Comments | mooncove: "The Horrific Effects of Tranquilizer Detox" (a.k.a. benzo withdrawal)

mooncove

"The Horrific Effects of Tranquilizer Detox" (a.k.a. benzo withdrawal)

Feb 22, 2011 23:04

In case anybody is wondering what the benzodiazepine withdrawal I've been suffering with since 2006 (and getting little support for until a couple of months ago) is like, I just happened across this very good 2008 article from ABC news. (Hmm, I wonder why this info has been in the mainstream media since 2008 but hasn't received any publicity?) As I ( Read more... )

benzodiazepine withdrawal, personal update, benzodiazepine addiction

Comments 5

spicedogs February 23 2011, 04:05:43 UTC

Drug dependency sucks.

mooncove February 23 2011, 04:11:40 UTC

Sure does, thanks. And benzo withdrawal is the worst--way harder to get off of than heroin.

ali_babble February 24 2011, 19:07:30 UTC

Your link to the article didn't work for me but I Googled it and I'm pretty sure I found it. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/DepressionNews/story?id=6354685&page=1... )

mooncove February 24 2011, 23:58:34 UTC

Thanks, Ali, for the link and your encouragement. Good thing I didn't see those comments--maybe that's why the person who posted the article only posted the print-out version. That's just the kind of attitude I've been up against even from doctors (especially from doctors!) all these years of trying to get off the med--that it's all in my head. Well, technically, yeah, it is in your head because chemically, the drug binds very tightly to the cells in your brain that produce GABA, which is what keeps you calm. At prolonged high doses (the important factor that people who've successfully gotten off them without a hitch may be missing), your brain stops producing its own GABA, relying on the drug to provide it. So weaning off means trying to get your brain to produce its own again. In a way, it's similar to thyroid medicine, where, once you start taking it, you have to take it for the rest of your life because your thyroid gland completely forgets how to do its job ( ... )

mooncove February 24 2011, 23:59:14 UTC

(Continued--ran out of room!)

Of course, I'm getting off topic here, but it's just another example of people's insensitivity or lack of empathy for something they haven't experienced themselves, as if we were all exactly the same.Reminds me of that scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian:

Brian [countering the crowd of people outside his window who mistake him for the Messiah, begging him to tell them what to do]: "Listen, you are all individuals."

Crowd, in zombie-like unison: "We are all individuals."

Brian: "You are all different."

Crowd: "We are all different."

One man in the crowd: "I'm not!"

Crowd, turning angrily on the man: "Shhhhhh!"