Why stop?

Why stop if u cant afford to be completely debilitated for years?

Good question!

Most ppl either want to be free from meds, or want to get away from side effects, or didn't know wd, or per doctors advice

 

For ppl ok with taking meds, this is the most important question to ask before any action

I agree with 4mom, but wanna add 1 more possible answer to your question:

Because eventually you will be debilitated from taking the drug so long. It will happen at some point. Benzos are never meant to be taken for more than 2 weeks.

 

I think most people decide to quit/taper believing that it won't be that bad for them.  Really shocked me how strong the symptoms were.  Still, I was not debilitated for years.

 

As for why...  the drug was slowly changing me into something I didn't like.

I started getting interdose WD symptoms because I was only taking Benzos at night for sleep. 

 

I had no clue what was going on, until I found this forum

 

I healed and was not debilitated for years, some people are.

 

Benzos don't fix or cure anything.  They are merely band aids.

 

Everyone has to decide what is best for them, but I know for a fact that your body doesn't have certain conditions, such as anxiety, from a lack of a Benzo in your blood!

 

 

Only used Brotizolam for sleep and had no intention of quitting until suddenly I could no longer access a prescription. If I still had the drugs today I would still be on them. I felt completely fine and normal until I went off. What hell it has been since. Starting to feel better but withdrawal has completely messed me up and given the choice, I would prefer not to have endured this. At least now I feel I won’t have a seizure due to a sudden loss of access to a prescription.

Benzos turned me into a person I didn’t recognize, plus I want to have another baby and benzos are not pregnancy safe.

It was the wrong decision for me.

Was on same 10mgs diazepam for spinal injury issues for 20 years. No to.etence, no interdose withdrawal.

 

If ppl are on the drugs for a good reason - not just a bit of anxiety or insomnia that should have been treated with other strategies in the first place, then, as long as they work and ppl are not having problems I truely believe a great ,any ppl are better staying on them if been on a long time.

I had tolerance ( on low prescribed amount) and didn't know it - then the drug went paradoxical on me. I could not remember things, I was shuffling if I tired to walk and had to literally crawl up the stairs. I had disrupted sleep and nightmares for a year. All Ativan. not once did someone think " hey maybe its the benzo?"

 

After getting off - I sleep. Nightmares are rare. I can walk. I can run up stairs.

 

Thats why we don't stay on them 

 

Do not romanticize these drugs in your head. Its a devil in disguise...

My experience with benzos (as it was for alcohol many years ago) is and was that while it was a crutch for a while, is that they have turned me in a person that I did not recognize anymore. Lust for life, love, joy, work, sport... has disappeared and turned me into the numb person, anxiety stricken, dependant to something much stronger than my own will. Simplified, I don't wont to live life counting how many benzos I have or don't have in my pocket, hiding them from myself so I don't God forbid run out of them, being anxious in anticipation that I will be anxious and depressed at the times (sometimes all the time). Is it embedded in my genes or character does not matter to me anymore. What matters is that I have traded something that I know with something that "I need" in order not to feel pain, fear, inadequacy, and whatnot which in other words is life itself.

The suffering isn’t worth it for me, but too late to go back on, and too damaged to even imagine I am capable of recovering

Good question.  I decided to get off primarily because of all the research that shows that long-term use of benzos is strongly correlated with a greatly increased risk of dementia.  I don't know if the damage has already been done, but I want to do everything I can at this point.  When I started taking benzos, I don't think this correlation was known -- certainly not by me.

 

Now I'm experiencing a great deal of memory issues and cog fog, and it's not possible at this point to tease out what may be actual damage and what is w/d.  I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and praying I can reverse this.

 

Haimona

Its funny, because I was worried about increased risk of getting dementia due to benzos, but my withdrawal has been so cognitively debilitating that I feel like it gave me dementia. Actually, I developed all the symptoms of substance-induced dementia and I have now been suffering 3 years, only slowly improving. Today is my 3-year anniversary.

 

Knowing what I know now about how complete withdrawal affected me, I think I should have stayed on a small dose, but then again, I don't know how it would affect me in the long run as in interpose withdrawal, increased risk for dementia, etc.

 

I feel it is a damned if I do and damned if I don't situation. Guess its better to be off then. Don't have to worry about being suddenly yanked off now.

 

Keep praying for healing of cognitive impairment symptoms.

I totally hear you, TaterTot.  Totally.  I wish I had known before I started, what I know now about benzos.  I would never have taken one.

 

Haimona

I totally hear you, TaterTot.  Totally.  I wish I had known before I started, what I know now about benzos.  I would never have taken one.

 

Haimona

 

Yep. I'm with you! 10000000000000000000%