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Things that I found helped...


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I've had a relatively short taper compared to most of you, 1 month, today is my first day free from Ativan  :D.  Before I forget I wanted to post some things that helped me over the past few weeks.  My withdrawals were primarily a lot of morning anxiety, nausea and headaches.

 

Here's what I found worked for me:

 

1.  Family/Friends - Whether it's an online community or your family, I found the support I got from my parents/husband is what really got me through, just getting a few words of encouragement meant a lot

 

2.  Exercise - Nothing else compared when it came to making myself feel better.  It wasn't always fun to drag myself out of bed but if it was early morning anxiety I did a Qigong video which I HIGHLY recommend.  It's mellow but boy did it work wonders.  I also did a 30 - 45 minute walk 5x a week and evening Yoga every few days.

 

3.  Distraction - I've never played as much Yahtzee in my life but when things felt really uncomfortable playing a game was perfect; Also found watching funny tv shows helped now and then

 

4.  Pets - My two cats never failed to make me smile even when I felt awful

 

5.  Supplements - I have been taking 3000 mg of Fish oil daily for a month and am convinced it made a big difference.  In the last week I started taking 100 mg of Theanine in the evening and am dumbfounded by how well it worked for me.  I am also taking a Calcium Magnesium supplement.

 

6.  Progressive Muscle Relaxation once a day/Belly breathing for 5 minutes twice a day - I was told doing these things each day led to a greater sense of relaxation within only a couple of weeks and it seems to work well.

 

I could go on but hopefully I'm passing on some good tips to someone else following me in the road to recovery.  It really does get better and it doesn't take as long as it might seem. 

 

 

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Congratulations on being free, Luka, and thank you so much for sharing what worked for you.  Except for the theanine, the same things worked well for me.  We do need to attack it on a lot of fronts, don't we? 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/beeper0002/BBuddies/0054.gif

 

I know a lot of members will want to congratulate you on your victory over ativan, so Theresa2 has started a Celebration thread for you, complete with your official BenzoFree Medal.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=12268.0

 

 

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Would be interested to hear what people do to help them through the hard times?

 

Just few of the things I have done throughout tapering to help keep the brain occupied, distract my mind from negative thoughts and help with the sense of isolation that can arise.

 

Playing cards- btw I'm totally rubbish at cards- but playing any one-player games has really helped me through the worst times. It distracts your mind, gives the brain a simple workout and is great for passing the time.

When i felt too cruddy to pick up the deck i played online.

 

Computer games- (n.b: not for everyone!!!), i'm not a big 'gamer' but i've found these can take your mind right off W/D and pass a lot (but not too much) of time. I'd avoid them at times when too much sensory input is uncomfortable. Also when i was extremely irritable they naturally increased this. Used in moderation and with caution they can be great time-killers.

 

Reading- during tolerance I spent a lot of time feverishly reading a lot. I even gave Robinson Crusoe a go. I suspect that most of it went in through my eyes and out through my ears but it helped pass time and keep my mind off sx's.

Interestingly, throughout W/D i've not been able to concentrate as much on reading but look forward to using it again s a natural sleep-inducer post-benzos.

 

These first 3 are all things that keep the brain active (in a good way) too (including computer games!).

 

Writing- during early tapering I kept a regular journal from day to day and wrote down the details of how I was doing, tapering doses etc. This was invaluable as a way to get thoughts out and work through things in my head. Also I could plot my progress over the days and weeks.

Slowly, I began using my blog as my main 'diary'.

 

Eating- at the start of withdrawal my appetite was zilch. I had lost too much weight after months of tolerance. I more or less forced myself to eat (healthy, simple small meals, often). It wasn't pleasant at first as i had horrible nausea but i found as the weeks went on i got more used to it and it became part of my routine.

 

TV and films- I've never watched so much guff in my life. However, i've found the discovery channel and nature programs are good to have on in the background for a relaxing atmosphere.

 

Other stuff- I've found it difficult to stick to a 'normal' day to day routine with sleeping and sometimes commitments have forced me to go to meetings etc without sleep. However I found that if i avoided enforcing a routine on myself and caught up on sleep whenever I could it made things a bit smoother. My body always returns to a normal day/night routine after a period of 'nightcrawling'. Another way i deal with the sleep issue is to not bother lying around in a state when insomnia hits. I almost always find it exacerbates things so I usually get up and do something to pass the time until i feel sleepy. Sometimes i go out for a drive, occasionally a walk.

 

All this stuff is what i use when i'm at my least functional (also when i'm not confined to doing absolutely nothing). Whenever w/ds permit, I try to get involved with 'normal' life again as much as possible- most importantly getting out and about.

 

Not sure if i've been typing a lot of goober or if this may be of some help and insight, but i'd be interested to hear what other folk do to get through,

all the best,

MrB :thumbsup:

 

 

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hey Luka, sorry, i just started a stupid thread on a similar thing bellow! ::),

thanks for sharing this, much of what you say sounds very familiar!,

all the best,

mr B

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hey Luka, sorry, i just started a stupid thread on a similar thing bellow! ::),

thanks for sharing this, much of what you say sounds very familiar!,

all the best,

mr B

No worries, B.  I merged your thread with Luka's, as we "discussed".  ;) And it's a really great subject that I hope others will add to.  :thumbsup:

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good stuff, thanks for that! ;),

i'll hopefully add some more stuff when my brain is made of something other than cheese :crazy:,

B

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Some additions-

 

One obvious one- BB's!, During tolerance, after several months of trawling around the internet (very cautiously) I found this site-

 

http://www.benzowise.com/index.php?pr=Home_Page

 

I read and read and read til I was convinced the insights there and in the Ashton Manual were relevant to me.

 

I eventually (even more cautiously) signed up to a few forums, ad having decided on BB's, I stuck with this here one. Throughout tapering and w/d's i have consistently read and posted on here and this alone has often hauled me up from the dolldrums during the bad times. It is utterly invaluable.

 

Hopefully more stuff will pop up soon!,

Mr B

 

 

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Reading helps. One of my favorite places to hang out is at faithcommunitynetwork.com - it's  a Christian website. I like the Mental Health threads and the light-hearted threads.

 

Journaling, journaling, journaling.

 

Tons of prayer.

 

Walking. I often combine that with prayer.

 

My iPod helped me a lot. However, it disappeared about 2 months ago.

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