Article in UK press re benzodiazepines

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4531548/Betrayed-doctors-turned-DRUG-ADDICTS.html

 

I am featured in today's article.  Sorry the word addict continues to be used by the paper.

 

I am prepared to put up with it to get the publicity we need.

 

I don't live in Edinburgh!!  The rest is reasonably accurate about me.

 

Fiona 

Good article, Fiona! Yes, except for the use of the word "addict", there's a lot to be pleased about in the way your story was told and in the way the issue was explained. 

Awesome article Fiona. 

 

XX

She

Excellent, powerful, thorough.  You did an awesome job Fiona!   I can overlook the "addict" thing. 

Thank-you for speaking out Fiona and I'm so glad to see this in a big newspaper 

Thank you so much, everyone.  I hope our campaign will make a difference.  I really do.

 

Fiona 

Awesome!  I printed that sucker out!

Mr. Lader seems to have candy coated that statistic about how many people experience bizarre symptoms while quitting.  1/3 ?!

Great article Fiona....I sent a copy to a few papers here ...well done. 

Barring the usual sensational "addict" headline I think this is an amazing article Fiona, it really hits the mark. And wonderful efforts by the others who contributed. You must be so pleased to have Prof Malcom Lader come on board. The message is getting out there, well done!

Thanks so much, everyone.  I am pleased with the article.  I just hope we can achieve some positive change through all this.

 

Fiona 

 

 

Fiona,

 

THANK YOU for doing that interview and sharing your story! It was like reading my own life in many ways. I was also put on benzos for epilepsy at age 12...I am now 60 and have been tapering since November of 2014. I am down from about 35-40mg of V per day to just 1mg per day now, but it has been a constant daily struggle and practically my whole life has been one long benzo mess. I had all the crazy symptoms -- and the diagnoses of being crazy, although we recognize now it was benzos.

 

It all started for me with small amounts of Valium prescribed for seizure, but the dosage had to be constantly increased as my body adapted and the dose became ineffective. Over the years barbiturates were added to the Valium and my doses would go up and down, up and down over the years. I was CT'd twice before they knew what benzo W/D was. It was a nightmare. I hope to taper completely off the Valium by the end of October, making the taper a l-o-n-g 3 year process.

 

I have been criticized by medical professionals for not trying newer medications for the seizures and my doctors have been criticized as well for putting me on the Valium in the first place, but in the 1960s benzos were considered first line by many doctors for epilepsy. I have never heard of anyone else in my age range who was on benzos for such a long time due to it being prescribed for seizure disorder.

 

I am terrified that my symptoms won't go away due to my long term use, the early age at which I started and my older age at withdrawal, but as bad as it has been, I honestly think it's better than when I was taking large, and often random, doses. I have plenty of strange symptoms like brain fog, severe headache, tremors and muscle spasms,  light and noise sensitivity, neuropathy, weakness, heart palpitations, inability to exercise, gastric problems and lack of balance and coordination. However, by going slowly they have been manageable. I don't know what to expect after my last dose and while it weighs heavily in my mind that I will never heal (doctors have repeatedly told me that and suggested I just stay on the benzos for the rest of my life since I am no "so old") but I am hoping that some amount of healing will occur.

 

Thanks again for speaking out and helping with BBs!

 

Mo

 

 

Nice, Fiona!!! 

Nice, Fiona!!! 

 

Thanks, abcd.    Hope you are doing okay.

Fiona,

 

THANK YOU for doing that interview and sharing your story! It was like reading my own life in many ways. I was also put on benzos for epilepsy at age 12...I am now 60 and have been tapering since November of 2014. I am down from about 35-40mg of V per day to just 1mg per day now, but it has been a constant daily struggle and practically my whole life has been one long benzo mess. I had all the crazy symptoms -- and the diagnoses of being crazy, although we recognize now it was benzos.

 

It all started for me with small amounts of Valium prescribed for seizure, but the dosage had to be constantly increased as my body adapted and the dose became ineffective. Over the years barbiturates were added to the Valium and my doses would go up and down, up and down over the years. I was CT'd twice before they knew what benzo W/D was. It was a nightmare. I hope to taper completely off the Valium by the end of October, making the taper a l-o-n-g 3 year process.

 

I have been criticized by medical professionals for not trying newer medications for the seizures and my doctors have been criticized as well for putting me on the Valium in the first place, but in the 1960s benzos were considered first line by many doctors for epilepsy. I have never heard of anyone else in my age range who was on benzos for such a long time due to it being prescribed for seizure disorder.

 

I am terrified that my symptoms won't go away due to my long term use, the early age at which I started and my older age at withdrawal, but as bad as it has been, I honestly think it's better than when I was taking large, and often random, doses. I have plenty of strange symptoms like brain fog, severe headache, tremors and muscle spasms,  light and noise sensitivity, neuropathy, weakness, heart palpitations, inability to exercise, gastric problems and lack of balance and coordination. However, by going slowly they have been manageable. I don't know what to expect after my last dose and while it weighs heavily in my mind that I will never heal (doctors have repeatedly told me that and suggested I just stay on the benzos for the rest of my life since I am no "so old") but I am hoping that some amount of healing will occur.

 

Thanks again for speaking out and helping with BBs!

 

Mo

 

I am so sorry you have lost so many years to these drugs.  You were so very young when it started for you.  At least I was an adult.  I also never needed to take more of the drug.  Your seizures were obviously a great deal worse than mine.  I am so pleased you have been tapering very slowly, I should have done that but I didn't know.  I don't know what the future will hold for us.  All my most distressing symptoms have gone (head pressure, brain squeezes, nerve pain  .. and so many others).  My brain just will not function normally so everything is difficult and my walking is poor.  I hope that more improvements will come over the next year or so but I don't really anticipate ever being well.  However, I have never been well, at least not as an adult, and like you this is what I am used to and it is therefore easier to adapt.  I am very glad I now know the truth about my life.  That is very important to me.  I guess we just have to keep going from day to day just as we have always done and try to find some pleasure when and where we can.  I do hope you will experience many improvements in the months and years to come so that life will be somewhat better for you.

 

Hugs

 

Fiona 

Yay Fiona!!

 

You're our BB standing celebrity of sorts! I'm sorry for your struggle and know of if it all to well as it is all of our struggle!

 

Continued healing and God Bless you Fiona!!

 

Peace&love

Hope&Faith

"I am very glad I now know the truth about my life.  That is very important to me."

 

Fiona,

 

You only know the truth about your life history and your present.  Your future is unknown and it may just surprise you in a very beautiful way.

 

Your past does not define your future.  If you allow your past to pave the way of just more of the same, it can happen.  You can also let go of the past and anticipate a future full of wonder and unopened gifts. 

 

Sofa

Thank you, Hope and Faith and Sofa.  You are very kind.  I am not so sure about this idea of not letting the past define your future.  My past is my past and of course it is going to influence greatly my future path.  I do not want to leave my past behind, it has made me who I am.  I want to keep moving forward using my past to inform my future.  And will my future really be all that different from my past?  I have battled every day of my life to make it something worthwhile and I will keep doing that in whatever way I can, to the best of my ability.  I will try to do my best for the good of others.  There is one big difference though, I will not tolerate anyone who dismisses my life experience or belittles what I have endured.  So I will be different in some very profound ways.  For the first time in my life I am comfortable with who I am.  I have a confidence that I did not have before.  But my past is still my past.  I see many things with a much greater clarity than I have done for 40 years.  Am I making any sense here?  I am a product of my past, why would I want to let it go? 

 

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

 

Sorry folks ....  :D

 

Maybe this is one of my protracted symptoms ...  :(

 

And maybe some day I will work it all out.  :thumbsup: