Does CT Cause Longer Recovery or Just Harsher WDs vs. tapering?

Does CT Cause Longer recovery time or just harsher WDs or both, compared to tapering?

 

 

Does CT Cause Longer recovery time or just harsher WDs or both, compared to tapering?

 

 

 

Hi Cindy, i think its both after long term use . its like an injury to the CNS.

Birdman compared it once so well. i think she said c/t is like a bush-fire, everything

is burned down , now the trees are slowly growing back. you know what i mean ?

See this thread:

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=66397.0

 

For one of the best two explanations of benzo w/d on the site (the other being this http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=82062.0 , but less relevant).

 

Here's the thing.  Anxiety, depression, stress, etc., seem to delay healing.  When you C/T, like I did, you seem to sit there wallowing in total nervous dysfunction unless you can climb up out of it.  A taper minimizes the magnitude of your symptoms at a given point in time, preventing that from happening.  If some symptoms have a threshold of "ideal GABA/glutamate minus real GABA/glutamate", above the imbalance you're currently experiencing in your body, then you won't experience them. 

 

I posted the first link because it offers a nice metaphor for the healing process, especially for C/T - people working in a building that's being reconstructed, having to use different elevators, take the stairs, etc..  A building has 3 elevators, one goes down, people just have to wait a bit longer to use the elevator.  All 3 elevators go down, everyone has to take the stairs, the stairs get clogged, they have to put scaffolding on the side of the building with more stairs, etc..

 

My theories.  Make sense?

Does CT Cause Longer recovery time or just harsher WDs or both, compared to tapering?

 

in my opinion stopping benzodiazepines cold turkey increases the chances of severe symptoms. They should be tapered carefully. I went through a horrific cold turkey withdrawal and I would not recommend that method to anyone. I am sure you will hear the same from others on this board.

See this thread:

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=66397.0

 

For one of the best two explanations of benzo w/d on the site (the other being this http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=82062.0 , but less relevant).

 

Here's the thing.  Anxiety, depression, stress, etc., seem to delay healing.  When you C/T, like I did, you seem to sit there wallowing in total nervous dysfunction unless you can climb up out of it.  A taper minimizes the magnitude of your symptoms at a given point in time, preventing that from happening.  If some symptoms have a threshold of "ideal GABA/glutamate minus real GABA/glutamate", above the imbalance you're currently experiencing in your body, then you won't experience them. 

 

I posted the first link because it offers a nice metaphor for the healing process, especially for C/T -

people working in a building that's being reconstructed, having to use different elevators, take the stairs, etc..  A building has 3 elevators, one goes down, people just have to wait a bit longer to use the elevator.  All 3 elevators go down, everyone has to take the stairs, the stairs get clogged, they have to put scaffolding on the side of the building with more stairs, etc..

 

My theories.  Make sense?

 

awave, thank you so much for the links and your post, very helpful. yes, in my opinion your

theories do make sense, good thinking.

Hi cindys,

 

Most who undergo horrific withdrawal symptoms with a slow taper stop writing about their experiences.  I did an 11 month taper, and I can tell you a long taper is no guarantee against debilatating symptoms.  For some of us, it continues to get worse.

Hi cindys,

 

Most who undergo horrific withdrawal symptoms with a slow taper stop writing about their experiences.  I did an 11 month taper, and I can tell you a long taper is no guarantee against debilatating symptoms.  For some of us, it continues to get worse.

 

 

Babyrex, i thought a Taper was the optimal solution, obviously its not

always the case, sad really sad. i hope you get relief soon.

 

 

Hi cindys,

 

Most who undergo horrific withdrawal symptoms with a slow taper stop writing about their experiences.  I did an 11 month taper, and I can tell you a long taper is no guarantee against debilatating symptoms.  For some of us, it continues to get worse.

 

 

Babyrex, i thought a Taper was the optimal solution, obviously its not

always the case, sad really sad. i hope you get relief soon.

 

It's a crap shoot, Claudia.  There is no way to tell who will be resistant to healing.  But I want to dispel  the myth that long tapers equal manageable symptoms. 

 

Hugs

 

There are people who go through hell even with slow, careful tapers, but nothing about these drugs is predictable.

 

In general, a CT is looking for trouble. I'm 15 months out, and I survived. I simply quit taking K, and I was only down to around .75 mg. when I stopped. That's not a small amount of K, about the same as 15 mg. of Valium daily, and shortly before that I was at about 20 mg.

 

I'm here. I seem to have made it. But I did the CT before coming to BB, totally ignorant of what could happen. I could have had seizures.

 

A few months later I was glad I was off the drug, but I would suggest to all people to avoid a CT if it is possible. Too much can go wrong.

 

I like the analogy of the building with elevators, but instead of 3, imagine the biggest building you can imagine, with 100 fast elevators. Then imagine most of them suddenly stopping.

 

That's what CT does. A taper is less likely to shut them all down!

 

Gary

Doing a C/T was the worst decision of my life. But I didn't realize the consequences at the time. The symptoms were just so unbearable that I had to reinstate. Twice. So I did two C/Ts. I should have known better after my first horrific experience. Bets

Doing a C/T was the worst decision of my life. But I didn't realize the consequences at the time. The symptoms were just so unbearable that I had to reinstate. Twice. So I did two C/Ts. I should have known better after my first horrific experience. Bets

Bets, the worst part is that when it gets really bad, you are torn between carrying on and reinstating.

 

I'm over the worst now, but I remember thinking that I wanted to go back and do the taper, but it was too late. You suffer, and sometimes the pills are gone. I got rid of mine. I had nothing to rescue myself with.

 

The only thing that kept me going was that I felt it would be such a crushing defeat to go back, plus I figured it might get REALLY awkward with my doctor. A lot of people find out they can't get the scripts after talking about problems while being on or off the drug...

 

Gary

Just gonna copy and paste something I just wrote, since it applies:

 

--------

Imagine you build a building with four colors of bricks for 10 years (10 years of benzo tolerance/addiction developing).  All your thinking is that building - you keep updosing the benzos, so your thinking constantly has an imbalance between your increasingly anxiety-producing thought patterns, and the lack of the anxiety that should naturally be produced by them.  Suddenly you rip out all the bricks during withdrawal, or rip them out one by one, or what have you (C/T vs. taper).  That's going to take a while for you to fix, either way.  You have  a hyperactive nervous system, severely anxious tendencies in thinking, and you and your body have to fix all of that, including fixing all of your totally fried stress responses.    That is the cold hard truth I'm coming to see benzo recovery for.

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Since your symptoms ARE tied to stress and anxiety, C/T may slam you and traumatize you!  Happened to me a bit.  Some of these people who are stuck in w/d for years, they seem to have that exact problem - they can't keep their head above water long enough to meaningfully heal.