Beating Benzos

A safe environment for hope and inspiration for healing.

This site was created to provide information, help and encouragement for those who have been prescribed benzodiazepine drugs and are in the process of tapering from these or have already withdrawn. It is hoped you will find support here to plant your own seeds of recovery.

My Story

I started my journey on Nitrazepam, a benzodiazepine prescribed by my doctor for sleep problems, nearly fifty years ago. This is my story and how I am slowly conquering an intense and difficult withdrawal.

Rosalind

My Story My Drug History

Blogs

Everything has its Time

It's now over eight weeks of the worst wave I’ve experienced throughout all this and I think the light is dawning and sunshine is finally breaking through the clouds! I don’t want to say too much at this moment as I’ve tempted fate before and found myself in darkness again. Better to enjoy the moment and rekindle the hope within me.

Happy 2nd Benzo Free
Birthday

Yes, it’s arrived today. I woke up knowing something was hovering at the back of my mind then the light dawned, its November 22nd and two years ago I finished with Nitrazepam and any other Benzo for good or so I assumed.

Hope

Hope is a powerful adjunct to healing. To hold on to hope and to send our brain only positive images of recovery helps it to normalise. Constant negative thoughts can only lengthen the process and make waves even more unbearable.

You are welcome to join the Facebook Groups Beating Benzos (Hope and Inspiration), Symptoms Support (for symptoms discussion) and Protracted Withdrawal (for those over 18 months off). The groups are private so please log into Facebook with your account and request permission to join. When accepted into the groups write a brief history of your own journey with benzodiazepine drugs so you can be welcomed. There are several experienced Admins to help you.

Information and Inspiration

Protracted Withdrawal

Symptoms Support

A Glossary of Terms

Addiction….having no control over taking a drug and craving more. A disorder of the brain’s reward system which causes compulsive behaviour and repeated desire for the stimulus in this case a benzodiazepine. Maybe the result of using benzos recreationally and not as prescribed.

What’s Happening?

It’s interesting to have an explanation of what’s happening to us in Benzodiazepine withdrawal and I’ve chosen this one as it's reasonably explicit without over-blinding us with Science. It's quite long but I’m reluctant to leave anything out that may help understanding.

Tapering Safely

Tapering is recommended for people who have been dosing these drugs for longer than four weeks. Obviously it should be possible to taper more quickly after a short time but gradual dose reduction is essential, preferably following a taper plan. The plan can be changed in response to uncomfortable symptoms and doses should decrease in a hyperbolic way, that means the decreases are not all the same as this would produce a linear decrease.

Possible Symptoms

Please rest assured that nobody will have this vast list. I'm including it for reassurance if you have a strange symptom that may be worrying you. Always consult a doctor if you have any concerns.

Healing and Coping Hints

Recovery from benzos isn’t easy for many people but it is doable with understanding and with a good plan in place that will guide you through. Without an action plan to follow you may lose your way and return to square one which is something to be avoided.

Food and Diet

I’m making food and diet a separate page from my Recovery Blogs as I think it’s such an important subject in Withdrawal. I can’t offer advice on what we should or shouldn’t be eating as I only know what appears to have worked well for me.

Supplements and Other Medication

I’ve written about supplements in withdrawal before but there still seems to be some confusion about what we can and can’t tolerate. I’ve selected a few here to try and give a brief explanation of why they should be avoided. These are the most common supplements and herbs that people ask about.….

Friends, Families and Carers

To accept the withdrawal process is difficult. Those who've never experienced its intensity and the length of time it takes for the Central Nervous System to heal can only imagine the hell that sufferers have to endure. Imagination is weak compared to reality.

Success Stories

Joanne’s Story Ok, I've waited 3 weeks just to make sure it wasn't another short-lived window and that another huge wave was just around the corner to take me out again... But I'm now 6 months and 3 weeks off valium. I CT'd late last year, kindled a few times afterwards with various doses, whilst I scrambled around helplessly with no clue as to what was happening to me, took a final dose in mid-Jan when I discovered I was in PAWs.

Words of Hope

This page includes poems, texts and other inspirational messages written by survivors of withdrawal. My grateful thanks to everyone for messages of hope to help us though this nightmare. Please send me any poems, prose, photos, art work or inspirational messages to add here. Thank You

Benzo Books

Books for information regarding the dangers of prescription drugs and mixing these.

Or email at support@beatingbenzos.com