My Success Story! : )

[[Ne...]]

Neighbor Bob here, and here is what it has been!

If I make it until April 23rd soon I will be sixty eight years young. I worked as a Union Offset Journeyman Lithographer, specializing in the field  of Graphic Arts for twenty seven years with the same Iowa Printer. The whole time I dipped my hands in solvents and breathed them daily. On Friday June 5th 1998, I was overexposed to a bad aromatic solvent, and medically retired at age forty two until present.My diagnosis was Toxic Encephalopathy, (or drain bramage from chemicals), MCS  (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) also called TILT or (Toxic Induced Loss Of Tolerance). Kinda like the boy in the bubble thing, in that I developed extreme chemical sensitivity. I was also diagnosed with chronic fatigue, and Fibro as well as peripheral and optic neuropathy. Thee brain-scans showed up to 30% of my left front temporal lobe went bye bye! Also Glutamate increases to both frontal lobes, a decreased blood-flow to the right side of my brain, and a broadening of the NAA Peak (whatever that is)!

I state the above to let you "know" that I know what brain damage feels like, and Benzo withdrawal feels way different.  Both are no fun, but the brain injury was more of a permanent thing, whereas the Benzo's was not for most all others. After my solvent exposure and losing my great paying job in 1998, I had "TERRIBLE " insomnia. Prior to the solvent exposure, I had no problems with anxiety, insomnia, depression, anxiety or anything else. Between the years of 1998 to 2,000, I averaged two and a half hours of sleep a night. Finally, my Neurologist tried putting me on .5 MG's of generic Klonopin once a night at 10:00 pm for sleep. For a few weeks I was getting like seven hours a night and was Sooooooooooo happy!  After a month or two my sleep tanked again, so of course he raised me to 1 MG, then in another month 1.5 mg, then 2 mg's! I think you see where this is going? I stayed at the 2 mg's a night for almost the next fifteen years. My sleep settled in at around five hours a night, which is not near enough for me.

So one day in 2014 or so I decided why not just get off the Benzos, as they didn't seem doing me any good? I printed out Dr. Ashton s taper schedule and gave it to my family Doc, who was a lot closer than the Neurologist that prescribed it. I tapered pretty fast with a dry taper. I had my Doc switch me from 2 mg's of Klonopin to it's equivalent in Valium of 40 mg's. About every four days I would break a 5 mg in half and make a cut. I did this because every time I cut I had two main symptoms, severe anxiety and raging insomnia, and on that fourth day I felt a little calmer. I had my mind made up at that point, that I was getting off that drug ASAP. When I got down to about 4 mg's I traded my 5 mg Valium in for the scored 2 mg the smallest tablet. At 3 mg's things began to get rough, so I held my cuts like two weeks at a time. Finally I was breaking the 2 mg's in half, and then quarters. When I was at 1/4 tab I would take it every day, and then every other day, and then every third day and finally I thought I was FREE from Benzos! I guess I expected to not sleep well for a couple of weeks, then I would be Ok (yea right)!!!    Imagine my surprise when I only got 2 1/2 hours of sleep again for the next 2 1/2 years!  I had a very bad protracted withdrawal. I probably had well over one hundred symptoms. I email Benzo Buddies cuz I could not get joined up, it was too hard. Somebody wrote me, but I still could not ever figure out how to join so I winged it all my self. I started watching a few vids of others suffering the same fate. I kept hearing of "windows and waves". All I ever got was waves and worse waves, no windows EVER!

At about two year and three months things ramped up overnight to OMG! I had surged and gotten  much much worse like 1,000%. This surge lasted a full month and a half. Like most. I felt so very damaged, I won't belabor you with the symptoms I had. But they were somewhere between absolute insanity and some kind of freak, sadistic clown show.  I was sure I was going to end up in a rubber room wearing a a straight jacket drooling my life away. About a couple weeks before I healed my symptoms got even worse. I had raging tinnitus, air hunger, night terrors, and myclonic jerks.  About a week and a half before I healed I had the mother of all myclonic jerks. It stiffened me out like a board after jumping me like a foot off the bed. I though I broke all my teeth and my spine, and it scared the begeebers out of me.  I stayed that bad for another week and a half. When I went to bed the last day of August 2017 I was worse than I had "EVER" been. I kept dreaming of healing, but never really thought I would.  I went to sleep that night like 10:00 pm as usual. But I did not wake up at 1:00 in the morning as usual. Instead I woke up around 8:00 am the fist day of Sept. 1997., a day that will live in infamy.

When I first woke up, I remember my first thought was "something is way different". That something, was total and absolute internal peace and calmness.  As I reached for the bedroom doorknob and slowly twisted it. I walked out to the kitchen to see my wife doing dishes. I told her "IT"S OVER"!  She said what's over, and I told her I was 100% well, and I swear it seemed like all of that horror never happened to me, like it was a bad dream or something. Or me recollecting of falling off my bike when I was five. I could remember " absolutely everything" I had suffered. But I was amazed that I was literally unscathed emotionally about the whole ordeal. I thought for sure I was going to have PTSD from it (which I had for three years after my solvent brain injury).

When I emerged from that bedroom, I remember how mentally locked on I was. I could see a fly out of my peripheral vision on the wall 20 ft away! I could hear birds singing, see the tree's blowing. I felt so very normal and alive I could not hardly believe it was real. Somebody asked me later was I worried it was just a window, and I was like, no as I never had one so I just figured I was 100% healed! As the days went to weeks and months it proved that I was healed.

Before I started tapering off Benzo's I made a YouTube channel about my very first extended water fast in around 2014 that lasted 21 days with no food and just distilled water. Then I went on to become and avid water faster. One of my vids about parasites in a water fast hit like 317,000 views. But I made vids on my lifelong passion of "all things health". It was not until couple of months after healing I thought to just put one vid up about my Benzo journey.  It was only then I realized I was not alone in my journey. Many people from all over the world started reaching out to me sharing their stories, and I have made many Benzo buddies in the past almost seven years. I have seen many people heal in all stages of withdrawal, short timers to long haulers.

My story I believe is quite unique,  as I have never to this day heard of anyone healing 100% overnight, but that is exactly my story. So, no matter how long you have been going, or how bad you have become. I am here to tell you that it can all literally change in the blink of an eye. Keep your eye on the light at the end of that very dark tunnel.  I have not made any YouTube videos in over four years. As we moved to our forever dream home right off the bank of a 5,000 acre reservoir in NE Central Misery in Feb of 2020. Now I spend my Winters bird watching, and summers fishing on the many lakes that surround us, and spending time with the family.

About two years after I healed from Benzo's I suffered a bad black mold exposure, and have some RAD and fibrotic  lung trouble. But everything else is fantastic! Physically and mentally I feel better than I did when I was twenty three. My mind is "WAY" better than it ever was on the Benzos! I now can take supplements again, (something I could not tolerate at all in withdrawal).  I have heard many others that healed, say they went on to live their best life, and that will be "YOU" if you just never lose hope, and keep on wading though Benzo withdrawal. I sincerely wish you all the gift of healing very soon, and seeing you go forward to live your best life. I hope in some way my story has inspired you, as much as it has inspired me.   Love and light...........  Neighbor Bob 

[[ma...]]

Hello, neighbor Bob, I just read your story on a gray day and it gave me a good shot of hope.I am 23 months old, I only have insomnia left, but it is a terrible insomnia, I have a few 4-hour days, most of them are 2 hours.But it was not always like this, in fact some time ago it was the other way around the majority of 4 and if someone was bad the next day it was 4 Now it's a setback, I hope that means I'm going to heal, hopefully.Congratulations and thank you very much for remembering those of us who continue in this torture.I hope you continue to enjoy your new life and that it is a long life. Thank you.

[[...]]

Hey Bob,

I’ve watched all of your YouTube videos over the years and it’s fantastic to see you’re still doing well. I just hit 2 years and 3 months and I’m in a huge wave right now. I’ve never had any windows just less crappy days. I keep hoping that my healing is like yours and I just wake up some day and feel recovered. Anyway it’s so good to hear from you!

[[Ne...]]

6 hours ago, [[m...] said:

Hello, neighbor Bob, I just read your story on a gray day and it gave me a good shot of hope.I am 23 months old, I only have insomnia left, but it is a terrible insomnia, I have a few 4-hour days, most of them are 2 hours.But it was not always like this, in fact some time ago it was the other way around the majority of 4 and if someone was bad the next day it was 4 Now it's a setback, I hope that means I'm going to heal, hopefully.Congratulations and thank you very much for remembering those of us who continue in this torture.I hope you continue to enjoy your new life and that it is a long life. Thank you.

Hi Marisa, glad that it inspired you some. I plan to do a post  when I get time in the natural treatment heading about insomnia. I have virtually suffered with it in some form since 1998. There are a lot of natural things to take the edge off that I would l like to share with you and others. Your day of healing will come, and you are in a very good time-frame that many heal in, as far as the 23 months. Start looking forward to your new life, where you will be even a better you!      :  )

[[Li...]]

Bob,

How wonderful and encouraging your story is... Thank you for sharing!! 

[[Ne...]]

Thanks Lisaloo, you will be another success story soon, just give it time.   :  )

[[ro...]]

Big Bob. I know this story! Glad to know you man.

Talk to ya.

matt.

[[wi...]]

@[Ne...]Thank you so much for sharing. Sending thoughts of love and gratitude your way.

you gave me the strength to make it one more day.

Edited February 14 by [wi...]

[[ma...]]

6 hours ago, [[N...] said:

Hola Marisa, me alegro que te haya inspirado un poco. Planeo hacer una publicación cuando tenga tiempo sobre el tratamiento natural sobre el insomnio. Prácticamente he sufrido de alguna forma desde 1998. Hay muchas cosas naturales para aliviar que me gustaría compartir con usted y con otras personas. Tu día de curación llegará y estás en un período de tiempo muy bueno en el que muchos sanan, hasta los 23 meses. ¡Empiece a esperar con ansias su nueva vida, donde será aún mejor! : )

Hello neighbor bob, I would love to read your posts, thank you very much.May God listen to you and see a new life soon.Thank you!!

[[Ne...]]

Marisa habla Espanol? You tengo mucho amigo's quien es Latinos, de Espana, Chile, Guatemala y Mexico tambien, pero mi Espanol es muy malo!   jajajaja!  Es posible para mi hablar espanol meijor que escribir lo.  Es posible para mi entiendo Espanol cuando personas habla muy despacio para mi entiender.   :  )

It is jusy easier to use a translator!   LOL!

[[Ri...]]

Neighbor Bob,

WOW, what a great testimony not just with the exposure to toxic chemicals, but the recovery from benzodiazepines. Are you as positive about life as your post seems to convey. You are truly an inspiration to me. Thank you for typing out your experience, sincerely!

🙏Rich

[[ma...]]

2 hours ago, [[N...] said:

¿Marisa habla español? You have much amigo's quien es Latinos, de Espana, Chile, Guatemala y Mexico tambien, pero mi Espanol es muy malo! jajajaja! Es posible para mi hablar español mejor que escribirlo. Es posible para mi entiendo español cuando personas hablan muy despacio para mi entender.   : )

¡Es mucho más fácil utilizar un traductor! ¡JAJAJA!

Hello, neighbor bob!! If I am Spanish, here I am talking to you on another horrible night.I am using a translator!! 😅

[[he...]]

Only halfway through reading your post, but i had to reply to you not being able to sign up with benzobuddies, lol i had the same!!! it took well over a week for me. Because the old website had a few steps and things you had to do and i couldnt do it, my brain was too messed up and i felt too horrible to focus for that many minutes and steps lol. then i finally had signed up and they asked me to put my history in the signature and that took me another bunch of days. omg it was bad in acute.

Edited February 15 by [he...]

[[Ne...]]

I never could figure out how to get on Benzo Buddies, I was in real bad shape when I tried. The other day when I joined it was Soooooooooo simple. I thought I must be that much smarter now. Thanks for dashing that for me by telling me they made the process easier!   LOLOLO!

[[ge...]]

Incredible. Thank you for sharing. So you recovered from the solvent damage AND the benzo damage?

[[Ne...]]

Pretty much, I have some manageable deficits from my solvent damage. But the Benzo damage healed overnight 100%

[[Kl...]]

Neighbor Bob: 

Your news regarding your instantaneous healing is fantastic!!  Did you do any type of chelation therapy for the solvent toxicity?  I have just been dx'd with high levels of lead and barium and I feel like I have some encephalopoathy going on too.  Also any foods high in glutamates sends me over the cliff!!  My peripheral neuropathy is persistent.  I was on Clonazepam for 15 years, 2mg a day for the most part.  I see lots of similarities in our history.

I just wonder if there is a connection to my long haulers  BZW sxs.  I'm set to start chelation therapy next week and am eager to get started.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Congratulations, again, on  your amazing recovery.  Have a wonderful life.

Klonkar

[[Ne...]]

After my solvent injury I jumped right into a lot of infrared sauna, which helped me a lot (even in Benzo withdrawal). My solvent injury that retired me for life was in 1998. Along about 2001 my Iowa Neurologist told me about the dangers of so called "silver fillings" which are about 50% mercury. I had ten big molars filled with them. I went to a Holistic Dentist,m and over a six month period I had two removed each month. Then I chelated myself pretty much with bowel tolerant doses of ascorbic acid, Chlorella, and cilantro which crosses the blood brain barrier.

      I don't know if you are still in withdrawal from Benzo's, but if you are I would wait to do most of this, except the sauna is fine now. Detoxing heavy metals by itself can be very hard to go through. When I got all those amalgam fillings, gold and mixed metals out of my mouth. I went from 222 lbs down to 160 lbs. And I look like a crack addict at anything under 170 lbs. 

     But after you heal from Benzo's all these things can help supercharge your health for sure, as they have mine. 

[[Je...]]

Neighbor Bob, I'm 68 years old and and 53 months off meds from a rapid taper of one month. 

Each day I struggle and lost faith in God and healing. Many symptoms have healed, especially the seizures and myoclonic jerking.  The remaining symptoms are challenging. I guess I'm reaching out to you for encouragement. It's hard to keep going each day.  I would appreciate a few words of wisdom or encouragement, if you're able. Thank you so much.

[[Pa...]]

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

Neighbor Bob, I'm 68 years old and and 53 months off meds from a rapid taper of one month. 

Each day I struggle and lost faith in God and healing. Many symptoms have healed, especially the seizures and myoclonic jerking.  The remaining symptoms are challenging. I guess I'm reaching out to you for encouragement. It's hard to keep going each day.  I would appreciate a few words of wisdom or encouragement, if you're able. Thank you so much.

Hi @[Je...], if you need support and encouragement, it would be better to start a thread of your own.  Success Stories are reserved for celebrating the accomplishment of the original poster.  Some questions are acceptable but shouldn't stray too far into support, that's what the rest of the platform is for.  Thank you. 

[[ma...]]

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

Vecino Bob, tengo 68 años y llevo 53 meses sin tomar medicamentos después de una rápida reducción gradual de un mes. 

Cada día lucho y pierdo la fe en Dios y la curación. Muchos síntomas han sanado, especialmente las convulsiones y las sacudidas mioclónicas. Los síntomas restantes son desafiantes. Supongo que me estoy acercando a ti para que me animes. Es difícil seguir adelante cada día. Agradecería algunas palabras de sabiduría o aliento, si puedes. Muchas gracias.

Hello Jellybelly, I'm sorry that after so long you are still suffering.What symptoms still persist?I am 56 and dealing with severe insomnia.Cheer up, and may the force be with us.

[[Ma...]]

Neighbor Bob…I’ve always believed in miracles and it sounds like you experienced 1! I couldn’t be happier for you!

And thank you for the hope you’ve give to the rest of us!!!

[[Ne...]]

Just wait for your miracle dear, it will come when you least expect it, mine did.  

[[TH...]]

Hi, I'm currently tapering and really struggling with chronic fatigue. What other symptoms did you suffer with alongside the fatigue? Mines chest pain mainly. Can hardly walk down the road.

[[gu...]]

Neighbor Bob, I have watched your YouTube video many times about the final surge before healing, so I am familiar with your story. Even tried sending you an email.. Unfortunately, I am much much farther out than you were, seven years… But having the worst waves ever only now. So I think of you and your YouTube video has brought me great comfort, thank you for posting.