Boston Globe article "when withdrawal is the hardest part"

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2014/09/07/when-withdrawal-hardest-part/nyWtjexiyOWSpU1TkloVnK/story.html

 

An article Featuring a fellow BenzoBuddie.

Interesting read... Thank you for sharing.

 

edit: change of title requested

 

 

Excellent article. Thanks for posting this. It's good to see some mainstream coverage. I can show this to people who have trouble understanding what I'm going through.

Great article.

Excellent article, thank you for posting.

This is a wonderful article, we need more and more media outlets to take up this cause. 

One more article to get the word out... 

I've only had time to skim it (I will read it properly later when I return to the computer). From my cursory read, it seems interesting and helpful.

Excellent article!!  Congratulations to Ms. Page, for having the courage in taking this forward to get the truth out! :thumbsup:

Interesting article.  Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

Wonderful article! Gee, I hope some doctors read it. Wish they had the z-drugs listed in it also though.

I actually think I know one of the people mentioned in the article from another lifetime....wow.

Excellent..that's all i can say. Thank-you Ms. Page!!!

Another decent article in the media? It's about time.

 

I suppose there really is no way to truly convey the seriousness of this to someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand but I hope in the future there are some articles written that stress the intensity and duration of symptoms that these drugs can cause even from a relatively low dose taken as prescribed for a short period of time.

 

It seems like these articles are improving but the point that this can happen to just about ANYONE who takes these drugs and they can cause medical issues that can ruin your life for many months or years needs to be underscored.

 

Hopefully one day my cognitive function improves to the point where I can write creatively again cause I have a WHOLE lot to say about this subject.

 

 

 

 

Another decent article in the media? It's about time.

 

I suppose there really is no way to truly convey the seriousness of this to someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand but I hope in the future there are some articles written that stress the intensity and duration of symptoms that these drugs can cause even from a relatively low dose taken as prescribed for a short period of time.

 

It seems like these articles are improving but the point that this can happen to just about ANYONE who takes these drugs and they can cause medical issues that can ruin your life for many months or years needs to be underscored.

 

Hopefully one day my cognitive function improves to the point where I can write creatively again cause I have a WHOLE lot to say about this subject.

 

Well said FG.

The article highlighted two stories thst were both protracted and described intense fear states. This is the first major paper in the US to cover the topic, and accurately.  It didn't blame the victim or suggest an illness, it was right on.

 

We can take this article and the Bend Bulletin article and approach health reporters and editors from other news outlets. This is great stepping stone for us to be taken seriously, we should try to keep the momentum up. two major papers have covered this in the past few months.

 

 

I've printed it and taking a copy to my doctors as well.

Great article.

Great idea for all of us to bring to our doctors.

Excellent!

I was so pleased that another article in a major paper came out.  I want to say thank you to Ms Page for stepping forward and telling her story and her father coming forth also. That took courage and strength to do that. 

 

These articles won't help us feel better but they are helping to prevent this from happening to others.  We will never know how many will read those two articles and will not take a benzo, or read it and come here to taper off the correct way.  We all need to be part of the getting the word out. We all need to run off copies and pass them out to the professionals - drs, counselors, pharmacists.  We all need to contact a newspaper and inform them of these stories suggesting they check into this.  We can't say that the word isn't getting out and feel frustrated over it if we aren't doing our part spreading it.  Who do we expect to spread the word other than us who know from experience first hand the real story?  Do we think the pharmaceutical companies will?  Do we think your local MD is going to hold a press conference?  It is going to have to be us the BB of the world. Even if it doesn't get out world wide but just locally in your area then that is one to ? people you have touched and made a difference.  That happening in town after town adds up.  My counselor takes every copy I take her and shares it with all the other 6 counselors in her office and then they spread it to other connections.  Before me as a patient they didn't know about the reality of benzos but seeing me transform in front of them, they now believe in protracted wd and also in recovery.

 

So thanks Alison Page, her father, and Jeremy Fox for stepping forward and spreading the word.  Send Jeremy Fox your thanks and ask him to see about writing another article.  jeremy.fox@globe.com

 

let your voice be heard on some level

^ I agree    Now is the perfect time to contact news outlets since we have the globe and the bend article to approach them with!!

Glad to see this published, but I do wish they hadn't focused only on people with anxiety issues pre-benzo. It easily gives people the ability to dismiss their withdrawal as just a manifestation of their pre-existing condition. Insomnia would have been great; even though insomnia is, bascially, anxiety-related, your average American doesn't look at it the same way and can relate more to sleep disturbances.

Glad to see this published, but I do wish they hadn't focused only on people with anxiety issues pre-benzo. It easily gives people the ability to dismiss their withdrawal as just a manifestation of their pre-existing condition. Insomnia would have been great; even though insomnia is, bascially, anxiety-related, your average American doesn't look at it the same way and can relate more to sleep disturbances.

 

I agree. I would like to see some articles written about people who had absolutely no anxiety issues whatsoever pre benzo. People who were put on these drugs for insomnia or physical issues that end up with the exact same symptoms as people who had anxiety issues.

 

It's very easy to write off this condition with many of us because anxiety issues led us to the drugs in the first place. I am somewhere in the middle because i was put on the drug initially for (what I now know was mild) social anxiety. I didn't have the classic panic attack type stuff out of the garden variety general anxiety like some people have- my anxiety was pretty much centered around social situations. So it is ironic that aside from a small ramp up in social anxiety during wd and a handful of panic attacks and random general anxiety, anxiety hasn't been a major issue for me in wd.

 

Anxiety is the least of my problems. My major issues are cognitive deficiencies. I don't know how anyone could blame that on my pre existing social anxiety but I guess it is a convenient scapegoat so I shouldn't be surprised. I just hope that future articles include some stories of people who had no prior "mental" issues who ended up in the same hell the rest of us because the only way people are going to listen is if they understand that this is NOT a psychological condition.

 

 

Good article.

Many thanks for posting it, & yes, there sure is a lot more that can be said!

Hopefull one day...

But grateful now for any info that might help to warn others & explain some of the

horrific things that can happen to those who take benzos

 

margaretisabel

I was initially put on klonopin for a racing heartbeat. They gave me a stress test and all sorts of heart tests and found out my heart was fine. Doctor said it must be anxiety even though I never seemed to be a terribly anxious person. When I didn't like the feeling from klonopin he tried a beta blocker, but that felt worse. (just now, 17 years later, I'm having the thought that maybe that was my first withdrawal ? The doctor certainly had no clue)

 

So back on the K and 17 years later, here I am.

 

If he had recommended jogging and some breathing exercises ? Things would probably be quite different right now.

A great article for sure. When it came out I printed it out and sent to the doc who gave me ativan. Deafening silence. Have tried to interest 2 local papers in a series or even an article about heroin,opiates,anti depressants  and of course BENZOS..side effects,risks, withdrawal,etc. Nuttin'

Now I have an email into our newly appointed state "drug czar". Let's see where this gets me.

I won't shut up till someone listens. Why won't anyone listen?

All the major news organizations sell add time and space to big pharma - lots of it.