What Do You Want To Read In A Success Story?

[Guest [...]]

I want to know about the return of emotions and sex drive. The feeling of being alive. Then the ability to think and remember. I value these things.

 

The other stuff...appreciation, coping skills...etc. I have all these already. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...yada, yada. I'm thankful and strong enough now, thank you! 

 

Thank you for asking. 

 

[[Ri...]]

So many good topics to help me focus on. I am really glad that I asked.

 

The middle of August is my 2 year out mark and I'll have this written for then.

 

The important thing is for me to choose the words that translate my experience into usable strategies for you to manage the doubt and fear that you have about the future.  The topics that you have submitted provide a template  to do that.

 

Thank you guys for the direction. 

 

 

 

River 

[[Mo...]]

Hurry up August, we want to read River's success story, thanks River.

[[Lo...]]

The healing of the CNS. I really enjoy reading your posts. I think you have helped many of us....especially in early withdrawal.

 

Ditto! Also any physical symptoms you had if any and when you noticed a shift in your healing (meaning if one day you noticed a symptom was gone and it never returned). Also a pattern if any with your windows. :-)

 

Sooooooooooooooooo happy for you! 

[[ki...]]

Hi River,

 

Definitely looking forward to your success story.  You do a very good job of putting abstract concepts into words.  Of the questions below, please answer any of the ones that strike a chord with you.

 

I'm very interested in hearing about your transitions during healing.  At what point were you comfortable around others?  At what point did your head pressure finally go away?  At what point did you finally think you were going to be all right?  When did you get your cognitive abilities back?    When did you feel you could start laughing again?  How did it finally leave you, was it sudden or did it vanish slowly?  Did you have a tough wave before it left you or did it get easier all the way to the end?  How long did it take before you realized it wasn't coming back?  Were there any clues you remember in hind site that told you it was just about over with?  What did it feel like towards the end?  Are you the same, better, or worse now than before all of this started?  Were you surprised at how much you healed (i.e., did anything get better that you didn't expect)?    Is there anything you would have done differently?  Was there anything that you did which you are thankful for?

 

Thank you so much.

 

Kick

[[gr...]]

How you handle stress now...are you able? Gaba upregulated? Im assuming so since your healed! The depression, how much and when did it lift. Lethargy...what you couldnt do when in wd and when did it lift.

 

TY RW

 

Happy to see this.

[[Wo...]]

I'm about to write my success story and want it to be as helpful and relevant as possible.

 

Now that my symptoms are a fading memory and I'm living a happy, normal life,  it is becoming more difficult to be able to remember the specifics of my challenges and how I managed them.

 

I want to write my success story in a way that addresses specific daily life without dredging up the gory details  and scaring those who are sensitive. Many people rightly complain of the scary content in success stories, so I want to be accurate and relevant without frightening anyone. I was so sensitive I could not read the forum during my 18 month taper.

 

My blog has been dedicated from the start to proactive, useful strategies and a positive, hopeful tone, and it has taken a lot of effort to keep it from degenerating into a negative thread.

 

I had a long, rough taper and I'm 2 years out and doing great and loving my life - and you're next.

 

 

What would be useful for you to read in a success story?

 

 

 

 

River 

 

Hi River

 

It should be the whole truth and nothing but the truth cause for you it has a happy ending..

 

We all need to know that no matter how bad it has been or still is that in time it will all go away?

 

For me as you know the DP DR and severe head pressure along with ridiculous fear and anxiety are my worst symptoms and I still find it hard to to believe we can be this far gone in to another world and alien scary dimension in our heads and still come back, so for me I would like to read over and over again that I will be normal again and that I will again re-connect to who I once was..

 

We still suffering with the intense otherworldly mental confusion need to know we will come back no matter how little hope we have? No matter how I look at how I am now it just seems impossible to ever be the same again, I just can't see how you can you go from not knowing who you are or where you are in your own life and town which is now un-familiar, strange and unreal back to just how it was before this nightmare ever began???

 

How do we reconnect again after been so disconnected and seperated from reality for me now 20 months???

 

Please describe the transition from the other world back to reality ?

 

Best Wishes

 

Woofs

 

[[Wo...]]

Hi River,

 

Definitely looking forward to your success story.  You do a very good job of putting abstract concepts into words.  Of the questions below, please answer any of the ones that strike a chord with you.

 

I'm very interested in hearing about your transitions during healing.  At what point were you comfortable around others?  At what point did your head pressure finally go away?  At what point did you finally think you were going to be all right?  When did you get your cognitive abilities back?    When did you feel you could start laughing again?  How did it finally leave you, was it sudden or did it vanish slowly?  Did you have a tough wave before it left you or did it get easier all the way to the end?  How long did it take before you realized it wasn't coming back?  Were there any clues you remember in hind site that told you it was just about over with?  What did it feel like towards the end?  Are you the same, better, or worse now than before all of this started?  Were you surprised at how much you healed (i.e., did anything get better that you didn't expect)?    Is there anything you would have done differently?  Was there anything that you did which you are thankful for?

 

Thank you so much.

 

Kick

 

You said what I was thinking more or less to a tee 👍

 

[[br...]]

I just actually read the thread, sorry before I just read the title and then quickly posted. I didn't even see who it was from until now.

 

Great going Riverwolf, I am looking forward to reading your success story. I need some hope, we all do.

 

At 15 months free next week I feel extremely exhausted. I won't be beaten but I feel a wreck, how much longer can this go on, I must be near the end now.

 

Good healing and well done, seriously.

 

b

 

 

[[pa...]]

Hello Riverwolf,

 

How kind of you to post this, asking for others input.  That's your heart that you have always shown and extended.  As others have posted, "the truth" and nothing other then that.  All new ones coming on, need to read the reality of this process, though, the most important, is how ones prevail through this journey and get healing.  Nothing can be "colored" to make it sound easy, as all who have gone through this know it is not.  Though... the gifts that one and all attain after the travel of this journey, is to me, the most important message.  Each and all, they realize the inner strength they truly had all through this, how precious life is, how important their health is and how they will never take that for granted, the compassion and empathy, those words, they truly now understand.  They have their life again, and will live it so differently then before, as they learned what life really means...

 

My very, very best to you always, P.

[[Mo...]]

Bump.

[Guest [su...]]

river,  i was under the impression that you have been having sxs for the last 2 years after your taper ended, am i wrong to assume this??? did you suffer any ill effects after that day. i don't understand why you are only now writing your success story if you were healed after your taper?? maybe i've misunderstood something. am i missing something maybe it's my benzo brain not seeing it right....

[[he...]]

Did you have a set back? I see no recovery story posted 

[[Ri...]]

No set back back. I've been busy . I'll see if I can write it this week.  Sorry to keep you guys waiting

 

 

River

 

 

[[os...]]

No set back back. I've been busy . I'll see if I can write it this week.  Sorry to keep you guys waiting

 

 

River

 

River, I am also curious as to why you have not posted a success story, is it because you wanted to be sure or have you just healed?

 

 

[[Ri...]]

I've got it started and it will be posted soon.

 

Now that I'm feeling good it is hard to go back and dig up all of that pain. I've been putting it off - sorry.

 

 

RW

[[Sa...]]

I bet it will be one of the best success stories on the entire board. Youre a wordsmith river. And an inspiration to many of us.

[[os...]]

 

I would like to know when the break through to life happened.

 

 

I still have not really read a success story that has described when that happened, they are all so vague !!!

 

I sense that many struggle until the very end, so is it really possible to mostly heal as we get close to zero or is it really true that those first feelings of life don't start until after zero.

 

Some have said the majority of symptoms abated after 2 mg or 1.5 mg or whatever, others seem to still be in battle at 0.4 mg, so how was it for you? Did you lose most of your symptoms before you jumped or after?

 

Thanks River.

 

PS: Of course we all know healing cannot be complete until off but wanted to know if you were feeling pretty much healed before you jumped? Also, what are your thoughts on the effectiveness of a slow taper... many of us still wonder.

 

It still fascinates me how someone can be at 0.20 mg Valium for example and still have no idea how much they have really healed... I read that on here and it intrigues me...

[[Ri...]]

I had a good start on my success story - about 1000 words - and my brand new 3 day old computer crashed and I lost it.

 

Poof - gone to the bits in the sky.. . I didn't even get a back up plan on it before it died. . .

 

 

. . . but do you think I'm bent about it?  No.  Now that I'm feeling better - no big deal.  I'm starting it over tonight.  Sorry for the delay. I hope I can live up to the expectations. . .

 

 

 

Oscar -  I tapered for a year and a half and gradually felt good enough to go back to work at the end.

 

I didn't feel really good until about a year and a half out - slow and steady, gradually better each month.

 

But here's the deal - my story is not to be used as a template for you or anybody else. It is to be seen as a possibility only.

 

My best advice to everybody is to throw out the calendar and resign to what is.

 

You are going to be good when your healing happens. I know you are struggling for a long time. I had 3 bad years - and what I learned reflects the Second Arrow teaching story. There is a thread on it here -

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=97718.0

 

 

 

River

[[os...]]

 

 

Thanks so much for the reply River.

 

3 years seems to be the magic number for many to mostly recover.

 

Looking forward to your success story, don't rush it, it will be worth the wait.

 

I have much of my mind back these days, I get more clarity with every reduction now yet I still temporarily get the D/R pretty bad when I cut and that's always hard to power through, hoping to learn to roll with this symptom as I get lower.

 

You have been brilliant to stick around to help others, your success story will help many, I can't wait to read it myself.

 

 

[[Ri...]]

I want to apologize for the delay on writing my sussess story.

 

I just do not feel like going back and digging up all of that misery. I've just realized that I am really resissting it, but I'll force it out if I have to to get it done.

 

It's interesting - when I posted this idea for the therad to solicit ideas on how to make it a more effective and useful success story I was excited about writing it. Then the reality set in of visiting that suffering and frankly - I've had enough.

 

It's so nice to be done with it and feel the beautiful feelings that life has to offer when you have a healtier mind and nervous system.

 

Now that I feel good I want to stay there - but this thread has taught me the value of my presence here and I want to help.

 

So I'll man up and do it before it goes too much longer.

 

 

 

River 

[[Mo...]]

I want to apologize for the delay on writing my sussess story.

 

I just do not feel like going back and digging up all of that misery. I've just realized that I am really resissting it, but I'll force it out if I have to to get it done.

 

It's interesting - when I posted this idea for the therad to solicit ideas on how to make it a more effective and useful success story I was excited about writing it. Then the reality set in of visiting that suffering and frankly - I've had enough.

 

It's so nice to be done with it and feel the beautiful feelings that life has to offer when you have a healtier mind and nervous system.

 

Now that I feel good I want to stay there - but this thread has taught me the value of my presence here and I want to help.

 

So I'll man up and do it before it goes too much longer.

 

 

 

River 

 

Hi River, if thats how you feel, please don't write it. you have to look

after yourself now, you are feeling good and i am sure all of us

want you to stay that way. i for one, understand.

[[Gr...]]

Hi RW

 

How about doing it like a series, in sections?  Does that make it more manageable?  And you don't have to start with the beginning, you can fill in the painful stuff as you go, piecemeal?

[[Ge...]]

I couldn't read through every page to search. But, I was wondering if you had cog fog and if you did, when did it go away??

[[Ri...]]

I couldn't read through every page to search. But, I was wondering if you had cog fog and if you did, when did it go away??

 

Yes I had it. . . kinda still do a little bit. . .

 

 

It's time for an update. . . After I started this thread about a year ago, I got hit with a wave that I'm still in. At 2 years out, last Summer when I was considering writing my success story I was feeling GREAT -  I thought I was done, but it wasn't to be just yet.

 

For the last year I've been ok - not good, but ok relative to how benzo life can be. I have days that can be good and days or weeks that I feel crappy.

 

But I have other health issues and I'm not sure what is from the benzo.

 

So I'll just keep on going and when it's time I'll be back to post my story. Thanks for all the kind words.

 

 

 

River