whose been on a benzo for years and came off?

I used Klonopin 8mg daily for about 8 months and came off of it using Phenobarbital which I took for ~ 3 weeks, I didn't feel discomfort. After that time benzodiazepine tolerance / physical dependence was completely gone.

Thomas Paine said:

Do you have any suggestions or articles I could use to convince a very conservative doctor to prescribe this? I've been on Klonopin for years but never been able to quit successfully and have only gotten up to 1.5mg daily at my peak. For some reason I am very very sensitive to withdrawal and had a seizure even when I cut back at a speed that they might do under close supervision.

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A very conservative doctor most likely won't prescribe Phenobarbital or Desoxyphenobarbital (= Primidone), altough detoxing with Pheno is probably the best way to get you off the Klonopin because Phenobarbital has strong anxiolytic & anticonvulsant properties.

A really good explanation about the use of Phenobarbital to come off benzos (or hypnotics in general) can be found in "Gabbard's Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders" page 211+ ... you can read it using Google books.

Alcohol is a bad idea, it's toxic and in case of more severe benzodiazepine withdrawal with seizure risk it would have to be permanently in the body, especially when sleeping the blood alcohol level can fall and this could result in a seizure. Heavy drinking could also cause eg. acute pancreatitis.