Over 60 help and support.

[[Ba...]]

At what point would you add bp med?  And at how high?

I have been putting this off.  If you go on i it for life?  I did not want nw symptoms but i sm like 144/84 lots of times...

[[or...]]

Barbara, I think you should discuss this with your cardiologist. Recent data advises older folks to keep their bp well under 120/80. Mine is in the 130s. I take a small dose of a bb. I am not willing to take more just to satisfy my cardiologist and recent "findings". For me a bb has significant s/x. So . . . something to discuss with your cardiologist or your doc. 

 

Demelza, how rotten of your docs to mislead you about gabapentin. It is hard to get used  to, at least it was for me . . . weirdness in the head, dizziness, fatigue. And it was darned hard to get off of. I guess if I were you I might try it to see if it relieved your pain (it did mine) and then discuss. But with whom? It's so hard to know who to trust, isn't it? Probably the main reason I tapered off it is because of its nickname: morontin, which alarmed me. Also, I was just dragging my feet -- I really didn't need it anymore. But I was afraid of another rotten taper. So sorry about your pain condition.

 

Katz

[[te...]]

bozoberte,

I am trying to come off ativan as well, read your signature and it gave me hope I can finish this,

It truly has been the hardest thing I have ever tried to do.

somedays are ok and somedays I feel like i might be nuts.

I will keep looking at your progress on how you lowered and tell myself I can do it too.

Thanks you

Lisa

[[ea...]]

At what point would you add bp med?  And at how high?

I have been putting this off.  If you go on i it for life?  I did not want nw symptoms but i sm like 144/84 lots of times...

 

I have had essential hypertension since 1976. I have always taken meds for this and do not worry about it. On benzos, my BP did get higher, and who knows why? And getting OFF benzos made it much higher. Age plays into this too,. I am 69 now.

 

CA girl, I could not agree more. You said it just right. Benzo people are trying to GET OFF a drug, so why add yet another one in? This is something I learned the very hard way. Now, I ONLY take drugs for my hypertension and a baby aspirin for another reason.

east

[[Co...]]

Good morning Mary, Esperanza,good morning age pears on this group,

I started this morning by reading your posts and I was so impressed with the courage of people here, dealing with the same issues and worries that I so well know myself since in benzo withdrawal.

 

I was recently helped to discover the daily micro taper, dry cuts.

Every few days I need reassurance that it is not about the perfect accuracy of the filed tiny amount of dust from the pill but about the continuity of the lowering.

 

The large scale of symptoms I had , are changing into deep sorrow, loneliness, a state of not understanding where the me I know has gone.

But at the same time, every day I see the pill diminishing, that gives hope.

 

We all feel lonely, I live with my husband but he cannot handle the state I am in, cannot understand.

Nobody around can, the claustrophobic feeling of loneliness is at moments hard to bear.

But sharing it on the BB, makes it lighter.

My children live in the US.

 

Age is indeed changing the way we live this period.

I used this kind of medication when I was young, I don’t even remember how I got off it.

 

But, as we see , people of all ages go through the same , I don’t remember, maybe Ghislaine, wrote about  this, and I see it the same way: These benzos are a lesson for us, how to learn to look at our painful spots, work on them, clean it up so that we can lift our heads and say, We did it, we looked fear in the eye, we can live further with it as a better known part of ourselves.

Conafetto

[[Co...]]

I honestly think that older people, especially women, do better with healing. We have knowledge and wisdom younger folks just do not have yet. Those skills help us deal with all the weird stuff that happens in BWD. Over my almost 7 years here, I have spoken with many people over 60, who heal just as well as younger people. Maybe being older gives us a certain advantage. I have also heard from many people who worry that their age will make things much more difficult, and that way of thinking may just hinder recovery. I cannot stress how much trying to stay positive will help you in the long run.

Wish IU had better words to explain this because it is so important.

east

 

 

Thank you for this post!!

Age was one of my big worries!

I am new to this group.

Probably, because I have always been very active, never thought in age, until I landed in a PTSD two years ago, that put me on benzos.

Then I was very shocked to find out my age.

Conafetto

 

[[ea...]]

Coming to terms with my age is very important to me now. It hit me a couple days ag0. If I am lucky, I might live another 20 years, but my Mother died at 92 and her last few years were awful for her. Don't know if I WANT to live that long. My Father died at 89. My family tends to live long lives. To be totally honest, I think I only have 10 more good years left, years when I will be capable and active in some ways. This is truly  a startling thing to face.

Can anyone else relate to this?

east

[[bo...]]

EC62 ... yes I do relate to your post .. having developed this obsessive health anxiety since withdrawal I am always thinking about how many years I have left. I’m working hard with strategies for this but it really is difficult at times. My parents lived to late 80’s  it can’t say I would want the sort of life they experienced in the last few years either. Thing is , we don’t get the option do we... sometimes it’s hard thinking about the less time than more. I feel more ‘ obsessed ‘ by it I think because of all the years I lost to Ativan ... I don’t want to live with this anxiety for the rest of my life, and I know it’s only me that can change that..more than ever I realise now that it’s me that makes my world happy or not. Not my circumstances ... love to all xx BB

[[ea...]]

What a nice thoughtful post this is. And I do agree with you. Getting off benzos was the best thing I ever did, just for ME. As I healed, I found out that I am now so much healthier, happier. But BWD did change me in many ways. I too regret all the lost years I have due to benzos. Many regrets. For the rest of my life I will have to live with that knowledge, and that is NOT nice to contemplate.

But I AM alive, and well for 69, and I guess that has to count. BB, are you off benzos totally now? Do you currently have wd symptoms?

I am so glad you replied to me. This stuff is very difficult to face, isn't it? Because benzos obsessed my life for so darn long, I missed out on the normal milestones people have as they get old. It is as if I suddenly woke up after 30 years of benzos and realized I had gotten old. Two weeks into my CT off benzos and ADS, I had this deeply profound sense of 'waking up." Like Rip Van Winkle. At the time, I had no idea what this meant, but I did know it was very important. Turns out my feeling was true. Literally, I was waking up after being sedated and snowed for 30 years. And during that time, I got old.

I would love to hear more of YOUR story.

east (Annie)

[Guest [NM...]]

What a nice thoughtful post this is. And I do agree with you. Getting off benzos was the best thing I ever did, just for ME. As I healed, I found out that I am now so much healthier, happier. But BWD did change me in many ways. I too regret all the lost years I have due to benzos. Many regrets. For the rest of my life I will have to live with that knowledge, and that is NOT nice to contemplate.

But I AM alive, and well for 69, and I guess that has to count. BB, are you off benzos totally now? Do you currently have wd symptoms?

I am so glad you replied to me. This stuff is very difficult to face, isn't it? Because benzos obsessed my life for so darn long, I missed out on the normal milestones people have as they get old. It is as if I suddenly woke up after 30 years of benzos and realized I had gotten old. Two weeks into my CT off benzos and ADS, I had this deeply profound sense of 'waking up." Like Rip Van Winkle. At the time, I had no idea what this meant, but I did know it was very important. Turns out my feeling was true. Literally, I was waking up after being sedated and snowed for 30 years. And during that time, I got old.

I would love to hear more of YOUR story.

east (Annie)

 

Yes to this waking up. Getting a different level of awareness and memory back is bewildering. I’ll be 58 in August. Where did my life go?

[[So...]]

Coming to terms with my age is very important to me now. It hit me a couple days ag0. If I am lucky, I might live another 20 years, but my Mother died at 92 and her last few years were awful for her. Don't know if I WANT to live that long. My Father died at 89. My family tends to live long lives. To be totally honest, I think I only have 10 more good years left, years when I will be capable and active in some ways. This is truly  a startling thing to face.

Can anyone else relate to this?

east

 

I can relate to this so much,it's what I think about also.

[[Ma...]]

Coming to terms with my age is very important to me now. It hit me a couple days ag0. If I am lucky, I might live another 20 years, but my Mother died at 92 and her last few years were awful for her. Don't know if I WANT to live that long. My Father died at 89. My family tends to live long lives. To be totally honest, I think I only have 10 more good years left, years when I will be capable and active in some ways. This is truly  a startling thing to face.

Can anyone else relate to this?

east

 

Me too, but that smiling puppy would add another good year or two!  Hey Soup ☘️🌷☘️🌺🍀🌸🍀🌹

 

I can relate to this so much,it's what I think about also.

[[or...]]

I can totally relate to what you said, east. I am 71. I have already outlived everyone else in my family . . . no one lived past 64. Even my younger brother is dead. Drugs. So I am pretty focused on what I can do that is important to ME. These last years (as someone said, maybe 10 good ones) seem to me to be a gift. I want to use them wisely. I am very mad at benzos (any myself for taking them) for robbing me of probably 5 years. But, so be it. Onward!

 

 

Katz

[[Ba...]]

I am feeling utterly lost in benzo withdrawal, as you know.

I am very incapacitated and hopeless now, really, depressed by debility.

Have to say that on benzos, for decades, did sleep and could function better.  I always had my insomnia issue/ crd issue... huge.  but benzos allowed me to sleep and have a career and be out there.

MAYBE they eventually did make the sleep worse...... or my phobic tendencies worse.  My world shrank-- a lot.  But no memory issues as many mention, no biggies til 2 1/2 years ago when it all came apart and I wound up in acute right off the mirtazapine.

 

I do feel old and thinking if have one good year on benzos (if they work at higher dose) might that NOT be worth it?

 

My family is long lived, but nobody had a sleep disorder and not sleeping takes years off your life reates health prblems right and left.

 

I just want some quality of life for a year or two  beats this...  I don'tn konw if it is possible.

 

 

[[bo...]]

Hey East .. you’re welcome to PM me if you like ..I lost so many years to the Ativan , yes, I am completely off benzos now. At nearly two years out , I do feel better for it I know , but struggle with the dam health anxiety ... ho hum .. just do the best I can !

[[es...]]

I just tuned into this conversation, a bit late, but want to say how much I can relate. Con, I know what you mean by wondering where the person you have known as yourself has gone. That is the most intolerable part of this for me. And I understand, Barbara, why you wrestle with trading going back on for a few more good years. I am no hero. I might do that myself, but i was so long in tolerance withdrawal, I am pretty sure there would be no relief in reinstating. We are all old, but not ancient. So that puts us in a place where we still have something to gain by going through this and getting to healing. There is probably a good reason for people in their eighties to just stay on if their lives are more tolerable with the Benzo, than without. We are in a place where we just don’t know. But, that is always the case. I focus on my age(68) just like all of you. In reality, we are just statistically more likely to have less time than someone in middle age. But, that is not always true. I keep thinking how much of my life was stolen and I don’t have much left. And then I feel like at least I wasn’t put on the stuff until I was 50, so I got to have a life before it. At least, it didn’t happen while I had young children. I wasn’t taken completely down before I had the joy of years with my grandchildren. The fact is, it is never acceptable to lose any part of our precious lives to something that could totally have been prevented by responsible oversight of the pharmaceutical industry. I have looked hard to find evidence that age is linked to healing. I have not found that we are suffering more, or taking longer to heal, than those who are younger. I don’t really see any factors that are reliable predictors of outcome. We are old, but we have the same prognosis as the young. That said, it still is not a place any of us ever planned to be at this stage of life. And, I bet most of you would say it is the hardest thing you have ever done. And coming from people our age, that resonates. Esperanza

[[or...]]

I bet most of you would say it is the hardest thing you have ever done.

 

Yup.

 

 

Katz

[[...]]

Hi BarbaraAve,

 

I can absolutely relate- I am utterly lost and incapacitated. I am 83 and feeling terribly ill. Chest tight, air hunger, numbness in head and body etc. Was on benzodiazepines for many years. My symptoms are getting worse.

I sleep for a few hours but wake up feeling ill and dreadful.

I am told all these symptoms will go, so should yours!

 

Pat

[[Do...]]

Hi Pat,  Do you have a signature?  Was wondering how long and what dose you were taking?

[[...]]

Hi DoveLuv,

 

I was on Librium and Valium for over 25 years, 4 times a day 2mg Valium.

I tapered over 4 weeks and am completely benzodiazepine free. I have

had some windows but getting brutal waves now. I cannot believe how

bad the symptoms are... I went into recovery approx 18 months. Any

advice how to get through this?

 

Pat

[[or...]]

Pat, what exactly do you mean by this:

 

I went into recovery approx 18 months.

 

Do you mean you are 18 months away from your last dose, or . . .?

 

Tapering that much valium over 4 weeks, well no wonder you are feeling awful. IMO that was way too fast. But done's done. Now you have to work on feeling better.

 

All I can tell you is that you will feel better, but it will take awhile. I am 71 -- tapered my 15 mgs of valium for 3+ YEARS. I do not feel perfect, and it was a long slow process, but I am okay now.

 

What do you do to distract yourself? For me, that was the key -- do something other than dwell on my symptoms, which were eating me up.

 

And you say you don't sleep well . . . what have you tried to help you sleep? There are a few insomnia threads on here with ideas. Or, I could tell you what's worded for me. And maybe others will chime in. And sleeping for only a few hours WILL make you feel ill and dreadful when you wake up.

 

Hope you are feeling a bit better today, sweetie,

 

Katz

[[Do...]]

Pat,  Do you have support around you?  Family or friends?  When I was suffering through acute w/d, I struggled to take care of basic needs such as food, water, hygiene and even walking.  This improved after a couple months for me.  It sounds like your symptoms are severe at this time.  Are you able to get your daily needs taken care of?  This is priority in acute.  Then of course like Katz mentioned, figuring out how to get some sleep.  Sleep, nutrition and hydration.  Once I was able to do all 3, I began feeling a whole lot better.

[[es...]]

I hope no one misunderstood my posts and thought I was a doing a good job in thinking positively. I wish that were true. There is not a day that goes by that I do not cry and beg to the universe to take this away from me. My symptoms are almost 100% emotional and they have been severe and constant since I began my taper a year ago. I hold on by telling myself I have to believe what seems almost impossible to be true. That a person who is sufferering as much as I, can and will heal. A buddy who is so very wise told me when she was in the depths of withdrawal, all she could do was hope that what others had told her was right. And she was glad she did, because they were. And those words are what I cling to now. For anyone else who is doubting, know you are not alone. It is very hard to believe what we are told. We think we are the exception. We can only tell ourselves, they are right, we are wrong. Even though that is the opposite of how we feel. Esperanza

[[Sa...]]

Heartfelt posts, Esperanza.

 

Most of sxs are severe physical, I plead for them to go away each day.  I’m not at the accepting phase I read about.

 

We are healing ...

 

SaraSue

[[es...]]

Thank you, Sara. Yes, it is hard. I hope you get relief. Pain is pain. It is all bad, no matter what form it takes. Love,,Espy