Posted by viridis on October 27, 2002, at 1:00:20
In reply to Re: Evidence Please!! Squiggles,,, posted by hiba on October 27, 2002, at 0:49:33
Hi Hiba, Squiggles and co.,
I had an interesting experience a few months ago. I decided to go off Klonopin for a day after having taken it for several months. As the day progressed, I got more and more anxious -- not unbearably so, but it was very unpleasant. Finally, I took some Klonopin and felt normal again.
I was still in the "don't want to get hooked" phase, and reported this to my psychiatrist the next time I saw him. He asked me a simple question -- was the anxiety worse than what you experienced before taking Klonopin? I said no, it was about like what I'd often felt before, but it was very disturbing. His response was that of course it was disturbing, but he asked me again, was it worse or different than what you've experienced before? Again I said no, quite honestly. And I realized (without him having to tell me this, although he did) that I'm an anxious person who doesn't like being anxious. Did I experience withdrawal? I'm not sure, but it brought home the point that I'm much better with Klonopin than without -- I'd just forgotten how awful anxiety can be.
I wonder how many people in "withdrawal" are just returning to their pre-benzo state and find it very upsetting.
That being said, my pdoc definitely believes that these drugs can cause medical dependency, and advocates a slow, supervised taper if one chooses to discontinue their use. But it did make me question just how common or severe "withdrawal" from benzos is, and how to distinguish it from a return to an intolerable condition. I have no doubt that for some people, withdrawal from benzos (and ADs etc.) is very serious and creates effects that are worse than the initial condition. But what proportion of people on the anti-benzo sites are just going back to an intolerable "ground state"?
By the way (Squiggles) -- your posts to me have been very reasonable, helpful, and understanding, so I don't mean this as an attack on you. It sounds like you're someone who really did have a bad reaction, and you have much longer-term experience with benzos than I do. I just wonder about the points I've raised above.
poster:viridis
thread:124171
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021025/msgs/125393.html