18 replies to this topic

[ShadyLady]

Today is Day 30 off Cymbalta. I was expecting to get a "chip" for being clean & sober, I think!! Alas, I understand now after reading my dailies on this site, I have only begun a journey that will not end today or tomorrow with the host of physical & mental sx's (side effects) that remain & new ones that crop up

I read so much about Benzos being used to aid in withdrawal for anxiety. I am confused, of course, and have researched this but I cannot understand this dilemma. I have taken Xanax for 28 years, that's correct, after having my first panic attack on a vacation for my 30th birthday. I don't remember:( the dosing except for the last 10 years approx. which is 1mg taken at bedtime. My psych's rx is for 2 1/2-3 x daily prn of which I have never taken more than maybe a half on a rare occasion when a panic attack reared it's ugly head. Stay with me, please, as this is really difficult for me to think & write:( The half life is short, 6-10hrs(?) as I understand it. I AM NOT SLEEPING MORE THAN 2 HOURS AT A TIME WITH A TOTAL OF 6 or so before I am tired off fighting & just stay awake until the next night comes hoping for some solid sleep.

If the half life is so short, am I not in some sort of withdrawal by not taking it more frequently? In other words, should I break the pill in quarters, 0.25, and take it 4x a day to keep a consistent amount in. Y system. I'm thinking I just want to down dose & get off of the 1mg a day as it cannot be effective anymore after having taken it so long, right?? I am curious about the bp med Clonidine(?) I have read about and wonder if I ask for a script for that if that would help with the sleep...I am so distrustful of my psych after having done this taper/ct on my own as he only kept a 'handful' of patients from his practice when he decided there was more $$ to be made in conducting clinical trials approx 8 yrs ago! So, I do not want to make an appointment & open up a whole new can of whoop ass on him as I believe the meds he has prescribed me have all been extremely debilitating & the dosing was off the charts on Cymbalta, ADDERALL, Xanax & Lunesta. I am currently only taking 1mg of the X's after having weaned off the Add & Lunesta, then ct'ing @ 20ishmg of Cymshit...

I hope someone has some personal experience they can share in my effort to reasonably sort out the best continued path of recovery off the CYM. Thanks, Rebecca

[FiveNotions]

Wow, gee whiz and golly ... Cym, I'm going to have to defer to FH, TM and the others here who have more knowledge and experience with benzos than I do ... my only experience is useless... got addicted to Xanax years ago, took me 2 years to get off... I was up to huge doses, thanks to a doc who rxed it "as needed" and didn't tell me it was addictive etc...

Currently, I've got an rx for valium, 2 mg / day ... I've had it since the first week of June, along with clonidine, and am now getting off the valium and just going to use the clonidine as needed ...

So your doc opted to get rich off of clinical trials, eh? Has he asked you if you want to be one of his human guinea pigs? What an asshat ...

[ShadyLady]

Guinea pig no, sacrificial lamb, yes;/ I am just so pissed because I don't know where or who to turn to in the medical community I've come to distrust with a vengeance after so many failed procedures & drugs thrown at me with no measurable success of any kind! I have some mental clarity for the first time since I can ever remember. I have been a supine, not walking, zombie for so long that waking from that stupor now is really frustrating! I felt today was the time to do something physical to get out of my brain so I turned up the music & started dancing as if I was 15 years ago! Oowwwweeeeee, legs buckled, heart raced & fat painfully sloshed around for about 3 minutes before I fell down on the mat and wondered what the hell was I thinking!! All or none, A or F, that's me, nothing in between so that makes this 'recovery' or whatever that much more real, right???!!! What a sight! Got on the scales & am 15 lbs heavier after CYM weaning/ct'ing!! I was one of the few that lost weight while on it, now I am craving nothing but hard carbs & torturing my celiac sprue ass to death, literally!! Oh, my...a new chapter! Guess I'll have to keep wearing my Omar the tent maker muumuus until some of this jello dissolves after getting the insane cravings under control, right!? Yes, dear, whatever you say, HAHAHAHS

[fishinghat]

OK here goes CymSik. 1st of all Xanax is probably not doing you any good at all. After four months the body starts building up tolerance to it. Second of all benzos do NOT allow you to reach REM sleep (the deepest level of sleep). This makes them vulnerable to frequent wakening.

 

2nd, you are probably going through some minor withdrawal from the Xanax with the every 24 hours schedule. This would yield some general grungy feeling the next day with probably some over reaction to stimuli. You would absolutely want to go to 0.25 mg each 6 hours before starting to wean off it (if that is what you decide tot do).

 

3rd, Clonidine is a very effective antianxiety med and very helpful with sleep. It does not interfere with REM sleep and with a half life of 12 hours it helps get you closer to a full nights sleep.It does take 1 1/2 hours to kick in though so take it early enough.

 

4th, There is also hydroxyzine. Very effective for sleep as well as anxiety. It only takes 30 min to 1 hour to kick in. It has NO withdrawal. If I remember right it has a 6 hour half life.It does not interfere with REM sleep either.

 

I have used both these drugs with very good success for both sleep and anxiety. There is no building up tolerance with these meds either.

 

If you have any other questions let me know.

[fishinghat]

By the way both Clonidine and hydroxyzine can cause some daytime drowsiness for the first week or so til your body adjusts. I never had this problem but some do.

 

And a correction, the half life of hydroxyzine is 14 to 20 hours.

[TryinginFL]

Isn't it surprising that after all the time that I've been on Alprazolam, it can still make me drowsy..

 

It not only helps me to sleep, it curbs the anxiety!  Took an almost 4 hr nap this afternoon

[ShadyLady]

Beautiful FH...thank you so much for the info! Now, will a gp prescribe either of these meds if I tell them the situation? Hmmm. Why would my psych, knowing I also have Fibro/CFS which already interferes with REM sleep, tell me to take 1mg @ bedtime and the rest prn?! Also, he prescribed Lunesta long term which was another nightmare that interfered with sleep? I am so confused:(

I will call a gp I have used in the past for thyroid deficiency & low Vit D treatment and see if, during the appt., if he will understand the info I tell him about the Xanax & prescribe either the Clonidine or Hydroxyzine. What fries me is that I see the psych every 3 months for rx refills & have told him I didn't feel the Xanax at bedtime was helping. So, last visit in May, he upped the Cymbalta & Adderall stating I wasn't stable on the current dose of 120mg of CYM & 50mg of ADDERALL ER!! I WILL NOT see him again as I feel he hasn't even listened or paid any attention to what I've said in those 15 minute appointments! He must be too preoccupied with all the clinical trials he conducts!! The May appointment is what started me wanting off the meds as I was bedridden with outrageous pain and floating in a hypnotic state & his advice was upping more poison.

So, going to take 1/4 of the Xanax .25 now & see how the sleep goes, can't be any worse than it has already been.

TFL, surprising indeed! I have just taken it for fear that if I stopped I would hit another withdrawal wall & not know which drug is creating the s/e's! I just never questioned these drs. & thought the 'syndromes' I was diagnosed with were the problem...now I am clueless as to what is really at the root of this mess!!

[ZappAlta]

Beautiful FH...thank you so much for the info! Now, will a gp prescribe either of these meds if I tell them the situation? Hmmm. Why would my psych, knowing I also have Fibro/CFS which already interferes with REM sleep, tell me to take 1mg @ bedtime and the rest prn?! Also, he prescribed Lunesta long term which was another nightmare that interfered with sleep? I am so confused:(

I will call a gp I have used in the past for thyroid deficiency & low Vit D treatment and see if, during the appt., if he will understand the info I tell him about the Xanax & prescribe either the Clonidine or Hydroxyzine. What fries me is that I see the psych every 3 months for rx refills & have told him I didn't feel the Xanax at bedtime was helping. So, last visit in May, he upped the Cymbalta & Adderall stating I wasn't stable on the current dose of 120mg of CYM & 50mg of ADDERALL ER!! I WILL NOT see him again as I feel he hasn't even listened or paid any attention to what I've said in those 15 minute appointments! He must be too preoccupied with all the clinical trials he conducts!! The May appointment is what started me wanting off the meds as I was bedridden with outrageous pain and floating in a hypnotic state & his advice was upping more poison.

So, going to take 1/4 of the Xanax .25 now & see how the sleep goes, can't be any worse than it has already been.

TFL, surprising indeed! I have just taken it for fear that if I stopped I would hit another withdrawal wall & not know which drug is creating the s/e's! I just never questioned these drs. & thought the 'syndromes' I was diagnosed with were the problem...now I am clueless as to what is really at the root of this mess!!

hey Cym you are making progress and still make us giggle with that sence of humour .

[fishinghat]

TFL

 

It is truly amazing that it still works. You are definitely one of the lucky ones. Count yoour blessings. This is an excellant example why we always write 'may cause', "usually does so and so". There just aren't any hard and fast rules just general trends.

[fishinghat]

NASI - If your withdrawal is tolerable take out 1 bead tomorrow. If It is pretty bad then just stay at the same dose for a few days til you stabilize then start with the 1 bead drop per day.

[ShadyLady]

Hey, Notsosureaboutit, drag indeed, huh?! Just wanted to say Welcome & hope you will stay with us here as it is the only source of comfort & guidance I have received on this withdrawal/discontinuation journey. I am day 33 off and was hopeful I would be feeling much better, urrgghh, but I am learning here that this is not a race & it happens when it happens for each one of us crawling our way back to a 'new' normal:) Hang in there & take that plane down slower for a smoother landing...

PS..you might want to read some of EquusWoman's posts...she did the slow & steady bead counting & seems to be doing really well!
Just a thought...God Bless, Rebecca

[ShadyLady]

Notsureaboutit...Go with what FishingHat said with the one bead. May seem small but if 3 beads removed gave you withdrawal symptoms I would stay with 1 bead and then see how you feel. No tried & true formula from what I've read but maybe someone else with the bead counting experience will pipe in here soon;). I jumped off a cliff at eyeballing:( below 30mg for a week & was such a basket case with full blown withdrawal side effects & trying to count those mexican jumping beans that I went cold turkey. HORRIBLE IDEA & I believe it exacerbates the sxs.

You can do this & you have a great support system here!

[FiveNotions]

NSAI, I'm with CymSik... she and I both did the "cliff diving" thing ... nope, nope, and nope ... not fun ....

[TryinginFL]

I was another 'diver' and I agree!

[fishinghat]

It is easier on a person to start too low and slowly work their way up than starting to high and adjust downward. Give your body a chance to get use to things. IF one bead drop per day is easy try a 2 bead a day drop. It takes a little time but you have to find your comfort level.