Dear *****, I think of you often. I hope that you have found some easing in the agony of your symptoms since we last spoke. I had an idea of something that might help you. I always hesitate with anything resembling advice because I know what we need varies so greatly. Two things first: if its not helpful now maybe sometime in the future and of course if it simply makes no sense let it go. Trust the wisdom of your response as you read the words.
There are quite a few relatively mainstream doctors now talking about the harms of benzodiazepines and anti-depressants on social media. As usual other psychiatric drugs (neuroleptics, anti-convulsants, -- called anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers, etc) are given short shrift. This is about informed consent. If people don't know about the very serious potential risks involved in... Continue Reading →
This is the video I did last year for this day. Help raise awareness and please share it and other information about benzodiazepines today. Visit: -- World Benzodiazepine Day: Change through Unity (Facebook page) -- Recently I wrote another post about what it was like when the illness incurred by the drugs was at its worst: When medicine and doctors almost kill you… Because, yeah, I was on death's door for a long, long time. It can still feel traumatic to really think about that time. I do hope we can help others avoid such a fate. ...
By Richard Lewis -- As the benzodiazepine crisis spreads throughout the United States and other parts of the world so does the debate within the benzo victim/survivor community about important definitions of key medical terms and about safe and successful paths to healing and recovery. Does “iatrogenic benzo dependence” and “addiction” represent completely separate medical and social phenomena? If they are to have distinctly different scientific definitions, can they also (at the same time) intersect in multiple ways in people’s actual real life experience? And what is the medical and social significance of exploring these concepts and seeking unity of understanding and purpose? Before delving into the content of this debate let’s briefly review the social context from which this “Benzo Divide” has emerged.
The title of the article in the Times is How Antidepressants Ruined My Life. Luke is an old friend from the benzo boards and I know that benzodiazepines are at the very least equally problematic. It's always good to see coverage in large publications. (PDF available for free download)
The title from the ProPublica article from the other day was too good to not highlight and share. What does it mean that we are, indeed, a nation under sedation? I think it means we are not awake to what is going on around us in far too many ways and that we'd better take heed. I'm just sharing a link to the article and then cutting and pasting my benzo page below it. The benzodiazepine information page takes a critical look at the prescribing of benzodiazepines and offers suggestions about how one might free themselves if one already takes and is perhaps addicted to the drugs. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
I am a completely different person from when I wrote the below piece. Shaped by what I was then, but completely different in a positive sense. Today as I write this I’m having a bit of a flare which is part of the healing process, so it remains not an all or nothing thing, yet the way I experience everything now is different. Life is always good even when it’s painful and difficult. Having that capacity is a gift as far as I’m concerned and also a sign of inherent wellness. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
And to be clear -- It's not like this anymore. It's gotten a whole lot better.
(from) MARCH 19, 2010
This is an email I wrote to a friend who asked what it was like to experience the post benzo withdrawal. I don't write much anymore, even emails to friends and family, so I figured I'd be economical and use this on the blog.
I began the description:
Have you tripped before? I often feel like I'm having a bad trip and it's the part in which one is coming down...strange sensations and terror...as well as semi-psychotic thought processes. … [click on title to read and view more]
The IT GETS BETTER collection is intended to help those who are currently dealing with the iatrogenic (medically caused) injury from psych meds…so that they might know that we can heal. It is also intended to help educate the masses to the realities that we face. Protracted psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome is real. It’s also sometimes gravely disabling. The fact is it’s largely denied in the medical community. We are routinely blamed and told that the experience is psychiatric…this leads to more drugging and sometimes forced drugging with the very drugs that have harmed us. This must end. This is #7 in the IT GETS BETTER series. … [click on title to read more]
This is the second of the “IT GETS BETTER” series. The “It gets better” collection is a series of republished posts from when I was gravely ill from the psych drug withdrawal process and the following protracted psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome. So many folks out there are now going through the heinous process of finding... Continue Reading →
This is the first of the "It gets better" series. The “It gets better” collection will be a series of republished posts from when I was gravely ill from the psych drug withdrawal process and the following protracted psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome. So many folks out there are now going through the heinous process of finding their way through psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome and other iatrogenic injuries from psychiatric drugging. -- While many find their way through after weeks or months, for others it can take years to really get out of the deep disability and darkness it creates. I’m going to start reposting my personal pieces from those difficult days, so that people can see how far I’ve come and find hope that they too might come out of that darkness and find some peace and joy again. … [click on title to read and view more]
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