10 year benzo free update

Hello!  I'm over ten years benzo free now. Thought I would come back to offer any support/encouragement or answer any questions.

 

The first six weeks were the hardest followed by a post withdrawal period that lasted for about three years HOWEVER, I believe had I gotten the right form of CBT counseling to deal with the anxiety of the acute withdrawal, I would've done a lot better a lot sooner. 

 

 

When did things become manageable? I’m 19 months off and things are definitely not manageable.

 

Congratulations and thanks!

Jim

Hi Jim,

 

I'm sorry you're struggling with symptoms still.  Things were still hard for me up until about 17 months off and then I noticed more improvement around 3 years.  I finally found a very good online counseling resource (I probably cannot advertise the name here) for CBT counseling for anxiety that helped tremendously.  I think I may have recovered a lot sooner had I gotten this type of help to deal with the trauma from the acute withdrawal. 

 

I'm a psychotherapist and run my own private practice and now specialize in anxiety disorders as well as helping people cope with benzo withdrawal.  I've seen how the right guidance can really make a difference in the recovery process. 

Hi I’m 18 months free from Ativan dependency which I became addicted to multiple times over a 2-3 year period.

My question for you is will my short term memory ever improve?

I’m scared I may have damaged my brain.

I currently take Gingo to try and improve things but haven’t noticed much improvement.

Did you experience poor short term memory issues after giving up benzos and did it improve?

Hi Sophie,

 

I didn’t experience much trouble with memory issues but I know others did and I know that is also a symptom of anxiety, too.  I realized that sometimes a lot of the symptoms of withdrawal and anxiety overlapped. What helped me was to learn how to contain my worry and then many of the symptoms lessened a lot.

Hi so glad you came back to offer hope. Any chance you can do a more formal success story as your post has been moved to the celebrations page and I’m not sure as many people will see it as could benefit. I’m 2 years off and was mostly healed but am in a setback of two months from an antibiotic. I have been looking for success stories of those who’ve healed around the 3-4 year mark. I’d love to hear more about your practice as well! Thanks!

Thank you L123 for coming back with your wonderful update and words of encouragement.  I agree with Wonderwoman,  it would be great if you'd write your story in Success Stories!

L123, I have read your success story and your previous posts about having anger that made you fear you might lash out at people so you just stayed inside for a period of like three months or something. I've been dealing with that from month like 12 until now at about 30 months off. I'm hoping it goes away for good soon. It's very debilitating dealing with it. It is improving but glacially.

 

I'm really dealing with burning nerves all over my body now and some numbness in my feet and vision issues when I'm too stressed out. It's very hard. I'm sleeping okay so I'm just wishing I could heal.

 

I've been working with a counselor and I like him. It's helping but it's not taking away the physical and mental symptoms I know are from withdrawal.

Did you have any physical symptoms s such as muscle contracture, atrophy, pain and severe sensory issues including loss of touch sensation, hyperacusis etc and DP/DR?

What about OCD like compulsions?

I’m glad to hear you’re better. Was the CBT the thing that healed you or would you have gotten better regardless?

Thanks for the good news L123.

 

I did CBT about a year before I even thought about tapering and I believe that the skills I learned there helped me deal with the withdrawal symptoms.  I had to go through about three therapists before finding the right one so for anyone who tried CBT and didn’t like it, consider looking for a new therapist or maybe a different kind of therapy. 

Thank you L123 for coming back with your wonderful update and words of encouragement.  I agree with Wonderwoman,  it would be great if you'd write your story in Success Stories!

 

I originally posted it in success stories but pamster moved it here. I do have a success story from a long time ago posted. This is more of a realization it has been over a decade now since I came off benzos so thought I would come back and offer some hope. 

Did you have any physical symptoms s such as muscle contracture, atrophy, pain and severe sensory issues including loss of touch sensation, hyperacusis etc and DP/DR?

What about OCD like compulsions?

 

I didn’t have a lot of physical symptoms, I did have sensitivity to smell, noise and touch. I didn’t have dp/dr. Most of my symptoms were mental/emotional and OCD symptoms were quite strong. I developed a lot of health anxiety and weird phobias, too.

Hi, L123. I wasn't sure if you saw the questions I added this thread. I was hoping for a response.

 

"I have read your success story and your previous posts about having anger that made you fear you might lash out at people so you just stayed inside for a period of like three months or something. I've been dealing with that from month like 12 until now at about 30 months off. I'm hoping it goes away for good soon. It's very debilitating dealing with it. It is improving but glacially.

 

I'm really dealing with burning nerves all over my body now and some numbness in my feet and vision issues when I'm too stressed out. It's very hard. I'm sleeping okay so I'm just wishing I could heal.

 

I've been working with a counselor and I like him. It's helping but it's not taking away the physical and mental symptoms I know are from withdrawal."

 

 

At which month were you 100 % healed ?