2nd success story at 12 months - life just gets better

Thanks so much! 

Thank you so much for sharing your story, it really gave me a lot of hope. I’ve been off lorazepam for 48 days now, and I’m still dealing with immense fatigue, blurry/double vision, headaches and sometimes feeling too hot. I want to start tapering off Mirtazapine but everyone keeps telling me to wait until I feel a bit more stable. I’m a designer and really miss my vision, and I get nervous that it’s permanently destroyed (my eyes hurt sometimes too), so it was really nice to see that yours improved! Do you remember what it looked like? Did you ever see double? Thanks in advance, and all the best to you for 2022 😊

yes - i did have vision issues - both double vision and extremely blurry vision that was not improved by putting on glasses....... i am not sure the underlying mechanism of it but it did resolve with time.  you are definitely early in so just keep the faith - all will be restored and in many ways - will be better.  i would agree that it is  not time to start tapering off the next med - would wait until you feel extremely stable before starting that  - as  it will be another big upset to the system......

Thank you so much for responding I’m so glad your vision improved, and hope the same will happen for me. ☺️

Bump

I would love an update on this story!

Hi Everyone -  wanted to give an update since I don't come on here often and someone just asked for one.  5+ years later I am thriving and so grateful I connected the dots all those years ago to realize what had stolen 6+ years of my life...... I continue to be an active voice in the medical community warning of these medications.  Still living in my dream house - finished all the renovations and it's truly a zen retreat.  I work insanely long hours, put in tons of hours in my yard log splitting, gardening,  lots of long walks with my 2 rescue pups,  many fun nights out with my good friends.  While I thought I found the love of my life a while back, it turned out not to be the case, but I got through that heart break with no assistance from any medications.  Since then, I have reconnected with an amazing guy I went to high school with and it seems maybe he is "the one"......  I have also had a health scare, I am having surgery tomorrow after an abnormal biopsy, but it's not cancer but something abnormal that does need to be removed.  as with my previous s surgery I've insisted on no versed during the procedure.  will never risk being exposed to a benzodiazepine again.  people tell me I look 10 years younger than I am and that I glow with happiness.  I'm 47 and have had to go through perimenopause without any hormonal assistance.  I tried a tiny bit of progesterone twice and had a horrible reaction..... but my hormones are now on the other side of it and I didnt gain weight have hot flashes or anything else.  I used Vitex,  DIM and inositol to keep my hormones as even as I could.....

 

I think this kind of happiness can only be experienced after having walked through absolute hell.  Everything feels more magical and beautiful after experiencing such darkness.

 

so - please never give up -  know that life on the other side of this is worth the suffering.  you will come out stronger and better than you ever were with a new appreciation for your health,  the people in your life, and all the other beauty in the world.

 

I have continued to help people with genetic counseling when I can and have seen the transformation - our genetics are the key to why we were so impaired by these awful medications.  the only medication I take is my thyroid medication which I've been on forever and my vitamins.  5 years post withdrawal I slowly tried wine again and thankfully I am able to enjoy it.  I am very cautious with the amount and only once a week but its been great to have it back.  I did have a glass of wine on two or three occasions earlier but was afraid to have any more than that till 5 years. 

 

anyway-  I wish everyone the strength and determination to get through this.  staying distracted really is key and not going into darker places envisioning all the worse things that could happen.  I didnt allow myself to go there.  I firmly believed I would heal even though there were no signs of it.  when you look at my list of symptoms - it was truly horrific.  but I came out the other side and you will too !  Sending love, light, healing and strength to persevere .  I do try to reply to emails when I can but currently working 75 hour weeks on a big project and then having surgery tomorrow - so my replies will likely be delayed.

Thank you for reporting back to us! I love, love, love hearing the good news.  Good luck with your surgery! 

great update post SSRI! Thanks

SSRI, did your GI symptoms go away?

yes - my GI symptoms went away 100%. 

 

just an update that I got through my surgery - it was a little tougher than expected- they found more growths than what had been on the imaging taken back in November but everything was removed and so far pathology is coming back benign.  so back to the races !

That's good news, SSR1975!

yes - my GI symptoms went away 100%. 

 

just an update that I got through my surgery - it was a little tougher than expected- they found more growths than what had been on the imaging taken back in November but everything was removed and so far pathology is coming back benign.  so back to the races !

 

Did you have to specify what anesthesia to use?

Hey SSR1975,

 

You helped me out a lot when I first got into this mess last year. Just finished a one-year taper! Thanks for your support back then. I'm doing fairly well, with just a couple of things still resolving.

 

I really hope you are feeling better soon. I'm so sorry you had to have surgery! We all should never have to have another surgery or anything ever again!

 

hugs,

openroad

On 25/06/2018 at 22:50, [[S...] said:

 

Fantastic story, so glad I found it . Many thanks for coming back to tell it. I can't get any of the links to work, would be grateful for a re post if you are still around.

@[SS...] Hello. I think I missed when you said you started the vitamins (and supplements?). Was it during your withdrawal and how far into the WD were you?  Or was it after you began feeling better? Thanks.

Reading this was a sprinkle of heaven for me. Also a lot of realizations. I am a registered nurse, and up until starting benzos I was vibrant, strong willed, intelligent and saved lives. I worked in the ICU, cardiac unit and held multiple per-diem positions throughout my region. Now I do case management and I’m lucky if I can get a solid hour of work in a day. 
I had a total thyroidectomy in 2006 and my levels have been so whacky since I cut. When my labs showed hypo I chose not to increase my meds and recheck. Now a month and a half later I’m pretty hyper and am lowering my meds. Which after reading this I am questioning if it’s the right thing to do. I’ve been bounced from practitioner to practitioner. I was diagnosed with hypermobile ehlors danlos which I begrudgingly accepted without genetic evidence. I had a nut ion of an amino acid for the rarest form of EDS but they were unsure what it meant. Probably the gene that causes my family to constantly be in pain. 
my pain tolerance has simply vanished. I was convinced I was dying from the benzo belly before j realized what was really going on, lord knows the doctors didnt. Anyway, too much to write but I’ve got to head out. Thank you for taking the time to write this. 

Dear All - I will try - over the holiday break - to come in and look at the responses and see what information I can provide.  For now, just want to ask that everyone keep the courage to keep pushing forward - I promise life on the other side of this will be so amazing.  I have gone through some tough things this year and not once did I think about using any kind of medication to get through it - because after you survive benzo withdrawal - you realizing there is really very little that could be worse- and you are a true warrior and you are strong enough to handle anything.

 

quickly - to answer the one question - I had been on a great vitamin regimen for several years - then once I realized all of what was going on and seeing some negative posts about vitamins - I had stopped - I was on them until maybe 8 weeks into my cold turkey and with how bad things were - I thought maybe the vitamins were making it worse - but it was then - when I stopped the vitamins - that things got even worse..... so I think around month 4 I started them back up - and I definitely had psychosomatic reactions in doing so - but I pushed through - and by month 6 I was healed enough to resume full time work and by 1 year out - I was thriving.  remember-  I cold turkeyed off 30mg of valium and also had to stop magnesium and progesterone cream that I had been using for balancing my hormones so it was sort of a triple hit..... I have dabbled with reintroducing magnesium over the last few years-  I find after a few days I start to have nightmares - I had a paradoxical reaction to benzos in the end which is why I cold turkeyed-  each dose brought on panic not relief.....   I continue to avoid GABA acting substances - however- 5 years after healing I did reintroduce wine very gradually and for the last year - I have a few glasses a week with no issues - which is a true blessing - I thought alcohol might be out forever - but it wasn't....... 

 

just sending lots of prayers for healing, strength and determination for everyone.

love and light - SSR!

Hi @[SS...] glad to hear you are doing well and healthy. Just a quick question about magnesium. I have been using 240mg magnesium glycinate since I started my benzo use. I was a 5 week prn benzo user who is now in the midst of a taper. Do you think I can just ct the magnesium? My body seems sensitive at the moment so not sure how it would go over. Thanks for reading

On 22/12/2023 at 23:10, [[S...] said:

Dear All - I will try - over the holiday break - to come in and look at the responses and see what information I can provide.  For now, just want to ask that everyone keep the courage to keep pushing forward - I promise life on the other side of this will be so amazing.  I have gone through some tough things this year and not once did I think about using any kind of medication to get through it - because after you survive benzo withdrawal - you realizing there is really very little that could be worse- and you are a true warrior and you are strong enough to handle anything.

quickly - to answer the one question - I had been on a great vitamin regimen for several years - then once I realized all of what was going on and seeing some negative posts about vitamins - I had stopped - I was on them until maybe 8 weeks into my cold turkey and with how bad things were - I thought maybe the vitamins were making it worse - but it was then - when I stopped the vitamins - that things got even worse..... so I think around month 4 I started them back up - and I definitely had psychosomatic reactions in doing so - but I pushed through - and by month 6 I was healed enough to resume full time work and by 1 year out - I was thriving.  remember-  I cold turkeyed off 30mg of valium and also had to stop magnesium and progesterone cream that I had been using for balancing my hormones so it was sort of a triple hit..... I have dabbled with reintroducing magnesium over the last few years-  I find after a few days I start to have nightmares - I had a paradoxical reaction to benzos in the end which is why I cold turkeyed-  each dose brought on panic not relief.....   I continue to avoid GABA acting substances - however- 5 years after healing I did reintroduce wine very gradually and for the last year - I have a few glasses a week with no issues - which is a true blessing - I thought alcohol might be out forever - but it wasn't....... 

just sending lots of prayers for healing, strength and determination for everyone.

love and light - SSR!

@[SS...]

Thank you for your recovery report and recent update.

 

If you don’t mind me asking did you experience muscle spasms, pain and tightness on your torso, back, ribs and hips during withdrawal?

If you did how long did it take to go away?

Thank you for any hope.

🙏❤️

Thank you for such an interesting and detailed story. It was very informative for me.