Total and complete 100% success after 22 months

Hey Joe,

 

I am sorry you are still suffering.

What month do you feel like you became functional?

 

Causing

Joe,    M    And happy?

 

Just curious...what symptoms do you still suffer from?

 

If I felt happy, I feel like I could deal with anything.

I never consider myself as "suffering"; I'm enduring.  I, like many, experienced anhedonia for what seemed like forever, but it has lifted.  I still have chronic head symptoms and tinnitus.  I sleep well most of the time but still have bouts of disturbed sleep.  So, yeah, I'm happy.  The symptoms are slowly lifting, and I like the person I've become during this recovery ordeal.  I'm still experimenting with gently pushing the boundaries of the safety zone I created for myself.  It took a long time to get to this point, and I have a long way to go, but I and the rest of you will get there.

 

Joe 

Bump

Bump.

 

Thank you so much for posting your story.

Congratulations on feeling wonderful again!

 

Sofar

Even around 18 months I was convinced I had permanent brain damage and would never be the same..... Between 18 and 20 months I was on autopilot. I just kept going, feeling like it would never completely go away and I would never be the same again...... For some reason, 12 to 18 months was the most difficult. I think it’s because you’re so exhausted and feeling hopeless. After 18 months it begins to get better but you feel like you’ll never be the way you were before, that there will always be some lingering symptoms.

 

I am completely and utterly stuck in this place you describe right now. I pray my story will have a similar ending to yours, but right now it feels as if it will never end.

 

On autopilot and feeling resigned to a broken, half-lived remaining life.

Hi Everyone,

 

Thank you all for your kind words. It really means a lot that I was able to pass on some of the help I got on this site.

 

I just wanted to let you all know I'm still doing great and you will too. Just hang in there.

 

I don't visit much anymore but I think of all of you and what you're going through. Please remember that part of the nervous system damage also causes feelings of hopelessness. Everyone thinks they are the exception and they will never get better.

 

Everyone I met on this site got better. Every single one.

 

I hadn't actually read all of the comments about my success story until now. I can't believe there are so many. I cannot thank you enough for such wonderful thoughts. I'm very happy it helps.

 

I'm sorry I haven't responded to each and every one of you, but I will try to answer all of them at once.

 

Yes, I had all the symptoms each of you describes. I don't think I saw one symptom I didn't have. Many of you talk about agoraphobia, rage, obsessive thinking, hopelessness, heart palpitations, intense fear, feelings of being dead, and feeling that your life will never be the same. I had all of those and they are now all gone. Even my blood pressure returned to normal and I don't take anything.

 

Almost everyone tries to figure out why they are not getting better and usually the discussion goes toward thyroid, or blood sugar, or some obscure reason they aren't getting better. It's not any of those. It's just nerve damage caused by benzos and it will get better on its own.

 

I also don't think drinking wine will extend any symptoms. I don't really have a taste for alcohol, but a glass of wine often helped take the edge off in the late afternoons when I usually got extreme anxiety. I think I only did that from about 12 to 16 months and then no longer had a need for it.

 

Coffee also helped clarify my foggy thinking in the mornings, but be really careful you don't have more than one or two because it can cause pretty extreme anxiety.

 

My best recommendation is walking and hot baths. Showers really stung my skin for a very long time and didn't help, but a hot bath often seemed to slow my brain when it was spinning out of control.

 

I don't think blood sugar is the problem so much as eating fats, proteins and carbs together. In combination, they can cause neurotransmitter precursors to flood across the blood/brain barrier and I think that's the main reason for panic attacks after eating. Try to eat different food types at separate times so you aren't overwhelmed with the resulting brain chemicals.

 

I don't think Tramadol affects the benzo withdrawal process. But I do know it can cause really severe depression if taken for long periods, especially crying. The withdrawal from that really sucks but the worst of it is usually over within a week. I quit Tramadol before I quit benzos so I can't really speak to quitting that in the middle of things. It will be bad, but I'm not sure they are connected.

 

Once again thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. I will try to check back more often.

 

I love you all, hang in there. One day you will feel the sun on your face and be glad you are alive.

 

lost dog

 

I don't visit much anymore but I think of all of you and what you're going through. Please remember that part of the nervous system damage also causes feelings of hopelessness. Everyone thinks they are the exception and they will never get better.

 

lost dog,

 

so good to hear from you. you're success story is the main one people read and keep bumping. i'm going to hold on to your words that hopelessness is part of the withdrawal symptoms and nervous system damage even though i am 24 months now and still with severe brain symptoms and other symptoms and nowhere near healed. i hope that maybe you can read my post and still offer some support to people who are still so symptomatic at a longer time than you healed -- i guess it would be the protracted folks.

 

thanks so much!

prettydaisys

 

Lost dog, thank you so much for coming back to answer more questions. I think your success story has reached legendary status as it is our favorite! Thanks for all the hope, jenny

Thank you for returning and answering all those questions lost dog. Your style of writing and story resonates strongly with many of us. I can't thank you enough for this success story. So glad to hear you continue to be 100% healed. Take care 

So good to hear back from you and that you continue to do well. Yours is one of my favorite success stories. 

So good to hear back from you and that you continue to do well. Yours is one of my favorite success stories. 

 

mine 2.

Mine 3,

 

Thanks for coming back with ongoing support and encouragement.

 

Much love and ongoing healing,

Causing

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, LostDog!! I'm so very happy for you and can't be more joyful about your blood pressure being normal again and that you don't have to take anything - what a bright ray of hope you are to me!! All the best to you!!

bump.

Lostdog

 

I have just read your story all over again.

 

It inspires such hope.

 

LF 

 

 

 

" I could tell I was beginning to get better but I had given up on being the person I once was.

I have been waiting to write this until I was positive I was completely healed.

I am.

Thank you everyone for all your help and support during the last two years. It made all the difference to know I wasn’t alone. Neither are you. You will get better. I promise.

 

Wow...how encouraging...I am so happy for you...I hope we all heal as well as you...

LOVE LOVE LOVE this story! THANKYOU  for writing it and coming back to encourage us! I am 17 months off, and yes, "between 12-18 months are the hardest" has proven true for me. Not much relief to report, and hopelessness does it's best to keep me down, I agree it is a symptom in itself. Whenever I become bedridden with depression and discouragement  I can get up and do another day when I read your story.

 

God bless you!

Thank you so much for sharing your story!

Bump....This story really does keep me going.

 

Bump.......and lets keep going.

Lostdog. thank you for writing this.  I am soooo happy you got better.  At 14 months out, it gives me hope.  I was thinking while I read this that it should be written in small print as one of those inserts that come along with your pills.

All the best,

jc

Lostdog. thank you for writing this.  I am soooo happy you got better.  At 14 months out, it gives me hope.  I was thinking while I read this that it should be written in small print as one of those inserts that come along with your pills.

All the best,

jc

 

jc,

 

just read your signature. all i can say is wow! sounds similar to myself. i just started a support group for CT - kindling folks in case you're interested.

nice to meet you!

pretty

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=117127.0

Bump again.