A busy mom walked into her doctor’s office after not sleeping for 3 nights. She had a neurotoxic reaction to an antibiotic that caused insomnia, muscle pain, stiffness and akathisia. Ten minutes later she walked out of the office with a prescription for sleep called Ativan, a medium acting benzo. The doctor said it is Just a Tiny Dose and sounded close enough to the name Ambien which she had heard so many people take. He said “You need this to heal from your antibiotic injury. You are one of the unlucky 2% of the population this happens too” When she picked it up from the pharmacy, she saw red flag number #1, co-pay $2.72. This was the least amount she had ever paid for a prescription. Then she noticed red flag number #2, “Take 3 times a day.” She thought, 3 times a day for sleep? Unfortunately red flag #3 came too late and 3 strikes out meant almost losing her life.
This mom took a benzo for 4 nights for sleep and when she stopped she had severe withdrawal. tremors, nightmares, panic attacks, which she had never had in her life, nausea, dizziness, heart palpitations, cold sweats, burning skin, blurry vision, worsened rebound insomnia and a feeling of emptiness that would equate to being dropped into the vastness of abyss. Completely unhinged and free falling. She didn’t even take the medication 3 times a day. She took it only once at night for those 4 nights, but that was enough to cause withdrawal from them when she stopped. 3 weeks later, she found herself getting sicker and sicker. After losing 20 pounds in those 3 weeks and handfuls of hair in the shower, she decided to take a benzo to try to sleep again and guess what? She slept.
When she woke up she felt somewhat normal. Unfortunately, two hours later all of the symptoms started back again and she realized she had been in withdrawal this whole time. That is when she turned to the internet and discovered the benzo epidemic that has been not only overshadowed but complicated the opioid epidemic. The only difference was the 85,000 people on a forum called benzo buddies were people who took this medication as prescribed and were helping each other tapering off of them because their doctors did not know how to help them taper off. She repeatedly read the words warning- do not stop cold turkey or you can die from a seizure.
A new nightmare began for her as her symptoms continued to get worse. After meeting with a doctor that understood what happened to her, she was advised to reinstate the benzo and taper slowly. This meant tapering for at least 5-9 months. The side effects were sometimes worse than the withdrawal or same as the withdrawal symptoms which made it very confusing. She couldn’t see up from down. She became very weak and experienced the blackest chemically induced depression one could possibly imagine. By the grace of God and the help of other survivors, her life was saved and she recovered completely. Others have not been so lucky. Some have developed Benzodiazepine Induced Neurological Disorder (BIND) where these symptoms similar to autonomic dysfunction persist even after they complete their tapers for months to years.
On September 23, 2020, the FDA finally placed an updated black box warning on all benzos for the risk of severe can withdrawal after taking the medication as prescribed for several consecutive days. With benzodiazepines being the number one psychotropic drug prescribed in the United States with millions of people taking them, patients and their doctors are in a vulnerable situation.
Just a tiny dose continues to be the most dangerous words spoken these days. The prescription that took a year of this mom’s life was Ativan .5mg 3x a day is actually equal to 15 mgs of Valium a day. Now who would agree that is a good idea? Just a tiny dose is a dupe on us all and it’s time to wake up. People have lost decades thinking they had some other neurological disease when it was the benzo that was making them sick all along and sadly some people have lost their lives completely. Check out Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, Inner Compass and Mad In America blogs for more stories and testimonies.
Benzo withdrawal has been described as walking on a tightrope that is on fire, but I will tell you this. Once they get to the other side, they have backbones made of steel and nothing ever scares them ever again. They are some of the most inspirational people I have ever met alongside people living with chronic pain.
