Benzo withdrawal - when do you taper?

Could you put dates for each med change?  Also put what symptoms you experienced after each change if you can.

Your doctors really jacked you around.  Surviving Antidepressants recommends NOT stopping/changing two meds at once.  I'm sure the benzo authorities would agree with this, unless you are in tolerance withdrawal, I believe.  SA recommends tapering the AD first because wd can cause anxiety that the benzo can help temper, as well as helping you not lose your sleep.

So, you were severely depressed even though you were on the Xanax and Prozac which leads me to believe they had pooped out (one or both) and put you into tolerance withdrawal which mimics depression and anxiety relapse. Was your depression over something tangible or did it feel above and beyond, without reason?

Then you were switched, but were really likely in withdrawal from the first two.  It would help to know how long you were on each set of medication since October.  This could help folks understand what your next course of action should be.

I'm so sorry you are suffering so much.  Withdrawal is truly horrible. It's mind-blowing that doctors often don't seem to understand this and treat the wd symptoms with yet more scripts that effect an already chaotic nervous system causing more chaos.

Again, thank you for your help.  The agoraphobic in me is really afraid to reveal all of this information.  It feels like an open door to a stranger.  But I will give it a go.  First what is SA?  

Yes, I believe I was experiencing Poopout from both the Prozac and the Xanax.  I have suffered major depression related to trauma since adolescence, although 2 months before my hospitalization I experienced a great loss which made my depression far worse.  Prior, I would catagorize my depression and anxiety as severe for about 2 years.  The agoraphobia joined in 6 years ago and in the last 2 has grown worse.  

I have been on many antidepressants.  It was hard to find dates and my brain is so addled I can't remember even some of the names.   Luckily I had written the latest down in my journal.  I was prescribed Prozac first in July of 2013-ish with a brief periord off of it in early '15 where I was on Pamelor for a week and the side effects were so severe I went back on the Prozac.  

Oct 5 I went into the Hospital on 8 mg of Xanax and 60 mg of Prozac.  That evening I was put on Cymbalta with no cross over and 4 mg of Klonazapam with maybe a 24 hour cross over.  I stayed on these drugs with an increasing dose of Cymbalta while in the hospital, then outpatient program and until I saw my new Dr. 11/20/15.  By then I was experiencing all of the following:  I was a zombie, I mumbled, dizziness & light headed, blurred vision, aching joints & muscles (weird places like my wrists and the bottoms of my feet), hypersensitivity several times a week to one or all of these - light, sound, touch (Like I could feel my wedding ring to the point it irritated my so much I had to take it off) smell, and sometimes things tasted weird like an apple tasted like garlic or pudding tasted rotten, I was drowsy all the time, had no energy, I was weak, couldn't concentrate, remember, aphasia, confusion, inability to control my body temp, discomfort in my own skin, irritability, shaking, night sweats & chills, headache, coughing (?), and nausea.  By then I had found the Ashton Manual and understood that many of these symptoms were actually side effects of withdrawal from benzos. 

11/20/15 I was taken off of Cymbalta (withdrawal from that was terrible including increased weakness, dizziness, night sweats, confusion, zombie-ness, and terrible stomache pain) and Klonazapam.  There was a 5 day step down off the Cymbalta.  I was prescribed 20 mg Valium and Respiradone and Mirtazapine - I am sorry I cannot remember the dosages.  

8 days later most of my withdrawal symptoms were either the same or worse.  I couldn't tell what was withdrawal from the Cymbalta, what was withdrawal from the benzo, or what was a side effect of the medication becuase so many of the symptoms crossed over.  I decided on my own to go off of everything except the Valium until I could be clear about what was the cause of what was happening to me. And you have a list of my current remaining side effects today above.  Some have improved.  I am less frequently hypersensitive and now it is just light and sound, I have experienced fewer incidents of sleep paralysis.  Some have gone away.  Some have increased.  My vision is more blurred, my sleep is more disturbed, and maybe it is a side effect of the lethargy, but my confusion, memory and comprehension are much worse.  

I am still not taking an antidepressant.  Although the Dr. really wants to put me on one and frankly the depression is uber present. He also wants to put me on Synthroid.  He wants to mess with my nervous system and now my Hormones?!

 So there you have it.   I hope it helps you & others in the group to help me.  And I appreciate it.  Thanks.

When a person is in WD from the benzo and/or AD, their nervous system becomes super sensitized to any new meds (ADs etc.) and so monkeying around with trying this and that is NOT advised.  I'm not clear myself as to whether reinstatement of a small amount of Prozac would be the way to go, but I'm sure that is part of the WD equation.  Withdrawal from ADs from too fast tapers of cold turkeys can last for months and even years, depending on how long you were on them and how high a dose.  The healing goes in windows and waves, feeling better, then worse again, then better, etc.

SA is survivingantidepressants, the peer support forum for coming off ADs, benzos and Z-drugs.  I'll send you more info.  The mods there are quite knowledgeable, and there is a subforum for benzos.

Of course, it is entirely up to you about going back on an AD or not, a very small reinstatement possibly alleviating symptoms to a manageable level, and then doing a very slow taper off from there.

I think we're both on the same page, Thanks for writing to PB. I had some time just after I said I didn't as I, like you could see they were desperate. I wrote much the same as you - then my iPad froze and I lost it. I'm trying to catch up .

What I have found is this problem is escalating eg: one person who comes onto this forum I write to them and there are others they know in a similar position. This problem ( you'll be aware) is massive. What can we do as individuals?

It is frustrating to try to help and then get the mod on your case as being anti-doctor or anti-med, and there are trolls out there that get upset and turn you in, because they are pro-med and seemed to be threatened by any stance that perhaps the meds are the problem.  But indeed they can be, and they are not benign!  They are incredibly powerful and the research was never put in for the long haul use; we long term users are the guinea pigs.

It is also discouraging that med scripts seem to be the first line attack on emotional problems by the general and p-docs.  They are NOT a cure, but perhaps a band-aid to give people a leg up in the short term until they are past a crisis, but then they need to come off and get on with therapy and other self-help techniques that help them cope better!

Off my soap-box....LOL!

Nobody I can see has mentioned how - Psychiatrists so often misdiagnose benzodiazepine withdrawal as whatever label they decide to give it. Consequently prescribe antipsychotics. What I have not seen anywhere on this site is the question of how to withdraw from benzodiazipines when on antipsychotics. They do lower the seizure threshold! Seizures can take any shape or form! Maybe many people on this site are experiencing seizures?