Please Help Me With My Mother's situation

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Update: My mother was discharged from the hospital psych ward recently. The physician that was caring for her prescribed 2 mg of a Benzo, 3x a day for 30 days. My sisters and I thought this was good news and hopefully it could hold her over until she was able to see a physician that could taper her off slowly (she has an appointment next month). I asked her home aid to organize her pills in a pill box so she didn’t accidentally take more than 3 a day. She took the opportunity to count the pills and we realized she had been taking about 6 per day (12mg or klonopin per day) and is on pace to run out in 2 weeks. She also lied and tried to say she didn’t know where the pills were so the aid wouldn’t discover this. When we found out she began to threaten suicide. Clearly she has no ability or intention to taper herself off. I’m not sure what we’re going to do. When she runs out in 2 weeks she will end up back in the psych ward and I don’t see this cycle ending.

 

Is it possible that she is doing this because she reached tolerance and has inter dose withdrawals?

[[...]]

Update: My mother was discharged from the hospital psych ward recently. The physician that was caring for her prescribed 2 mg of a Benzo, 3x a day for 30 days. My sisters and I thought this was good news and hopefully it could hold her over until she was able to see a physician that could taper her off slowly (she has an appointment next month). I asked her home aid to organize her pills in a pill box so she didn’t accidentally take more than 3 a day. She took the opportunity to count the pills and we realized she had been taking about 6 per day (12mg or klonopin per day) and is on pace to run out in 2 weeks. She also lied and tried to say she didn’t know where the pills were so the aid wouldn’t discover this. When we found out she began to threaten suicide. Clearly she has no ability or intention to taper herself off. I’m not sure what we’re going to do. When she runs out in 2 weeks she will end up back in the psych ward and I don’t see this cycle ending.

 

Is it possible that she is doing this because she reached tolerance and has inter dose withdrawals?

 

I guess so, but she had a prescription for 6mg before the doctor cut her off and she was able to manage with 6 mg a day at the hospital. Did she really need to double the dosage to deal with tolerance? She’s taken enough so that her speech is slurred and she’s clearly “high”. To me it’s seems like she’s taking way more than she needs to simply avoid pain and discomfort from withdrawing. She’s taking an amount that gets her high. She has no interest in tapering.

[[Re...]]

Update: My mother was discharged from the hospital psych ward recently. The physician that was caring for her prescribed 2 mg of a Benzo, 3x a day for 30 days. My sisters and I thought this was good news and hopefully it could hold her over until she was able to see a physician that could taper her off slowly (she has an appointment next month). I asked her home aid to organize her pills in a pill box so she didn’t accidentally take more than 3 a day. She took the opportunity to count the pills and we realized she had been taking about 6 per day (12mg or klonopin per day) and is on pace to run out in 2 weeks. She also lied and tried to say she didn’t know where the pills were so the aid wouldn’t discover this. When we found out she began to threaten suicide. Clearly she has no ability or intention to taper herself off. I’m not sure what we’re going to do. When she runs out in 2 weeks she will end up back in the psych ward and I don’t see this cycle ending.

 

Is it possible that she is doing this because she reached tolerance and has inter dose withdrawals?

 

I guess so, but she had a prescription for 6mg before the doctor cut her off and she was able to manage with 6 mg a day at the hospital. Did she really need to double the dosage to deal with tolerance? She’s taken enough so that her speech is slurred and she’s clearly “high”. To me it’s seems like she’s taking way more than she needs to simply avoid pain and discomfort from withdrawing. She’s taking an amount that gets her high. She has no interest in tapering.

 

How old is she? I do not mean any disrespect by this comment but I understand why she would want to avoid tapering and the pain of withdrawal. Especially if she is older. Who wants to spend their last years in benzo withdrawal? The pain is nothing anyone can understand unless they have been through it. It is excruciating inhumane pain that destroys people's lives. I am living it. I know from firsthand experience. I have lost everything from taking a benzo as prescribed.

 

Please acknowledge your mother's PHYSICAL suffering. It is real. Regardless of whether she fits an addiction paradigm or not. If she has akathisia hence why she's suicidal and agitated it is the worst thing in the world to feel. It is not mental -- these drugs give people neurological syndromes and neurological dysfunctions that are brain injuries. The FDA started acknowledging this in 2020. We are only at the tip of the iceberg.

 

Your mother needs you to find out as much as you can about what is really happening with these drugs so you can be her advocate. You might not be able to undo the harm done, but at least you can try to protect her from further harm the best that you can. That includes from doctors who do more harm than good most of the time in benzo withdrawal. How can that be? We are supposed to trust them....the more you learn and speak with other drug-harmed sufferers the more the wool will be lifted from your eyes. You will be astonished. I know that I was.

 

Read Dr. Mark Horowitz, Dr. David Healy, and Professor Peter Goetsche, watch Jordan Peterson's story on his daughter's podcast, read his daughter's research about akathisia and psychiatric drug withdrawal, speak with Angela Peacock, and Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring, Dr. Selma Eikelenboom-Schieveld forensic adverse drug reaction expert. These doctors, researchers, and scientists are the few good ones we have at the forefront of revealing the harms of psychiatric drugs on patients and trying to establish a standard tapering protocol that does not exist. Imagine that. Doctors put people on these neurotoxic chemicals, don't know much about how they really work overtime because clinical trials only last 8 weeks, and then when a patient has an adverse reaction like your mom they don't know how to taper them off to prevent further harm. There is no standard medical protocol for safe tapering patients. There is no clinical data on treating withdrawal symptoms. People get poly drugged and harmed further in the process and traumatized on top of it all. We went in with one problem, insomnia, hot flashes, anxiety, and grief and come out with 50 more that then get misdiagnosed and treated with more harmful chemicals.

 

While we pace for 20 hours a day until our feet bleed from the akathisia they never gave us informed consent about due to their prescribing methods, they are off celebrating Father's Day in Turks and Caicos. While your mom struggles against the excruciating pain of benzo withdrawal even to the point of having to get drugs on the streets to avoid the physically uncontrollable suffering of withdrawal that her doctors don't really understand and your family falls apart, the prescribers are at dinner with their families.

 

Please understand what your mother is going through. Addiction or not.

[[Mi...]]

My heart goes out to your mother. I could tell you how horrific things can get very quickly, but I feel as if it is more useful to just focus on your current situation. How to make things better quickly. First things first, you have got to get her on a stabilized dose one way or another. I cannot stress enough how important that is. This must be done quickly because as time passes it will be more difficult to stabilize. I’m sure there is a doctor near you, maybe even a primary care physician, that can accommodate with this for the time being. Second, you have to get a solid group of psychiatrists and maybe a coach with her ASAP. Although this step is more difficult, there are options. I would highly recommend as a coach, Chris Paige. He is phenomenal. Also, although the Witt-Doerrings only operate in certain states, you can still reach out and get an initial meeting with them, potentially. Then go from there. They are extremely kind people. If your mother is taking more than she is supposed to take, you need to have someone monitor her. She CAN NOT stop taking this medication cold turkey. I’m wishing the best to you all. In my opinion, we are all in this together.

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She is 68. I do acknowledge my mothers suffering which is why my sisters and I set her up with a doctor that will be willing to taper her slowly instead of forcing her to go to rehab and pursue an aggressive taper. However, she is not doing her part. She is lying and manipulating so she can take as much of the drugs as she wants. Frankly this behavior is stereotypical addict behavior - she’s lied several times about losing the drugs or the amount she’s taking. She was prescribed 6mg and is taking at least12 mg a day! She is going to run out soon and experiences withdrawal, guess whose problem it becomes? Me and my sisters have to bail her out and spend our day stressed out and concerned while we make various phone calls to hospital staff. I do acknowledge her suffering but there has to be some level of accountability here. It sounds to me like you are proposing that she should be permitted to abuse these pills and she sees fit and I shouldn’t be upset about it.

 

Update: My mother was discharged from the hospital psych ward recently. The physician that was caring for her prescribed 2 mg of a Benzo, 3x a day for 30 days. My sisters and I thought this was good news and hopefully it could hold her over until she was able to see a physician that could taper her off slowly (she has an appointment next month). I asked her home aid to organize her pills in a pill box so she didn’t accidentally take more than 3 a day. She took the opportunity to count the pills and we realized she had been taking about 6 per day (12mg or klonopin per day) and is on pace to run out in 2 weeks. She also lied and tried to say she didn’t know where the pills were so the aid wouldn’t discover this. When we found out she began to threaten suicide. Clearly she has no ability or intention to taper herself off. I’m not sure what we’re going to do. When she runs out in 2 weeks she will end up back in the psych ward and I don’t see this cycle ending.

 

Is it possible that she is doing this because she reached tolerance and has inter dose withdrawals?

 

I guess so, but she had a prescription for 6mg before the doctor cut her off and she was able to manage with 6 mg a day at the hospital. Did she really need to double the dosage to deal with tolerance? She’s taken enough so that her speech is slurred and she’s clearly “high”. To me it’s seems like she’s taking way more than she needs to simply avoid pain and discomfort from withdrawing. She’s taking an amount that gets her high. She has no interest in tapering.

 

How old is she? I do not mean any disrespect by this comment but I understand why she would want to avoid tapering and the pain of withdrawal. Especially if she is older. Who wants to spend their last years in benzo withdrawal? The pain is nothing anyone can understand unless they have been through it. It is excruciating inhumane pain that destroys people's lives. I am living it. I know from firsthand experience. I have lost everything from taking a benzo as prescribed.

 

Please acknowledge your mother's PHYSICAL suffering. It is real. Regardless of whether she fits an addiction paradigm or not. If she has akathisia hence why she's suicidal and agitated it is the worst thing in the world to feel. It is not mental -- these drugs give people neurological syndromes and neurological dysfunctions that are brain injuries. The FDA started acknowledging this in 2020. We are only at the tip of the iceberg.

 

Your mother needs you to find out as much as you can about what is really happening with these drugs so you can be her advocate. You might not be able to undo the harm done, but at least you can try to protect her from further harm the best that you can. That includes from doctors who do more harm than good most of the time in benzo withdrawal. How can that be? We are supposed to trust them....the more you learn and speak with other drug-harmed sufferers the more the wool will be lifted from your eyes. You will be astonished. I know that I was.

 

Read Dr. Mark Horowitz, Dr. David Healy, and Professor Peter Goetsche, watch Jordan Peterson's story on his daughter's podcast, read his daughter's research about akathisia and psychiatric drug withdrawal, speak with Angela Peacock, and Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring, Dr. Selma Eikelenboom-Schieveld forensic adverse drug reaction expert. These doctors, researchers, and scientists are the few good ones we have at the forefront of revealing the harms of psychiatric drugs on patients and trying to establish a standard tapering protocol that does not exist. Imagine that. Doctors put people on these neurotoxic chemicals, don't know much about how they really work overtime because clinical trials only last 8 weeks, and then when a patient has an adverse reaction like your mom they don't know how to taper them off to prevent further harm. There is no standard medical protocol for safe tapering patients. There is no clinical data on treating withdrawal symptoms. People get poly drugged and harmed further in the process and traumatized on top of it all. We went in with one problem, insomnia, hot flashes, anxiety, and grief and come out with 50 more that then get misdiagnosed and treated with more harmful chemicals.

 

While we pace for 20 hours a day until our feet bleed from the akathisia they never gave us informed consent about due to their prescribing methods, they are off celebrating Father's Day in Turks and Caicos. While your mom struggles against the excruciating pain of benzo withdrawal even to the point of having to get drugs on the streets to avoid the physically uncontrollable suffering of withdrawal that her doctors don't really understand and your family falls apart, the prescribers are at dinner with their families.

 

Please understand what your mother is going through. Addiction or not.