I so badly wish I could have tapered

Why do people say over and over, two weeks and you can’t reinstate. I think that’s a big load and it condemns people. There is no way I would have gotten this sick, But with ct there is absolutely no room for mistakes.

 

How the hell are you suppose to know that you won’t heal and that you will get worse and worse if you don’t know what your doing. How can you know, when you can’t think and your living second to second?

 

My two cents

I don't know who came up with the timeline that reinstating within a certain time frame is more acceptable.  Have you ever tried taking Ativan since your cold turkey? 

 

No, no benzos.

Are you adamantly opposed to trying them again to see if they could help you?

Idk. I guess I’m still too scared. Especially now that I’m weaker and sicker, I have much less resolve and resilience to cope with things if reinstatement did go south.

 

I wish I could just reinstate and taper alcohol or anything els that I don’t need a script for.

 

Being at the mercy of a doctor who will prolly not understand, also sounds like it would really suck at this point, on top of everything els.

You make a good point about being at the mercy of a Dr.  We've had new members lately who've said that when looking for a new Dr to replace a retiring one, the new Dr would only accept them as a new patient if they got off of their benzo. Things are getting tight out there.

 

I wish I could come up with something to help you. 

Why do people say over and over, two weeks and you can’t reinstate. I think that’s a big load and it condemns people. There is no way I would have gotten this sick, But with ct there is absolutely no room for mistakes.

 

How the hell are you suppose to know that you won’t heal and that you will get worse and worse if you don’t know what your doing, How can you know when you can’t think, and your living second to second?

 

My two cents

 

I'm in the same boat. CT off of .25 Ativan after receiving no instructions from Psychiatrist 6 weeks ago. Not sure whether to reinstate and crossover to Valium for taper. So you continue to have symptoms after 2 years CT? And that is after a much shorter course than mine (3 months). What are your symptoms? My doctor says that at this point I'm far enough out that I don't need a taper and would do well with Gabapentin, but she's open to it. On the other hand, scared my tinnitus / hyperacusis might get worse if I go on an extended Ashton taper.

Most of my symptoms are in my sig. I’m an outlier because my symptoms were severe for such short term use, plus Iv had setbacks. If your symptoms are bearable and you don’t consume anything GABAergic for a long time (even when you start feeling better) you’ll def do better then me. That’s all I know.

I used for two months during the flu. .50 Alprazolam.  I was never told the dangers of CT. Many people kept telling me to stay in CT but I finally went to hospital with 40 pound weight loss. I got an official diagnosis of severe benzo WD from the hospital dr. I called about 20 Doctors in my state and found one. He reinstated me at 20 Mg of Diazapam at 6 weeks off. My symptoms melted away.  I'm very careful with my taper and I'm down to 16 mg soon. I'm doing cut and hold and will move into microtapering.  I'm so glad that I reinstated and I'm tapering. It might take me forever, but I'm willing to put in the time.  I truly feel like I was a severe case of CT.  It could work or not... but I needed to try for my life and family. So far, I'm happy with my decision.

I used for two months during the flu. .50 Alprazolam.  I was never told the dangers of CT. Many people kept telling me to stay in CT but I finally went to hospital with 40 pound weight loss. I got an official diagnosis of severe benzo WD from the hospital dr. I called about 20 Doctors in my state and found one. He reinstated me at 20 Mg of Diazapam at 6 weeks off. My symptoms melted away.  I'm very careful with my taper and I'm down to 16 mg soon. I'm doing cut and hold and will move into microtapering.  I'm so glad that I reinstated and I'm tapering. It might take me forever, but I'm willing to put in the time.  I truly feel like I was a severe case of CT.  It could work or not... but I needed to try for my life and family. So far, I'm happy with my decision.

 

Thank you TallGolfer for telling your story, its important for people to know there are options when faced with impossible symptoms, I hope you'll continue to speak your truth because we need all voices to be heard.

Thank you TallGolfer for telling your story, its important for people to know there are options when faced with impossible symptoms, I hope you'll continue to speak your truth because we need all voices to be heard.

This. People are unduly scared about reinstatement, but it appears that paradoxical reactions are not really all that common.

Just an opinion but I do think people are scared of reinstating for a good reason. On BB over the years I have seen many people reinstate and tell us that it got WORSE, not better.

 

Over the years here what I have observed is that people who stick to their tapers no matter what, do much better. It is actually similar to a cold turkey. Roll the dice and see what happens. Benzo wd symptoms can be quite severe, but only for a few people. Maybe you have already noticed this: people come and go here, often quite quickly. My guess is that they had heard how awful benzo wd could be, and they panicked and found BB. And then they jumped and it was.....fine. So they disappear. Or some might have reinstated. Some might have given up and resigned themselves to a lifetime of benzos and misery.

 

It is all so easy to stand back and blame doctors and Big Pharma for this. And YES, they should NOT have done what they did!  But we, the victims, did have a huge say in what pills we took and what pills we didnt. This bothered me greatly in my first couple years off. i am a nurse of many years, nd never once had I been taught or told how awful benzo wd could be! This horrified me. I kept thinking about my former patients, in the detox place and in the acute psych unit I used to work on. How many patients did I dismiss as "just neurotic or drug seeking"  Good grief, here I am, l a well educated nurse who used to believe in all sorts of pills. Now I dont. And when I got off benzos I decided to NEVER blindly trust a physician OR nurse again, when it comes to medications!  Only I control that.

Annie

 

I agree with you that reinstatement should be feared. But ct acute should be equally as feared, and setbacks should be feared and I just hate that I went ct without any knowledge of what was going on and then I was just stranded out hear in ct land with zero options. Iv seen post about people having luck with reinstating a few months out so I think it’s a more complicated matter just like everything in withdrawal.

 

Iv read all the posts where someone asks if they should reinstate a few months out and everyone feverishly jumps on them to tell them not to. Yet I find people going around freely recommending magnesium, a GABAergic that has caused me a lot of devastation.

I'm so sorry that you are still suffering.

I've read through the thread and it sounds like you have POTS, postural orthastatic tachycardia syndrome.

I was being investigated for this syndrome, prior to using benzo and trying to come off them.

Weird thing is that some doctors prescribe them for POTS to help bring down your HR, although they shouldn't.

 

Some things that I have found that help me are wearing compressions stockings (full length), very high pressure one 20-300 mmHG.

You can get exercise ones that look more athletic - but these really do help from all the blood pooling at your feet.

You should break up your meals in to 6-7 small meals a day, instead of 3 big ones (blood gets pulled into stomach when you eat a big meal).

Drink lots of water and eat lots of salt (3-10 g of salt per day). The salt and water together will give you more blood volume.

Make sure you get enough electrolytes.

Exercise is the gold standard treatment for POTS, although very difficult to do.

Recumbent exercises are best (bike sitting down, rowing, swimming).

Small amount of weight lifting and pilates are also good.

 

You should find a cardiologist who is a electrophysicist and get a tilt table test done.

There are many medications that you can try that can help with this condition.

 

I also tapered too quick. Didn't know any better and had done it no problem 14 and 13 years ago.

 

I reinstated a small dose at 6-7 weeks and it has helped with some symptoms, as I will now try to get off completely.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Thank you TallGolfer for telling your story, its important for people to know there are options when faced with impossible symptoms, I hope you'll continue to speak your truth because we need all voices to be heard.

This. People are unduly scared about reinstatement, but it appears that paradoxical reactions are not really all that common.

 

Maybe not paradoxical, but we are so sensitive. I couldn't take 0.5mg Valium, so how are you meant to reinstate?

Maybe not paradoxical, but we are so sensitive. I couldn't take 0.5mg Valium, so how are you meant to reinstate?

I'm aware from your previous posts that you're one of the unfortunate cases that actually went paradoxical on reinstatement. What was your reaction to 0.5 mg diazepam? I myself haven't tried reinstatement, though I wish I did back when it was still safe to do so. My opinion on my current condition is that reinstatement would probably work for me, but on higher dose, and not necessarily for all the symptoms (e.g. hissing noise in my head wasn't gone when I tried flumazenil, so I don't know if benzos would do anything, glutamate might have already damaged some nerves).

0.5mg just made me feel terrible, couldn't sleep, felt drugged. Actually had to have a drink to try bring myself down, which obviously probably did more harm than good