I’m sorry you’re going through such suffering, I can’t understand why you were so abruptly taken off your meds after so many years and such a high dose…did you’re doctor retire without helping you to find another doctor or were you forced into a rapid withdrawal? It’s just a horrible thing to hear this and you are obviously very strong but still you deserve help, if you’re unable to find someone yourself then perhaps there’s people here that will be able to assist you with getting the well needed care that you deserve. I hope that your message will get other people on board to help you out, I wish you the very best of care and good health

I’m so sorry this is happening to you! You absolutely deserve much better treatment than you are receiving. What city do you live in? I can probably find someone who can help you.
Let me know,
Mery

I have been told it is downright dangerous to stop benzodiazepines abruptly. People even go into hospitals or rehabs for this. Some doctors will say "cut in half and then go off." They just don't seem to know much about this. A pharmacist would.

I would take months to get off 15mg. The hardest part is the last 5mg.

If you had just stopped I would have said check with your doctor about going back on and then tapering. After a year and a half I have no idea but your brain is still asking for it, it sounds like! Can you talk to a really good psychiatrist?

Thank you for your comment.
If it were my decision I would still be taking the diazepam. Unfortunately it was not. Every expert I have spoke with says my brain chemistry will never recover. I was taken off the diazepam after a massive back surgery while being given hydrocodone for pain management. The hospital doctors and staff made the decision to stop the diazepam against my neurosurgeons' standing order. It was then restarted just before I was discharged only to be stopped permanently four weeks later by my PC physician. I almost died from seizures during that two month period. I was left wishing I had.

@rgtaylor I suspected this was the case: doctors pressured and red flagged for prescriptions that were common 30, 50 years ago. Basically MD's addicted you and then when protecting themselves by stopping the Rx's, exposed you to potentially life-threatening effects.

This is not your fault obviously. It may feel stigmatizing but I do believe a rehab or addiction specialist could help you.

I know that when people get off alcohol, they are prescribed benzos short term. When they get off heroin, they go on methadone. Prozac helps with withdrawal from other SSRI's. On this forum we are not expert enough- or most of us aren't- to make specific suggestions but believe there is help.

You have been wronged. This is happening to others, for sure. I am also wondering if there is a group or forum for this situation. You need and deserve relief!

Do you have a doctor now? If so tell him you’d like to try propanolol. It's a beta blocker that can really help with anxiety. It’s helped me immensely. Other than to reinstate, probably wouldn’t work, there’s really not much you can do except ride it out. Doctors need to start being held accountable for doing this to their patients.

We are finding out the hard way that many, maybe most, doctors don't know how to taper their patients off of these types of drugs. Dr. Josef who operates a tapering clinic to have very helpful videos, this is one of them https://youtu.be/QiyaPfzeACs Maybe you can find a clinic near you that can help.

We are finding out the hard way that many, maybe most, doctors don't know how to taper their patients off of these types of drugs. Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring operates tapering clinics and he has some very helpful videos, this is one of them https://youtu.be/lLzeUFUXrfQ Maybe you can find a clinic near you that can help.

Is Gastonia any where new Raleigh-Durham - The Research Triangle. I would strongly suggest that you seek expert care at one of those facilities. I would have also hired an attorney (Do no Harm - it's in their Oath) For a physician to discontinue those particular medications without the assistance of a psychiatrist/pharmacist and attempt a taper is unconscionable when there is medical information both professional and in lay terms how dangerous it can be to not be conscientious in dose reduction. I really get very concerned and upset when I hear things like this have happened. I am so sorry that you had and are having to go through this!

Yes, a general practitioner or psychiatrist is probably your best bet.
There are so many new drugs out there that they can find something for you.
I take both an anti anxiety & an anti depressant & have for 20+ years & our
family doctor said he would find something new if either began to give
me problems. Keep looking for a physician that meets YOUR NEEDS!