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Are we "addicts"? Seeking reputable sources of information


[Dr...]

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Mods, please move this to the appropriate section if need be.

 

A family member who I just opened up to via email about my benzo journey responded by suggesting I join AA or NA or a similar support group where I can have a sponsor and such.  I want to explain to them that I'm not an addict in the classical sense, but rather physically dependent on benzos.  Am I wrong to think this way?

 

 

I feel like I've seen a lot of information about standard addiction support groups not being appropriate for benzos but I find tons of addiction centers that claim they can get people off benzos.  Does anyone have any links to info about why drug abuse support groups and 30 day detox programs are not effective for benzos?  I don't feel like an addict.  And none of the people I talk to here don't sound like addicts.

 

 

EDIT

I found this:

https://sunrisehouse.com/benzodiazepines/#Health-Issues-Caused-by-Benzodiazepine-Abuse

 

Physical dependence: Physical dependence on benzodiazepines can occur with any long-term use of the medications even with a doctor’s supervision and great care given to following the prescription exactly. This means building a tolerance, or requiring more and more of the drug in order to achieve the original effect. This issue can trigger withdrawal symptoms even at low doses and should be monitored by a doctor.

 

Addiction: Addiction to benzodiazepines occurs when someone experiences both a physical dependence as described above and a psychological dependence on the medication. This can manifest as cravings and compulsive use of benzodiazepines at all costs without consideration for the negative consequences that develop; every day, those who are living with benzodiazepine addiction are at risk of overdose or accident under the influence. A person who is addicted to benzodiazepines is unable to stop using the drug, and should not attempt detox without professional medical and therapeutic treatment.

 

 

 

 

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Educating friends and family can be trying.  All they know is the intervention rehab shows on TV.  They don't have any other frame of reference.

 

If you go to YT and query "medicating normal" you'll see several entries.  This one is by psychiatrist  Anna Lembke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7r_94vyOL4. She explains the difference you mentioned.

 

Either they will understand or they won't. All you can do is offer.

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[c8...]

Public and family perceptions about addiction versus dependence are pretty pathetic.  fwiw - it doesn't really matter around here.  Our mission is to help people get off of these drugs as safely as possible. 

 

Before my benzo experience, I can vivedly recall thinking how stupid a person must be to get addicted to a sleeping pill.  Well, that's exactly what I did.  Nothing prepares you for this, so it's no wonder than most people have no feel for how to deal with or respond to it.  I found it better to say as little as possible about the withdrawal to most people.  I'd just tell them that I was sleeping poorly - they could deal with that.

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I was way out of place in a drug addiction support group. I found myself effectively forced into it due to desperation and circumstances. It felt like a lot of other things that I needed were contingent on me attending this. It's the kind of thing that happens when your family is at the more extreme end of lacking understanding. Half of my parents are simply disgusting, immoral pieces of shit. But I don't want to get into that.

 

The battle for the other addicts is to stay clean in the face of triggers, cravings, all of that. There's a big focus on how much better life is sober compared to when they are using. The things they have to lose. It's all a bit of a tease. It wasn't NA/AA what I attended. It was like that to a large degree though. I find the dogmatic approach a little creepy to be honest, too.

 

It's actually really difficult to put my finger on why it just doesn't work, but it doesn't. To answer your question, I think that anybody deep into a taper is not an addict by definition. You have to address any addictive behaviours (if they ever existed in the first place) to have any hope of tapering your dose. There's no way you could be strong enough to withstand the withdrawal symptoms if you were battling addiction.

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No judgement either way but I would say that most of us on this site are dependent, not addicted. For me, that means that I don't feel compelled to use the drug, I never took more than was prescribed, I never tried to get it from illegal sources or tried to convince doctors to give it to me.

 

What I have gone through. I started feeling shaky between doses. I had feelings of being irritable and angry and just feeling very off. If I tried to skip a dose, I also felt that way. The doctor told me to increase the dose. I did that for awhile but wasn't happy with that idea so I decreased it again. I started having side effects. I was tied to that pill. I couldn't travel or go anywhere unless I made sure I had the medication.

 

Then, I found out about all the things that can happen if you quit cold turkey. I started to inquire about getting off the drug. I even made it a couple weeks into a taper once that ended badly because the doctors pulled me off it and put me on something else and I had a meltdown. I was put back on the drug and pretty much told that you can take it for life so we'd just leave it like that.

 

A couple of other times I tried to cut a dose and it was an epic failure. Shaky, weak, panic and every bad thing.

 

This time, I went to my doctor with a letter explaining my reasons for wanting to taper. We came up with a plan. I definitely cut too much but I have managed to keep going. I'm six months in now.

 

I do feel that there is a big difference between addiction and dependance. I think it's important to understand that because going to AA isn't going to help if you are only having symptoms based on your dependance. Addiction is different thing.

 

I believe that either way, it's good to get off of this medication. I also think that it's important to find doctors and counselors who know the difference between the two so that a person doesn't get the wrong advice. I don't crave the drug and I don't wish I could take it. If anything, I dream about the day when I never have to think about it again. It's been years since it worked for me and I would have tapered sooner if it wasn't so hard.

 

Good luck! :-)

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There is limited language for benzo dependency.  People use the words ‘dependency’ and ‘addiction’ interchangeably.  They don’t mean the same thing. 

 

What matters is being honest with oneself about where you stand.  And then approaching healing from there.

 

I’ve seen some posts here on BB about purchasing various benzos from the street, using them for the high, mixing with alcohol for the blackout, taking more than prescribed for the fun of it etc.These are addictive behaviours. 

 

Dependency just means you’re dependent.  If you try to stop , withdrawal happens.  It can happen even if you take exactly as prescribed.  Majority of people truly wish they could just stop.  They don’t get high.  It’s not fun.  They have circumstances that led to dependency, usually with no knowledge of the consequences.  They have no craving.

 

AA and NA are not suitable for benzo dependency.  I’m sure many have succeeded to get sober in 12 step.  I’m not suggesting otherwise.  But the steps do not apply to benzos.  You can’t just stop using and pray it away.  If you could. I would.  There are no confessions to make.  You’re not an addict.  You didn’t harm people and use people just to take your prescribed medication. 

 

Detox programs do rapid cold turkey withdrawal.  This is dangerous with benzos. 

 

So, follow a taper method.  Take it easy.  Don’t label yourself.  You’re just trying to heal.

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@[He...]:)

 

I think its more about motivations and intent of outcome (to taking the med, esp in excess)..

 

Trouble is a healthy dose of dependance/tolerance and/or say interdose WD can present us with situations where the DSM5 definitions would label us as addicted when it is still (attempted) symptom management..

-Perhaps a bit “out of the box” here, I only ran into this with opiates, and it was information and understanding that saved me... Ironically this unfolded in a long hospital stay, and while the Drs knew it wasnt addiction, their lack of a full understanding of dependance had us spiralling into a deep hole indeed..

“Hes not addicted, so someone will deal with it later” kinda thinking.. 

I did have one foot over the line for a while after hospital, but it never quite touched the ground, despite fitting some aspects of the standard addiction definitions..

 

Morning blurt done.. :)

 

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I have seen a lot of consternation regarding the labels. No one likes labels (even myself) but I think part of the problem stems from the mix of ages with people on here.

 

The antiquated thinking of some people lead them to have the picture in their head of an addict being a homeless person with a needle in their arm. At at the time they were growing up, that was probably what was out in the open, but that doesnt hold true today.

 

Fast forward to 2020, dependency issues (also known as addiction) are out in the open and has traversed all races, economic classes, countries, religions, genders, states, age groups, political affiliations, and intellect levels.

 

No longer is it just the homeless person with the needle in their arm, but its the stock broker, the CIO who just wants a couple more hours of sleep, the parent who just wants to unwind, the college student who cant focus, the senior marketing director who was in a car accident and suffers from back pain, the widow struggling with their husbands death, and the iraq vet who came back with PTSD. its everywhere!

 

your body is dependent = your body is addicted. one can tell themselves they are not an attic all they want but the truth is they are having the same issues as the "addicts" they frown upon and would end up in the exact same rehab as those "addicts"

 

If any of you kicked the bucket tomorrow i could care less what label you had to tell yourself to live with yourself and fall asleep, but we need to stop the division on this board. None of you got here because you are (or were) a bad person or less than human. All of you were trying to find relief in some capacity and were ultimately handed a larger problem and ended up HERE.

 

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@[Ki...]

The trouble I see/had is the different “treatments” for best outcome, or perhaps least damage, but I cant really add more than what is in the link I posted..

To me its not about segregation, more, a more complete and appropriate understanding...

 

:)

 

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No judgement either way but I would say that most of us on this site are dependent, not addicted. For me, that means that I don't feel compelled to use the drug, I never took more than was prescribed, I never tried to get it from illegal sources or tried to convince doctors to give it to me.

 

What I have gone through. I started feeling shaky between doses. I had feelings of being irritable and angry and just feeling very off. If I tried to skip a dose, I also felt that way. The doctor told me to increase the dose. I did that for awhile but wasn't happy with that idea so I decreased it again. I started having side effects. I was tied to that pill. I couldn't travel or go anywhere unless I made sure I had the medication.

 

Then, I found out about all the things that can happen if you quit cold turkey. I started to inquire about getting off the drug. I even made it a couple weeks into a taper once that ended badly because the doctors pulled me off it and put me on something else and I had a meltdown. I was put back on the drug and pretty much told that you can take it for life so we'd just leave it like that.

 

A couple of other times I tried to cut a dose and it was an epic failure. Shaky, weak, panic and every bad thing.

 

This time, I went to my doctor with a letter explaining my reasons for wanting to taper. We came up with a plan. I definitely cut too much but I have managed to keep going. I'm six months in now.

 

I do feel that there is a big difference between addiction and dependance. I think it's important to understand that because going to AA isn't going to help if you are only having symptoms based on your dependance. Addiction is different thing.

 

I believe that either way, it's good to get off of this medication. I also think that it's important to find doctors and counselors who know the difference between the two so that a person doesn't get the wrong advice. I don't crave the drug and I don't wish I could take it. If anything, I dream about the day when I never have to think about it again. It's been years since it worked for me and I would have tapered sooner if it wasn't so hard.

 

Good luck! :-)

Why do you think it's easier this time? The gabapentin? The plan? Best wishes & Thanks Scaredie

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