Curious. If you are 2+ years out... and having issues would you consider meds?

[[cn...]]

Just curious.

 

I went on ativan 4 years ago for anxiety. I truly think I did have anxiety, but I also believed my Dr. falsley "labeled me" as having "general anxiety disorder" and handed me pills... making me feel "this is the only answer... im doomed with anxiety for life." I think a lot of Dr's do this.

 

Now I'm not denying I have anxiety. I may, and probably do have a bit of an anxiety issue, but I do believe ativan made it WAY WAY worse looking back. That's why I got off the stuff, and signs are showing that I am doing better w/out it.

 

But my question is to you all...

 

If you are off the benzo for 2+ years and you are still having psych issues... anxiety/depression issues that far out... would you then consider seeing a therapist, and considering you actually might have an anxiety and depression issue vs. saying benzo w/d still 2+ years out?

 

Let's say you took benzos for only 2 months... and 2 years out you are doing bad still... I wouldnt think you could blame benzo w/d on that? Could you?

 

I guess what my answer would be is... after even 1 year of being off my ativan... if I'm still having serious issues of anxiety that pop up... I won't necessarily take a benzo ever again... but I think I would consider more cognitive therapy and also another medication like an A/D that's good for Anxiety, like Remeron or something. I hate to think that far ahead... but I'm just thinking.

 

 

Just curious to hear what you all have to say.

[[cn...]]

I guess my question is for a lot of you: at what point in time would you consider it "NOT W/D"?

[[be...]]

cnotr,

 

I am 26 and half months OFF from a ct.  I am just now see the light at the end of this.  I still have waves at night with slight DR/mental stuff.  During the daytime I find myself still having light delusional fantasies along with moments of anxiety/depression. 

 

I will tell you that I was sooooo messed up my first and second year (psychotic episodes, mania, OCD, hallucination, etc) that this is a HUGE improvement.

 

NO.  I will NEVER take another psyc drug.  I know what i have left will eventually go away also given time.  Anything else I will deal with via therapy and lifestyle changes. 

 

Im finding that as im healing that things dont bother me as they would have before benzos.  I have different priorities, more coping skills, and generally happy to be alive. LOL    It's truly the reward for making it out of this hell drug free.  Im coming out clean, with a whole new outlook on life and a zest for living.  Whoohoo!

[[cn...]]

Yay! 

[[Be...]]

cnotr,

 

I'm going to dodge your question I guess, but my feeling is it may not be time so much as it is trend. That is, is there a decrease in anxiety while life events are stable and you move away from benzos? If so, while I think there can still be anxiety, I would relate it to benzos mostly. However, if things just seem to be the same or getting worse, I would say anxiety mostly. At the end of the day though, I for one realize that I am going to need cognitive skills to cope with anxiety because I'm wired a certain way that makes me focus on things too much. It's a great skill in the right environments/tasks but not so friendly in the wrong ones.

[[re...]]

Cnotr

so many of us are suffering here in wd that I think the question is a bit untimely. Or at least it is for me. I feel I am barely holding on at times and I dont want to even THINK about the question of "What if" down the road..... I'll deal with that if and when I get there. Right now I am benzo free and doing all I can to survive the ride after being on for 19 years and jumping off.

I drive myself more bonkers when I wonder if this is my old anxiety I had 20 years ago, or if this is wd. Its way to early to begin to sort that out.

 

If you are worried your anxiety is an issue you may want to join an anxiety forum to help you cope with that.

[[cn...]]

Benzo3 you and I might be wired the same. Lol. Im like that too. Ill think about something too much or worry myself over small things.

[[cn...]]

Recovering,  I meant no harm. It was not an untimely question for me.

[[Nu...]]

I guess my question is for a lot of you: at what point in time would you consider it "NOT W/D"?

 

Every day I ask myself this question , usually when my anxiety is highest in the AM when i first wake up or get out of bed and the "syndrome" starts, or when I am in a wave. But, I do a scan of what physical s/x I have and then say to myself I did not have these before, so this is still w/d. Therefore, the anxiety and other mental s/x of they are present are caused or exacerbated by the w/d. Meaning that my receptors, cns etc are still in a post drug-induced unnatural state.

 

So, I then can accept it is not "me" but w/d. Of course by this time over 2 years out, I have a lot of lulls in the intensity of the w/d and then I can see more clearly that it is just part of the process.

 

The other thing that I often think is how bad it was on the benzos with the tolerance w/d and interdose w/d, and the side effects. I was on other drugs, that did similar things to me as well. I also tried some drugs while I was tapering off the benzo (very quickly and erratically) and they were not helpful at all, and much more prone to intensifying my s/x and whatever side effects they produced.

 

I have been left with a very hypersensitive system as a result.

 

Soooooo, what choice do I have but to go forward, whatever quality of life I have? Yes, I cry over this sometimes and say I can't take it any more, but the fear of returning to benzo world with its tolerance, interdose w/d and side effects just is not an option. Same with the other drugs.

 

Plus, after 2 years, I finally have my memory back to a much more functional degree, as well as a returning sense of "self". How could I risk losing it again?

 

I will give it as long as it takes to recover. I decided that the measure of my recovery is returning to my baseline anxiety I had before drugs, which was WAY, Way less than it is today. And, a total absence of physical s/x I have now that I did not have at all b4.

 

Even if life is not better than it was prior to drugs, I am hoping I can wait it out until it returns at least to that place. I actually, hope it is better than it was before, since I have had to employ anxiety management techniques, and maybe they will make me more capable of dealing with anxiety etc in future.

 

As part of my path to healing, I think I will continue to try whatever coping techniques that are available to me in the meantime, and hope for an outcome that is better than I had ever hoped. It is all I can do.

 

Finally, it is really, really difficult to keep this in the forerfront of my mind esp when the fear sets in, but somehow, I manage everyday to do it at some point. As a motivator, I sometimes fantasize what I will say to all the drs who got me into this mess and perpeturated it  - as a person healed, confident who can tell them how wrong they were. Maybe it won't happen like this, by, hey, it works for me!

 

Nuala

[[Ke...]]

I can tell you that, for myself, WD has evoked all kinds of anxiety and fear in me. I am beginning to think that a large part of handling it better than worse has to do with one's ability to handle fear. Anxiety, stress and depression can, in and of themselves, produce all kinds of somatic symptoms. At the very least, anxiety will amplify or increase the symptoms one might have. So I would take a hard look at that this far out.

[[ro...]]

Hey Guys,

 

My take - 22 plus months off Ativan,anxiety yeh still part of my life,did I have some before sure but this is still much more intense at times.Yeh physc Doc said " You must have and underlining anxiety Disorder" fear can make one believe anything and seek the wrong path for a cure.

 

Here's my bottom bottom line take on all these drugs,we as humans are far better off dealing with our issues,faults,fears etc. without these types of meds,we have all become dependent on a quick cure ,a recipe for side effects no one can predict.

 

Yes mental pain in all it's forms are and can be debilitating,but a slow holistic,organic approach for mental wellbeing should be the choice route  for MOST humans afflicted.

The grand lesson is we as humans simply do not understand enough how our minds will be effected by these various chemicals,our indivual mental blueprints were not ment to be minipulated on a McDonald"s scale."One Shoe Does Not Fit All".

If we all here never had taken a brain chemical ,what I ask would be the result,a small child can easily draw a simple conclusion.

Fear is the fulcrum from which we all often make the wrong decision with dire effects,so 1 year or 2 years out when do we choose a different drug, simply doing the same thing expecting different results ,well we all know that answer.

Just an opinon, I lost my health, if I find it again I would like to keep it closer to me next time.

 

Rondo

[[cn...]]

Loved that Rondo!

[[Ho...]]

No, because I've been there, done that, and they never worked. My body is too sensitive for meds. They just end up creating problems for me.

[[ve...]]

Hi.  Am 28 months off and mostly still around forum to pay it forward to others.  However, if you read my signature, I describe myself as "95%" healed.  The final 5% has to do with some mild sleep issues, some fatigue and yes, some anxiety which I don't expect to be eliminated.  I've done the work in terms of reading much on the subject of anxiety and also apply a variety of strategies to cope with anxiety.  I find that mindfulness and acceptance are among the best ways to handle anxiety.  See "The Mindful way Through Anxiety" by Orsillo and Roemer.

 

I first took valium for (no surprise) insomnia issues and "to take the edge off" anxiety during a stressful period when my father had been diagnosed with cancer.  I agree with some of the other posts about the CNS being hyper sensitive to stress in the first two years off.  I found myself getting very revved up when things got very stressful in the last year.  Also, at about three months off valium, my system was so messed up that I got Shingles and I was in my forties!

 

I don't know if it's the way I'm built but I had anxiety of some level (above average) for much of my life.  I never took medications for it or to help it until I tried valium.  Now at just over two years, I did decide recently to experiment with a few amino acids as described in the book "The Mood Cure".  I post about some of this on my "post benzo freedom withdrawal support group" thread here in withdrawal support.

 

I am taking 500mg L-Tryptophan after dinner and 1mg melatonin before bed.  My sleep has seemed to improve the past week or so.  According to the author of "The Mood Cure", for some, the amino acids can be as effective as some of the prescription a/ds to balance out neurotransmitters (serotonin...).  I think there is no one fix.  The a/ds seem to have a variety of potential side effects whereas the amino acids seem to have fewer side effects to "worry about" .  One also needs to eat well, exercise, get to bed at a reasonable time and yes, learn some coping skills for stress and anxiety when they increase.

 

Gotta run but will check back later,

 

Vertigo

[[ve...]]

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