one year anniversary

[[ph...]]

I can't believe it!!! March 11th was my one year anniversary of being COMPLETELY DRUG FREE!!!! :yippee: I haven't posted since September & things are so much better than they were then. At one point I was taking 7 or 8 drugs & I was close to losing everything I cared about-wife, children,job,self respect etc. I am actually enjoying life most of the time now!!! I am doing things & accomplishing in ways I thought I never would again! I am not symptom free yet as the healing can take up to 18 months but I clearly see improvement on a weekly basis. It is frustrating at times because this process is not linear. Some days I can be feeling really good & some days are extremely difficult. The difference now however is I know the difficulties will always pass.Sometimes it lasts minutes, sometimes days & sometimes hours. Sometimes the same day can go back & forth. I AM ENJOYING LIVING AGAIN!!!! I AM DRUG FREE FOR ONE FULL YEAR!!!

 

I am posting today because I want to give encouragement. I was as bad off as any of you. YOU CAN ALL DO IT TOO!!! YOU CAN HEAL!! TIME AWAY FROM ALL DRUGS BRINGS THE HEALING!!! I know it's not easy but your life is worth fighting for!!!! I know this is not a religious forum but absolute faith in G-d goes a long way! I never thought I would be writing these things. G-d bless you all & especially those who founded & keep up this website. You have helped so many! I never would have made it w/o your support & the two previous (now defunct) benzo groups I was part of.

 

I want to answer your questions so ask away. Keep fighting. Think back a month or a year ago & know that you are that much better off if you are on your way to getting off these horrible drugs!

[[Ga...]]

Hi,

Did you have the inner vibrating? If so, when did it go away?

Thanks for any advice.

[[ph...]]

That wasn't one of my symptoms but it is certainly noted by others & seems to be a product of w/d

[[Fl...]]

Congratulations to you! And thanks for coming back to say you were out living life. It gives us all hope.  I also appreciate the addendum on another thread about sugar.  I'm more tempted by sugar now than ever before.  It's good to know it's worth resisting.

 

I hope you have a beautiful benzo free life! 

Flip

[[...]]

Hi. Did you have head buzzing/tinnitus? When did it go? When did the insomia go?

Thanks,

Bear

[[br...]]

This is awesome of you to do. Kudos for sticking around to help people.

 

I'm having a ramp-up at 9 months off. (Or 10 depending on how you do the math.) 

 

Do you recall having any issues around that stage before turning better? I had seen a much better run for the prior 90 days leading up to that.

 

I've heard the term "extinction burst" used. Did you find that to be the case as far as any bad, later waves?

 

[[...]]

http://img-s3-01.mytextgraphics.com/sparklee/2012/03/15/109a9f0e79ac4498b456b4f2517738bd.gif

 

http://www.freesmileys.org/custom/image/rolleyes%5E_%5Earial%5E_%5E0%5E_%5E0%5E_%5EThanks%5E_%5E.gif for stopping by and offering words of encouragement.

 

Hope you continue to see much improvement.

 

width=186 height=66http://www.freesmileys.org/custom/image/white%5E_%5Earial%5E_%5E0%5E_%5E0%5E_%5EHappy healing.%5E_%5E.gif[/img]

[[pa...]]

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S!!!  A    N E W.  L I F E  F O R.  Y O U!!!

[[ph...]]

I did not really have any head buzzing. I had & still continue to have on certain days, the tight band or headache feeling. I also had & still sometimes experience a feeling of my brain being hot. The complete insomnia is mostly gone with the occasional night or two in a row where a thought keeps me up the entire night. Most nights I manage to sleep 4-6 hours (which is a big improvement)I often have intensely weird dreams & I haven't reached a stage yet where I sleep comfortably consistently. Once again I want to stress what an improvement this is. I can even get sleep when a thought has started to bother me right at bedtime(although those are usually my poorest nights).

My attitude is if you had given me this a year ago I would have taken it in a heartbeat! MY WORST DAYS NOW ARE BETTER THAN MY BEST DAYS OF A YEAR AGO!!!!

Keep fighting & try to live your life as much as you possibly can even though it can be difficult at times!!!!

[[ca...]]

Hey. Maybe you can help me. I'm getting to 11 mos. klonopin free, and about 2 months off other drugs. I'm now able to do some things I wasn't before -- like getting out of the house, walking, visiting, talking. But my bad days drive me crazy. Did you ever have days where for a few minutes you feel better, but then when you start to do something back comes a symptom: either achey, fatigue, anxiety, nervousness, weird feeling inside my body, etc. I thought I was over the fatigue, but now it's cycled back in. Last week I was saying that if I only had bad hours or minutes from here on, life would be manageable. But this week I've had 3 bad days. Can you talk about how you convinced yourself you were getting better when your symptoms weren't "linear"? Were you like this 11-mos off benzos? Now that I can walk and talk again, I want to be doing more. But days of changing symptoms all day long, or returning symptoms, gets me REAL AGGRAVATED.  I want to know what to expect next month, etc. And WHEN I will get to where the symptoms are manageable. I'm a negative thinker anyway, so I tend to welcome and believe thoughts like: my recovery will take 3 years. I'll never make it, etc.