NO short term user here ?????????????

[[Buddie]]

Sleep for me is every 2-3 hours I wake up.  I have head tightness, today no burning sensation but body aches and fatigue. 
I do not know what to do with myself sometimes. 

[[Buddie]]

thanks for the encouragement.  So you took Citalopram as well?
my doc prescribed to me after I told him Klonopin was not working and I took one dose of 40 mg and Straight ER visit. 
what the hell these doctors thinking.  and that was Oct 27th. 

I have been off Benzo since Oct 25th but was given one Ativan on Nov 4th during ER visit.  It flared everything up.  Such pure hell.  I literally felt like I sitting in middle of a fire pit. 

I am feeling 60% today I hope I do not get any waves or nothing back

[[Buddie]]

[...] i also got hit hard after four weeks...seizures....brain zapps non stop panick attacks...then gad state panick attack state without panick attackss and so on....after injections things went worst ...physical symp stoped...but mental ones bdyond agony...ii thinif windows will back .i iwill wait till its deacent amout of them like 3 good and one bad........thats it success story ....i dont need more

[[Buddie]]

Hi USA,

Yes I'm still taking citalopram.

Doctors tend to just throw more drugs at the problem because they don't recognise our symptoms to be what they are.

I think the biggest problem about withdrawal is that we tend to panic when we go into a wave. The nature of the thoughts that come with withdrawal are obsessive - so we think 'I'm never going to get better'. Then we look for something, ANYTHING that will make the [...] stop. Then, not knowing where to turn we rush to the doctor, who gives us more pills which only exacerbates the problem.

But the only thing that helps is time. (For me anyway).

In the beginning I tried every supplement, herbal remedy and alternative treatment under the sun to try and make this go away. Nothing worked, I am hypersensitive to everything. In the end I realised the best thing to do was absolutely nothing.


USA, if I could give you one piece of advice it would be: don't panic when you get a wave.

The truth is you WILL probably get more waves - and that's okay - this is the nature of withdrawal recovery. Just know that you WILL get windows too and the windows get longer and the waves get shorter.

Don't be tempted to go on any other meds to fix this. The only way around withdrawal is through it.

It takes time; sometimes more time than you would like, but you WILL heal.

[[Buddie]]

Hi [...],

I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling so bad. You're right that there are not too many accounts like this on here. In general, people who use benzos for less than 4-6 weeks are able to discontinue without too much trouble. However, we've certainly seen other people on here who have had severe problems after relatively short term use.

Overall, I don't know that it matters -- that is, the odds are you will recover faster than someone who ran into problems after long-term use, but the general pattern may be the same. You will heal over time, but it may not be linear, and you may go back and forth between feeling OK and feeling very anxious. It's okay to be anxious. It can't hurt you.

You'll get through this; my best advice is to try not to obsess about it too much. Anxiety is a fickle thing, and it's very possible to contribute to it with certain kinds of thinking.

[[Buddie]]

Hi USA,

I'm a short-term user and I'm still here.

I only took 7 X 5 mg and 1 X 2.5mg valium tablets over a period of 3 months. A total of 8 pills, 37.5 mg of valium in total.

I didn't know I was having interdose withdrawal until the last time I took a valium on 11th June 2013 and I haven't touched it since.

My symptoms were mild in comparison to most here, but they were significant - nausea, hot flushes, obsessive thoughts, anxiety, insomnia, constipation, prickly/stinging skin.

Now I'd say I'm about 80% better. Sleep is slowly returning and prickly/stinging skin flares up at night, still have a bit of constipation but all other symptoms are gone.

It's taken nearly 6 months for me to get to this point. 30 days isn't very long, so don't give up hope!

I believe you will heal and it seems that you're starting to get some windows.

I'd also like to add that I scoured this forum for stories of short-term users and I found plenty of stories of people who, like you, only used benzos for a few weeks. Not all of them healed quickly (many do, of course) so don't lose hope and think there's something wrong with you if you're not healed quickly. Different people heal in different time frames.

I second that, I only used Lorazepam for 2 weeks, stopped and after 3 days I was in hell, with doctors advice I went back on Diazepam at 10mg and it took me 4 months to taper off, 1 mg per week down to 6mg and then 0.5mg per week down to 0

11 Months, 21 days later and I am still in hell.

I'm praying that im healed for Christmas as last Christmas I was bedbound in severe post withdrawal agony.

I guess I was just one of the unlucky minority, never done any sort of drug before and have never done one since coming off, ive not had 1 beer in 17 months, my diet is flawless, no sugar, msg etc, everything cooked from scratch and im still trying to climb my way out of hell....

Life is so unfair, I hope we all reach the other side soon.

Best Wishes All

[...]

[[Buddie]]

Hi USA,

Yes I'm still taking citalopram.

Doctors tend to just throw more drugs at the problem because they don't recognise our symptoms to be what they are.

I think the biggest problem about withdrawal is that we tend to panic when we go into a wave. The nature of the thoughts that come with withdrawal are obsessive - so we think 'I'm never going to get better'. Then we look for something, ANYTHING that will make the [...] stop. Then, not knowing where to turn we rush to the doctor, who gives us more pills which only exacerbates the problem.

But the only thing that helps is time. (For me anyway).

In the beginning I tried every supplement, herbal remedy and alternative treatment under the sun to try and make this go away. Nothing worked, I am hypersensitive to everything. In the end I realised the best thing to do was absolutely nothing.


USA, if I could give you one piece of advice it would be: don't panic when you get a wave.

The truth is you WILL probably get more waves - and that's okay - this is the nature of withdrawal recovery. Just know that you WILL get windows too and the windows get longer and the waves get shorter.

Don't be tempted to go on any other meds to fix this. The only way around withdrawal is through it.

It takes time; sometimes more time than you would like, but you WILL heal.

I agree with you here completely. this is excellent information and I feel everyone should listen to this. 

[[Buddie]]

I was a short term user for insomnia and stress. I used about 9 x 5mg diazepam and 10 x temazipam over a 10 week period. Was never warned about withdrawal risks from less than 20 pills...

I got the full monty of acute withdrawal...the first week was hell (everything except seizures, hallucinations) and the first month was all fairly ordinary but noticably better than week 1. I still had significant anxiety and depression related symptoms (never had either before - all benzo induced) until month 3 - mainly chest pains and depression. I decided not to take anything for this.

Since then I now only have some lingering symptoms...which are a bit annoying but dont change how i feel about life at all (insomnia - cant get long sleep cycles or nap, low libido from too much cortisol, lower energy/vibance than baseline).

It all gets better. For me its not like a cold or even a broken limb where it all disappears overnight or recovery is quick. But slowly one by one the symptms for me have subsided and life is all good again..all with a new (better) perspective on life too :-)

[[Buddie]]

one extra thing - ive taken my recovery fairly seriously so have not touched alcohol for 6 months and i did not have sugar in the first month. ive also been fairly vigilent with getting light exercise 4-5 times a week. 

i think this may have aided my recovery or at least ensured i didnt get any flare ups (ive never gone backwards with my symptoms - or had any waves).

its also good to try and find acceptance with it. try and find ways to relax yourself and not to focus on our symptoms. it will heal itself in time so try not to torture yourself in the process.

good luck with it :-)

[[Buddie]]

that's pretty good I have been doing the same light exercise 2-3 times a day. just sticking to simple food and lots of yogurt seems to help my
stomach a lot.  thanks for taking the time writing.  I get sleep but I wake up several times is not solid but I am getting some sleep.

  hope I am moving forward