Hi, I’m a Trainee Counselling Psychologist at the University of East London researching people’s experiences of ongoing healing from benzodiazepine physical dependence, withdrawal and/or protracted harm.
The aim is to explore the ongoing experience of healing and find out what people feel helped them to come off and stay off benzodiazepines and what, if anything, has helped/is helping them toward regaining a subjective sense of wellbeing. I would also like to hear people’s views on what they think services to support people with physical dependence and harm in the UK should look like or include. The interviews will take place on Microsoft Teams (a video application similar to Zoom).
I am looking to involve people who:
- Are age 18 and over
- Live in the UK
- Took prescribed benzodiazepines continuously for at least one month
- Successfully stopped taking benzodiazepines at least one year ago (you do NOT need to be symptom-free or no longer experiencing harm from benzodiazepines)
- Who withdrew from benzodiazepines only at the time (not tapering/stopping multiple medications at the same time)
- Do not feel that they are currently struggling with other prescribed medicines
- Do not feel they are struggling with misuse of recreational drugs or alcohol
- Would not find it too upsetting to talk about their experience in an interview
Your privacy will be fully protected. Your name or any identifying information will not be included in the research findings.
If you are interested in participating or have any questions, please email me on u1928290@uel.ac.uk. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have. If you know anyone else who might like to participate, please feel free to share this text and my contact information.
Thank you very much and I look forward to speaking to some of you.
Aslı Anık
I’m not in the UK, but I’ve been off clonazepam for 3 years after taking it for more than 15 years. It was a nightmare.
I have been on zero for 9 years.I had a terrible relapse from B vitamins after 4 years.Still severe symptoms !!!!
You might find my blog https://recoveringfrombenzos.blogspot.com/p/home-page.html relevant. I can send you a .pdf copy if that would help.
I’ve been on diazepam 10mg (40 per day) for almost 20 years and I was also prescribed Clonazepam 2mg X 3 or 6mg/day for 6 years. I started having inter-dose withdrawals about two years into this saga and one time I tried to withdrawal cold turkey from clonazepam and for those two weeks I preferred death to living. I have never experienced a drug that is so harmful yet it is scheduled 3 or 4 in the USA. These inter-dose withdrawals are sinister and will plague you until you are able to connect the dots and identify as being benzo dependent. I’m afraid like with the Opioid epidemic caused by big Pharma that this dynamic will be applied to those who are benzo dependent. Already many insurance companies and doctors will not prescribe benzos with opioids. Within the next few years if the DEA starts forcing people and doctors to cut down on their benzo consumption, then people will finally learn the truisms about benzodiazepines.
Like many others there were so many odd withdrawal symptoms I spent needless money on cat scans, MRIs, emergency room visits until I read a book called “Death Grip.” This book mentions the “Ashton Manual” by the author who recounts his personal hell with trying to get straight answers from the medical community and his plight with the recovery from benzodiazepines.
Since 2018 I’ve gotten off clonazepam 6mg/day but I continue on with 40mg of Diazepam per day, otherwise I would cease to function and would have to go onto disability. I’m not ready to pursue this path so I’m going to continue taking smaller doses of diazepam via tapering to prevent withdrawal symptoms. I’ve already prepared for the future because when it’s my time to go, I plan on consuming pentobarbital to have a peaceful exit instead of suffering needlessly. However I realize that at this point in my life (I’m almost 45 years old) and I don’t want to live the remainder of my life being a servant to benzo’s protracted withdrawal symptoms. The side effects alone would cause me to take my life because suicidal ideation is prevalent for many people as a side effect when tapering or withdrawing.
Hello Mr. Lee … try a gradual taper schedule like I’m on. I weigh a standard tablet … a 2mg diaz tablet made by Accord weighs 175mg +- 2mg. Then cut your dose down every 10 to 14 days by weight until the next 10 or 14 days doses.
Keep a daily record of all doses and you’ll see over the months the progress you are making.
I use a very high quality scales made by “On Balance” … cost around £30 or about $42 I suppose.
You can experiment with the 10 to 14 day reductions … I cut down by 2mg in weight every 10 days but if you’re on a higher dose than what I started on (5x 2mg tabs daily) you may be able to cut down by a higher amount in weight of the tablet.
It seems you’re on 4x 10mg tablets a day. Weigh a single 10mg tablet …. let’s assume it weighs 200mg (in weight, not dose) … You could try reducing by 5% to 190mg after 10 to 14 days… 5 times a day for 10 or 14 days (period to be established by your reaction) … then next lot of doses after 10 to 14 apart, 95% of that which is a 5% reduction and = 180mg … and so on. You’ll need to experiment with the % reduction and the period between reductions.
Good luck … I wish you well!
Hello Mr. Lee … try a gradual taper schedule like I’m on. I weigh a standard tablet … a 2mg diaz tablet made by Accord weighs 175mg +- 2mg. Then cut your dose down every 10 to 14 days by weight until the next 10 or 14 days doses.
Keep a daily record of all doses and you’ll see over the months the progress you are making.
I use a very high quality scales made by “On Balance” … cost around £30 or about $42 I suppose.
You can experiment with the 10 to 14 day reductions … I cut down by 2mg in weight every 10 days but if you’re on a higher dose than what I started on (5x 2mg tabs daily) you may be able to cut down by a higher amount in weight of the tablet.
It seems you’re on 4x 10mg tablets a day. Weigh a single 10mg tablet …. let’s assume it weighs 200mg (in weight, not dose) … You could try reducing by 5% to 190mg after 10 to 14 days… 4 times a day for 10 or 14 days (period to be established by your reaction) … then next lot of doses after 10 to 14 apart, 95% of that which is a 5% reduction and = 180mg … and so on. You’ll need to experiment with the % reduction and the period between reductions.
(I take 5 doses per day .. you take 4 doses so we are different in this regard.)
Good luck … I wish you well!
I take 5 doses per day … you seem to take 4 doses, so stay with 4 and ignore where I say take 5 doses per day, that is what I take. Everything else I have said in my previous post stands. Seeing the dose going down every so often (10 to 14 days perhaps … even a little longer?) is very encouraging. As you get lower and lower you may need to cut down on the percentage of reduction (4% … 3%?)
What I’ve described works, though not perfectly (nothing is perfect) for me. It MAY work for you too but you need to prove that. I hope it does … but weighing the tablets is a good way to reduce … for me anyway! (By the way, use a wide opening nail clippers or a tablet cutter to cut the tablets and a fine file to get the tab weight correct … I use the file on a Swiss Army knife)
Good luck!
Hello, … many, or at least some experienced clinicians of various types, disagree with some of what Prof Ashton has written and I’m with them.
We all should know, roughly speaking, what the half-life of Diazepam is but I believe, as do those I have referred to, that it is the efficacy of the drug which is the important factor, not its half-life. By that, I mean the length of time the drug has a significant and calming effect on the body … where withdrawal is kept to a minimum.
I have found that this ‘efficacious’ period is around 5 to 6 hours, so in my withdrawal programme I take on average, 5 doses per day, it does go down to four on occasion considering there are 24h in a day of course.
Prof Ashton suggests, for example, if a person is tapering from 10mg per day, to take the 10mg once … perhaps twice daily. This doesn’t work for me.
The studies she has made involved a small number of people and I believe had they been much larger that her findings may have been different.
I weigh my 2mg tablets on a good quality scales and I am reducing very slowly indeed. A 2mg tablet weighs 175mg +- 2mg. I am currently on a dose (in weight), of 78mg which is 0.88 of one mg … as said, 5 times per day … I maintain each 2mg (in weight) drop for 10 days before stepping down so I’ll soon be down to 76mg in weight, five times per day.
This works for me, but not perfectly it has to be said … but we are all different of course.
Hi
I am 26 months off Diazepam and still having withdrawal symptoms, some have gone but others remain , I had no support from my gp , he actually asked me how I was tapering !!! He had never heard about the Ashton Manual . I had support from BAT and BTP both in Bristol, both charities to support people coming off this poison. It’s a hard long road !
Hi, I am 16 tears off and still have protracted w/d sxs, usually ramped up by stress. I also became very informed on the subject y other sufferers on Benzoisland (now discontinued) and eventually became a moderator on this forum. We were the blind leading the blind but our mutual experiences confirmed papers written by Professor Heather Ashton.