Benzodiazepine Withdrawal support

[scorpigoh]

To answer a few questions..here goes an explanation. When I quit, I was taking 10 mg diazepam and 350mg soma in the morning and the same at night When stressful situations arose in daily life diazepam was the answer. Gradually I began to realize that I needed to quit and did. It has been two months now and things are looking up. Tomorrow I go the Dr. because my blood pressure is too high 191/92. This is probably due to the CT stress, absolute hell, of withdrawal but that's just a self-diagnosis. Thank you all for the support. This is a great forum with many sincere and encouraging members.Thank you all. S

[iNsom]

No problem Scorp, that's why we are here.
I have never taken Soma but have read about it.
I have read that it is more addictive and has more severe withdrawals than Diaz.

I know Diaz is meant to be hell but Soma too!?
(...they use Diaz to get people off Soma and they compare Soma to barbiturates when it comes to addiction and withdrawal...) 
So the fact that you CT'd both Soma AND Diaz, and are feeling ok after 2 months is nothing short of huge inspiration for the rest of us on here.

Please keep us up to date 

[scorpigoh]

My Dr. added trazodone and upped my Prozac to the max a.m. and p.m. dose so I've given it a week to kick in and it seems to be going fine. I was skeptical regarding his decisions but must admit I am sleeping better and anxiexty is no longer my constant companion so things are looking up. I hope that if you have made a decision to quit that you are blessed with support and our higher power's answered prayers on your journey. Best wishes and thanks for your support, S.

[willie33]

I'm glad you are sleeping better and your anxiety is improving, Scorpigoh.

Congratulations on your hard work..

[Texas Chemist]

To answer a few questions..here goes an explanation. When I quit, I was taking 10 mg diazepam and 350mg soma in the morning and the same at night When stressful situations arose in daily life diazepam was the answer. Gradually I began to realize that I needed to quit and did. It has been two months now and things are looking up. Tomorrow I go the Dr. because my blood pressure is too high 191/92. This is probably due to the CT stress, absolute hell, of withdrawal but that's just a self-diagnosis. Thank you all for the support. This is a great forum with many sincere and encouraging members.Thank you all. S

I HAD high blood pressure and used to be a heavy drinker myself and while I still have a nice double IPA once or twice a week, I don't consider myself a true "drinker" anymore. 

Growing up, my blood pressure was always higher than it should have been.  Doc said not to worry.  After high school it slowly kept getting higher despite my taking benzodiazepines which I figured would lower my numbers...it didn't.

When I was initially stopped drinking booze CT, I was on higher doses of benzos and my blood pressure was still high (142/94).  I would often have the doctor use a larger sleeve because my arms were larger than most of his patients and the readings were still the same.  I know they weren't as high as yours are, but for someone who constantly exercised it was sort of paradoxical.  I started getting concerned and eventually he classified me as pre-hypertensive.  I chalked it up to being familial since my father also has relatively high blood pressure, but nothing that significantly worries his doctor.   

I have a point here I promise, lol...

I also was a smoker, not that heavy, but maybe 1 pack every 2-3 days.  I had smoked since I was 13.  I decided to stop smoking as I really started feeling the physical effects (shortness of breath, low stamina/endurance, smelling like an ash tray lol) and after 3 months of not smoking I went to the dentist for a teeth cleaning.  My blood pressure was 114/70.   I had the tech redo my BP reading 3 more times with different sized sleeves and they were all the same.  I then realized that all these years it was my smoking that was causing my high blood pressure.

Do you smoke?

(EDIT: I know this doesn't address BZ withdrawal but hoping that to help find the cause of your high BP... good luck!)

[iNsom]

Good post TC.

I don't smoke myself, but some who read this may.

Admittedly I used to smoke years ago.
...3 a day...then 4, then 5...once it hit 7 I had to stop...

It wasn't a long spell of my life, maybe 3-4 years. Back in my early-mid 20's.
This was almost decade ago now.

I'm in my very early 30's now so I'll never go back to that.

Peace.

---

Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for a cig now and again every couple months (when out with friends who smoke)

Moderation tho

[Rattzo]

I read somewhere that nicotine breaks down benzos faster in bloodstream. So smoking may bring wds faster than you would expect

[scorpigoh]

If I think about it, I believe that it was about four years ago that they told me in the hospital where I was recovering from a copperhead bite that I needed to quit smoking. A most enjoyable habit that was killing me. So after quitting a bad alcohol problem; pipe smoking joined alcohol on my list of things to do. Next up was diazepam and soma withdrawals and so far so good on a CT withdrawal from them. Best wishes to all who are traveling the same road. "All things in moderation" is good advice. I wish that I had followed those sage words.

[cmdline]

i do believe that nicotine has effect on benzos not in a way that im makes them last shorter but simply it raises blood pressure as as alcohol,and with anxiety when BP is raised one always feels more anxious thus this is like a loop specially for chain smokers.

that said i have my own thread below and its quite a hard way to kick benzos for me, anyone who managed to lower their dosage is there anything else to take to make w/ds more tolerable or have a break from benzos other then benzos ?

i have some phenibut which take every few weeks,but it works like a stimulant for me is great for a day but once it wears off its nasty.Dunno some med that calms one down for a day other then betablocker or some sort of gaba messing substance would be nice.

[SteveN]

Hi @cmdline
I read that Melatonin & Valerian Root can work for you.
I had good results with an OTC supplement called
L-Theanine if you can find it. Good Luck.