Steven Tyler discusses Benzos in his new memoir

[[re...]]

He's especially critical of prescription painkillers and benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium, the "new plague" of drugs that sent him on his most recent rounds of rehab after surgery for nerve-damaging Morton's neuroma.

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2011-05-03-tyler03_CV_N.htm

[[re...]]

I bought the book and it arrived today.  I checked out the section where he discusses his benzo withdrawal and he sure has some choice words about benzos.

 

I'm not sure if it's OK to quote any here or not.  Perhaps the mods could let me know.  I'm thinking a few sentences would be OK?

[[St...]]

I guess you can always use the bleep thingies --> ****  

 

[[va...]]

Rebecca, did Steven Tyler say anything specific about benzo's like Stevie Nicks did? She described tolerance shakey while on them, and hardly walking after her detox, and skin problems as well as the haze she finally realized she had on them.

 

And, did you get the impression that he was actually physically addicted to benzos for a longerterm and therefore went through benzowithdrawal? I just reread you said he did go through benzowithdrawal. 

 

He did say he can't sleep anymore, I was wondering if that seemed to be from benzos, or was it opiates and all of the other drugs?

[Guest [Si...]]

Tammy Baker (Sp?) was hooked on Ativan - deceased

Stevie Nicks was hooked on Klonopin

Eminem was hooked on Valium

And so on...

 

 

It seems they don't speak out too much about Benzo's.

I assume they are healed pretty much. Everyone differs and every story is different, and no story is alike.

I wonder about more of their stories as well, but seems not too much is released. 

 

S#

 

[[re...]]

Steven has a pretty long section about his addiction and rehab.

 

One interesting thing he said was that they actually told him at the clinic  "It takes months to get off that stuff"  That surprised me. 

 

Some choice quotes:

 

"time never slows down as much as it does in rehab. Going through detox you look up at the clock and say "F- it's only one o'clock? Oh, god, it's going to be a long f'n day!" . .  . When you're in there detoxing at sixty it's very humbling."

 

"Prescription drugs are the new plague"

 

"Trust one who knows from bitter experience, it will start to dawn on you, maybe not until you're forty or fifty, that you're hooked. Sooner or later the benzo fiends will come and bite you on the a##, your little sleep aids will turn on you.  You began taking half an Ambien to go to sleep and now you're up to six a night? But those prescription drugs just won't come through for you."

 

"Erin and I had been flying on this stuff for two years, Xanax being our drug of choice. I didn't like the me that was me on benzos, and coming out of that din was a revelation"

 

"Because of the tendency toward morbid depression and and desperation, Dr. Blum would see each patient every day-- the more critical would be visited by the staff every fifteen minutes- because everyone's detoxing, hitting walls. I couldn't sleep for the first four days"  (editor's note  ONLY four days?)

 

"Xanax was the killer. By comparison it was pretty easy getting off the narcotics. I couldn't sleep at night- the anxiety I felt coming off Xanax was extreme.  A benzo nightmare. Benzodiazepine, ach!"

 

"Hi my name is Steven and I'm an alcoholic, drug addict, coke freak and benzo demon." "It's insidious stuff, Benzo is Beezlebub's latest brew and I'll tell you why."

 

"I come out of any detox a wreck, but benzo detox is the worst"

 

"When you're coming out of that benzo din you get to see what life has to offer again.  Oh, that's what mango smells like, that's the color of a peony.. .  I'm ecstatic to be sober again now and coming up a wormhole. I'm ready to change the channel . . .  the day I got out, my new life started unfolding that day . . talking about how we were so fragile coming from rehab, like coming out of the wormb, with all these feelings of newness and astonishment. Feeling the wind blow, the sun on your face. When you're high, you're numb to everything. We had been taking so much . . Xanax for so long our feelings were deadened. When you reemerge, everything affects you wildly. The mildest cool breeze and you're freezing, you're so vulnerable. Somebody says something negative, the slightest thing, and you're devastated. We came out of that cocoon, and even two months later, we were still reclaiming ourselves, recovering from the din of addiction."

 

"Colors! I'm so into colors now . . . I can feel the wind blowing against my face and hear the woods . . I took off my shoes and felt the cool green moss on my feet; I smelled the pine needles, the pungent, earthy odor of decaying leaves. For a moment I stood alone in a clearing, listening to that muffled silence"

 

I have to admit that as nasty as Tyler says it was it sounds to me as if he had an easier time than many on this board  (including me!) 

 

 

Good for Tyler though for speaking out against benzos

 

"Wait a minute, what am I saying?  Am I going to turn people off? Are they going to say, "I"m not reading this damn book? This sonofabitch is preachin' to me and I just got myself a big bottle of benzos."

 

[[dr...]]

Rebecca,

 

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting it.

 

Draftsman

[[va...]]

Yeah, thanks so much for all the quotes! It does sound like he had a short withdrawal. I mean, I wasn't looking at the color of pennies or feeling the grass in my feet. Hmh. Did he miss it, or was he one that got through it quick? At least it's behind him.

[Guest [Si...]]

Thank you Rebecca,

 

That is some interesting stuff.

 

S#

 

Edit: I found this on Google

 

Steven Tyler is going for a new image since taking his latest job as judge on American Idol. The Aerosmith front man recently told PEOPLE Magazine it’s important for him to be a good role model- this includes staying sober.

 

“The last thing I want the world to see is me slurring my words,” Tyler said. “I don’t ever want to be a bad example again.”

 

Over the years Tyler was addicted to a variety of drugs including crushed Lunesta sleeping pills and the anti-anxiety pill Xanax. The rocker would crush the pills and snort them up to six times a day.

 

As part of his treatment Tyler attends 12-step meetings in Los Angeles in between tapings of American Idol. He noted he’s interested in returning next year “if the money’s good.”

 

Tyler will join Aerosmith on the American Idol stage during the May 26 finale.

[[Sh...]]

He missed it........Another lucky one....This is the reason why ppl dont get us ! Its easy w/d like his that ruins it for us........

[Guest [Si...]]

Shan,

 

Dude, we don't know what he is feeling. He could be feeling the same withdrawal as many of us and don't know it.

I wouldn't say he was lucky... I'm sure coming off the Xanax was hell. Although, there are people who can come off with no poroblems, BUT we don't know what he experienced exactly, even if he tried to explain without knowing it's withdrawal.. how can one "simply" put it in words. He could be feeling lousy. We don't know that exactly, and the same could be said for many.

I'm sure he gets us to some extent or another.

 

S#

[[St...]]

Steven has a pretty long section about his addiction and rehab.

 

One interesting thing he said was that they actually told him at the clinic  "It takes months to get off that stuff"  That surprised me.  

 

Some choice quotes:

 

"time never slows down as much as it does in rehab. Going through detox you look up at the clock and say "F- it's only one o'clock? Oh, god, it's going to be a long f'n day!" . .  . When you're in there detoxing at sixty it's very humbling."

 

Wow! that is so true!  I thought the same thing when I was in detox. I thought 6 hours would go by and I'd check the clock and it would only be about 20 minutes later, that was soooo weird! I wonder why that happens?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[De...]]

Id mention also that since he went to detox he may be on other drugs like propranolol or topamax or something..something we tend to stay away from

[Guest [Si...]]

Id mention also that since he went to detox he may be on other drugs like propranolol or topamax or something..something we tend to stay away from

 

Defaulted,

 

That's true as well.

He could be.

 

S#

[[ca...]]

Thanks for sharing this. You are right, they might have given him some other drugs to help ease his w/d since detox typically does that.

[[vi...]]

I went to detox and was put on other drugs to help ease my withdrawal. There are no other drugs that help ease withdrawal. Except for things that have their own withdrawal syndromes.

[[sa...]]

Rob Lowes new book, Stories I Only Tell My Friends touches on his mother's psychotic break from benzo use.

She recovered.

 

He threads her story through out. She keeps withdrawing more and more and he didn't know why until she C/T and snapped.

 

 

[[Pe...]]

Maybe I missed it.  Did Steven Tyler say exactly how long his benzo w/d was?

[Guest [dc...]]

Maybe I missed it.  Did Steven Tyler say exactly how long his benzo w/d was?

 

I was wondering the same

[[Me...]]

Hello,

I think all of the celebrities dying with benzo's in their systems will hopefully bring this problem to the front lines of media attention. There have been so many in the past few years. This is what this country needs. Everyone thinks that anyone that got addicted to these meds abused them. I was never told by my doctor what this drug would do to me. I would never have touched it if I had any idea what it does. I have a friend who went to the doctor for twitching in her eyelid and he gave her 30 pills of Ativan with 3 refills. This is how addicts are created.