Hello from America!

Posting this here because I don't know if this is a success story... but i've been off pins since 2015.

Some background:Since 2007, I was on 0.5 mg Klonopin daily with anti-depressants to cope with fibromyalgia and depression. Worked fine for me until I moved to the US in 2014. Community health center doc wouldn't prescribe my pins because it's zero tolerance here and I didn't have health insurance so could not shop for another doc. Super quick titration from 0.5 daily to zero in 1 month. Withdrawal and terrible time for me and family, as I tried to cope with the withdrawal and the new environment, trying to find a job. Today, I've been off the Klonopin for 2+ years.

I'm taking trazadone for my insomnia, self-medicating and trying not to be too hard on myself.  Just wanted to vent a bit about the situation stateside where benzos are being demonized by the press whilst people are turning towards opioids and the situation is out of control. You can't overdose on benzos (alone) unlike as opioids, things are so bad that naloxone is available OTC and should be part of a typical first aid kit!

Hi,  I've moved this here from the Success Story Board, since it fits better here.

I understand how you feel, though I'm an American and have always lived here.  Doctors prescribe benzos (more freely in the past then now), but when one wants to taper off, doctors usually won't help and they often just drop their patients who must then c/t or taper quickly like you did.  There is usually no professional help for taperers or benzo withdrawal symptoms, which most medical "professionals" here know little about, or worse yet, think are psychosomatic.  That's why this forum is so valuable, though, because we DO understand....