Announcement: Protracted Withdrawal Support

[[Co...]]

Hello everyone,

Those of you who suffer from protracted withdrawal symptoms and have been members of BenzoBuddies for some time are probably aware of the Protracted Withdrawal Support (PWS) forum we ran before we switched to the new forum software last month. As part of our restructuring of our support services, some forums (or 'boards') were archived - this included PWS. However, this was in anticipation of us providing a replacements space for PWS, making use of 'Clubs', a system unavailable to use before the software upgrade.

We have relabelled 'Clubs' as 'Groups', as this better describes how we use the feature. @[Na...] offered to lead the new group, Long Haulers. Nathan is a long standing member and is held in high regard by members and fellow team members alike. I wish to take this opportunity to thank him for taking on the role and providing this valuable support space for our longer-term members.

To locate groups: Main menu => Browse => Groups.  (We expect there to be more groups soon.)

Some members have have asked why we archived the old PWS forum. There were two main reasons. Firstly, as I have explained above, Groups offered a better way to provide support for members who suffer from protracted problems associated with their withdrawal from benzodiazepines. Secondly, the greater majority of members who recover in a relatively short period of time tend to find such discussion discouraging. So it made sense for all members to have PWS / Long Haulers spun-off into a semi-autonomous support space.

Nathan has added some group rules and advice to compliment the community's general guidelines. Once you read and agree to them, you will have access to the Long Haulers group.

For your convenience, copied below are the group's description and guidelines.

Group description:

Quote

The Long Haulers Group is for those who have completed the taper of their medication and are still experiencing symptoms beyond the 18-month mark. Most people who discontinue benzos will not find themselves struggling this far out but an unfortunate minority do. All are welcome, but those who are tapering or are early in post-benzo recovery might be better served by regular community forums.

Group guidelines:

Quote

 

 

In addition to the general guidelines of BenzoBuddies, please observe the following guidelines of this group:

• Group members are encouraged to be supportive of each other. We can disagree but keep in mind that we're all suffering in one way or another so make every effort to avoid confrontations and try not to look for slights.
• When offering ideas or suggestions, keep in mind that these are your personal opinions and generally not established facts. Making absolute statements in the absence of conclusive evidence should be avoided. If something is your opinion, do not hesitate to label it as such.
• Many of us are suffering horribly and expressing your suffering to others, i.e. "letting it out" can be therapeutic and beneficial. However, consistent and relentless negativity isn't helpful to you and it isn't helpful to other members of the group. In fact, it can be very counterproductive to all involved so please try to avoid it. This is not to say that we expect people to "put on a happy face" (there's nothing happy about being here) and we don't want people to be afraid to express their frustration and pain. But, be mindful that constant negativity is a burden on others and it tends to make your own suffering more keenly felt.

 

 

If you are suffering from withdrawal symptoms well beyond your last dose, Long Haulers might be a good fit for you.

[[sp...]]

I’m desperately looking the pws

 

board  for muscle issuses

aged lady  Spidermonkey thanks for helping me 

[[Co...]]

Hello @[sp...]

If you go to the main menu bar at the top of the page, under 'browse', click 'Groups'. You can then join the Long Haulers group (the replacement for the old PWS forum). To join, you just need to agree to the groups rules/advice, and that's it. You can post there in much the same way as you have posted here.

[[Ja...]]

Is the old PWS forum available for searching and reading?

 

[[Pa...]]

3 hours ago, [[J...] said:

Is the old PWS forum available for searching and reading?

Yes, it is. https://benzobuddies.org/forum/88-protracted-recovery-support/

[[St...]]

@pamster.  tell me if this sounds in line to you.  You have replied to me before I think.  I just been posting since Saturday when I was almost admitted to Vanderbilt psych Hospital. My first post in case you want back ground.  I went to Vanderbilt because Dr. Finlayson works there and he and a couple of his team did a lot of research and had its findings published and was in Psychology today.  So he stopped in and said he was going to a conference and would be back on Monday or Tuesday but the team would take good care of me.  I was having a terrible day.  No sleep, non of my family understood, and I was in pain my mind was so bad.  Well I have been feeling great yesterday and today.  Just at home alone, I'll get up, stay up, breathe through any stress and focus on positive things. I went back to get my 3rd dose of NAD today as well as red light therapy and feel really good.  To be having two really good days where probably 40% of the day I feel pretty normal.  Granted there is no stressors going on at all. And I had to great nights of sleep.  been off CT since July 12.  See my post.  And it's just been the best day in two months.  I really think the panic for 7 weeks of not knowing and going down all the multiple rabbit holes was really messing me up even more.  felt like my nervous system had not rested the entire time.  Now that I have given up on any help from doctors and trying my best to figure it out on my own and my psychologist I have been the best that I have been this entire time.  And I have refused any new medications that they are trying to put me on.  I feel clean and my mind feels alert.  It can quickly go to jumbled when Im stressed but only done that once today.  What do you think.  Just celebrate today but I have a long road or maybe I am on to something?

Thanks- C/T Steve

 

[[Pa...]]

@[St...], symptoms can wax and wane, we call the good times when we feel almost normal, windows, when the symptoms return, we call this waves.  I consider stress to be the biggest contributor to increased symptom severity so keeping yours to a minimum appears to be helping you. 

Learning about what has happened to you, educating yourself about this process can tamp down the fear this process creates, so I believe there are many things helping you feel better.  Will it last, I don’t know but just knowing you have the ability to feel normal in the midst of this nightmare provides hope and that’s what we cling to. 

 

[[St...]]

I’m a cleaning to it and even today while I’m facing more triggers managing the fear is really helping me.  Along way to go as far as psycho therapy for my other tramas leading up to this one will be much needed.  

[[He...]]

after a 2 year taper I've been off benzos for 80 days and I'm feeling absolutely horrible. Is this normal or am I experiencing protracted withdrawal symptoms?

[[Pa...]]

1 hour ago, [[H...] said:

after a 2 year taper I've been off benzos for 80 days and I'm feeling absolutely horrible. Is this normal or am I experiencing protracted withdrawal symptoms?

It’s normal to still feel symptoms at this stage @[He...], we typically don’t see recovery for those who’ve taken the drug long term until between 1 and 2 years. 

[[He...]]

Thank you Pamster because I've been really scared that something else is wrong. Today is day 81 from my jump off date and I'm feeling absolutely awful. I appreciate you letting me know this is normal. At what point is it considered PAWS? 

[[Pa...]]

3 hours ago, [[H...] said:

At what point is it considered PAWS? 

My opinion is after 2 years, but we’re not really calling it PAWS, the official term is now BIND.

 

[[He...]]

@[Pa...] Thank you so much for this information. I guess I will just have to give it time since it's only 80+ days. Really appreciate your insight!!

[[Te...]]

10 years ago I was prescribed Ativan for generalized anxiety disorder by a psychiatrist.  I took 2mg at night and it helped me to sleep and get through the days.  Within a year it did not work as well and the psychiatrist bumped it to 3 mg.  This cycle repeated itself and after 5 years the psychiatrist was prescribing 8mg Ativan daily and it was hardly working at all.  My psychiatrist retired and when I went to another psychiatrist he freaked out at how much I was being prescribed, told me I was an addict and needed to go to rehab.  I found a psychiatrist who was willing to work with me on lowering the dose, but there was no actual program like the Aston taper where I was introducing Valium while decreasing Ativan.  I was just decreasing Ativan on my own schedule.  I would decrease by .25mg at at a time and it would take me as much as a month to adjust to that sometimes longer.  This has gone on for years and I lowered it to 2mg, but it has been a horrible experience.  At the 2mg level, I found that if I tried to lower any more, I just couldn't handle the withdrawal symptoms.  The psychiatrist tried prescribing Lexapro in a 10mg dosage to the 2mg Ativan but with no tapering schedule.  It worsened my insomnia and made me very drugged out, so the psychiatrist switched to Prozac and that made me feel worse, so the psychiatrist told me to stop taking them and just continue tapering the Ativan, but when I stopped taking the Prozac, my insomnia and anxiety symptoms got worse and I ended up increasing the Ativan to 3mg, but it is not really helping much at all.  I am scared to go to another psychiatrist and have them give me something else.  Don't know what to do

[[Br...]]

Hello @[Te...] and welcome to BenzoBuddies!  I'm so sorry your original psychiatrist put you in this situation by continually increasing your dose until you were on 9mg of Ativan daily.  It's also outrageous that the second psychiatrist told you were an addict.  There is a significant difference between addiction and dependence but that's a discussion for another time.  I'm glad you were able to reduce to 2mg on your own.  I'm not surprised it was a horrible experience.  As your experience with Lexapro and Prozac demonstrates, it can really complicate benzo tapering when new medications or supplements are added.  It's pretty clear you became tolerant to Ativan, meaning over time your body needed more and more of the medication to achieve the same effect.  Tapering and withdrawal can be really uncomfortable no matter what.  Tolerance can add to the challenge but it can be done.  We can help you find ways to keep you withdrawal symptoms as minimal as possible and we will support you through this.

Please start your own thread on this forum and we can continue this conversation on your thread rather than on this thread.  

We're glad you found us.  Welcome!

Brighterday

[[Ka...]]

Hi Terry, what an ordeal. sorry you went through this. I believe you will succeed with the tapering despite havving not so great luck with the psychiatrists in the past.

Brighterday, the difference between dependence and addiction, now Im very interested in that

[[Br...]]

39 minutes ago, [[K...] said:

Brighterday, the difference between dependence and addiction, now Im very interested in that

@[Ka...] - Here's a link to a good discussion about this: Addiction vs. Physical Dependence

[[Ka...]]

8 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

@[Ka...] - Here's a link to a good discussion about this: Addiction vs. Physical Dependence

👌

[[PE...]]

On 24/10/2023 at 21:24, [[P...] said:

My opinion is after 2 years, but we’re not really calling it PAWS, the official term is now BIND.

Last time i CT 7 years ago i was totally fine after 2 months. I had only been on it a few months but huge doses. The wd was not fun but quick.

 

 

[[PE...]]

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=6c34e3870d90d338&sxsrf=ACQVn087im-NCAM1T0PXxmZ6WxZPq4Ttdg:1713667897715&q=Is+pregabalin+stronger+than+gabapentin&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikn7myptKFAxX2SPEDHWZNC5EQ1QJ6BAg0EAE&biw=384&bih=779&dpr=3.75

[[PE...]]

It says around 150mg pregabalin is like 900mg gabapentin. 

 

[[Ev...]]

No idea how this works any more as far too complicated. Where are those still not recovered and over 13 years off?

[[...]]

@[Ev...], hello and Welcome (back (?))) to BenzoBuddies!

I'm not sure how it works since i'm not 13 years off yet. You can ask for help at the Help Desk. I also can try to find out the information and come back to spill it to you.

Have you filled in your history in your profile (3 stripes, upper right)? It'd be very helpful. Good luck to you!)

[[or...]]

39 minutes ago, [[E...] said:

No idea how this works any more as far too complicated. Where are those still not recovered and over 13 years off?

I think that's the Long Haulers Group, here's a link, and welcome to BB, glad you are here, oregonlady

 

[[er...]]

I'm 12 months out from. My last dose.. is it to soon for me to be considered in protracted withdrawal?