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Cold turkey withdrawal, mental health, or neither?


[Ju...]

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I'm glad I found this page, as I needed other people that have been through cold-turkey withdrawal, not tapering withdrawal. I have been off of my medicine over 70 days now. I'm still having a really hard time and I'm trying to figure out if it is because I'm having withdrawal, or it is simply because my body is dependent. After 20 years, it's hard to tell. Half the day I think that it is withdrawal, and half the day I think it is a mental health disorder. Maybe it's neither, maybe I just need to learn life again. If anybody else has been in this predicament please let me know. Thank you.
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Hello and welcome :)

 

I cold-turkeyed Klonopin too after abusing it with alcohol and weed (among other things) for 5 years or so. I'll say right now what you are dealing with is mainly due to withdrawal in combination with not learning how to cope with life stressors naturally. So to answer your question, it's a combination of both. You will recover though as long as you stay sober and if you can make some life changes your recovery will come quicker.

 

Feel free to PM, let me know if you have questions. I am here daily.

 

na-  :smitten:

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I think that's the best answer I've heard yet, thank you. LOL, a lifetime full of abusing things and 20 years of benzos non-stop for me, until seventy something days ago. It wasn't "neither", it was "both". I don't know why I didn't think of it that way until now. And yeah I've only been chilling at the house so it's probably time to start doing something else. Staying so called sober is going to be the hard part. Not because I like to get high, but because I don't know how else to live.
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I'm 18 months off and still struggling mightily with mental symptoms that I do not recall having in the past. Anger all the time. Horrible obsessions and intrusive thoughts. Wanting to cry all the time because of the anger and intrusive thoughts. I didn't have any of this before benzos. I spend so much time too trying to figure out what is benzo withdrawal, what is the anxiety that I had before, and what is my inability to cope with life and adulthood without drugs and alcohol. I'm been off everything now for nearly 16 months. Been off benzos for over 18 months but I drank in the first two months. I hate that I am constantly trying to figure out what came from what.
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Hey Justintime,  Be easy with yourself for the next few months.  Try not label or define what is happening in your brain.  Your brain and body will find it's new baseline.  It will be a foreign place for you at first because of the many years of use.  Healing hurts but it will bring alive a brain and body you might really like.  You are definitely healing and heading to a much better place.

 

Keep in mind that this could happen for you much quicker than it does for others.  Time using and age does not dictate a healing time line.  I c/t'd, am 58yrs and used for a helluva long time.  I am doing very well at 10 months.  Keep the faith, drink a ton of water and eat some good stuff every day!  Try to get your blood moving with light exercise.  And follow people who are proactive and positive in their journey. 

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Thanks for the advice. All the different perspectives make me think. Not to be rude, but there are some other people on here that think if you have fun, and you laugh about things, it is detrimental to Healing. I think that having all the fun you can is a great thing. As long as you have good goals and you're doing what is best, what's the difference right? It's all about growing healthily.
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Why would anyone think having fun is a bad thing? I think it's hard to connect with fun while going through this. I force myself to watch Impractical Jokers, both new episodes and clips on Youtube, because it can still make me laugh during this process.
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Why would anyone think having fun is a bad thing? I think it's hard to connect with fun while going through this. I force myself to watch Impractical Jokers, both new episodes and clips on Youtube, because it can still make me laugh during this process.

 

Boomboxboy,

 

Please take what JIT posts with a grain of salt.  Nobody has ever said laughter is not great medicine.  I said this myself to him, yet he accuses me of not having fun with this process.  Although I have trouble believing this is fun IN ANY WAY, I applaud anyone who can smile through the suffering. 

 

Sofa

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Have fun by any means, as long as you are being true to yourself and staying healthy and out of trouble. I've been watching a lot of Steve-O recovery stories. Those are pretty good right now. If people like that can recover anybody can.
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The more you can laugh, the better you will feel...and probably heal.  I am at a place where I can 'make fun' of my sxs and some of this bizarre journey.  I was at a restaurant last week with two other people.  The booth started to vibrate and tilt.  I looked at my dinner partners and they were just chatting away as if nothing was out of whack.  I started laughing at the whole scene.  They thought I was stoned or something.  The sxs left.  This is a very strange process.

 

Keep on laughing..Justintime 

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I'm glad you could laugh at that situation. That makes you a very strong person. If you can go through a situation that makes most people suffer, and cry, and you can laugh about it, you already know that you are going to come out on top. Keep it up! I'm trying to do the same thing. I have not gotten the will power yet to go to a restaurant. But I did almost walk into the woods yesterday. That was pretty funny.
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Yep...The sxs didn't scare me.  In the beginning, every sx seems to trigger a fear response of, "Oh my God, I have brain tumor or some dreaded disease."  This fear response/cycle can really amp up sxs.

When you get to feeling well enough, step into those woods.  The river, the Mnts..nature in general has helped me so much.  Small doses at first.  The sights and sensations can be overwhelming.  That's great ya live close to them! 

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