how do benzodiazepines work?

[physicsstudent13]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1401642/?page=4
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/benzodiazepine-use-may-raise-risk-alzheimers-disease-201409107397
Yes tragically it seems that I have damage similar to traumatic brain injury or stroke. I've been trying all of these treatments like alpha gpc, citicoline,NAC in oral form but they don't seem to work and treat my brain fog and exhaustion. I added sam-E and hope it might help.

I had never taken klonopin and I had such bad fogginess from these sleep disorders that I couldn't read anymore. So I started klonopin and it seemed to help the central apneas and seizures/PLMD hypnic jerks I was having in my sleep

Since I have severe sleep apnea I might just need to get tracheostomy to cure my sleep disorder. I tried the klonopin+gabapentin combo and was still foggy/tired most of the day. I had more energy and clarity while on rocephin for some reason which lowers glutamate levels and prevents neurotoxicity from high glutamate it seems. I hope that I don't have some kind of brain infection or neuro inflammation since the rocephin definitely had a noticeable effect?

 

[physicsstudent13]

so Sam-E with high doses of vitamin B could methylate neurotransmitters and regenerate cells which could alleviate brain fog? you need the vitamin B to convert homocysteine back into methionine since homocysteine causes many health problems like heart disease?
I've read the bioavailability of sam-E tablets is low and injections are better?

sam-E is also found in fish meat and dairy products but probably not in as high concentrations as supplements

 

[boohealth]

That's not exactly the case. Normally when a GABA molecule binds to the receptor in your nerve cell, that triggers it to temporarily "shut", so it won't continue to bind to GABA. Until it has processed the GABA and returned to its pre-GABA state, when the feedback loop is completed and it will be ready to bind to GABA again.

Benzos artificially hold that gate open, so the cell gets flooded. It has no feedback mechanism left.

There are lots of benzo receptors all over the body, not just the brain. The gut, the muscles.

I'm slowly getting off my benzo entirely and sometiems it's horribly uncomfortable and disruptive. I feel sick, toxic, buzzy and awful at times. Wish I'd never gone on them.

Benzos don't directly affect GABA levels, but they make GABA-A receptors more "sensitive" to GABA. So the same amount of GABA will have a stronger effect.

.

 

[physicsstudent13]

maybe sam-E+vitamin B complex could be just as effective for sleep since it creates melatonin and neurotransmitters?
My horrid sleep disorders and asthma became even more horrid while my vitamin B level was 200 about 6 years ago (unnoticed and unmentioned by my doctor) so I wonder if this caused neurological damage as well as being prescribed klonopin

I notice that on klonopin alone I don't seem to sleep very deeply at all, it's a very shallow unrestful sleep maybe no stage 3 SWS. but in journals it's said to lower CSA. I felt it gave this calm feeling, Maybe it was terrible to trust these neurologists who put me for years on benzos?

 

[physicsstudent13]

I've switched to trazodone and the results seem much better and it is shown to increase slow wave sleep in journals. I just have some nausea on waking up. I just trusted this neurologist but he was experimenting with alcohol and gabapentin. Maybe klonopin destroys stage 3 sleep? It's really bizarre how I developed this sleep disorder with 0.1% stage 3 or slow wave sleep. I felt I slept much more deeply on trazodone and have clarity on waking up.
Can I just stop klonopin and gabapentin cold turkey?

 

[Little Bluestem]

You need to ask your dr about this, but I don't think you can stop klonopin cold turkey.

 

[physicsstudent13]

well I guess you end up with excitotoxicity and brain damage? then my doctors are terrible because they NEVER spoke to me about a taper or the terrible effects of klonopin

 

[Thinktank]

No, you can't stop any benzodiazepine cold turkey if you've been using it for a while. You will endure immediate or protracted withdrawal effects that might be misdiagnosed as another "illness", you don't want that.

You have to discuss it with your doctor but If you want to get of the clonazepam then it's wise to do a slow taper. Either gradually switch to a benzo with a longer half-life like diazepam or do a water-titration taper with clonazepam.

I tried both techniques, diazepam and clonazepam. I found diazepam to be too sedating so continued with the water-titration technique on clonazepam. I'm now on 2 X 0.1mg clonazepam daily with a 10% reduction every 3 to 4 weeks, more than that throws me right into withdrawal hell. I'm als on a tough medical protocol for lyme disease which causes me to herx all the time so that's a double whammy.

 

[physicsstudent13]

That's not exactly the case. Normally when a GABA molecule binds to the receptor in your nerve cell, that triggers it to temporarily "shut", so it won't continue to bind to GABA. Until it has processed the GABA and returned to its pre-GABA state, when the feedback loop is completed and it will be ready to bind to GABA again.

Benzos artificially hold that gate open, so the cell gets flooded. It has no feedback mechanism left.

There are lots of benzo receptors all over the body, not just the brain. The gut, the muscles.

I'm slowly getting off my benzo entirely and sometiems it's horribly uncomfortable and disruptive. I feel sick, toxic, buzzy and awful at times. Wish I'd never gone on them.

So does your cell get flooded with GABA and that is toxic and we become mentally damaged? Let's get DTI MRIs brother to see what these doctors did to us

I think I would do a careful slow taper, some people even do 2 year tapers but that seems too long, maybe 1 month or 2 weeks is better.

 

[physicsstudent13]

No, you can't stop any benzodiazepine cold turkey if you've been using it for a while. You will endure immediate or protracted withdrawal effects that might be misdiagnosed as another "illness", you don't want that.

You have to discuss it with your doctor but If you want to get of the clonazepam then it's wise to do a slow taper. Either gradually switch to a benzo with a longer half-life like diazepam or do a water-titration taper with clonazepam.

I tried both techniques, diazepam and clonazepam. I found diazepam to be too sedating so continued with the water-titration technique on clonazepam. I'm now on 2 X 0.1mg clonazepam daily with a 10% reduction every 3 to 4 weeks, more than that throws me right into withdrawal hell. I'm als on a tough medical protocol for lyme disease which causes me to herx all the time so that's a double whammy.

Yes I would do a slow taper brother. I was on this terrible klonopin for 3 years and 600mg of gabapentin and I don't know why my neurologists damaged me with these drugs.
I had this really weird wired spacy feeling on gabapentin is that brain damage? did my neurologists just damage me?
I read that clorazepate or tranxene might be an option too for a taper and some people have done that.