Is Ashton method for benzo withdrawal best?

[hank111]

Is the Ashton Method (benzo.org.uk) still considered the best way to end an addiction to benzos (specifically xanax .25mg 3 times/day)? Also, what do you think about taking  Ambien and/or trazodone for sleep during the process (I am currently taking them)?
Thanks!

[bethie50]

can you become addicted to the act of snorting pills? what is your opinion suboxone? my fiance is addicted to snorting pills...recently he has become more depressed than usual....always falling asleep, doesn't want to do anything. i want to help him but not sure how.

[J T Junig, MD PhD]

I just read the 'Ashton method' at that web site;  I am surprised that a person would get credit for something that is so obvious!  I see that she wrote her paper on benzo dependence in 1994;  even in med school in the mid to late 1980's we were tapering off benzos pretty much the exact same way.  Maybe it took a few years for the idea to spread to England, where she wrote about it!

At any rate, that description of tapering--  changing to a long-acting benzo, substituting one dose at a time, going slow, etc is pretty much the way most docs taper benzos.  The main risk coming off benzos is a seizure;  the risk is lessened by taking longer, self-tapering benzos like clonazepam.