BLISS JOHNS/BAYLISSA FREDERICK IN TIMES NEWSPAPER

There is an article in the Times today.

Here's the link

 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article3554165.ece#

Thanks Fliprain,

I tried to copy paste but gave up,mind you unfortunately we can not read the full article unless we subscribe.

But I think we can guess what was said.

Thanks Fliprain,

I tried to copy paste but gave up,mind you unfortunately we can not read the full article unless we subscribe.

But I think we can guess what was said.

 

Hello DD58. The Times had several articles in today's printed edition.  My library offers Newsbank to search newspapers and I copied a few hits from today's Times below. Apologies if I have duplicated some text.

 

-Zoner

 

 

 

 

One million caught in tranquilliser trap after years of mistreatment

Times, The (London, England) - Monday, October 1, 2012

Author: Martin Barrow

The plight of more than a million people addicted to tranquillisers prescribed by their doctor is revealed today.

 

A Times investigation has uncovered a legacy of years of mistreatment that has damaged the lives of patients who have taken daily medication given them by their GP or psychiatrist, often for transient conditions.

 

It exposes the failure of the NHS to provide meaningful support to victims of benzodiazepine addiction, even though they significantly outnumber those hooked on illegal drugs. It also raises questions about the reticence of doctors to help patients to withdraw from tranquillisers.

 

Doctors are still writing more than 11 million prescriptions a year for "benzos", three decades after being encouraged to curtail their use. Known by names such as Valium, Ativan and Xanax, they can be valuable in treating the most severe shock or trauma but, according to present advice, should only be taken for up to four weeks.

 

The Times has spoken to dozens of patients who have taken the tranquillisers for years, enduring shocking sideeffects.

 

They have told of the harrowing process of trying to wean themselves off a drug considered more addictive than heroin.

 

Although the UK Department of Health and the Royal College of General Practioners characterises the problem as one that mainly affects older people, The Times has been contacted by a number of patients still in their thirties and forties who are taking benzos or battling to come off them.

 

Many are unable to work or engage with family and friends. Some have contemplated suicide. Their plight is often made worse by poor advice from GPs, who frequently do not recognise the danger of stopping a patient's medication immediately, or over a period of weeks, instead of following an internationally recognised protocol of tapered withdrawal, which can take as long as three years. This is despite advice from NICE, the medicines watchdog, and primary care trusts.

 

A Scottish government spokesman said: "The prescribing of benzodiazepines, like any other medicine, is a clinical decision taken by a doctor in discussion with the patient. All prescriptions should be in line with good clinical practice, including review by the GP to ensure patients only remain on medicines as long as is appropriate for their condition. They may also be used in conjunction with other treatments such as counselling and psychological therapies."

 

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, described the situation as a serious risk to public health. "It is really shocking to find such pain and suffering caused by addiction to drugs intended to help. In particular, we are concerned that there are many people suffering in enforced silence, unable to access specialist services. Addiction to any substance can be very difficult to treat. The NHS should accept that it has a part to play in treating the sideeffects of a drug which was originally prescribed with the best of intentions."

 

Benzos, initially approved to treat sleeplessness and anxiety, were hailed as a risk-free alternative to barbiturates when introduced in the 1960s. But by the 1980s concerns began to emerge about serious side-effects and the risk of dependency. Instead, patients were to be offered a new generation of antidepressants or z-drugs that resembled benzos but supposedly were less likely to cause dependency.

 

Although patient data are sparse, it is believed that continuing prescription means that up to 1.5 million people have taken benzos for most of their adult lives and will enter old age ill prepared to deal with the consequences.

 

Charities familiar with benzodiazepine addiction say that the effects of long-term use mimic the symptoms of dementia, raising the risk of misdiagnosis that condemns patients to inappropriate care through their lives.

 

Professor Heather Ashton, an expert in clinical pharmacology who has worked with benzo addicts for more than three decades, said: "It is an absolute scandal that the Government fails to acknowledge the scale of this problem."

 

The Department of Health said that the problem is recognised across the NHS and that services for involuntary tranquilliser addiction are available in most areas. The department generally expects support to be provided by drug and alcohol teams that form part of the National Treatment Agency. Significantly, a Freedom of Information request sent to 149 primary care trusts in England and Wales revealed that 77 had no benzo services at all and a further 10 offered very limited provision. Only five provided a full service. The remaining trusts failed to respond.

 

Professor Clare Gerada, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: "It is really important that GPs and other doctors prescribe responsibly, especially when dealing with medication such as benzodiazepines that have the potential to cause dependence and addiction. There has been a concerted attempt over the last 20 years to improve the prescribing of benzodiazepine drugs and to reduce the time that patients are taking them."

 

Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company that acquired Wyeth and still manufactures Xanax, said: "Prescription medicines such as benzodiazepine are very useful treatments when taken as directed.

 

In medicines where there may be a risk of dependency, all carry a warning. It is imperative that clinicians be aware of the risks of using any prescription medicine and that they communicate these risks to patients."

 

Roche, which created the benzodiazepine class of drugs, expressed surprise at the number of prescriptions still being written. A spokesman said: "Benzodiazepines can be very effective when used appropriately in the short term. When used in the longer term, [they] can be associated with dependency."

 

'I was heavily sedated and near-catatonic at my wedding, but tic-free' - A woman who saw her GP with a minor complaint tells Martin Barrow how her life fell apart

Times, The (London, England) - Monday, October 1, 2012

Author: Martin Barrow

When Baylissa Frederick planned her wedding she wanted it to be just right. So she went to her doctor to ask for help with a tic that affected her right eye. "It seems petty now," she said. "But at the time it meant a lot to me. The tics were mild and infrequent but I was worried my face would do its little 'dance' in the middle of our vows and I would become flustered."

 

The prescription she was given marked the beginning of a path on which she lost her marriage, her home and her health.

 

In her home overlooking Cardiff Bay, she told me that in 1998, at the age of 34, she was given a prescription for an anti-epileptic drug. When this proved too potent for her condition, causing drowsiness, her doctor prescribed a low dose of clonazepam, a tranquilliser.

 

For the first few days it appeared to be a miracle cure. But the tics returned, were now more frequent and intense, and were accompanied by involuntary movements. Her doctor prescribed diazepam, to be taken with the clonazepam. "For the wedding I was tic-free but heavily sedated and in a near-catatonic state."

 

What Ms Frederick did not realise was that clonazepam belonged to a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, which were already the subject of alerts by health service regulators for being highly addictive and having severe side effects. Doctors were being advised to limit prescriptions to just four weeks.

 

Ms Frederick stopped taking diazepam after her wedding but within a year her dependency on clonazepam had become entrenched. She described those days as a "complete blur".

 

She was easily fatigued. The memory lapses became severe and she took a less demanding job.

 

After seven years, in an effort to regain control of her life she decided to quit the medication. Unable to trust her GP, she learned what she could from the internet and made her first attempt to withdraw from the drugs, confident that the worst symptoms would quickly dissipate. The process lasted almost three years, during which she endured harrowing and debilitating physical pain and mental anguish.

 

"During the acute stage of withdrawal I could not sleep or eat. Every part of my body tingled, burned and twitched. I was dizzy ... I had abdominal pains with vomiting and diarrhoea."

 

Ms Frederick 's experiences, recounted in a book that has become a lifeline to fellow benzo addicts, ultimately caused her to lose her job, her home and her marriage. Her health remains frail, five years after her withdrawal.

 

Her days are spent manning a helpline for fellow benzo addicts. She could easily spend all day on the phone, she says, yet more than 1,000 calls go unanswered every month because she does not have time.

 

Benzodiazepines were once hailed as the answer to so many ailments. There was a time when the makers of Librium, the first benzo and known as "mother's little helper" were so sure, about its efficacy that it hit the market with the slogan "Whatever the diagnosis ... " Although the regulation of new medicines was supposedly improved in the wake of the Thalidomide scandal, it is now widely accepted that benzodiazepines were not subjected to proper scrutiny simply because they were self-evidently less dangerous than the barbiturates they replaced.

 

Limited testing could not establish conclusively that benzodiazepines were any better than a placebo in dealing with the original complaint, and little attention was paid to side-effects and dependency risk. At their peak, more than 40 million prescriptions for benzodiazepines a year were written.

 

Amid such generalised use, evidence began to emerge that far from being risk-free, benzodiazepines were addictive.

 

But in the face of resistance from some pharmaceutical companies, it was not until 1988 that the Committee on Safety of Medicines, the UK regulator, finally advised GPs to limit prescriptions.

 

At this point pharmaceutical companies were promoting a new generation of antidepressants, with Eli Lilly receiving final approval to market Prozac, which became a blockbuster drug, in 1987.

 

Barry Haslam was one of the tens of thousands who became addicted to Ativan.

 

He had a nervous breakdown in 1976 when the prescription of benzodiazepines was considered routine. He spent 10 years on medication and suffered mood swings, memory loss, and his weight ballooned by five stone.

 

Appalled by the impact of his violent conduct on his family, he weaned himself off drugs over a 14-month period. Drugs-free for 25 years, Mr Haslam claims his addiction is responsible for current health problems and was the first person in the UK to receive a disability allowance because of brain damage caused by benzodiazepines.

 

It is thanks to a campaign by Mr Haslam and his wife Sue, that Oldham, where they live, has one of the UK's few dedicated benzodiazepine addiction services. They work as helpline volunteers taking calls from people still going through withdrawal.

 

Mr Haslam is angry that the Department of Health and organisations such as the Royal College of General Practitioners portray benzodiazepine addiction as a consequence of mistakes committed many years ago.

 

"We know that many people are still suffering because politicians and pharmaceutical companies refuse to acknowledge that they made many mistakes. They are worried that will be sued if they recognise that they allowed this to happen."

 

The tranquilliser trap - Scandal of 1 million hooked on benzodiazepines 1 million caught in tranquilliser trap

Times, The (London, England) - Monday, October 1, 2012

Author: Martin Barrow

The plight of more than a million people addicted to tranquillisers prescribed by their doctor is revealed today. A Times investigation has uncovered a legacy of years of mistreatment that has damaged the lives of patients who have taken daily medication given them by their GP or psychiatrist, often for transient conditions.

 

It exposes the failure of the NHS to provide meaningful support to victims of benzodiazepine addiction, even though they significantly outnumber those hooked on illegal drugs. It also raises questions about the reticence of doctors to help patients to withdraw from tranquillisers .

 

Doctors are still writing more than 11 million prescriptions a year for "benzos", three decades after being encouraged to curtail their use. Known by names such as Valium, Ativan and Xanax, they can be valuable in treating the most severe shock or trauma but, according to current advice, should only be taken for up to four weeks.

 

The Times has spoken to dozens of patients who have taken the tranquillisers for years, enduring shocking sideeffects.

 

They have told of the harrowing process of trying to wean themselves off a drug considered more addictive than heroin.

 

Although the Department of Health and the Royal College of General Practioners characterises the problem as one that mainly affects older people, The Times has been contacted by a number of patients still in their 30s and 40s who are taking benzos or battling to come off them. Many are unable to work or engage with family and friends. Some have contemplated suicide.

 

Their plight is often made worse by poor advice from GPs, who frequently do not recognise the danger of stopping a patient's medication immediately, or over a period of weeks, instead of following an internationally recognised protocol of tapered withdrawal, which can take as long as three years. This is despite advice from NICE, the medicines watchdog, and primary care trusts.

 

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, described the situation as a serious risk to public health. "It is really Continued on page 7, col 3

 

Continued from page 1 shocking to find such ongoing pain and suffering caused by addiction to drugs intended to help. In particular, we are concerned that there are many people suffering in enforced silence, unable to access specialist services.

 

"Addiction to any substance can be very difficult to treat. The NHS should accept that it has a part to play in treating the side-effects of a drug which was originally prescribed with the best of intentions."

 

Benzos, initially approved to treat sleeplessness and anxiety, were hailed as a risk-free alternative to barbiturates when introduced in the 1960s. But by the 1980s concerns began to emerge about serious side-effects and the risk of dependency. Instead, patients were to be offered a new generation of antidepressants or z-drugs that resembled benzos but supposedly were less likely to cause dependency.

 

Although patient data is sparse, it is believed that ongoing prescription means between 1 million and 1.5 million people have taken benzos for most of their adult lives and will enter old age ill prepared to deal with the consequences.

 

Charities familiar with benzodiazepine addiction say that the effects of long-term use mimic the symptoms of dementia, raising the risk of misdiagnosis that condemns patients to inappropriate care for the rest of their lives. Professor Heather Ashton, an expert in clinical pharmacology who has worked with benzo addicts for more than three decades, said: "It is an absolute scandal that the Government fails to acknowledge the scale of this problem."

 

Ian Singleton, a survivor of benzodiazepine addiction who now runs a charity that helps victims, said the failure to gain official recognition for the scale of the problem was shocking. "Doctors are afraid they will be sued by their patients if the Government admits what has happened," he said.. The Department of Health said that the problem is recognised across the NHS and that services for involuntary tranquilliser addiction are available in most areas. However, the department generally expects support to be provided by drug and alcohol teams that form part of the National Treatment Agency. Significantly, a Freedom of Information request sent to 149 primary care trusts in England and Wales revealed that 77 had no benzo services at all and a further ten offered very limited provision. Only five provided a full service. The remaining trusts failed to respond.

 

Benzo addicts depend on a small number of charities, based in Liverpool, Oldham, Bristol and Cardiff. There is just one in London. But now their future is in doubt because the small amount of NHS funding they receive is likely to be redirected to sevices also dealing with illegal drugs and alcohol.

 

Professor Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: "It is really important that GPs and other doctors prescribe responsibly, especially when dealing with medication such as benzodiazepines that have the potential to cause dependence and addiction. There has been a concerted attempt over the last 20 years to improve the prescribing of benzodiazepine drugs and to reduce the time that patients are taking them."

 

Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company that acquired Wyeth and still manufactures Xanax, said: "Prescription medicines such as benzodiazepine are very useful treatments when taken as directed.

 

In medicines where there may be a risk of dependency, all carry a warning. It is imperative that clinicians be aware of the risks of using any prescription medicine and that communicate these risks to patients."

 

Roche, the company that created the benzodiazepine class of drugs, and produced Valium and Rohypnol, expressed surprise at the number of prescriptions still being written. A spokesman said: "Benzodiazepines can be very effective when used appropriately in the short term. However, when used in the longer term, [they] can be associated with dependency issues.

 

"As with all medicines, a clinician needs to determine whether the benefit outweighs the risk. In some patients this class of medicine is still a valid option."

 

The case for "Prescription medicines are very useful treatments when taken as directed. When prescribed and taken as indicated, alprazolam [Xanax] has a well established safety profile and is an important treatment option that has benefited millions of patients Pfizer, manufacturer of Xanax It is important that we balance the risks of stopping medicine against the benefits. In some circumstances it might be better to maintain people on low-dose treatments, rather than stopping the medication completely, with the risk of rebound symptoms. Professor Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Benzodiazepines can be effective when used appropriately. When used in the longer term, [they] can be associated with dependency. It is perhaps surprising there are so many prescriptions still being issued Roche, benzodiazepine creator, which produced Valium and Rohypnol "'

 

A vast swarm stabbing me with fiery stings' A sufferer's story The worst symptom is an excruciating burning sensation as if my nervous system has been attached to an electric socket, sending piercing pain along my spine and to the ends of my fingers and toes.

 

I imagine a malicious wasp nesting on each nerve ending - a vast swarm of buzzing invaders stabbing me repeatedly with their fiery stings. Inside my head there is a constant, whining, high-pitched zzzzz from which there is no escape. I cry out, I swear, I throw myself to the floor.

 

I watch snatches of television but usually I cannot follow the plot. My memory does not work properly. It seems that great swaths of my past are not accessible. My eyesight has become blurry and words look like foreign symbols rather than agents of meaning.

 

There is a perpetual state of fear, a feeling of dread when you narrowly miss being hit by car - except for me the feeling has no cause and never goes away. All these sensory distortions are being fed into a mind that cannot cope with the flood of nonsensical data. It responds with a barrage of distressing and equally nonsensical thoughts.

 

I can't work or exercise or take the children to school. Extreme agitation (akathisia) makes it hard to sit down for more than a few minutes. Sleeping is my only escape yet most nights I will wake with a jolt after only a couple of hours, and in great pain.

 

Then there is the anger: I took benzodiazepines and SSRIs for many years, prescribed originally for a physical condition. At no point was I warned of the dangers of long-term use. In the case of "benzos", the risks have been known for decades yet there are a million "accidental" addicts in the UK. In the case of SSRIs the medical establishment is still largely in denial that these drugs cause harm.

 

However, the internet is full of horror stories such as my own: people unable to stop taking these drugs because of withdrawal symptoms. There are three million people taking SSRIs in this country. Doctors insist that these drugs are safe yet there are no studies into the long-term effects.

 

There are hardly any NHS-funded services to help with recovery. I was referred to my local drug treatment centre where I listened to junkies discuss the quality of their latest "score".

 

I left after the counsellor said he had no experience of my condition and could offer no relevant services for prescription-drug withdrawal. I'm on my own, apart from peer support I receive through internet forums and a couple of small charities.

 

I have been drug-free for nearly two years and on most days I wonder how I am still alive, given the length and degree of my suffering. But the body can clearly endure extreme long-term pain as long as the mind can find its way to tough it out.

 

This means listening to those who assure me that I will recover, and aiming always to be "mindful" - allowing the physical agony and mental anguish to drift in and out of my awareness, trying to distract and not to fan the flames of despair. And to recognise that, once this withdrawal is over, "normality" will be extraordinarily precious. I look forward to that.

 

The author's name has been withheld at his request

Thank you very much Zoner

Great stuff Zoner,and a BIG Thank you from me,I will be reading it in bed tonight.

Thanks

I think that there are more planned look in The Times  tomorrow as well.

Liberty1

Thanks Liberty 1

 

Perhaps Zoner will be kind enough to post again

 

dd58

Thank you for posting this.

 

Oscar

Are you thanking me or Zoner   Oscar.

Both of course.

 

I do like how there is a mention of a protocol that can be as long as three years.

 

Makes me feel better about my long and slow taper.

 

Maybe i am not so crazy after all. 

 

Just reading that really helped... it was a validation of sorts. 

 

Oscar

Excellent job on the pasting, Zoner, the joy of getting around paywalls.

 

Oscar, I agree it's very validating, I feel like an absolute trojan having gone through it twice, (& never ever ever again).  If only my credit card company appreciated that I am really a hero, rather than just a slow payer.

 

Loved Roche's statement of surprise.  You can just see the sales department meetings where they never quite got around to analysing the benzo sales figures.

I quoted the wrong post.

 

Both of course.

 

I do like how there is a mention of a protocol that can be as long as three years.

 

Makes me feel better about my long and slow taper.

 

Maybe i am not so crazy after all. 

 

Just reading that really helped... it was a validation of sorts. 

 

Oscar

 

I'm about coming up to two years since I finished quite a fast taper Oscar. I'm just starting to feel well enough to go to the shops, drive, and have a little energy. Even two months ago I was wondering if it would ever end.

 

Now I'm feeling the end is in view but bad spells still come in. Perhaps another year. Yes I reckon three years for me will be about what it will take.

 

I now believe it was worth the effort.  If I had to do it again I would take much, much longer over the taper. Especially the last 2mg Valium. Probably .125mg at ten day/two week intervals.

When I got to 2mg  I thought 'Right I've done it' and finished in 4X O.5mg. That was about the worst thing I could have done.

The Times (London) coverage of benzos: day 2

 

NHS cuts funding to specialist charities who plugged gap in addiction services

Times, The (London, England) - Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Author: Martin Barrow

Charities that provide a lifeline to patients addicted to tranquilisers prescribed by their GPs face closure because the Department of Health has cut their funding.

 

Voluntary counselling services that specialise in helping people addicted to benzodiazepine products such as Valium and Xanax have been told that their NHS grants will not be renewed.

 

Under new terms set by the National Treatment Agency (NTA) for Substance Misuse — the NHS authority responsible for treating drug addiction — financial support can only be given to services that also support alcoholics and people addicted to illegal drugs such as heroin. As a result, charities including Cita and the Bristol and District Tranquiliser Project, which are staffed by volunteers, expect to close early next year. They were set up mainly by former addicts in response to the lack of a dedicated NHS service. Now there are fears that their expertise will be lost, with many former addicts being excluded from NTA-approved services.

 

Paul Entwistle, a clinical scientist and counsellor who works with Cita in Liverpool and Wigan, said: "This tender process is outside anything we could attempt, as it has to include working with illicit drugs and alcohol. We have neither the experience nor the staff to attempt this. The agency who takes over... will focus on the large number of illicit and alcohol clients while the prescription-drug clients will just be dragged along in the wake of this."

 

Ian Singleton, who runs the Bristol and District Tranquiliser Project, which receives £60,000 a year from the local primary care trust, said: "This means we will almost certainly have to close."

 

Benzodiazepine addicts accuse the NHS of failing to acknowledge the harm caused by prescribed medication out of fear of exposing pharmaceutical companies to the risk of litigation. Meetings were organised by the Department of Health to reach a consensus on services for benzodiazepine addicts, but patient representatives claim that the process was designed to reinforce the status quo.

 

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "If people become addicted to prescription medicines they should tell the prescribing doctor. People whose symptoms are most extreme may be referred to specialist services ... although levels of provision do differ.

 

"Currently that role falls to Primary Care Trusts, but from April it will shift to local authorities. The NTA has provided local areas with data that they can use in drawing up their Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. We have also offered help to voluntary organisations to help them understand the local commissioning process, and the NTA is making plans for a workshop on this."

 

Anna Soubry, the public health minister, said: "The damage and distress caused by addiction to prescription and over-the-counter medicines is often a hidden issue and we welcome work to highlight this issue."

 

Clare Morgan: the terror and agony of withdrawal

 

'These drugs took me to hell and back, and I lost everything ... even my sanity'

 

Clare Morgan, a biologist and sports nutritionist, spent five years on benzodiazepine tranquillisers after being misdiagnosed with a mental health condition she did not have. When she deteriorated, she was prescribed anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, and spent months on a cocktail of 11 drugs, until a new GP finally began treating her hormonal and adrenal problems. "These drugs took me to hell and back, I lost everything, my friends, my home, my job, my partner and eventually my sanity (for a while that is)," she said.

 

Two years after coming off the drugs, she has shared the harrowing diary she wrote as she withdrew from medication.

 

It's 4am and i'm awake AGAIN — ow God will this ever end, the overwhelming sense of terror and fear is driving me insane. BLOODY INSANE. I cant cope, i'm gonna die, I know i am, it's gonna happen today — i can feel it. What should i do, do i get up, even though my jelly legs don't work or should i just lie here and wait for the morning, feeling more and more agitated.

 

There is always the tablets i suppose, i could just take them all with a bottle of Vod and be done with it, put an end to this horrendous anxiety and pain — that NEVER bloody ends ... EVER.

 

Just knowing they are there keeps me going, knowing that at any minute i could take them all and away i go.

 

Death seems like such a relief, a release from tension and fear, ow it must be soooo beautiful to be so free and happy, to no longer be terrified. Im not talking the usual terror, im talking full on take a shotgun to your head terror, scream your f ... ing lungs out terror, throw yourself off a bridge kinda terror. Anything absolutely anything to stop this f ... ing pain.

 

The real saddness is that i dont actually wanna die. I wanna live but just not like this. This isnt living, this is hell on earth. I wanna be free, not a prisoner within myself:) BUT I'M NOT FREE AM I i'm bloody trapped in this nightmare, a nightmare you never wake up from. .

 

I'm soo alone, i just wanna hug, someone to tell me it will be ok. Im sooooo not the person i used to be, so full of life and optimism — I had hope once, loads of it ... Man life was great back then, i think. I mean it wasn't brilliant all the time, i had issues ... but nothing i couldn't handle. But now im this shadow, this grey pathetic fearful and twisted version of the self. Ive become a child, so vulnerable and reliable on everyone for everthing — Im like a bloody infant — i cant even cook for myself.

 

I'm not dead, WOW i got through another day. I'm not dead — well not yet anyway.

 

F... only half hour has passed. I'm full blown shaking now — fully losing the plot, best make sure dads not dead otherwise i will defo die. Ok he's breathing. I often stand at his door in the early hours of the morning to hear for his breathing. I wanna burst into his room and beg for help but i dont. I have to physically stop myself from kicking down the door and screaming DAD i'm terrified i'm scared, please help me, please help me, please stop this, please just kill me — i wanna die dad please let me go, let me bloody go.

 

He had a hard night himself last night — had to pull a knife out of my hand. I'm ashamed so ashamed — God im so pathetic and weak but this is all sooo not me, id never do something like that.

 

The agitation is building, i wanna scream my lungs out in desperation, it's always worse in the morning, I need to distract myself till dad gets up or i may just take the plunge.

 

Maybe i will rock myself a little like i did when i was a kid, that may help, or bang my head on the wall again — shock to the nervous system — always works a treat. But i did that loads last night and my head still hurts from it, so not good. F... i'm sooo glad no one could see me doing that — i'd be sectioned for sure. I'm barely able to keep myself out of the nutty hospital these days — really dont want a second visit as i'm NOT mentally ill, well i don't think i am, or maybe i am — i dont know what i am anymore. Often I try to walk and find suitable places to kill myself so that know one will find me. i've been storing up tablets for such a day, a bottle of vodka and my sleeping bag so I don't get too cold and abandon the mission.

 

It amazes me that thinking like this has become sooo natural now. i'd never even once contemplated ever doing anything So horrid to myself when I was well but these thoughts are daily intrusions into my mind now, they are part of me, they are my own sense of relief and freedom. Death seems the only way. Is it really possible that i am in withdrawal, is it really possible that these little tablets are doing this to me or am i just plain nuts NOW and its some thing that i am just gonna have to learn to live with. The docs say "up the dose it will kick in soon, swap you over, this new one might work better, we will add another in to counter act the affects of the others — what the f ... So shut up and buck up clare — stop causing such a fuss and just take the bloody pills — your ill you need them. The thing is i think its them bloody pills that are making me ill — f ... ing idiots.

 

I've lost respect for myself as others have lost respect for me, my brain doesnt work, i'm terrified of even getting on a bus and i'm totally unable to participate in life but i have to keep the faith that i will get through this, that i will get better. I dont actually believe what i am saying but i have to keep saying it, till my brain starts to catch up.

 

Thank the Lord I have my Dad and a hand full of people in my life who believe in me — otherwise id be six feet under by now — the sad thing is that it could still happen tomorrow.

 

"Death seems like such a relief. It must be so beautiful to be so free and happy "

 

"I'm this shadow. pathetic, fearful and twisted version This grey, of the self "

 

I was surprised to see only one letter in the print edition. This is it below.

 

Tranquilliser trap - Letters to the Editor

Times, The (London, England) - Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Sir, Martin Barrow presents a well-researched article ("The tranquilliser trap ," Oct 1). It would be helpful if the National Health Service or governments (plural, because so many have not dealt with this problem) had a more coherent policy with regard to sleep in general.

 

Currently benzodiazepine usage is a muddled mix because the drugs are used both for treating anxiety and/or insomnia. As continued usage presumably depends not only on dependence but on the continuing symptoms of the original disorder, developing only dependence support programmes doesn't make sense.

 

GPs are in the impossible position of being told to administer the compounds less while being unable to offer alternative treatments for the original presenting disorder. The inconsistencies are rampant. For example, several years ago, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence reviewed the use of the "z" compounds, which are referred to in your report, but concluded that benzodiazepines should be prescribed because they were cheaper. In the mid-1980s, when the so-called Limited List was introduced, benzodiazepine pricing was forced down by the Government, which led to a curtailment of research programmes. chris idzikowski Director, Edinburgh Sleep Centre

 

-Zoner

Thank you so much Zoner for taking the time and trouble posting the articles from the Times.

 

This is the second time I have read it and it beggars belief that right now someone,somewhere is going to be given tablets that will more than likely change there life and not for the better.

 

Hope you are okay.

 

dd58.

 

Thank you for sharing. Does it mention how Clare, who wrote that diary excerpt, is doing now?

The Times (London) continued on Saturday 6th October with a bit more on its story earlier in the week called "The Tranquilliser Trap".  This is Saturday's article.

 

 

Doctor's orders ruined our lives, say 'benzo' addicts

Times, The (London, England) - Saturday, October 6, 2012

Author: Martin Barrow

When Stanley Holmes asked a doctor for something to help him to sleep, he could not have envisaged the nightmare that was about to begin.

 

Prescribed benzodiazepine tranquillisers, his sleep briefly improved. But when the sleeplessness returned, the doctor simply increased the dosage, again and again.

 

Overwhelmed by the effects of the drugs that dominated his life, he pleaded for help to treat his addiction. He was told that he had no option but to remain on drugs until the day he died.

 

Mr Holmes worked as a technical liaison officer for a multinational chemicals company until his health failed when he was in his 50s. In the Second World War he had served with the Parachute Regiment.

 

His son Paul, who lives in Parkstone, Dorset, said: "In later years, he lay prostrate in bed unable to engage with normal life. He often said that withdrawal from the drug was worse than that from heroin and he knew the pharmaceutical literature well.

 

"Despite the horrors, he tried to withdraw many times, suffering seizures that hospitalised him. He made serious suicide attempts many times."

 

Mr Holmes said that during withdrawal his father suffered severely. "Towards the end, he entered a hugely distressing rebound phase at home, exhibiting bizarre, aggressive behaviour." He was denied the care he required by the NHS. "The only route to acute help for us and for him came through the Hampshire police who, twice, to his utter humiliation, kindly arrested him, and put him in a cell awaiting the police doctor who could admit him to hospital," said Mr Holmes.

 

Mr Holmes was one of many readers who contacted The Times this week in response to a series of articles exposing the scale of addiction to benzodiazepine tranquillisers such as Valium and the failure of the NHS to provide specialised care.

 

They told of lives ruined by addiction to medication prescribed by their doctor or psychiatrist and of harrowing withdrawal symptoms during attempts to free themselves of drugs that were only meant to be taken for a maximum of four weeks.

 

Josh Jarrett was prescribed Librium when he was just eight years old for being "a handful". Because it appeared to calm him, the doctor's advice to his parents was increase the dose when he misbehaved. At 11 he was prescribed Ativan, another benzodiazepine. "I continued on this drug through my growing up years and as a result suffered social exclusion among my peer group as I was unable to interact because I was sedated," he told me.

 

He continued on Ativan until he was 36, when after suffering debilitating side-effects, his doctor switched him to 40mg a day of Valium. Mr Jarrett, now 52 and manager of a hostel for psychiatric patients in Kent, has reduced his daily dose to 12mg but he can go no further.

 

The longest period he has ever gone without a benzo was eight weeks and the symptoms were so harrowing that he cannot face them again.

 

In a letter to The Times today one of Britain's pre-eminent experts on tranquillisers and anti-depressants calls for doctors to stop using benzodiazepines.

 

Professor Malcolm Lader, who has previously acted as a government adviser on drugs policy, says the prescription of benzodiazepines should be "totally discouraged". He says it is impossible to differentiate between patients who would become physically dependent and cannot withdraw easily.

 

Personal injury law would come to govern prescribing practices, he says, with long-term usage of between three and six months potentially exposing doctors to claims of sub-standard care. Professor Lader also calls for the expansion of clinics to treat benzodiazepine addiction separately from addiction to alcohol or illegal drugs. Requiring clinics to treat the entire range of substance abuse problems is "inappropriate and counter-productive," he says.

 

Such reforms like this would come too late for Stanley Holmes. Now aged 85 he suffers from dementia. His son Paul said: "During a small window we saw something of the man we remembered from decades before. He was in some respects like a Rip Van Winkle returned to life after years of dormancy."

 

'Dad often said that withdrawal was worse than that from heroin' Paul Holmes, son of Stanley Holmes

 

There was one letter in that edition.

Solutions to the tranquilliser trap - Letters to the Editor

Times, The (London, England) - Saturday, October 6, 2012

Sir, I welcome the careful reporting of the use of the benzodiazepine tranquillisers (report and leading article, Oct 1, and letter, Oct 2). This controversy has rumbled on since the first alarms were raised by my research team, among others, in the 1970s. Official warnings have been largely ignored by the prescribers. Over the past 20 years, according to National Health Service data, the prescription of anxiolytic benzodiazepines has increased slightly. The use of hypnotics has continued unchanged but with a switch from the benzodiazepines to the shorter-acting but similar "z-drugs".

 

Two approaches are needed. First, the prescription of benzodiazepines should be totally discouraged because it is impossible to distinguish those potential recipients who will use them without problems from those who become physically dependent and cannot withdraw easily. Long-term (beyond 3-6 months) usage is being deemed by GP experts in medico-legal cases as possible substandard care, so personal injury law will come to govern these prescribing practices.

 

Second, specialist clinics should be expanded countrywide, not curtailed. Requiring these clinics to treat the entire range of substance abuse problems is totally inappropriate and even counterproductive, as my patients used to insist.

 

malcolm lader Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychopharmacology, King's College London

Have just read it Zoner and there are more pieces under 'BENZOS IN THE NEWS' section on the forum.

 

I obviously can not say it did or it didn't but my late Mother was taking benzos from the age of about 33 years old,how can I remember because I can I was there.when she was 60 she was diagnosed with Dementia and went into a home until she died just after her 80 th birthday.

 

dd58

It looks that they have known for years about the problems that Benzos can cause so why do they keep dishing them out like sweets.

Here is a scanned copy of the publication.

 

http://recovery-road.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Times-benzo-articles-1-Oct-2012.pdf

 

 

25 years? *cowers in a corner*

Hi Princezz

 

I am a little confused 25 years *cowers in corner*

There is a guy in the story who says that 25 years later he still has benzo-related health problems

Thank you so much for posting this, I pray this news article does some good