Dangerous drugs

A nightmare battle with the dangerous drugs Klonopin and Xanax

 

Hi,

It was late 2006, living in NYC with no history of mental anything, physically fit, active, healthy, social and happy! 

Somehow I went from that to being on benzos and in absolute hell for about 8 months.  This is how it all started:

The first two months on .25 xanax for sleep (thanks noisy neighbors)  I went into interdose withdrawal on these within a few weeks of taking them.  I was so sick and started running to doctors and specialists getting tested for everything under the sun.  I never abused these pills.  Often taking less then the .25 that was prescribed.

No one ever even considered the benzo.  In the meantime one doctor switched me over to klonopin for what he decided was anxiety disorder.  After one month on klonopin and a ton of side effects I realized it was the benzos making me ill.

I tapered directly off the klonopin and it took 5 months.  These pills are horrendous to taper from and I had alot of withdrawal symptoms.  None of my doctors believed any of it was withdrawal.  They believed I had developed major anxiety disorder and depression almost over night and started throwing psych meds at me to try.  All of which made me even sicker if that could be possible.  I never lasted more then a few days or weeks on any of them.

I cannot believe I survived the whole nightmare.

Here is a list of withdrawal symptoms I had pretty much on a daily basis throughout the taper and some for several months afterwards.

Ear popping
Ear burning
Swollen glands
Sore gums(this was a sx that actually went away as I got lower on my dose)
Wheezing(this also was a sx that went away when I got lower)
Constant runny nose and other asst sinus problems
Weird bulging vein thing especially in my hands
Very low temperature
Anxiety-racing thoughts etc
Depression-deep dark black pit of benzo hell depression-suicidal thoughts, feeling of impending doom, irrational fears and thoughts, paranoia etc etc
Dp
Dr
Random muscle pains
Weight loss
Very dry itchy skin
Dry mouth
Chills
Hair loss
Insomnia and all that comes with an hour and a half of sleep a night for months(dark circles under eyes, weakness, fatigue, exhaustion, etc)
Unable to sit still-constant pacing
Chest tightness & Cough
Menstrual problems
Dizziness
Clumsiness
Weird eye twitch (they gave me celexa and I tried it for 3 wks mid taper..The celexa turned the eye twitch into an entire facial twitch..nice huh? oh also on the celexa all I did for those 3 weeks was sit on the couch and stare out the window in some kind of fog while sobbing..gotta love those AD's really helpful LOL)
Blurry vision
Light sensitivity
Forgetfulness (no short term memory)
No concentration-could not watch tv, read etc

At one year off those all for the most part were gone. 

Its been 2 years since I finished my taper and took my last teeny tiny speck of pill and its strange, because it feels like that whole mess happened to someone else.  But it didnt.

I am happy to say I am my old self now(just smarter!) and have my life back but it was a long road back.

I can only hope that doctors stop prescribing these very dangerous drugs and that people do all the research they can on these pills before they fill that script. I wish I had.

By T