Am I fooling myself? Please advise, feelings of hopelessness and resignation.

[[Ma...]]

Well I have come down with a pretty nasty case of gastro. This often occurs around Christmas time for me, nothing like gastroenteritis to enhance symptoms.

 

Please bear with me for seeking reassurance again, my family, friends and doctor once again tell me that this isn't Benzo related anymore because I'm 2 1/2 months Benzo free.

 

So I've been having extra feelings of hopelessness and resignation lately and I feel like there's nothing I can do to fix it. I try to pick myself up by doing something positive but I often end up not doing it. I feel so freaking negative. I got into a cycle of laying in bed and reading the news which makes me feel even worse because there's celebrity deaths daily sometimes and they put those stories at the top. I just didn't know what to do, until just then when I remembered that this could be Benzo related (excluding the celebrities that is) ?

 

I guess I need some reassurance and guidance, do these feelings sound Benzo related?

 

 

[[so...]]

Matt,

 

You are still in the early stages of withdrawal and the hopelessness and despair are symptoms.  Recognize them as withdrawal symptoms and you will find relief in knowing that they are no different than gastro issues or joint pain.  These symptoms all go away.

 

Sofa

[[me...]]

Hello Matt,

 

No, this is very common - depression and extreme mood swings, suggestiveness, and just plain ups and downs for no reason.  This is a roller coaster ride, and 2-1/2 months off is early days yet.  It's definitely benzo related.

 

[[fi...]]

I've experienced the same thing you have but am getting better.  I am 15 months out and am beginning to see significant progress.  Hang in there ...

[[Ma...]]

Thank you so much everyone  , I'm bookmarking this page so I can refer to it later for reassurance.

 

I just had a look at the Ashton manual after reading your responses and it does mention depression. It mentions that this can come on a few weeks after the last dose. Well that's what's occurred. It mentions SSRI's, I actually have a heap of prozac, should I go back on it? I wonder how much I should try? I only went off it around July because I wasn't originally aware that I was dependant on Valium and was having tolerance withdrawals. Prozac won't do anything for that!!

[[Gr...]]

Matt, one thing that I have had to do due to depression and anxiety is avoid the news. It seems that they look for bad news from all over the world and then put it on the TV and that just gets me more depressed or anxious so I decided that it was safer to just avoid it. I echo what the others have said and that this is definitely Benzo related and it will pass. You just need to give it time and try to distract yourself with positive things.

 

You are healing and will be well again.

[[Ma...]]

Thankyou Grandma D, I really appreciate the advice. I will do my best to avoid the news now. Cheers

[[Da...]]

What you are experiencing is normal, including the reaction of friends and family. They see us and we look OK, so they think that we are fine. There is no way for them to understand it. I have basically isolated myself from them but over the holidays I saw everyone, and I just avoided talking about it like the plague. I kind of update myself on politics, movies, pop culture anything I can discuss without talking abt WD. I can discuss it with ppl here who understand it.

 

Good luck everything will be ok in the long run.