On Tolerance Withdrawal..

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..I had a question come to mind, my own question, is what exactly happens during a Tolerance Withdrawal?  I wondered because I was obviously very deep into Tolerance wd sxs for many years before I got to BB.  I was given 1 mg, and only remember 1 time I had a script written and it said 1-2 tablets a day as needed.  That had to have been in the 1990s.  I rarely used an extra, just stuck to the 1 mg as I just felt it was enough for me.  I had no idea some of my symptoms could be because I wasn't taking more.  I'm glad I was ignorant of that now, and just felt it was me, and the trauma I had experienced but I would get better one day.

If someone is in Tolerance Wd's, I don't understand why it was so horrific when I tried to get off the C many years ago, did a CT, then later in years a doctor tried tapering me but I see now he was tapering me too fast.  I can only guess that the pill was no longer doing what it was supposed to do, but it was at that point all it did was cause more damage.  I guess my inquiring mind just wants to know why this damn drug stopped working, but yet it is left to just cause more damage?

Thanks to anyone wanting to help me out with this, especially so if I see others wondering, I can explain it since I really don't know much about it even though I know it wrecked me for a lot of years.  I do know I am VERY lucky I didn't end up on more meds, and I am grateful, it's just something I've never gotten into, and don't really understand it, Denise

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I never truly understood using the terms tolerance and withdrawal together as is mentioned often on these forums. 

Nevertheless, tolerance is when the same dose that you've been taking no longer has any therapeutic value or benefit.  Meaning, it no longer provides any relief and in order to obtain that relief, you need to take larger doses of the medication.  Translated: The drug simply stops working.   

Withdrawal is when you start taking away any amount from the dose your body was accustomed to receiving. 

And finally, interdose withdrawal is when you start experiencing withdrawal symptoms during the period of time between your scheduled doses. 

It seems to me that you probably reached tolerance to the dose you had been taking.  For some they can take the same dose for years and have no problems at all.  Yet for others, they can build a tolerance to it within a few weeks.  Everyone is different.  And to complicate matters, some can abruptly discontinue a benzo with no issue whatsoever, start it again years later and then have a heck of a time getting off of it.  I know people who were prescribed Ativan or Valium, and took it for several months or years, and just stopped with no problems whatsoever.  Others who took it for only 2 weeks and had to taper off of it for almost a year due to side effects.  It's bizarre and baffling.