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Chapter 9

Anti-anxiety, Anticonvulsants, Benzodiazepines and Sleep Medication Pre-Taper

Starting Your Pre-Taper

Note: This pre-taper addresses several types of medication, as indicated in this Chapter title. For the rest of this Chapter, the word “benzodiazepine” is used alone to encompass all of the medications included in the chapter title (Benzodiazepine, Antianxiety, Anticonvulsant and Sleep Medication).

During the pre-taper and taper, you will address the immune system, the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal-axis, cortisol and the adrenals, along with enzymes that regulate anxiety, sleep and other symptoms resulting from benzodiazepine usage. While many of these symptoms may be viewed as mental (anxiety, insomnia, and other subjective symptoms), we will address them as physical symptoms.

You may already have heart palpitations or aches and pains throughout the body. These side effects are addressed with this program as well as any and all side affects you may be experiencing.

You will begin your pre-taper by taking the Neuro Day, JNK Formula, and Neuro Night. These are the basic supplements used for a benzodiazepine taper, and the majority of you will not need any other supplements.

If you are also taking an antidepressant, you should reduce the benzodiazepine first. You will be taking; Neuro Day, JNK Formula, Neuro Night and the Omega 3 Supreme.

These supplements should take care of most or all daytime anxiety, panic attacks, sleep problems, etc. If you have taken a benzodiazepine for a prolonged period and have depression or a tingling or numbness of the extremities, the JNK Formula will be vital. Prolonged use of a benzodiazepine massively depletes the B vitamin biotin and leads to depression and tingling or numbness of an extremity. To help address this you should get a biotin supplement and take 5,000mcg daily.

A few individuals will also have fatigue during the daytime while taking these medications. If you are one of them, handle the daytime anxiety first, have 3 good nights of sleep in succession and re-evaluate the fatigue. For most people it will go away with 3 good nights of sleep.

Remember, as soon as you start the pre-taper, you simultaneously begin keeping your Daily Journal and keeping your graphs up to date.

Make sure to note in your journal when existing side effects stop or when there is a major improvement. This is very important. Anxiety first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon is a very common side effect of benzodiazepines. By the time you are ready to go to sleep at night, you are too stressed out and fatigued from dealing with anxiety difficulties all day long that sleep simply may not come. You could easily end up feeling depressed due to this endless cycle of anxiety, insomnia, anxiety, and insomnia.

Part of the process of handling sleep is by addressing the anxiety that is usually present during the daytime. You will be taking the JNK Formula and Neuro Day during the daytime to help with anxiety, which will also help set you up for a good night’s sleep when it is bedtime. It is much easier to go to sleep if you are not all ramped up from daily activities or constant daily anxiety. If you are also experiencing some degree of depression, do not be surprised if the depression lifts during the pre-taper as your ability to sleep improves, daytime anxiety abates or other symptoms you may be experiencing vanish. Even so, as you start to experience relief from your symptoms, do not change anything; just continue with the program. There are still many, many gains available as you continue through and complete The Road Back Program.

There are optional supplements you can use along the way, but they are here for specific symptoms that not everyone will have. Again, most people will do very well with only taking the Neuro Day, JNK Formula, and Neuro Night.

If you would like to include some optional supplements, read through Chapter 3 “Nutritionals Used on The Road Back Program” for a full list of optional supplements.

If mood is a constant problem for you, try out a bottle of Omega 3 Supreme. Put 3 of the softgels in your mouth and bite through the softgel, swallow the oil and remove the softgels from your mouth. If this is what you needed for mood you will feel the difference in minutes.

What to do next:

Read through the Chapter 14, How to Taper Anti- anxiety, Anticonvulsants, Benzodiazepines and Sleep Medication. Consult with your prescribing physician and/or pharmacist and layout your drug taper schedule.

Plan out the second and third reduction of the medication as well at this point to ensure you are ready with the correct dosages of the drug.

The Pre-Taper

For the next 7 days you will be doing your pre-taper. You do not reduce your medication during the pre-taper.

Pre-Taper Goals:

Improved sleep. Vast reduction or elimination of anxiety, fatigue and insomnia. Lessening or elimination of other drug-induced side effects.

Below are the supplements you will take:

Neuro Day – Take 1 capsule 2 times a day 5 hours apart.

JNK Formula – Take 1 capsule twice a day.

Neuro Night – Take 2 capsules 15 minutes before bedtime.

DAY ONE THROUGH DAY THREE:

Use your Daily Journal and rate your anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia and any additional symptoms you may be experiencing. Rate them from 1 to 10, with number 10 being the worst and number 1 being no side effect or symptom remaining.

MORNING SUPPLEMENTS:

If you take your medication first thing in the morning, take the medication as usual, and 1 hour later take 1 JNK Formula. If you do not take the medication first thing in the morning, take the JNK Formula first thing. Never take supplements within 1 hour of medication.

JNK – Take 1 capsule twice a day.

Neuro Day– 2 hours after the morning JNK Formula, take 1 capsule of Neuro Day. Take the second capsule roughly 5 hours later If you found the morning JNK Formula reduced your daytime anxiety but the anxiety crept back in near noon, you can take an additional JNK Formula anytime you wish. You can adjust the JNK Formula and the Neuro Day around to fit your specific needs.

BEDTIME

Neuro Night – If you take medication at bedtime, take 2 capsules of the Neuro Night one hour before taking your medication. If you do not take medication at bedtime, take 2 capsules of Neuro Night 15-minutes before going to bed.

Take the supplements exactly as described here for 3 full days. If your anxiety levels are going down and your sleep is improving, remain with this schedule.

HOW TO ADJUST THE SUPPLEMENTS

Adjusting the supplements around to fit your own desires is fine to do. If you are feeling very calm all day with 2 of the JNK Formula and only 1 Neuro Day, just take 1 of the Neuro Day. If you need to take the second JNK Formula or the second Neuro Day within 3 hours of the first to keep the anxiety levels down, it is fine to do that.

The point here; we are all not the same. Some of us have morning anxiety; some anxiety comes in the middle of the day. You can take these supplements to fit you!!!Neuro Day – You can take 2 of these capsules in the day but only 1 capsule at a time. Space out at least 3 hours apart.

Neuro Night – If you find you are sleeping much better when you go to sleep but you are still having difficulty going to sleep, take the Neuro Night 1 hour earlier than you were taking it.

The concept of adjusting the supplements during the program is straightforward:

If you felt an improvement after starting the JNK, but symptoms came back later in the day, take an additional JNK capsule about 4 hours after the morning JNK.

If you responded well to the Neuro Day but the symptoms you are fighting come back within a few hours, take the second Neuro Day before the 5 hours has arrived.

If you started getting tired during the daytime, and this is new for you, try taking only 1 Neuro Day during the daytime.

If anxiety always comes back at around noon each day, and it is not time to take the JNK Formula or the Neuro Day for another hour, adjust your schedule so you take 1 capsule of the Neuro Day at 11am.Make sure to keep your Daily Journal and graphs updated each day. The pre-taper is really that simple.

After 7 full days of the pre-taper, you are now ready to begin reducing the medication.

The key is to keep good notes or at the very least, make a mental note of how you felt. You can adjust the supplements around as you like, but be consistent with how you adjust them. If you feel a massive reduction of symptoms after taking the Neuro Day, you can adjust around the time you take it. Try and keep the time at least 4 hours apart though.