Can you believe

On Sunday I was trying to talk to my family about all this benzo stuff and they all thought I am on the computer working myself up about my meds.  Granted I am bi- polar and have taken myself off cocktails of meds before.  They don't understand I don't need a benzo to help with my bi- polar and I'm being irrational.  So they were like check yourself into detox and get over with it, so with the knowledge I have I freaked out because I had visions of them staging an intervention.  So I called a detox in my area and the guy actually said he was on Xanax and he detoxed because they use other benzos to detox you,,wtf?? Oxymoron, right?  Than he said well it's obvious you don't want to be clean,,I was so pissed..so than I asked him if there was anyone there on a long term valium use and went through the program, he said I will check and get back to you,,no callback from him..he claims that he has been clean from Xanax for years because of the detox..so either he was a recreational user or just a plain liar.  Why are we so misunderstood?

It doesn't necessarily have to mean  he is a liar,unfortunately  it's not that simple.He's just misinformed and uneducated on the facts.  Many people actually w/d from benzos with no problem. Some even c/t with no significant post problems. Their tapers are uneventful. It is not that illogical when you think about it  . There are millions of people with millions of different body chemistries. We just happen to have the ones that make tapering especially hard  . My benzo w/d specialist doctor has seen every kind of w/d good and bad. But most doctors are not that informed

 

However that being said, it is still dangerous for anyone to c/t from a benzo. That is pure fact. It can induce seizures regardless of the other symptoms felt by the person in w/d. Addiction medicine is but one facet and branch of medicine. Just as all the other branches, they specialize in one thing and they know it well. When there is overlap, as is the case with benzos (non addicts who are physically but not mentally addicted) they can only see it from their perspective, that of an addict. It is how they are trained to see t hings. We are all guilty from time to time, of seeing things only form one perspective, that which is our own and that we know well. And medicine is particularly good at that. It's their job , it's how they were trained, they were trained to be 'experts'

 

Fear not, the good news is They aren't all like that . That is why one should never just look for  a doctor to help them w/d in just one branch of medicine. It limits the pool. We have BB members that have found internists, general practitioners, surgeons, physciatrists, addiction specialists, etc....who have been open to helping someone taper properly. Or even knowledgeable about it due to their own research. People are narrow minded more than they are open. You will just need to find the open minded people to help support you in your w/d. They can be found. My support team had a GP, a psychologist and an addiction specialist who specialized in benzo w/d (I got lucky) But in all honesty my GP and psychologist were amazing and educated themselves as we went along. They were so open and even thanked me for helping them understand it better. But it took some time and I went through a few doctors before I found these guys.

 

Hang in there, and just stick to your guns. With a bit of research and perseverance I am confident you will find the support system you need. Even my family came around eventually and became quite supportive, although it took a long time before they fully understood it . This w/d is an exercise in patience.... Bama.