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[HelpMeOut]

Hello,

 

I am on 1,3mg clonazepam a day and I need some advice.

 

A test showed that my serotonin, noradrenaline, adrenaline and dopamine was very low while DHEA and glutamate was very high and GABA in the normal range (doc said GABA would be too low without clonazepam, too).

 

Now I have following problem. Everytime I try to tapper the clonazepam I get very tense neck and throat muscles that make me feel dizzy, anxious and detached from my surroundings. My depersonalization also is

unbearable when I try to tapper and I feel very lightheaded. The visual snow also literally explodes.

 

At the moment I just can't tapper due to changes in my private life and even little stress makes me feel extremly nervous when I am not taking enough clonazepam. However, the clonazepam itself also causes side-effects for me:

- depression

- no joy in life anymore

- lack of emotions

- tired

- unmotivated

 

I have read on the Ashton Manual that benzodiazepines lower acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonine and noradrenaline. This can lead to depression. Now, I am wondering if I can combat those side-effects that the clonazepam causes and balance things out while I still need to take the clonazepam. I used to take Tilidine (an opioid, NMDA-antagonist and dopamine reuptake inhibitor). However, since my dopamine is already naturally low, I don't want to screw my dopamine receptors by continuing using tilidine.

 

Are there any nootropics that can help me either with tappering and the associated side-effects or to keep my brain chemistry in balance while still taking clonazepam? I know that tyrosin increases adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine and tryptophan increases serotonin. For the choline problem, I took Huperzine A. However, even after 3 weeks I didn't feel a difference. 5HTP makes my depersonalization worse and huperzine A just doesn't do anything really.

 

I also have visual snow, probably due to long-term opioid use in the past which screwed with my dopamine receptors. Is there any way to upregulate my dopamine receptors during benzo usage?

 

It must be mainly a dopamine and glutamate problem (glutamate too high, dopamine too low) since when I take tilidine, my depression is gone, I feel joy and motivation again and I am much more emotional and full of energy.

 

I also have mucuna pruriens extract with 200mg L-DOPA per capsule, but I am not sure if L-DOPA downregulates the dopamine receptors or not.

 

I really need some advice.

[Guinga]

A few ideias: keep taking the clonazepam if it helps you. the more anxious you get the more depersonalized you'll feel. try memantine for tolerance, and it may help with the visual snow too. also pregnenolone  for avoidind the benzo tolerance and balancing the gabaergic and glutamatergic system. 

 if depersonalization it's the major problem, at some point you should try lamictal it's one of the only drugs that have been shown in studies to help directly. somenthing to do with the blockade of specific calcium channels. there's also the opiod antagonists but i would go for lamical first. on the kappa antagonism side there's the natural option: amentoflavone, i don't know  of any studies about it's efficacy on DP but it'll probably help. Also in that same category it's naltrexone a syntetic kappa antagonist. 

 

l-dopa from mucuna pruiens it's not dangerous, but don't take more than three times a week. i would recomend bupropion and nsi-189 for the anhedonia and motivation issues. if 5htp made your problems worse SSRIS probably will have the same effect. 

 

try not to worry too much about having a neurotransmitter too high or too low. unless you have parkinson's or other similar disease, that's not gonna be your problem, it's more a question of brain metabolism and dysregulation that's causing your issues. it doesn't mean that boosting dopamine or other neurotranmiter wouldn't help.

 

also meditation, something that everyone recommends. probably would help more than any drug,  but almost nobody is following the advice, as it isn't some magic pill. watch this video, it's one of the best and simplest explanations I found on the process. if you're unconfortable sitting still for half an hour, as most of us are, try dynamic meditation first. search it on youtube. it's crazy and it's awesome.

 

once you managed your anxiety and motivation issues, try the nootropics and adptogens, mixing too many things at a time will just make it confusing and will make you keep chasing that magic solution that will never be available.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Guinga, 08 July 2016 - 04:31 AM.