Tranquilizer Detox Withdrawal Can Last Years

BENZODIAZEPINES: HOW THEY WORK AND HOW TO WITHDRAW
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So many of us end up on these meds , including the sleepers (z-drugs) such as ambien, lunestra, and sonata, long term pre cpap and then continue them with the start of cpap.

Going off "cold turkey" or was that "cold duck" or maybe it was "cold rooster-from-india" isn't a very good idea for anyone who has been on these meds long term.

Tapering off should be slow and gradual over months not days. It can be very frustrating, full of strange bizarre symptoms, and I personally haven't reached the point yet where I will discover what it like when I finally get off, but that day is getting closer.

Good luck, Jules.
O.

Thanks. It was actually a post of yours in a thread last spring or summer that got me thinking that I really need to do this, not just say "someday".

This has been a very long and slow process with rewriting plans often. I am doing a straight Ambien taper not a switch to valium which is what Ashton recommends. I have always written my own plans and I do understand the ideas of half lives, accumulated doses etc. as we used to do drug scheduling examples in math modeling courses.

I told my doc back in Sept I didn't want more and had enough to taper with and that this might not work. Of course I have blown a few plans to when to lower doses since then because I wasn't stable enough to go down the next step I thought.

Thing is, shortly after I got on this 11 years ago I voiced concern about addiction and dependence and was told as long as it wasn't over 10 mg a night it wasn't a problem. I should have known better as I did a short stint with valium addiction about 30 years ago and quit that one "cold duck"; the psych that abused me was my pusher and of course you never realize half of this abuse until years later when the flashbacks start and you can start putting the pieces together.

All I can hope for in making this thread it to again make others here aware this benzo and z drug use is a REAL problem, that docs don't know it all, and to start rethinking where they are.