When people just don't understand you..........

I've found that something in writing, particularly something that is well known or trusted can be very useful in explaining wd to friends, family and even your doctor.

 

This link was extremely useful for me in explaining this to my family and doctor.  I actually found it to be even more useful than the Ashton Manual because it's shorter and you can pick and choose which parts to share. I hope it helps someone out there trying to get their loved ones to understand.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_withdrawal_syndrome

 

Thank you Cedar! My best friend doesn't quite get it. I told her I would get information for her to read and I haven't so......

 

Hugs

P2

FYI, if you print it out, you can highlight the parts that pertain to you the most to emphasize what you're suffering.

Thank you Cedar,

 

This is very useful and straight to the point, I will print this off.

 

Debbie x

Thank you for posting this , Cedar.

 

Yes, a good one to use also

This is a great idea. I have found that no one truly understands except those going through it .

This is a great idea. I have found that no one truly understands except those going through it .

It's true that on one can truly understand if they haven't been through it, but they can at least see for themselves that it's a real and viable condition.  They may not have walked in your shoes so to speak, but they can at least empathize and support the person suffering from wd if they can see that it is real. 

 

I have never had to suffer from diabetes, but I can empathize that it is scary and painful and be supportive of my grandmother who has it. 

Cedar, that very article was the one I found one night when I was desperately searching the internet trying to find out what was wrong with me.  I listed my symptoms in google and that was what popped up!  It changed my life, and eventually brought me here.  It helped my family understand, too.  Thanks so much for posting this!

Thanks for posting this. It is the first time I have ever seen it.

 

Connie 

Cedar, that very article was the one I found one night when I was desperately searching the internet trying to find out what was wrong with me.  I listed my symptoms in google and that was what popped up!  It changed my life, and eventually brought me here.  It helped my family understand, too.  Thanks so much for posting this!

That is awesome Sunnyside.  It helped me so much too and it gave me hope that I would one day recover.   

The article is good and my psychiatrist had never seen it when I told her about it a year ago but it does not quite tell the full story.  It perhaps needs to be read in conjunction with this depending on how long a person has been on the meds -

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_effects_of_benzodiazepines

The article is good and my psychiatrist had never seen it when I told her about it a year ago but it does not quite tell the full story.  It perhaps needs to be read in conjunction with this depending on how long a person has been on the meds -

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_effects_of_benzodiazepines

Thank you for posting this!  I actually have this one printed out as well and made tons of notes on it when I first started going through wd.  This is great.   

Cedar thanks for beating me to starting a new post with exactly what you have said,I  also find that friends that I have had for years don't pick up the phone any more and even siblings don't want to know,and if I hear anyone say to me pull yourself together,what have you got to worry about then

I have got a friend who is very poorly with heart problems and I saw her husband the other day and asked how she was,and he replied not good at all and he asked how I was and I replied the same,but dd you have never been any good,at which I replied because his wife has a illness that can be seen and can be treated she will get all the help she can,but in my case is what you can't see that is the problem and I am not can't get the help I desperately need.

Cedar thanks for beating me to starting a new post with exactly what you have said,I  also find that friends that I have had for years don't pick up the phone any more and even siblings don't want to know,and if I hear anyone say to me pull yourself together,what have you got to worry about then

I have got a friend who is very poorly with heart problems and I saw her husband the other day and asked how she was,and he replied not good at all and he asked how I was and I replied the same,but dd you have never been any good,at which I replied because his wife has a illness that can be seen and can be treated she will get all the help she can,but in my case is what you can't see that is the problem and I am not can't get the help I desperately need.

I feel your pain DD.  It's a very lonely journey.  How true that if it were another illness of some kind people would be very understanding and supportive, but in wd forget about it.    :'(

 

You're not alone here. We understand what you are facing is extremely real and really not that as uncommon as you might think (sadly). 

 

Wishing you all the best for a happy and full recovery,

Cedar

Thank you Cedar, I'm glad I happened to come over here and see this.  It's just what I need!  I've got several family members on benzos, and none have had the kind of trouble I've had with them, so they tend not to believe me when I say it's the drugs doing this to me.  I also have a visit with my prescriber coming up, and I hope to have this to give her then.

Hey Sage, good to see you.  Oh, I really hope this helps. It sure helped me and my family a lot.  Sometimes something simple in writing is all it takes to get the point accross. 

 

Hope you're app goes well. 

Thank you! 

Thx to Sage I have found this site and thx to Cedar for posting this....I am sooo frustrated and feeling extremely alone during this process....went to family members which took alot of courage....asked for their help, explained my sx and so on....they were ok during the initial conversation and then back to their old crap.....esp my SIL....i am feeling soooo alone and just hurt right now...dont know what to do about it....i am so tired of obsessing over it.

 

Sorry to rant....it just happened between my SIL and me a week ago.....she still has not called me...even though I was upfront with her about what she did.

 

Anyway....hugs to you both.

 

BB.

Hi Sage

 

We all know what you are going through I have the same with friends and family anyone would think we have a contagious disease if only .

 

I have a friend who I have known since 1977 she rang the other day and was going on about how life was hectic with work,looking after her granddaughter etc,so I said that I would swap with her any day,rather than feel the way I do and was telling her what I was going through and had she read the news about benzos,oh you read to much you don't want to take any notice of what it says.Next thing she was telling me that she had tapered off her Citalopram 10 mg AD that she had been on for 4 months and the w/d symptoms she was getting and yet me and my friend benzo is not giving me any w/d.

 

I rest my case

 

dd58 and we will all carry on

My greatest frustration is that it appears most people simply don't believe  benzo w/d exists.  I've had other medical issues as of late and as difficult as those were, and trust me they were, the hardest thing throughout all of this is the lack of understanding and knowledge of the existence of w/d, mostly by medical professionals I've encountered.  All I really want is the acknowledgement that this experience is as serious and distressful as other medical conditions.

 

Sometimes, as a result, I start thinking that maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of it and then go ahead and try to push things.  Each and every time, it's bit me in the ass and proves to me just how real it is.  I'm as tired of this as anyone in my life, probably more so.  But that changes nothing.  It still exists, I still have to taper slowly and I still have to go though mini w/d's every time I cut.  And yet, I still get the impression from others, family and doctors, that this horrible, long lasting, distressful experience is not real.  This whole thing just makes me crazy.

 

 

 

DITTO WWWI IT IS THE SAME HERE.

WWW, I have run the gamut of responses from doctors as well, from those not knowing I was in tolernace for years to those not believing in withdrawal. It took me a very very long time to find a doctor who understands how these medications impact the nervous system.  She never has sugar coated anything with me.  Rather than tell me my symptoms would just go away, she told me they would become manageable and that with time my cns would be able to reverse the damage done. She actually had me write up my story that she will share with students. It didn't make my withdrawal easier, but at least I didn't get the  that I had come to expect.

PG,

 

The ruptured appendix and graves were taken VERY seriously.  Once each was diagnosed, the system took over and the doctors and nurses and all medical staff, directed me on next steps and made me feel as if they knew what they were doing and what I needed to do and as it turns out they were right.

 

ON THE OTHER HAND, there is w/d and barring exceptions, like your wonderful doctor, where fundamentally we go it alone, feeling out way blindly except for the compassion of wonderful sites like this and the few out there, like Heather Ashton, the group in Maine, the people trying to bring this to parliment, and a few others that I can count on two hands who are screaming to be heard but are being quashed left and right.

 

Right now I feel as if I have to go about my life as if nothing were wrong, like I'm at 100%.  I'm just so tired of being forced to pretend this doesn't exist.  Sit at my desk and present a professional appearance, when my mind is obsessing and I'm questioning everything and I see the stupid mistakes I never would have made.

 

Ok I've just made this all about me.  I'll stop.

WWWI....that is one of the hardest thongs for me right now....having to oretend that everything is alright and just push through when all I wnat to do is crawl in a hole and stay there until this is all over!!

 

Thx for reminding me that this is perfectly normal......i tend to want to please everyone else and I put myself on the back burner....not good if I want to heal.

 

BB.

I definitely get that BB and if we were to take a vote, i'll bet most would vote they are in a similar boat.  Not to be dramatic but this whole thing is just brutal.