World Benzodiazepine Awareness day videos

[[La...]]

Yes, and if you talk to her in person, she will say the same thing. She has lived through it and helped many, many others. There's also Don Killian, who took clonazepam for 13 years and drank alcohol for 20 years. He's very healthy now and helping others too. Both are great and POSITIVE resources!

[[in...]]

off topic, but i tried to listen to the videos, when I had a meltdown last week when internet crapped out, I unplugged my old speaker system from my desktop, DELL, how do I resume any volume? I thought desktops had thier own speakers, and CRAP the trash man came yesterday and took them away.......sorry to be off topic, BUT i wanted to hear and not just see,. ah crap

[[Pl...]]

Also..... I don't know how accurate or scientific this is or if its just a neurologist's opinion, but I read some sort of article that when people suffer a chemical injury to the brain/ nervous system it doesn't mean you will not heal.... The assessment was that it  seems to take much longer then say an organic injury that was done....

 

I think nova1 actually had some great articles on people who had actual parts of their brain missing due to injury or whatever the case may have been who retained their ability to function really well ( sorry nova if it wasnt you; but you always post such great articles if you happen to be reading this post)

 

Someone else on here who was kindled did a microtaper and he said he actually felt the healing on the way down.....he wasnt symptom free by any means but that was so encouraging to hear....

 

I can't believe I'm even posting this because I'm scared sh$&less as I have some pretty scary severe neuro issues and i feel so drunk everyday from the dose I am tapering from..... My health anxiety is also pretty severe.....and I constantly think I'm permanently damaged and why go on with the torture?  :'( I feel like I'm in prison... actually prison would be better then this!

 

Anyway.... I guess I'm posting this just as much for myself as I may be for some one else until my next complete breakdown...

 

 

[[az...]]

off topic, but i tried to listen to the videos, when I had a meltdown last week when internet crapped out, I unplugged my old speaker system from my desktop, DELL, how do I resume any volume? I thought desktops had thier own speakers, and CRAP the trash man came yesterday and took them away.......sorry to be off topic, BUT i wanted to hear and not just see,. ah crap

 

oh no. i'm not computer savvy at all and only use mac.

 

i think you'd have to do a search on google to start.

 

there may be some simple way around that if you are persistent and give it a little time to search for keywords and put in the make and model computer you have with the issue.

 

i bet you anything you can find the solution in a short time that way.

 

 

[[az...]]

Pleasebehere

 

please please please try and get through these videos… this guy is awesome and also a very "normal" guy. LorazepamFree2015 shared this guy with me- check it out ! they helped/are *helping* me so much… i just got a hold of them.

 

 

 

 

There is HOPE in these videos.

 

You have my word.

 

[[Pl...]]

Pleasebehere

 

please please please try and get through these videos… this guy is awesome and also a very "normal" guy. LorazepamFree2015 shared this guy with me- check it out ! they helped/are *helping* me so much… i just got a hold of them.

 

 

 

 

There is HOPE in these videos.

 

You have my word.

 

Oh my gosh... Thank you so much Azalea.....I will take the time to watch them... .

All my posts too are so negative because of the intense suffering and fear I feel....this is the only place i can come to to let it out and for support....i guess we are all looking for something anything to hold onto...

 

Thank you so much for your kindness....

[[Bi...]]

Pleasebehere

 

please please please try and get through these videos… this guy is awesome and also a very "normal" guy. LorazepamFree2015 shared this guy with me- check it out ! they helped/are *helping* me so much… i just got a hold of them.

 

 

 

 

There is HOPE in these videos.

 

You have my word.

 

That's more like it   

 

This forum is fueled by  POSITIVE thought and HOPE.

 

Every time I was in despair the only thing that kept me going was another trip to the success stories board. 

 

Just thinking out loud 

 

 

[[in...]]

thanks for the videos...........i watched, no sound, apparently I don't have speakers in my desktop, and i threw my old one out......by accident..........but to see the faces helped me

thank you everyone for being here........

[[Bi...]]

thanks for the videos...........i watched, no sound, apparently I don't have speakers in my desktop, and i threw my old one out......by accident..........but to see the faces helped me

thank you everyone for being here........

 

Get yourself a USB speaker on ebay or amazon.  search USB computer speaker

[[in...]]

thanks for the videos...........i watched, no sound, apparently I don't have speakers in my desktop, and i threw my old one out......by accident..........but to see the faces helped me

thank you everyone for being here........

 

Get yourself a USB speaker on ebay or amazon.  search USB computer speaker

thanks!

[[Ce...]]

Thank You Maya! Really praying this goes somewhere, so we all can make some progress,  and doctors will become educated on the perils of this wicked drug! Most of all, so doctors can become educated in how to taper the unknown victims off safely and humanely! 

[[re...]]

Samet Writes About His 2013 Setback

 

BenzoBuddies Thread About Samet's Setback

[[Ce...]]

Samet Writes About His 2013 Setback

 

BenzoBuddies Thread About Samet's Setback

 

 

This is great, redevan! Describes exactly how I've been feeling! It brings a sence of relief, just to know someone understands and can articulate what has been happening in my brain. Thanks for this link. I'm really hoping others can get as much out of it as I did.  ~CeCe 

[[Bi...]]

Samet Writes About His 2013 Setback

 

BenzoBuddies Thread About Samet's Setback

:thumbsup:

[[az...]]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA8F89537FD4C3FD1

 

Pleasure Unwoven

 

 

 

 

[[Ce...]]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA8F89537FD4C3FD1

 

Pleasure Unwoven

 

Hi a.,

 

Just clicked your link. I like it, but have only watched the first one. I didn't like it when he talked about addiction being a choice. Not when it comes to the situation I'm in right now. I feel I was just too trusting in my Dr., and took these horrible things, but I'll continue to watch the whole series on UTube, just to make sure I didn't miss out on something.  I'm still reading your blog and loving it, btw 

[[az...]]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA8F89537FD4C3FD1

 

Pleasure Unwoven

 

Hi a.,

 

Just clicked your link. I like it, but have only watched the first one. I didn't like it when he talked about addiction being a choice. Not when it comes to the situation I'm in right now. I feel I was just too trusting in my Dr., and took these horrible things, but I'll continue to watch the whole series on UTube, just to make sure I didn't miss out on something.  I'm still reading your blog and loving it, btw 

 

I just got back on this page to add the caveat:

 

I do not believe we are all addicts,

  however- I am.

 

CeCe I have no doubt that you aren't an addict either… what I am saying is that those of you who aren't addicts (which is probably the majority of people on BB) don't have relapse to worry about because you guys aren't put together like us addicts are…

The man in this video, when you watch it through, helps us also see that "addicts/alcoholics" don't choose to be  so- or he at least isn't saying that they do.

 

As an alcoholic/addict I can tell you that I have an allergy to alcohol and that I have always had an "addictive personality."

 

It is just the way that I am.

 

Though I am in recovery, and attend 12 step groups and have support and have not relapsed since I stopped using drugs and alcohol, that also does not mean that I will relapse.

 

I have extra benzos just sitting up on a shelf… A lot of them.

I don't touch them. They just sit there.

 

I utilize the wide network of support I have painstakingly cast, with the help of my faith that gets me through.

 

I know alcoholics and addicts that have 30+ years of sobriety and being clean who go their whole lives until they pass away without relapsing…

 

I also know that it is something (relapse) that we all as recovering addicts and alcoholics have to keep a hawk eye on.

 

I lean on the community I get from the relationships I've been blessed with through aa, na and al-anon and also the faith that is right for me and the tools in my toolkit to stay clean and sober.

 

I was born this way, I have an allergy to alcohol in the sense that if I am ever to have just one taste… I CRAVE it. It's not a decision at that point, it has nothing to do with moral fibre or willpower… I am powerless over alcohol and drugs.

 

I don't abuse my benzos now… I could fall in the same category as being strictly dependent at this point.

 

However, what I have working for me is that I KNOW I have the diseases of addiction and alcoholism. My body is just simply this way. My DNA is like this.

 

If I take the right decisions daily, take it one day at a time and have support… the odds and chances that I beat all of this with God's help are 100% in my favor- but I still have to vigilantly keep an eye out for any sign that I could be heading for a relapse.

 

What you have working for you, and others here too, is that you are not addicts at all- you are dependent. I understand these things are different.

 

So, what I'm saying without trying to outright say it- is that I believe Matt is an addict.

He admits to abusing benzos…

He has classic signs of addictive behavior and lifestyle choices that are not even necessarily a choice if he is wired this way.

 

However, when one is wired

One can shape their life accordingly and not have to pick up or use ever again.

 

Currently I fit in both the dependent and addict category and am doing OK.

 

The ones who are solely dependent don't have the same things to worry about or work on in the same way that Matt and I do.

 

It is not a morally bad thing to be an addict, we don't choose it… we can however choose, what we do or don't do about it and how committed we are to our health and recovery. We have a choice once we know we are wired this way chemically in our inner chemistry and cannot un-see it. (Before we know this, not so much.) I am not sure who or who isn't put together in such a way, and I am in no place to speak for Matt here either- it's just what I know about myself and what I am guessing could be a factor in his relapse.

 

[[az...]]

Love you CecCe !

 

a.  

[[Fl...]]

Did we watch the same video's?  Most complained of continued suffering year after year and lots of talk of destroyed lives.  Destroyed assumes permanent condition.

 

You are interpreting it as you want to interpret it, not as it was stated. If I say "my life was destroyed by these drugs" (and I have said that many times before) that means that the drugs have indeed had a severe negative impact on pretty much every aspect of my life, but that is completely separate from my thoughts on my prognosis for healing. I could even be completely healed and say that my life was destroyed by these drugs, and it would still be a truthful statement.

 

The problem is it does not belong on a forum like this.  If I had to describe this forum in one word I'd say it's HOPE.

 

This forum does offer hope, but probably 90% or more of the posts are discussing symptoms, and many of these posts are about pain and misery. Should we require that everyone talk only about positive stuff?

 

"Damaged" is the most scary and unproductive word to a person tapering or doing a C/T should be exposed to.

 

What else should we call it? If something causes changes in your body that can cause debilitating pain and suffering I don't see how anyone could argue that we haven't been damaged. It is very much a physiological injury and it isn't "in our heads". And that doesn't mean that we can't or won't heal. You can interpret it however you like but I do not think that using the word "damage" to describe this is untruthful in any way.

 

For the same reasons people get so emotional about the PROTRACTED BOARD here at BB  this is not a great topic for a taper forum where people need to be treated with kid gloves.

 

This is the Benzos in the News board. How is this any different from someone posting an article that links benzos to dementia? The simple fact is that most of the news posted about these drugs here on a forum where people have been made very ill by them is going to be negative, and rightly so.

 

It' the same reason you don't take a group of soldiers fresh out of boot camp and take them on a tour of the veterans hospital and show them all the people missing half their bodies with their faces blown off.  There is a time and place for everything but I can tell you if I would have been shown these video's I would have thought twice about tapering.

 

There is a time and place for everything but you do not set up a sales booth selling coffins in a cancer hospital!!!

 

That's not a very good analogy considering the people on these videos are talking about the exact same things we talk about every single day here on BB.

 

There is also another point about this that you are missing- the fact that seeing these videos offer some VERY much needed validation for many of us, as evidenced by the comments on this thread.

 

Discretion is important but censorship is not the answer.

[[Ce...]]

Love you CecCe !

 

a.  

 

Love you too a! Still reading everthing trying to wrap my head around it...Will IM you as soon as I can make that happen! 

 

~CeCe 

[[Ma...]]

Watching these video's was a total buzz-kill for me :'(

 

Everyone jumped,

everyone has permanent damage

and no one says they have healed. 

 

Do not know if this is a very well thought out campaign.

Birdman,

No one said those things. I have not jumped. I am healing and I do believe I will 100% heal. I also meant what I said in the video. I was simply speaking my truth to raise awareness to the awful horror benzodiazepines can cause. I, respectfully, disagree. I think it was very well thought out to raise awareness. I am so sorry that that is the message you got from the video. That was not the intended message.

 

azalea,

Thank you so much for your kind words! 

 

babyrex,

Thank you! I agree. I made another video for W-BAD, where I say something similar. It is on the W-BAD Facebook page and I will try to post it in my plog. My pdoc made me feel like I was some weird person and was the only one this happened to. We are not alone! 

 

Please,

Baylissa is in the first promo video. She is right when she says almost all heal completely with time. Don't worry

 

Lapis

Don also participated in W-BAD. You can see his post on their Facebook page. I watched his story on a great youtube channel called a loved ones guide to benzo withdrawal. He is amazing. Also like I said above Baylissa is in the first promo video. I also shared her video (the last one I posted) of her urging people to help in whatever way they can and I found it very inspirational and it motivated me to get more involved. She is incredible! 

 

inneedofpeace,

Hi! I hope you figured out the sound and are doing well 

 

CeCe,

Thank you! My pdoc wouldn't admit bz wd was real. He now hopes the benzo bill passes and has changed his policies and the centers he works for policies on benzodiazepines. Change is coming. We need to educate the medical community! 

 

Floridaguy

Thank you! That is EXACTLY what I think!    :smitten:

 

EVERYONE,

I am so sorry if these videos scared anyone. That was not my intent. This is a scary section. I didn't visit most days until more recently. I have seen really scary info here. Like Floridaguy said there are articles linking long term treatment to dementia...I found that scarier. I didn't think these would scare anyone. I should have issued a trigger warning like I did when I posted part of the hearing for the benzo bill. I didn't expect this reaction. These videos are for raising awareness and telling the truth of the horrors that these drugs have caused us. I thought that was understood. When you trying to raise awareness you have to tell the horrible truth and not sugar coat it, like Floridaguy said. I got really amazing responses to my videos. I helped people I know, but I had no idea had gone through this. I was touched by people sharing their stories. It is brave and beautiful to me. Someone I knew had gone through this and thought she was going crazy and I validated her experience. Other people were becoming aware and won't take one now etc. I found so much validation, positivity, and hope in W-BAD. That is what I hoped others would find in it too. I was just telling my sister (who also has a video on W-BAD fb page talking about the benzo bill) that I wanted to make a more positive video just for those in the benzo community. I had never made a video before the promo one. The others I made to raise awareness to help us get better treatment from Drs, understanding from loved ones, validation for us, changing policies, and to prevent others from going down this path. I am going to post a couple videos from people in the promo videos talking about how much better they are doing. There are more. I am all about positivity and hope, but also about raising awareness and honesty. I recently did a very long interview about benzodiazepines and it was sad talking about the 13+ years of my life taking klonopin. I also talked about all the positive things and hope I have. It is important to me to say the truth because I am lucky to have survived and there are some who have not. If me telling the ugly truth saves a life then I will do it. I am sorry for going on. I am saddened by the responses. I really meant well. I hope everyone is doing ok!

 

https://youtu.be/zMGAQUdNI70

https://youtu.be/0b03VRk5PGw

 

Love and light

XXO Maya

[[...]]

Birdman, I also disagree with your objection.

 

As per BB's Mission Statement ... http://www.benzobuddies.org/

 

Mission Statement

BenzoBuddies: an inclusive, nonjudgmental mutual-support environment for those who wish to withdraw from benzodiazepines.

Members of the BenzoBuddies community are encouraged to exchange ideas, information and support during the process of withdrawal and recovery.

 

And it branches off from there.  HOPE can certainly be found in abundance here as can, unfortunately, "horror stories" and the depths of despair.  And it's authentic and dynamic and the harsh reality.  And that's how *I'd* describe this forum.  And the way it was designed to be, IMO. 

 

I believe these videos absolutely have a place here.  Each person is saying it as it is, recounting their "personal truth".

 

Your analogies.  Ouch!   

To me, you seem to have missed the most important point of all.  That fresh group of soldiers knew damn well what they were signing up for long before even filling in an application.  And the word "cancer", ask any 8 year old what it means to him/her.

 

There is a time and place for everything but I can tell you if I would have been shown these video's I would have thought twice about tapering.

 

Precisely right.  Informed decision. 

 

I think the majority of us here try to be as considerate and as encouraging as we can, but we can only kid-glove to a point otherwise it's defeating the whole purpose of this forum, IMO.  Plus, the bottom line is there are many, many people in a lot of pain and misery here.  That's why we're here after all.  We're all (semi  ) intelligent adults and also need to exercise some good judgment and self-discipline.  I'd assume people would know these videos might be difficult to watch.  No?

 

[[La...]]

Maya,

I'm well-acquainted with both Baylissa and Don through their videos, and in Baylissa's case, her two books. I've watched at least 70 of Don's videos. Both people bring hope through their experiences, knowledge and intense desire to help others. Seeing how healthy and happy they both are is like a salve, and I hope others can benefit from seeing how well they're now doing -- years after coming off clonazepam (both took it).

 

As for the dementia issue, please re-visit the News section items on that topic, since I posted items yesterday that show there's only a correlation and not a causation link. There just isn't enough data to show a causative link so please stay positive on that one, okay?

 

 

[[Fl...]]

Precisely right.  Informed decision. 

 

I think the majority of us here try to be as considerate and as encouraging as we can, but we can only kid-glove to a point otherwise it's defeating the whole purpose of this forum, IMO. 

 

Someone mentioned a few days ago about political correctness and I have to wonder how much of this desire to stifle information is a result of the genuine desire to protect vulnerable people and how much of it is a kneejerk reaction that is a result of our overly touchy-feely society that has taught people that "words that hurt" should never be spoken.

 

 

[[Bi...]]

Nope!  Much of this stuff is just too scary for some of the people here. 

 

World Benzodiazepine Awareness day is a great group and have a great idea but not here in a taper forum. Not the right place and or timing.