replacing that xanax need although there may be a bit of a transition period.
I've said it many times, but i'll say it again. www.benzo.org.uk and www.benzoliberty.com are 2 great resources for information on how benzos act on the brain, what happens when you stop taking them, and has methods of both how to detox on your own and also what kind of detox to go to if you feel the need for professional help. Seems some docs don't fully understand the difference between detoxing from a benzo as opposed to coming off opiates or something else. I had a friend call poison control about 36 hours after quitting xanax cold turkey, and they told him that if he was OK at that point then there was nothing to worry about. 24 hours later he had a seizure while driving his car and caused all kinds of damage and chaos.
Good health to all...
L
--------------------
Due to PM spam I rarely check mine so if you send me one, make sure to let me know...
|
sunflower29
Member
Reged: 04/13/04
Posts: 154
|
|
A lot of people who taper off benzos switch to Valium because it has the longest half life, so you're not likely to have as bad withdrawal. The Valium allows for a smoother taper, with fewer problems. I've never taken valium, only tapered from clonazepam, so I don't have personal experince with it, but the benzo.org site follows what they call the "Ashton Protocol" based on a doctor's experience helping her patients withdraw from benzos and she had most of them switch to Valium for withdrawing and tapering very slowly off the Valium.
|
peteg72
Member
Reged: 05/10/04
Posts: 174
Loc: midwest
|
|
Just be careful what you say when talking to your doctor. My psychistrist had me on xanax for 2 years, and knew from the beginning that I was also on pain medications for my back injury.
I was seeing him about every six months and he was prescribing me 120 xanax per month, even over the phone in some cases for 2+ years.
My last appt. with him, I was in a bad time in my life, had a MAJOR pain flare up on my back, and was just plain depressed. I had never abused my xanax or pain meds, however I told him that I thought maybe I was taking a little too much hydrocodone because I was tired alot.
At that instant, he told me he could not prescribe me xanax anymore. I said WHAT? Can you at least taper me down like you said you would do from the beginning? He pretty much said no, thats your problem. Here's the number to a detox facility. I told him I can't really afford to take time off work to go through a detox program. To make a long story short, I sat in there for about an hour asking him repediatly how he could do this to me, being a doctor.
Now I am very cautious what I say to doctors. All I said was that I THOUGHT I was taking too much of a pill that was legally prescribed to me from my primary physician. I had to go to er's and urgent care's to get enough xanax so I could do a taper on my own. That was no picknic, as they all think you are drug seeking. I wanted to tell them, No I just had a bad doctor who assumed the worst of me. I also called his nurse after the appt. and threatened to call a lawyer and file a lawsuit if I did have a seisure.
I agree that you should talk to your doctor and have him help you taper. I just thought I would share my story so you know that bad things can happen sometimes if you are honest with your doctor. I do still think honesty is best though.
btw, the amount of hydro I was taking was nowhere near abuse level. I just thought it might have been too much for my body to handle. He just jumped to conclusions right away and then didn't believe a word I said after that. Good luck. pete
--------------------
And if the band youre in starts playing different tunes....I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
Edited by peteg72 (08/02/04 08:29 PM)
|
debbie4884
Member
Reged: 03/12/04
Posts: 135
Loc: Michigan
|
|
I have had doctors like that too. I even heard one doctor outside the patient room discussing me with a bunch of nurses and whoever else happened to be standing there. They were talking very bad of me, like I was a drug seeker. When the doctor came in, I said - I heard every word you said out there, which is totally unprofessional, and I refuse to be treated by you, and I walked out.
I hate (most) doctors. (I won't stereotype). That is one reason CP patients depend on OPs so much.
Just know that we are all in this together. You are not alone. 
--------------------
Debbie
|
jshnyda
Member
Reged: 05/06/02
Posts: 174
Loc: Home of #14
|
|
Thanks to everyone who replied I appreciate it. I saw the (PM&R) Pain Medicine and Rehabilition specialist today. He said that my back is not a very serious injury,but I need Physiacal theropy for 4 weeks to "get off the pain meds". I know that I cannot take percocet for the rest of my life, being that I am only 29 years old. I do believe that my family doctor will continue to write scripts for the percocet. The reason that my family doctor sent me to see the PM&R specialist was to "justify" writing the script for the percocet. The bad thing is every time I need a refill I have to schedule an appointment. That gets costly even with insurance. Maybe I should ask him to switch me to Vicoden(which can be called in to the pharmacy and refills can be given with it)but I am afraid that switching from percocet to vicoden will give me major W/D symtoms, I don't know. That is what I hoping someone could possibly answer for me here on this post.
THANKS IN ADVANCE, JEFF
|
catmom
Board Addict
Reged: 06/20/03
Posts: 325
Loc: Midwest
|
|
Try not to let others' "horror stories" scare you. I was on quite a high dose (I think) of oxycontin's and percs for breakthrough pain for 3 months after a car accident that broke my femur.  sure I became physically dependant on them. After 3 months, my interist basically cut me off.
I did have soem withdrawals, but I was lucky just to have insomnia for a few weeks.
I usually worry ahead of time about things that aren't as bad as I imagine they will be. However, as some of the wise people on this board have already said, you would be very smart to do a slow taper off your benzos instead of the cold turkey route.
Catmom
--------------------
God, please help me to be the person my DOG already thinks I am.
|
insomnia1
Stranger
Reged: 07/18/04
Posts: 11
Loc: midwest
|
|
I had a seizure 24 hours after taking my last ambien. I've never had a seizure in my 32 years of life. All I remember is telling my husband I felt dizzy and then woke up to 6 men standing over me telling me they're taking me to the hospital. I can't even describe the pain I went thru after the seizure. I was admitted to the hospital and stayed for 2 1/2 days. They ran blood tests, EKG, EEG, and a cat scan. Everything came back normal except I had a UTI I didn't even know about. They still don't know why I had it. The doc said ambien isn't like benzos and shouldn't cause them.
But I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks so maybe I just worked myself into one. I've gone thru ambien withdrawals so many times and never had one until then. Just insomnia for about 4 days. Like right now. I haven't slept for 3 days straight and I am dying.
I'm a chronic pain sufferer too but I'm so used to the pain that I deal with it all day. It's just at night I can't sleep and the pain intensifies. I have a back injury, connective tissue disorder, cystocele, scoliosis but I can't handle the anxiety and insomnia.
The hospital never gave me one thing to ease my pain the whole time I was there....not even for the UTI. It was the worst 2 days of my life.
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit 
Reply 
Quote 
