Getting safely off tranquilizers
By
Jack Hobson-Dupont
Essex Press –Nantucket Mass.
USA
2006
Reviewed
By Leon Hanson
This volume is more than a well written easy to read account of an individual’s journey to escape the grip of unintentional benzodiazepine addiction. This is also a story of the discovery of the methods and support systems needed to help the body and mind free itself and recover. In addition, the book explores the factors that contribute to the widespread use and over use of this class of medicines in the United States and indeed throughout the world.
Like so many, the author was the innocent victim of a “well intentioned doctor prescribing a drug in order to help someone,” resulting in a multiple year odyssey of addiction and withdrawal from the hell of benzodiazepine dependence. After a long period of use of a prescribed anti depressant and then Xanax™, the author, like over 50% of longer term (four weeks or more) benzodiazepine users, started having unexplained symptoms. Even though he was no longer using the anti depressant his condition worsened as the months went by.
Unable to work or maintain a normal routine due to his increasing level of incapacitation, the author engaged in a desperate search to find an explanation for the frightening, painful, and debilitating symptoms. Searching the web, the author finally found multiple sources of people who suffered similar symptoms citing the work of Doctor Heather Ashton of the United Kingdom, a highly respected psycho-pharmacologist and probably the worlds leading expert on benzodiazepine withdrawal.
As he read The Ashton Manual which is available online, the author was horrified to learn that he was indeed addicted to Xanax™, the drug that his doctors told him was relatively safe to use with a low probability of dependence. The manual revealed that one milligram of Xanax™ is chemically similar and equal to 20 milligrams of Valium™.
He was familiar with Valium™, a drug that was introduced and widely prescribed in the 1960’s and 1970’s before it was realized that it was addictive and more difficult for many to kick than heroin. Stunned, he read on to discover that there was no magic cure or pill to help in withdrawing off Xanax or any of number of similar drugs ( i.e. Ativan™, Klonopin™ Dalmane™, Mogadon™ …..) that comprise the family of tranquilizer drugs known as benzodiazepines. Dr. Ashton’s many years of dealing with patients revealed that the only way to safely withdraw was to crossover to Valium™, which has a more gradual elimination from the body and then to very slowly taper down over a period of time. In the case of the author, it took two years of suffering.
The author explains in detail with illustrations how Benzo’s impact the entire nervous system causing an unbelievable myriad of severe physical and emotional reactions for those who build a tolerance to the drug. It is this pervasive and persistent impact on the nervous system that makes getting off the chemical so difficult and causes symptoms to persist for some people years after the drug is discontinued. It is also why slowly tapering over time is the safest way to go. Going cold turkey is never recommended. It can be such a shock to the entire system that many people who unknowingly try this method wind up being hospitalized.
The author was committed to weaning himself off the drug. Armed with a copy of The Ashton Manual, Mr. Dupont went to his doctor to persuade him to prescribe the Valium™ that would allow him to proceed with the Ashton protocol. Fortunately his doctor agreed and the very long and difficult road to recovery began.
In addition to the Ashton protocol and the support of his family, the only thing that helped the author through the darkest periods of the long taper/ withdrawal was daily contact with the community of fellow and former sufferers that he communicated with via an internet support group. Indeed it was this family of like suffering individuals that provided his “salvation” and provided him with an outlet to communicate with those who truly understood what he was experiencing.
Inappropriate serious anxiety, insomnia, depression, memory problems, and a host of physical problems characterized the author’s experience in getting off the drug. Counter to normal logic, as the amount of benzodiazepine in the blood stream diminished some of the symptoms increased and became more severe. Few doctors, unless they are very familiar with the effects of the drug, would ascribe the combination of symptoms to the process of withdrawal. Daily web contact with his support group allowed the author to understand what was happening and helped him overcome the difficulties he encountered.
How could this all happen? In taking a wider view Mr. Dupont explores the factors impacting medical treatment in America. Busy well intentioned doctors who are not totally informed, combined with market driven drug companies and government agencies under pressure to approve treatments seem to produce a system where patients must take a greater role in their own treatment to avoid becoming accidental addicts or victims of the side effects of long term use drugs.
Using examples of other drugs and reviewing changes in the American Healthcare Industry the author raises a number of thought provoking issues about the consequences of the current system. Implicit in this discussion is that ultimately it is the patient consumer who must become much more involved and better informed before giving their informed consent to any treatment protocol.
For anyone who is or knows someone considering withdrawing from a tranquilizer, this volume is a must read. It provides a wealth of information to allow a reader to make a more rational and informed decision as how to proceed. Benzodiazepine dependence and addiction is a problem throughout the world and needs to be more widely recognized and understood. Mr. Dupont’s book makes a contribution in both raising the awareness of the problem as well as shedding light on the causes and possible solutions.
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