I am starting to create short videos of me discussing “all things benzos,” from deciding to taper, tapering, cold turkeys, and being benzo free and coping with symptoms. I will also address how to talk with family, friends, and medical professionals about benzo withdrawal. I invite you to reply with topics you’d like me to discuss. You can leave a comment on this blog post, or you can reach me via email or here, via the contact form. Thank you so much for the ideas and suggestions. I want to series to be as helpful as possible.
Thank you for doing this. I am 4 years benzo free. I took .5 Klonopin for 10 years at night to sleep. My biggest difficulty has been awful head pain, squeezing, shifting, at times down my neck, at times feel like a cap of discomfort inside my head etc. I don’t read much about continuing head pain. It is become much better but still can occur. I even had an MRI recently to make sure my brain was ok… it was. Just another Benzo effect. I would love if you could talk about this in your videos. Thank you so much for all you do!
One topic I have experienced is insomnia mixed with extremely horrifying and vivid nightmares that shake me
To my core. This has been one of the worst symptoms along with the high bp at 31 years old.
Those are disturbing symptoms. Thankfully, they do go away.
Thanks for the suggestion. I will do my best to cover it. The head symptoms can be very unsettling and take some time to settle down. But they do. Keep going. You will get there. One day at a time.
Something about the impact of withdrawal on women’s health would be great. I’ve read a lot as I’m slowly tapering off of valium and many women report severe menstruation-related issues withdrawing. I’m getting tested for PCOS, endometriosis, Ovarian, and UT cancer. No family history of any of this. Never had any menstruation difficulties but as I just turned 50, its all gone nuts. My Dr cannot explain it. Withdrawal and perimenopause or withdrawal and attempting to fall pregnant whilst experiencing withdrawal would be a worthwhile issue. Endocrinological issues also impact the psychological impact. Look forward to this series thanks Jennifer.
These issues would be great to study and blog about. I’ve noted them for future reference. Thank you!
So many women have hormonal problems. I had my uterus removed (Late 30’s) because of the benzo I was on. I was most likely already in menopause when I started tapering (then cold-turkeyed) off my benzo, so I can’t speak from a lived experience of the effects on menstrual cycles, but my female clients have shared with me, and many of them have problems.