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Reassurances from professionals that we will heal


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Hi everyone....I thought I would start a thread where everyone that has had a professional reassure them about the w/d syndrome could describe what they were told.....there are not enough benzo wise professionals that everyone is lucky enough to run into one, so sharing some positives may help those who need to hear that we will all heal.

 

I can start with what my pharmacist told me.....He told me that it did not matter how long we took these meds 2 wks or 20plus yrs. we will all ABSOLUTELY heal....he said those of us that are suffering are sensitive to this med.... he also said 6 to 18 mos. a few a little longer.....but it will end, he had no doubt whatsoever...I believe him and it was so reassuring to hear that from someone who deals with these meds everyday....

 

I hope others will chime in with other positives they have heard from professionals......thank you.......m

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Hi there! I have heard from my GP, Kinesiologist, Physical Therapist and ENT that W/D does exist & is horrible! Also my ENT doc told me that a lot of folks with balance issues have them like me because benzos supress the inner ear and now the inner ear is learning how to function off the drug. But it will all heal up.

 

My general practitioner (GP) told me that benzos robs the body of B vitamins and others which is why people have a hard time on vitamins. Body needs to learn how to balance intaking vitamins again without getting robbed so fast.

 

All in all...it's a loooooooooooooooooong phase but we will heal!  :smitten:

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[bc...]
My therapist has helped many people through benzo w/d. They all have all come out happy and healthy. She estimated my recovery at 18 months (based on her past clients, I assume?)
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This is a great thread topic. ...My pdoc reassured me every time I see him that healing takes no less than one year...but....great improvements happen along the way with most reliable improvements along the 9-12 months.

.....Hoping for this. ...Minnie,  your pharmacist is a prince. That post is so darn encouraging...thanks tor this thread....coop

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thankyou coop......like I said we can never have enough reassurance.....thanks also for your input.....hope you are feeling well today!!...m
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Thanks Challis.....I think once this gets going it will be really great for  everyone to come and be reassured.....I so needed that in acute...even now it is comforting to know we will all heal..

 

I was so sad to read about your mother, such a horrible tragedy, so sorry Challis...

 

I am happy for you though that you have your life back.....bless you.... m

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[57...]

When I got my final prescription for Klonopin filled at the CVS near my apartment, I told my pharmacist I was coming off it.

 

She said she had a problem coming off of Xanax after only being on it for 3 weeks, and that benzos were bad news.

 

But she also said she knew people who had taken benzos for well over thirty years, and they made full recoveries.  :thumbsup:

 

 

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Hi Mindseeker.....thank you for the info....amazing that the pharmacist took it....I guess none of us should feel bad about taking it if she did......m
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What a great thread .... My psychiatrist ( not the original prescribing ) helped me off the benzo and said will take 6 months and maybe up to a year for brain to settle down. How she explained it was our brain reacts to the benzo and makes more receptors for the added GABA . When we take the GABA  ( benzo) away , our brain takes a long time eliminating all of those extra receptors looking to be filled with GABA ....she also was overly concerned and watchful during the taper. Very concerned about the effects of taper /WD....

 

Tis thread will be very helpful for all of us. THANK YOU !!!

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My regular MD is so freaked by this whole thing. She tracked down my psychiatrist who told her it's not permanent. He had already told me the same thing, but it's new to her and hard for her to understand my suffering this far out. Both my psychiatrist and the neurologist I was referred to blame the medications I was on and tell me things will get better in 1-2 years. They had me take a genetic blood test that shows I'm a slow metabolizer of meds and a perfect candidate for this kind of drug induced brain damage. They refuse to give me any medication for any symptom I currently have. I guess that's a vote against the drugs and a vote for time.

 

Peace2

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What a great thread .... My psychiatrist ( not the original prescribing ) helped me off the benzo and said will take 6 months and maybe up to a year for brain to settle down. How she explained it was our brain reacts to the benzo and makes more receptors for the added GABA . When we take the GABA  ( benzo) away , our brain takes a long time eliminating all of those extra receptors looking to be filled with GABA ....she also was overly concerned and watchful during the taper. Very concerned about the effects of taper /WD....

 

Tis thread will be very helpful for all of us. THANK YOU !!!

 

Great info!  :thumbsup:

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Peace...great post...encouraging that it is temporary...pragmatic and realistic that it takes 1-2 years...sigh...I was just coming to that conclusion myself and 'rearranging ' my timeline expectation again to encompass that second year. I sm hopeful that most of that second year is about re-entry and learning to live in the world again and the brutal physical and mental s/x will have let us go by 14-18 months....

...You already have a good jump on ' living in the real world ' and as hard as it is for you ( and impressive) to have to be at work every day I think it is going to pay off big time for you.

....thanks for the great post.....coop

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Yes minnie.....my pdr suggested these s/x were the new me.....most just do not believe us......I do not know how anyone could make up some of these crazy s/x......I hope someday things change......

 

Take care....m

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Adding my super, awesome report from the detox yesterday.  I am suffering excruciating hot flashes all day with panic, fear, flu sensations, no sleep, nausea, head and neck pain.  All this started in July after we returned from our vacation in July.  I am 10 months out.  This has been going on for 6-8 weeks now.  Here is my post from yesterday:

 

Hi Kids,

 

I'm back from the doctor.  I just couldn't take it another day.  Yesterday afternoon I felt like the flu had come over me and wanted to lay in bed for two days.  Then at 3am I woke in the sweat again, out of breath and panicked.  I woke my mom up asking her to promise this would go away and then laid on the floor near the couch she was on.  (She spends the night a lot when my husband travels).  I did all the stuff I know to do, but day upon day of panic is nearly impossible to stay ahead of.  I ran my favorite scriptures thru my head, then fell back to sleep at 5am.  Around 7:15am I woke in fear and actually celebrated because fear is much easier to head off.  Panic crushes your chest and takes away your breath.  It makes your heart pound and your head hurt.  I was thinking about Nova and his cool cucumber ride to the ER.  I just couldn't do that again and then the phone rang.  It was detox calling to get me in from a phone call I had made two days ago. 

 

I agreed and dressed in full make-up, hair dryed and straightened, bling on and the coolest black casual dress hanging in my closet.  3 year old in tow, I headed to Newport.  All the way there I was practicing what I would say.  It was frightening to think about what he would pronounce over me.  I was in full paranoid mode.  When I got inside the nurse I knew was really happy to see me.  She was a great support during my taper into post withdrawal.  I stopped going in February because felt I didn't really need them anymore.  She took my bp/ hr and told me I looked good.  I joked around and handed my little side kick his iPad.  My youngest has gone to all my detox appts, which is kinda funny.  He has no idea what a comfort it is to have him along. 

 

When the doctor walked in he gave me a big hug and asked how I was.  As I talked, he typed.  I told him ALL of it.  How my last wave was in June, but that I had also started experiencing 100% hours.  I told him about our vacation in early July and how my symptoms had kicked off after certain events... the feeling like being on the ocean, begin attacked by chiggers, nausea, burning head ache, gripping pain in my neck and back of my head, coming home and being in zombie mode for 3 weeks and then the terrible hot flashes all day and night, fear, panic, missed period.  I didn't leave anything out. 

 

His response:

 

You are very strong. 

This is where people relapse.  They can't take it. 

You speak to me about your symptoms so matter of fact and know how to distinguish between each of the emotions (panic, fear, anxiety, depression).  This is good.

This is all really amazing and I am learning from you. 

What you are experiencing is NORMAL. 

Symptoms can be random with no reason.  They come and go.  It's how you deal with them that matters.

Interruption of menstruation and hot flashes are absolutely withdrawal related and he believes all my blood test will come back normal.

The hot flashes are most likely panic related and this is how my body is reacting to this wave.

Withdrawal can take 1 to 1 1./2 years.  (I'm going with 2 years)

People have come in this far out in withdrawal and are as acute as the day they walked in to the office. 

Recovery for benzo is like a roller coaster. 

You are handling it the right way and I know you will heal eventually. 

You don't need to come back if you don't want to.

 

 

He then checked my heart and any other paranoid symptom I had.  He explained where my carotid artery was and that the clinching sensation in my neck is not the arteries but tension from the random 'deck of cards' stressful symptoms.

 

I told him I wanted to get my certificate and then work with him to help others like us.  He said I would be an asset.  We hugged and said good-bye.  I called my mom and husband then to tell them the good news.. THESE HORRIBLE AWFUL CRAZY I'M GONNA DIE SYMPTOMS ARE GLORIOUSLY NORMAL FOR WHERE WE ARE AT.

 

Day after day I was thinking about Peace going to work and how her doctors had reassured her.  I was embarrassed to be going backwards and not forwards and questioning everything like Life mentioned.  I didn't want to go in and have the doctor say what he did at the beginning of this process.  I was such a wreck and even in my random conversation with him that first day, I was so negative and inappropriate in my responses, that he pronounced life long medication for me. 

 

I knew it wasn't true.  I wasn't that negative person.  These drugs cloud who we think we are and how we process things around us.  It affects the very core of who we are, so of course it takes time to get back to normal.  It's just I needed an outside person to agree.  I needed someone I trusted like him, the doctor who I feel saved my life, to also agree with what we talk about on the boards.  AND HE DID. 

 

Everything others tell us, he said to me.  ...Keep going forward.  It takes a long time.  The fact that we have made it this far means we will finish the race. 

 

I love you guys, so much for being there and praying for me too.  For the hands reaching out to me when I think I am sinking and can only keep my head above water.  I was unable to see the water rising around my ankles in this one.  I've been treading water so long.  I needed some one who was knowledgeable on the outside and who knew me and what we all go thru to agree.  AND HE DID.

 

Go ahead and make peace with the symptoms.  Lay in bed or on the couch or get up and go for a walk.  Whatever you need to do.  There is still lots of time... 

 

MommyR

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My therapist has also counseled many benzo wd clients and says that in her experience everyone heals.

 

Luigi, are you from MI?  Just wondering because there aren't many therapists in this field.

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My therapist has also counseled many benzo wd clients and says that in her experience everyone heals.

 

Luigi, are you from MI?  Just wondering because there aren't many therapists in this field.

 

Nope, from WV believe it or not!

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I have a great counselor who was a professor at a prestigious medical school.  He's in his 70's now and still counsels people.  He has worked with dozens of people in benzo withdrawal and even ran benzo recovery groups.  He also says that everyone heals from this in time.

 

He is very angry that benzos are given out like candy by clueless doctors.

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Adding my super, awesome report from the detox yesterday.  I am suffering excruciating hot flashes all day with panic, fear, flu sensations, no sleep, nausea, head and neck pain.  All this started in July after we returned from our vacation in July.  I am 10 months out.  This has been going on for 6-8 weeks now.  Here is my post from yesterday:

 

Hi Kids,

 

I'm back from the doctor.  I just couldn't take it another day.  Yesterday afternoon I felt like the flu had come over me and wanted to lay in bed for two days.  Then at 3am I woke in the sweat again, out of breath and panicked.  I woke my mom up asking her to promise this would go away and then laid on the floor near the couch she was on.  (She spends the night a lot when my husband travels).  I did all the stuff I know to do, but day upon day of panic is nearly impossible to stay ahead of.  I ran my favorite scriptures thru my head, then fell back to sleep at 5am.  Around 7:15am I woke in fear and actually celebrated because fear is much easier to head off.  Panic crushes your chest and takes away your breath.  It makes your heart pound and your head hurt.  I was thinking about Nova and his cool cucumber ride to the ER.  I just couldn't do that again and then the phone rang.  It was detox calling to get me in from a phone call I had made two days ago. 

 

I agreed and dressed in full make-up, hair dryed and straightened, bling on and the coolest black casual dress hanging in my closet.  3 year old in tow, I headed to Newport.  All the way there I was practicing what I would say.  It was frightening to think about what he would pronounce over me.  I was in full paranoid mode.  When I got inside the nurse I knew was really happy to see me.  She was a great support during my taper into post withdrawal.  I stopped going in February because felt I didn't really need them anymore.  She took my bp/ hr and told me I looked good.  I joked around and handed my little side kick his iPad.  My youngest has gone to all my detox appts, which is kinda funny.  He has no idea what a comfort it is to have him along. 

 

When the doctor walked in he gave me a big hug and asked how I was.  As I talked, he typed.  I told him ALL of it.  How my last wave was in June, but that I had also started experiencing 100% hours.  I told him about our vacation in early July and how my symptoms had kicked off after certain events... the feeling like being on the ocean, begin attacked by chiggers, nausea, burning head ache, gripping pain in my neck and back of my head, coming home and being in zombie mode for 3 weeks and then the terrible hot flashes all day and night, fear, panic, missed period.  I didn't leave anything out. 

 

His response:

 

You are very strong. 

This is where people relapse.  They can't take it. 

You speak to me about your symptoms so matter of fact and know how to distinguish between each of the emotions (panic, fear, anxiety, depression).  This is good.

This is all really amazing and I am learning from you. 

What you are experiencing is NORMAL. 

Symptoms can be random with no reason.  They come and go.  It's how you deal with them that matters.

Interruption of menstruation and hot flashes are absolutely withdrawal related and he believes all my blood test will come back normal.

The hot flashes are most likely panic related and this is how my body is reacting to this wave.

Withdrawal can take 1 to 1 1./2 years.  (I'm going with 2 years)

People have come in this far out in withdrawal and are as acute as the day they walked in to the office. 

Recovery for benzo is like a roller coaster. 

You are handling it the right way and I know you will heal eventually. 

You don't need to come back if you don't want to.

 

 

He then checked my heart and any other paranoid symptom I had.  He explained where my carotid artery was and that the clinching sensation in my neck is not the arteries but tension from the random 'deck of cards' stressful symptoms.

 

I told him I wanted to get my certificate and then work with him to help others like us.  He said I would be an asset.  We hugged and said good-bye.  I called my mom and husband then to tell them the good news.. THESE HORRIBLE AWFUL CRAZY I'M GONNA DIE SYMPTOMS ARE GLORIOUSLY NORMAL FOR WHERE WE ARE AT.

 

Day after day I was thinking about Peace going to work and how her doctors had reassured her.  I was embarrassed to be going backwards and not forwards and questioning everything like Life mentioned.  I didn't want to go in and have the doctor say what he did at the beginning of this process.  I was such a wreck and even in my random conversation with him that first day, I was so negative and inappropriate in my responses, that he pronounced life long medication for me. 

 

I knew it wasn't true.  I wasn't that negative person.  These drugs cloud who we think we are and how we process things around us.  It affects the very core of who we are, so of course it takes time to get back to normal.  It's just I needed an outside person to agree.  I needed someone I trusted like him, the doctor who I feel saved my life, to also agree with what we talk about on the boards.  AND HE DID. 

 

Everything others tell us, he said to me.  ...Keep going forward.  It takes a long time.  The fact that we have made it this far means we will finish the race. 

 

I love you guys, so much for being there and praying for me too.  For the hands reaching out to me when I think I am sinking and can only keep my head above water.  I was unable to see the water rising around my ankles in this one.  I've been treading water so long.  I needed some one who was knowledgeable on the outside and who knew me and what we all go thru to agree.  AND HE DID.

 

Go ahead and make peace with the symptoms.  Lay in bed or on the couch or get up and go for a walk.  Whatever you need to do.  There is still lots of time... 

 

MommyR

 

MommyR...thank you for this!  :smitten:

 

What kind of certificate do you want to get??? That is great!

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