Re: The daily micro taper Worked [Split Topic]

[[Buddie]]

[...],
Re: Jana Hill and the Benzo Micro Taper Protocol (BMT).
First of all we have already gone over all of this in the past. It's getting old. I replied to your post about Jana in length back in 2014. I know you can go back in my profile and read all of my posts; it’s all in there.

[...] take a guess at Jana’s thoughts about protracted withdrawal and the standard tapering methods. Most tapering strategies are focused on getting the benzo out of the body. People are instructed to follow a tapering schedule without regard to each person’s body’s (UNIQUE) ability to up regulate the GABA receptors as well as begin to produce GABA. It seems pretty clear to me that the best practice would be to look to reduce the benzo dose AND to keep in step with ones bodies’ production of GABA in order to avoid protracted withdrawal. I don’t understand why this is such a controversial subject. Seems pretty simple and wise to me. I believe that decades from now people will look back on the detox centers and their methods of tapering medications to be inhuman and barbaric.
 
Third of all I find your reply to my post unacceptable. Your use of the word, nonsense and the phrase “Bamboozled by Jana methods” to describe Jana’s patent and work is defaming and petty. Since you are not a doctor or a lawyer I find it pretentious that you feel you can speak legally and medically to the ramifications of a patent and how it can or cannot be used. I’m sure Jana’s attorney would speak with you if you are really concerned or would like to have a real legal opinion.

And if you keep up this defamation, you may end up meeting her attorneys in a court room. She may not take you seriously, but this can happen. Living across the pond doesn’t protect you from the consequences of your behavior. You’d do well to behave yourself and think before you speak. 

Jana is not a moderator on a forum. She is a brilliant medical technical writer who can speak and write about benzodiazepines on a level that most doctors find compelling and knowledgeable. I know this first hand because I took many of her own papers and the research she refers to to educate my own doctor so he would understand how and why I was tapering. When I asked my doctor if he would work with Jana and the people whose doctors were not “benzo savvy” he agreed. A week later he called me and said “What did you do?” Overnight his practice blew up. He was booked up for months. People came from all across the country to meet with him. One person had to travel in the back of a van. They were so damaged by previous tapers, they could not even get on an airplane.
 
Jana has been spent the last years not posting or replying on the various benzo forums. She has been working in the trenches informing people and their doctors on the best practices of how to taper successively. She chose to work directly with doctors. She travels to do this. She has no time or energy to continually defend her work from internet trolls

Jana has asked that people working with her do not give out the details of their taper. This is not be because she’s being mysterious or proprietary. Her concern is that if one person tries to mimic another person’s taper they could end up getting hurt. The BMT protocol has many key components that must be addressed, evaluated and customized for each individual’s unique history and biology. Seizures and high pressure are real consequences of benzodiazepines withdrawal. (My own doctor required me to visit him every few weeks to be monitored.) Jana suggests home based monitoring and printing results for the doctor.
 
Hopefully Jana will finally publish her book. I personally hope it will become a medical guide so that doctors can offer their patients a method of tapering that promotes healing while tapering and less suffering. I would hope we could agree that would be a gift to future victims of benzodiazepines.

In closing I want to add that I don’t come do this forum unless somebody reaches out to me. Usually it’s somebody who has tried all the other methods and is miserably failing and read my blog and wants to contact Jana. I remember firsthand the horror of being in withdrawal. I am so grateful for Jana and all her work. I just want to inform others of what helped me. I am far from being bamboozled by Jana‘s Method. Jana saved me and so so many others. I feel blessed and grateful. 

Mimi

[[Buddie]]

Not taking sides here - I'm all for people finding what works for them. A daily micro-taper makes sense for those of us who found the Ashton taper too fast.

A caveat, however. I don't think a micro-taper should be made out to be a withdrawal panacea. I did an extremely slow micro-taper for more than a year and did everything 'right'. (Holding did not help, either.) Although I credit the daily micro-taper for getting me off the benzo, I still suffered tremendously all the way down. Once I stepped off at 0, my withdrawal symptoms worsened even more and I remained in an acute phase for at least 8 months. I'm 16 months off now, and still suffering worse than some folks who ct'd.

Not knocking anyone's method (we need all the tools we can find - although a patent seems a bit ridiculous, frankly). But there seems to be much more at play in w/d than just taper type: biochemical differences, poly-drugging history, past trauma, perhaps.... We're all unique. And we just don't know enough yet.

The fact that a daily micro-taper is promoted in some quarters as a virtual cure-all has made my recovery more challenging. I was not prepared for the possibility of a prolonged struggle, and was shocked and very discouraged when my healing didn't follow the 'typical' micro-taper trajectory. And yes, I've been closely monitored throughout my taper and recovery by benzo-wise practitioners.

Warmest congratulations to everyone who has come through this. And sincere gratitude for those helping others, in whatever capacity.

[[Buddie]]

This thread is split-off from a Success Story. It is now locked for comments. I will be referring to it later.

[[Buddie]]

This thread is split-off from a Success Story. It is now locked for comments. I will be referring to it later.

As promised, I have further addressed the concerns I had previously raised within this thread (and wider, related matters too):

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=231882.0