Outrageous things doctors said during withdrawal -- let's share our stories

[[Re...]]

Since being irresponsibly "medically detoxed" from a low-dose benzo I was taking as prescribed, I have been on the end of so many ridiculous comments from doctors that I wanted to start a thread.

 

Let's share stories. Here are a few outrageous ones for you:

 

I started to have eye twitches tapering a neuroleptic after the benzo. This is a known side effect of these drugs. I told the psychiatrist at the time helping me. He showed me his eyes and said they twitch and he is not on any medication. Then he told me, "Your unconscious mind has decided that you are going to have these withdrawal symptoms." I KID YOU NOT.

 

I was hospitalized for severe side effects from the neuroleptic. My attending physician, a nephrologist (kidney doctor), told me he wanted me to "Taper like a boot camp." Why was a kidney doctor assigned to my case? Anyway, no matter how I felt he wanted me to drop doses on his schedule. When I said this is not prescription science he told me to stop consulting Dr. Google. He also suggested that I cold turkey and handcuff myself to a chair. "Worse comes to worse we will put you in the hospital," he said. "If you walk twenty miles a day with akathisia you will eventually get tired." I KID YOU NOT.

 

A concerned friend trying to help me describe my symptoms to a neurologist he works with, specifically the akathisia, and this doctor replied, "Is she reading things online, and getting symptom ideas?" I KID YOU NOT.

 

I went to a pain doctor and told him the pain of akathisia is not normal pain. He looked at me and said, "Why, because it's psychic pain?" Then he suggested a $1k a day yoga and meditation program he oversees that insurance does not cover. He said this can help akathisia. I KID YOU NOT.

 

These stories are so outrageous -- you can't make this stuff up. Thank goodness I know it is them and not me. What is it with doctors' personalities? We are the ones prescribed the meds but the doctors clearly need the mental help.

 

[[Co...]]

I was abroad and had clogged ears. That was it. I regret ever going to that ENT because he put me on a lot of cortisone and antihistamines. I thought it was important to avoid hearing loss and tinnitus but it created that and more. I had checked with my GP who used to be known as alternative and she said she would have done the same so it felt safe. I got a mild withdrawal that went unrecognized. The ENT just said I had stress from flying back home and had psychological symptoms because I was scared to fly (I was not). He never linked the stress to cortisone either. He said my tinnitus that I got in withdrawal was not real tinnitus. I got more antihistamines and cortisone nasal spray I ended up not taking anymore. I was vomiting a lot and had diarrhoea. I went to the GP but I didn't get sick leave or anything, she gave me sulpiride papaverine and dafalgan codeine and alcohol to calm my hyperstate down (knowing full well I was in withdrawal but never sharing) for the nausea and vomiting. I took for 2 days and it didn't seem to help and I found it weird so I stopped. I now realize I got my first panic attack on that poison. I then went to a different ENT because I was recommended to ask for HBOT. They didn't want to treat me. They didn't measure pressure difference in the ears anymore and told me to still take the nasal spray for a pressure difference that wasn't there. I didn't. Also didn't explain me cortisone withdrawal. Was okay in the sense that they didn't give me stuff but told me to find a therapist for the panic. However, the therapist I ended up with pushed for sleeping pills because my sleep had been very bad for a couple of weeks. My dad was losing his mind over it. While for me it was manageable, I was just so so so confused. Normally I sleep well and when I don't I am exhausted but I was wayyyy too active. I just wanted to understand. I regret that now. Withdrawal was doable and I would have been fine by now. I went in a weird wave because I had told the therapist I was uncomfortable crying to my GP that I wanted input on the therapist because he found I needed sleeping meds and I didn't know where to go or what to do and that I didn't feel myself and felt I was losing it/it was all too much. She just prescribed me halcion and melatonine and told me I didn't need therapy. I didn't dare to take it. The pharmacist had also explained halcion was very addicitve and that I was too young. I then didn't trust the melatonine either and started to get better on my own. Slowly. The ENTs had said tinnitus could take a long time. However, still looking for therapy I found a center so to say specialized in tinnitus. I went there and they said I should take rivotril when I had explained not to want to take habit forming things and not to trust the GP but maybe daring to try some melatonine? Then I got a qEEG done to understand what was happening to me as no doctor/specialist explained. It showed ADD, anxiety and depression. I was not depressed. I was anxious in waves. I was impulsive. I asked that person specifically could this be the cortisone. He said no, it is cortisol that matters, not cortisone. That evening my dad paniced and the next day he dragged me to that doctor again to talk about it. They were drilling. I had minor hyperacusis and I was angry and stressed because of that doctor not taking me seriously. I asked for sick leave, she said I had no medical problem, just psychological impact of tinnitus. That I made it into something of my whole body while it was just my ezrs and that I had to make it small. I said "I cannot walk around like this for years" she laughed in my face. What I meant was something is wrong with me and I cannot keep doing 60 hours a week in academia like this. It is too much. She had already continued to scare me about ear pressure difference and that I should take cortisone for every tunnel, bridge etc. Insane! I angrily told her I did not find it okay how casually she prescribed halcion and that I did not want to take anything habit forming or attacking my CNS. My dad asked, what is rivotril, is this safe? Because this therapy center recommends it. Should we do CBT or wait or neuromodulation or something else? She gave the rivotril as if it was completely something else. While it is from the same group as halcion!!!! The pharmacist didn't say anything. It didn't make sense. I even slept to my norms okay. I more or less realized I was sick from cortisone. I had figured out the perfect plan of diet, alternative therapies and working out to deal with tinnitus and decided to quit my PhD anyway. But I took this against better judgement because of the pressure of my dad and the therapists all pushing for sleep. I should have done the melatonin for a couple of days instead. It wouldn't have been so life ruining. I used very very little but got completely flooded by this. It has been hell ever since. The GP when we called and realized I was in withdrawal from going down by 40% and I got a tremor said I had a viral infection and completely negated withdrawal. I ended up in the ER where I was not dehydrated enough to get an IV after a week of not eating or drinking and vomiting resulting in severe weight loss. That ER doc advised me to go to a GP on call for sleeping meds to help me through the insomnia. Obviously I did not. They are all insane. He recognized it's withdrawal because I said so myself. The GP wrote reference letters to a neuropsychiatrist and endocrinologist stating I had hysterical conversion from diving months before and that it had NOTHING to do with the medications. The endocrinologist professor said rivotril has no effect on the endocrine system and that the cortisone was out of my system so it didn't explain the symptoms at all. The first neurologist I went to said I couldn't have brain zaps that those are only for ADs. She also was the first to recognize cortisone was bad. She didn't say withdrawal though but claimed I had a manic episode trigger by cortisone. I never was manic in that withdrawal. The second one was the sleep neurologist against benzos in the country. She agreed with the mania and said it even worse: that cortisone helped reveal underlying mania I must have had. Everyone said I was stressed from my PhD and vacation. I NEVER WAS. The PhD were just courses and learning and reading and studying had always been easy and chill for me. I had chosen it to be casual and fun with longer term deadlines than consulting or something. I was still preparing conferences for top universities when in cortisone withdrawal. I quit to take a mental health break and ended up on the benzo. So instead of healing during my sick leave I got wayyyyy worse immediately. That sleep neurologost also claimed that if benzos were that bad half the country would be sick. She also didn't even recognize the complete ridicule of the cortisone and how bad it can be because she said if I had some kind lf inflammation after diving the cortisone would have helped that. The whole point is that there never was any inflammation and it was neurotoxic already. She also stated that being on your phone is worse than benzos for the brain and that benzos do not attack the CNS. Ugh. The third neurologist I went to said rivotril is okay for tinnitus. She said she had never seen anyone ever been sick from medications and that it is not possible to do harm. They all find 0.5 mg clonazepam a very very low dose. Every psychiatrist I spoke to recommends other meds to help me taper clonazepam more quickly. Not. The fourth neurologist I spoke to indeed said cortisone withdrawal is a thing and could have harmed my brain but tharmt clonazepam cannot and that I clearly am sensitive and that other psychopharma is not a good idea. He also said 0.5 mg is a low dose. I told him about Ashton. He said he could look that up and I think he might be the only one to actually do so. They all just send me home to taper on my own and say I can basically quit without seizure and that I shouldn't be sick for long. I tell them I've been very bad since October. Even my new GO said I guess you won't accept an AD either now to help you going. The ONLY doctor that recognized everything that cortisone is very very strong and should have never ever been given for clogged ears, that I was in withdrawal and that it was insane of my GP to continue to try to throw meds at it and definitely against my wishes (that all doctors agree with that I see now that they wouldn't have given rivotril or that they would have explained or that they wouldn't have cause I said NO to habbit forming stuff), that rivitrol is very very potent and that 0.5 mg is definitely NOT a low dose, is a palliative care doctor. But now it's obviously too late. He said things went already completely wrong abroad but that my GP indeed completely acted unjust. He is absolutely not surprised my complaints to the order of doctors had no result. I think he sees many many patients that are actually suffering from iatrogenic harm. Although it is valuable in some way to get a tiny bit of recognition from someone, also the new therapists I have spoken to, it is absolutely upsetting to only find decent doctors too late. I had read the lezflet after my cortisone IV and I was confused about such potent stuff for clogged ears. Normally I always quit meds day 1 or 2. My GP used to be good in that, noticing what the cause was, explaining and then being about a specialist or someone like "yeah they have to find something so they have to give you something, don't take it" so I trusted cortisone cause she also found it very necessary. I wish I hadn't done anything or asked for tubes in my ears instead. My CNS would have been fine. Worst case I still got some tinnitus and hyperacusis but I would have coped a lot better with a strong brain. And then obviously any other doctor here would have given sick leave for the continued vomiting alone and not have given the rivotril. Without it I was still functional, just never had veen distressed or anxious before, and I was getting better week by week although my dad couldn't see it. I have realized it is often better to seek no help than to get bad help. I got clogged ears and now my life is ruined. And I double and tripple checked everything but I should have done even more research myself and managed my parents better. I find it sad I was so hyper that I was too open about my struggle with them and he made my struggle bigger also than it actually was. Now it is something very hard to carry. I try not to talk about symptoms anymore with them. It is hell all the way. I was in the best spot in my life I had ever been. I should have left the clogged ears be. These doctors are insane. ENTs don't think cortisone is bad because they sometimes prescribe it, neurologists don't think clonazepam is bad because they prescribe it for epilepsy, restless legs, Parkinsons, etc. So stupid.

[[Co...]]

Since being irresponsibly "medically detoxed" from a low-dose benzo I was taking as prescribed, I have been on the end of so many ridiculous comments from doctors that I wanted to start a thread.

 

Let's share stories. Here are a few outrageous ones for you:

 

I started to have eye twitches tapering a neuroleptic after the benzo. This is a known side effect of these drugs. I told the psychiatrist at the time helping me. He showed me his eyes and said they twitch and he is not on any medication. Then he told me, "Your unconscious mind has decided that you are going to have these withdrawal symptoms." I KID YOU NOT.

 

I was hospitalized for severe side effects from the neuroleptic. My attending physician, a nephrologist (kidney doctor), told me he wanted me to "Taper like a boot camp." Why was a kidney doctor assigned to my case? Anyway, no matter how I felt he wanted me to drop doses on his schedule. When I said this is not prescription science he told me to stop consulting Dr. Google. He also suggested that I cold turkey and handcuff myself to a chair. "Worse comes to worse we will put you in the hospital," he said. "If you walk twenty miles a day with akathisia you will eventually get tired." I KID YOU NOT.

 

A concerned friend trying to help me describe my symptoms to a neurologist he works with, specifically the akathisia, and this doctor replied, "Is she reading things online, and getting symptom ideas?" I KID YOU NOT.

 

I went to a pain doctor and told him the pain of akathisia is not normal pain. He looked at me and said, "Why, because it's psychic pain?" Then he suggested a $1k a day yoga and meditation program he oversees that insurance does not cover. He said this can help akathisia. I KID YOU NOT.

 

These stories are so outrageous -- you can't make this stuff up. Thank goodness I know it is them and not me. What is it with doctors' personalities? We are the ones prescribed the meds but the doctors clearly need the mental help.

 

I think it's the desensitisation you get from being a doctor or otherwise you cannot cope. I also think you need to be a special kind of person to become a doctor in terms of dealing with people's lives. There are some very empathic ones I studied with in high school that went on to become doctors, should have reached out to them, but there were also many very big egos that kinda like the playing god part. I think my GP just lost her mind and both she and the ENT I saw were unfortunately old and old school. My family just has never taken sick leave before so didn't know she was that unsupportive about it, I always had my things together even when sick, my dad couldn't stand me hurting and is very impatient and it is costing me dearly, but he is right, I should have just come home healthy and not been on the cortisone either, she had been decent in the past and knew me best but clearly didn't respect me at all.

[[mo...]]

Wound up in the hospital for depression. After sending me into cold turkey withdrawal, doc said "You blame everything on the medication". Damn right I do doc!

 

 

[[Fo...]]

My throat ant tongue, chin went numb and I could barely physically swallow at all. One side was numb, you could see the muscle in my neck only working on one side.  The ent said I had anxiety

[[Re...]]

My throat ant tongue, chin went numb and I could barely physically swallow at all. One side was numb, you could see the muscle in my neck only working on one side.  The ent said I had anxiety

 

Fire that ENT.

 

INSANE. ABSOLUTELY INSANE.

 

I am going to start an apology campaign on behalf of these doctors.

 

I was told the tinnitus from benzo withdrawal was anxiety.

[[Co...]]

My throat ant tongue, chin went numb and I could barely physically swallow at all. One side was numb, you could see the muscle in my neck only working on one side.  The ent said I had anxiety

 

Fire that ENT.

 

INSANE. ABSOLUTELY INSANE.

 

I am going to start an apology campaign on behalf of these doctors.

 

I was told the tinnitus from benzo withdrawal was anxiety.

 

I was also told the tinnitus from cortisone withdrawal was psychological stress from flying. I had never been worried about flying.

[[Fo...]]

My throat ant tongue, chin went numb and I could barely physically swallow at all. One side was numb, you could see the muscle in my neck only working on one side.  The ent said I had anxiety

 

Fire that ENT.

 

INSANE. ABSOLUTELY INSANE.

 

I am going to start an apology campaign on behalf of these doctors.

 

I was told the tinnitus from benzo withdrawal was anxiety.

Its crazy. =[

[[Co...]]

And then the therapy center I went to rinnitus for under a professor audiology pushed the clonazepam as safe sleeping aid while they actually just wanted to secretly lower ym tinnitus artificially so their one week treatment showed good results. It is ridiculous!!!! They didn't even mention the word neuroplasticity once so that treatment in itself was already a waste of a lot of money, but in my case just ruined my entire life even more.