Please!!! I'm in distraught I need answers.

[[st...]]

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I'm very concerned and confused. How would someone know if what your dealing with is do to GAD or Benzo withdrawals.

I was dealing with anxiety and emotional pain in April 2023. I new that therapy was the way to go. I didn't want any drugs in my system or body. I had started my therapy March 2023. I had called Dr and told him I would not be taking the medication. Unfortunately I never threw it away, big mistake. My husband felt that I should try medication. I kept saying "no no no"  that's not what I need. Fast forward April last week my husband kept insisting and insisting to take medication. I don't know why I listened maybe I felt pressured. Anyway I took paxil 10 milligram for 3 days. Then I said to myself " what am I doing I don't need or want to take this" anyway I stopped after 3 days and I felt sick, weird like darkness came over me, I told husband to take me to hospital, I try to explain to Dr what had happened. They didn't listen to me because they didn't believe me that I felt sick after I stopped medication. They put me in mental ward, and I was given Benzo Ativan for 2 days. Then they sent me home with Lexapro, I took for two weeks , felt sick, went back to hospital, they gave me more Benzo. I was taking Benzo from April 2023 to September 2023 . I was taking it off and on in total 60 times Ativan 0.5 miligrams. I went back to hospital and told them that I think it's Benzo withdrawals because I felt crazy every time I would stop taking after a week I would  have anxiety through the roof, panic,dread, crying uncontrollably, light  sensitivity noise sensitivity, suicidal thoughts, depression, paranoid, agoraphobia, extreme insomnia, no personality, not feeling good emotion, I was none functional at all. ECT . This are things that I wasn't dealing with before. I'm totally not same person I was before medications. 

Anyway the third time I went to hospital I explained everything they say medication doesn't cause withdrawals it's just your preexisting condition or anxiety,but I never felt this symptoms, before taking the awful medication. I mean I was dealing with anxiety and emotional pain,but it felt more normal , I was actual human dealing with what life throws at you . 

Anyway like I said I went to hospital the third time and they said I'm dealing with General Anxiety Disorder. 

What is the difference between GAD and Benzo withdrawals. Please I need opinions and help🙏🙏🙏😢

Edited May 27 by [st...]

[[jo...]]

The symptoms you are dealing with sound like benzo withdrawl. The fact that they present after you stop taking the medication also suggest strongly that thats what you are experiencing. You can become physically dependent on these medications in as little as a few weeks so you have been taking them more than long enough to become dependant.

Unfortunately a lot of doctors are ignorant to this syndrome and it is really common for them to tell you it is a return of underlying symptoms. This is very rarely the case.

It sounds to me like you are going through the acute phase of withdrawl which is the initial and most intense phase and I have experienced all of the symptoms you mention.

It is a very rough experience but I got through it and so can you. it doesn't last forever. Try to explain to the people closest to you what is happening to you so they can support you through it. You could maybe show them this site as all the info on what you are experiencing, and will experience can be found somewhere on this site. Stay strong there is a way through this. I'm sure others will be along soon to advise on your options. If you havent been off the medication to long you may still be able to taper.

Edited May 27 by [jo...]
wrong info

[[Le...]]

a very similar thing happened to me. even the diagnosis. 

[[jo...]]

Hi, reading through your post again I think I'm right in saying you've been off benzos since September 2023 is that right? if thats the case then maybe going back on and tapering is not your best option. If you've been off since last year it might be better to keep going. It's rough but it gets easier in time. It definitely sounds like withdrawl to me though I wouldn't listen to what that doctor is telling you.

[[Wh...]]

From what I have experienced going back on just made things worse, ping ponging it confused my brain

[[st...]]

19 hours ago, [[j...] said:

Hi, reading through your post again I think I'm right in saying you've been off benzos since September 2023 is that right? if thats the case then maybe going back on and tapering is not your best option. If you've been off since last year it might be better to keep going. It's rough but it gets easier in time. It definitely sounds like withdrawl to me though I wouldn't listen to what that doctor is telling you.

Yes I was given Benzo in hospital after I stopped paxil and paxil made me feel off and sick. I specifically said no Benzo. Then Drs said "I have something to calm you down." I must have not heard him say it was Benzos ,so I took it. Then my husband saw that they would calm me down. I must have taken Benzo twice in hospital, after that I said no more Benzo. I was trying to explain to my husband the dangers . He would not believe me about Benzo. He said" Drs say it's ok, Drs know best take Benzo take your Benzo." I think after the  2 Benzo I took in hospital, I felt that I was already having some withdrawals, so my husband would see that I was bad and he would see that Benzos had a calming affect. My husband would tell me" your wrong take Benzo take Benzo"  I was already bad by this time. He would say "take Benzo or I'm sending you back to hospital mental ward." I never wanted to go there again. For like and hour he would tell me take Benzo , I felt depleaded and I would give in😢. so yes I took Benzo from April 2023 to Sep 15 2023. I didn't take them daily. It was off and on between those 5 months . I would take it for a week then stop. I would say in total I took it like 60 70 times . I wrote it down in my note book. My husband would be happy every time I took it because he would see it would calm me down. He believed the Drs. I kept saying they make things worse, but he would say no no it doesn't , it's just your old anxiety coming back.🙏 Drs would  say same thing. I took one Benzo in March 2024 because I was so desperate it was Klonopin 0.5 miligrams . Before that it was Ativan 0.5 miligrams.

Like I said , I was dealing with situational anxiety and emotional pain from what I had gone through in life, before I took those evil pilI. I new that I never needed medication, I needed therapy for the anxiety and emotional pain. The reason I was having anxiety was do to people and a silly mistake I made all I had to do is confront people and talk about the mistakes that I made, simple as that. I wasn't depressed and I could still function in life, I could laugh, joke, sleep like a baby, run my errands, enjoy a nice day out , had my personality, could feel peace and good emotion. Sure I had some bad days, but I always came out from them. Over all I just new that therapy was the way to go. I made the worst decision of my life, listing to husband when my gut feeling was telling don't take them. I had even started therapy in March 2023. Before I took those pills. 

Edited May 27 by [st...]