Benzos suppressing sexuality

[[An...]]

Hi buddies, I know this is more of a support group for symtoms, but I don’t know. Delete if it’s not aloud. I have suffered addiction for 6-7 years since I was 21 i  am of a religion were being gay is forbidden, I am now sober for the first time in many years. I don’t feel like I am straight, I have been inlove with a female before ( me female ) and have also dated males. Could the Benzos have been suppressing who I really am this whole time? I never knew what I was running from. Again being gay is strictly forbidden and will break my family, I am a female and not sure what to do, could my brain chemistry be altered during withdrawal and I’m feeling this way? Or is this who I am 

[[PE...]]

Well yeah it suppress everything else so why not?

[[Bu...]]

Hi @[An...],

I think that this question, like all of the other serious life questions, might be something that may need some more time and healing and pondering before deciding what's what.  It's really hard while in withdrawal to separate out our feelings, preferences, etc with so much turmoil going on in our bodies and brains.  

If you believe the other tenants of your faith, then it might be helpful to talk this over with whoever is your faith-leader.  They may have insight for you that you haven't thought of.  I appreciate that this may put you in a difficult spot with your family, but I think it might be more important for you to be clear about what you actually believe regarding your faith and then you can move forward from there.

[[Mi...]]

13 hours ago, [[A...] said:

Hi buddies, I know this is more of a support group for symtoms, but I don’t know. Delete if it’s not aloud. I have suffered addiction for 6-7 years since I was 21 i  am of a religion were being gay is forbidden, I am now sober for the first time in many years. I don’t feel like I am straight, I have been inlove with a female before ( me female ) and have also dated males. Could the Benzos have been suppressing who I really am this whole time? I never knew what I was running from. Again being gay is strictly forbidden and will break my family, I am a female and not sure what to do, could my brain chemistry be altered during withdrawal and I’m feeling this way? Or is this who I am 

Gay male here. I am unsure if addiction has any affect on perceived sexual orientation. Nonetheless, I would suggest looking up “sexual fluidity”—research generally shows that women are more likely to have a change in orientation over time. 
 

Anecdotally, I’ve known quite a few people that have come out a bit later in life.  Sometimes people don’t realize they have opposite sex attraction until later in life. I could see addiction possibly suppressing you processing that earlier in your life. 
 

Also do not forget that sexual orientation is on a continuum—some people are exclusively attracted to the same sex, opposite sex, or are somewhere in the middle. There are many people who have experimented with persons of the same sex who do not identify as gay. 

Take this time to reflect on yourself and come to terms with your orientation and what that means for you. As the previous post stated, your brain is not in the best place to be processing this, but I wish you the best of luck in your journey to find your preference and that you can rectify that with your religion. 

Edited July 21 by [Mi...]

[[Le...]]

17 hours ago, [[A...] said:

Hi buddies, I know this is more of a support group for symtoms, but I don’t know. Delete if it’s not aloud. I have suffered addiction for 6-7 years since I was 21 i  am of a religion were being gay is forbidden, I am now sober for the first time in many years. I don’t feel like I am straight, I have been inlove with a female before ( me female ) and have also dated males. Could the Benzos have been suppressing who I really am this whole time? I never knew what I was running from. Again being gay is strictly forbidden and will break my family, I am a female and not sure what to do, could my brain chemistry be altered during withdrawal and I’m feeling this way? Or is this who I am 

I doubt benzos supressed anything but going through hard times makes you question a lot. Maybe questioning your cultural conditioning is a good thing. Any belief system that teaches hate for such petty reasons should be questioned.  

I would recommend not making any big decisions while recovering though. You will deal with it much better when recovered whatever your preference may be.