Posted by verne on August 14, 2004, at 0:47:04
In reply to Verne, posted by mcp on August 13, 2004, at 22:25:49
I made a straight switch from ativan to librium without a hitch. I feared for the worst but the dose was equivalent so it was a smooth transition.
I felt better on the longer-acting librium. There may be even longer-acting benzos that would work as well or better. The key was getting off the short-acting ativan roller-coaster.
That said, it still took me almost a year to get completely off librium. About every 3 months we lowered the dose, until finally I was taking the smallest dose (5mgs or 10mgs) once a day. Even then the first week without anything was a bit rough but I've been benzo-free ever since (8 years)
I've tried lots of alternatives like neurotin, zyprexa, valporic acid, tegretol, and a wide assortment of the non-addictive "approved" drugs and felt like crap. Neurotin may not be addictive but it wasn't easy stopping that - I felt like crap on it and even worse the first week getting off it.
Finally, a couple weeks ago I started inderal, remembering that I had taken it for anxiety 12 years ago while hospitalized. At first I took only 10mgs a day. I'm now taking inderal LA (long-acting) 60 mgs a day and feel as good or better than I ever did on benzos.
I'm relaxed yet still lucid. And the "side effects" are all good. Normal digestion, increased sex drive, and lower blood pressure.
Some people, however, have trouble with inderal which has possible side effects due to lowering the blood pressure and heart rate. If I'm a feeling a little too relaxed I take some green tea extract and drink some coffee.
I find the long-acting inderal much better than the regular inderal. It's a whole different feeling. It's like being covered with a kind of cooling, calming blanket. Yet it's nothing like the heavy tranquilizing anti-psychotics or anti-depressants where it's difficult to even think straight. I haven't felt this kind of calm lucidity for ages (maybe it's tapping into some old acid residue)
When I detoxed off ativan in the hospital, they simply tapered me down to nothing in 3 weeks. A week after I was discharged I refilled the prescription and started all over again. Actually it was an MD that recommended the librium replacement and was willing to take it slow. The psychdocs wanted to hospitalize me again.
poster:verne
thread:377353
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040811/msgs/377443.html