I've not done personal updates on the blog for a long time and won't be doing them often but I wrote something like this for family and friends and thought I'd share here with you all as well as people often ask how I'm doing. I am friends with two of the women in this... Continue Reading →
From the Guardian, a year ago: They used to be called 'mother's little helpers', pill prescribed to stressed suburban housewives as a miracle pick-me-up. Now benzodiazepines are proving popular again, this time as an alternative to heroin. The tranquilliser boomed in the Sixties and Seventies as a supposedly safe alternative to barbiturates. Mick Jagger and... Continue Reading →
This is another post from very early on in the life of my blog (day three to be precise.) I've amended it quite a bit as I've learned much more and my circumstances have changed significantly, so it's up to date and now reposted: Except in the population of people taking only benzodiazepines and suffering... Continue Reading →
Update 2026: As I do updates going back in time and read these old posts I learn a lot about things I've forgotten. In the instance of this post, I actually still get this symptom. I now think it's associated with the mold/fungal infections I have that are associated with the chronic Lyme disease. These are issues I'm still dealing with because of how the tardive dyskinesia holds and processes the biofilm associated with the multiple Systemic Infections. I do intend to write more about how these infections interact with trauma and all the other aspects of environment in the world that made me profoundly understand the idea EVERYTHING MATTERS. This illness, if nothing else, continues to offer insight into the nature of being human!
I thought I would put a page together on benzo information and benzo withdrawal in particular since I have more collected info about this class of drug than the other 5 classes of psychotropic meds I've withdrawn from. Basically benzos and now antidepressant drugs are the two classes of drugs for which there is really quite a lot of info on the web regarding withdrawal. It's still mostly anecdotal and not studied, but it's been recognized much longer that there are severe problems with withdrawing from these two class of drugs so it's easier to collect information regarding such.
So here is what has become a rather extensive collection of articles and stories that deal with just benzos.
About 2 decades too late and a good decade after the alarm bell was sounded in the UK but it's better late than never. From the Washington Post: Benzodiazepines, often prescribed to manage anxiety, panic and sleep disorders, include Xanax, Ativan, Valium and Klonopin. Originally pushed as an alternative to barbiturates, their use has grown... Continue Reading →
(I've been visiting early posts from this site. A lot are diary-like and there is more involvement from readers since this predates social media getting really big.) Something that comes up quite often in discussions with my friends and readers who have been on meds and have come off of them is how many of the "psychiatric" symptoms they were being "treated" for disappear upon discontinuation of the medications. This is widely known and experienced among those of us who have decided to stop medicating ourselves. For me there are two most astonishing details. The first was when I discoveredI was being given more and more Risperdal to medicate away the akathisia that the Risperdal was causing! Once off the Risperdal the akathisia was gone and so was most of what we'd called anxiety which led me to take massive doses of benzos. This is tragic and disgusting.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND IV nutrient therapy for withdrawal. While they may not cause any harm they are most likely a waste of money. I do think that on occasion some people do find them helpful, but they did not help me at all and most people I know who've tried them felt the same.... Continue Reading →
I'm so fucking disoriented I think I took my Valium twice tonight. I'm alone this weekend. Sent Paul off to New York where he could participate in a conference for his work. He hesitated to leave me alone and I convinced him to go. The last thing I want is for him to feel he... Continue Reading →
From Drugs.com: Sedatives greatly increase the risk of suicide in the elderly, Swedish researchers say. In their study, hypnotic medication also was linked with a greater likelihood of suicides in older people. "Sedative treatment was associated with an almost 14-fold increase of suicide risk in the crude analysis and remained an independent risk factor for... Continue Reading →
What is up with me? I'm sure you're all wondering. I wrote this post a long time ago without outing who treated me. At the time I still thought they might actually be honest people who had simply erred in ignorance. That is still probably true for the majority of the staff, but I have... Continue Reading →
