So glad that she has gotten through 4 years off and is feeling better! Maybe not perfect yet, but glad she is able to talk with you and give the rest of us suffering as well some hope!
Great interview! I also have PTSD and was prescribed 3mg Xanax daily in 2010 for several months. I started having panic attacks and severe neurological issues. They pushed anti-depressants on me as well and it made me way worse. I saw so many Dr’s and specialists and none of them believed I was in benzo withdrawal until recently. I was CT’d 3 times and did one slower taper, but had to reinstate due to akathisia. It’s 2024 and I’m on my 5th try and am now micro-tapering. I’m also recently recovering from 5 years of mood stabilizers that caused drug induced lupus. I have agoraphobia and a million other symptoms. I’m under the care of a Dr. and am doing CBT, but these Dr’s really have no clue of the damage these drugs actually cause. Thanks for giving me hope because I definitely need it!! ❤️🙏🏻
Thanks for such a great interview Angie. Wish everyone got informed consent. I went through withdrawal to and believe I have been left with some PTSD following what I went through. I never had trauma before. Had to go back on my antidepressant but I’m determined when the time is right to try again with a proper taper. Yes these medications can help some people but I agree and stand by 100% that withdrawal is a thing and it needs much more recognition. I work in Psychiatry and will spread awareness wherever I can. We need to know the risks involved as well as benefits and people need to be given informed consent. Well done Angie for all you do.(without sounding patronising) 😊
Great interview. I’m also a short termer (Benzo only for four months and a one month taper). And everyone told me it would be over in a couple of months. lol. Over seven years and getting stronger and better but wow, it’s a heavy price for a few months. Love your story Katherine, especially that you are fostering. ❤❤
@@McStorch0 I’m so sorry short term affected you this way. It is very heavy. I’m thankful you are getting better and stronger though! Onward and upward! And thank you for the kind words ❤️ fostering has been so rewarding. And a heartwarming experience that I feel has aided in my healing once I felt strong enough to take on such a task.
Omygosh Angie when you said "You can go outside and not worry if the sun is burning you".. that hit me so hard because I have developed this stupid fear ( one of many) of the sun and air quality...it sometimes makes me worry if I'm truly gone insane or not. Thankyou for helping me not feel so alone in this scary situation❤
I had a fear of breezes! The wind rustling through trees would scare me. It’s just the fear center on overdrive like Angie said. It’ll go away in time ❤️
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share a bit about my story Angie! This community needs hopeful interviews like you’ve been doing. I still have some symptoms, but there’s only about 8 remaining from the 100 I had. It’s so immensely better. Maybe it would be cool to do an update in a year or so! And I hope you all will forgive me drinking my water and tea all through the video ☺️ the smoke from wildfires in my area have my throat so scratchy. Also if anyone is interested I have a public playlist of somatic practices on my channel here that I use and still do to this day. Love and healing to you all 💛
@@healing.buddiesI was still pretty unwell at 9 months. Probably a 2 or 3 around then for me. I had dozens of symptoms still, but they slowly started fading away. I have about 8 left out of over 100 symptoms! It does get better! Just keep on keeping on ❤️
Very helpful interview! Time is the healer! So encouraging to keep going, as if we just pass the time, healing is inevitable. But the healing that has happened with time, can be relapsed? There may be some setbacks or waves, but that is different issues. I am now almost a year off, I have no confidence over my mind , and scared about as it is a non linear process.
Excellent video and very helpful for me at 39 months off. Thank you so much, Katharine and of course Angie. You confirmed my belief that the "slow burn" of doing practices like tapping, meditating, etc will add up in the process. It seems imperative to me since I don't take meds or use supplements for relief. These things can't hurt, I don't think so why not keep "doing our time" while employing them? Again, great conversation.
Am I kindled if I was given 20 tablets of ativan 1.25mg then 3 weeks break given 20 1.25mg tablets then a break of 3 weeks given 50 1mg tablets then a break 4 weeks given 1 mg 50 tablets..... Finished ended up in ER 7th day given 10mg valium 2 months then 5mg 2.5. Months. Now on 3.5mg valium Is this kindled? I was diagnosed with BIND 3 months into valium taper. I'm.up to 3.5mg valium taper....and suffering Panic attacks Anxiety Dpr Sweating bed out Depression But no where near as bad as the akathesia 24 7 first 12 weeks stopping lorazapam and thr insomnia diarrhoea shakes convulsions
Thanks Angie for these interviews. I might not finish them in one go as my brain finds it tiring but appreciate seeing others experiences on these pills and the aftermath.
I m now at a point, where i also agree with that the time is the most important healer. You can try as hard as you want, but you can't speed up the healing of your brain and nervoussystem after psychmed harm! At the end you have to trust the human spirit and DNA that it will restore your system! I often tell people that if you pull at the gras it doesn't grow faster anyway! I pushed my self often so hard to speed up the healingprocess! I often pushen too hard too soon! Now i m 21 months off benzos cold turkeyed and i m still very harmed! In my waves i often think that i might be mental ill but in Windows i m 100% sure that its mainly a physically injury! I m so motivated to get the best Version of myself! I want to get the strongest, calmest, wisest, fittest and healthiest Version of myself if ever been! I can't give up, i love the life!
You can push when you are ready and not a moment sooner! Hopefully i m on my last stages of my injury and can experience a rapid exponential healing after i reach my last window! From the point on where i don't get any waves again, give me 3-6 other months and i think i could make massive improvement!🙏
Hi Angie, I’m nine month’s off Effexor myself and making progress . I was on it for nearly 30 years so it was a mammoth decision to come off. I’ve linked into a couple of your group sessions and had a 30 min 1 to 1 with you ….i think it was in May. Would be happy to do an interview with you at some stage if you were interested in that..but no worries if not. Gillian
Oh wow aren't you amazing ❤. I haven't ever known anyone who came off after 30 years as i am. I am on 28 beads after 4.5 years tapering effexor. A ny chance you live in Canada and like to share? Ty
43:00 It’s like the ultimate exposure therapy all at once. You’re faced with the hardest thing imaginable and it’s almost like a cheat code for everything below that. Forced to address everything whether you like it or not. Like a clean slate of a new life. This experience sucks and shouldn’t have happened to any of us. But the ONE good thing is it provided this level of self reflection that nothing else could produce.
I had that as well. It was a difficult symptom for me for about 2 years. I lost the loving, joyful feelings. It was really tough and I struggled with it a lot. Especially regarding my senior dog I had. I felt so bad that I felt no connection or good feelings. Happy to say my ability to feel love joy and pleasure returned for all things and for my dog.
I am in WA state and possibly looking for someone to go to a doctor with me, as I am extremely doctor-phobic. How long are you in Oregon, Angie? I will try and make an appointment with you to speak about this. Thank you.
I’m in WA now and heading back to OR. My schedule is already booked out several weeks so that wouldn’t be possible to me right now at this late notice. I’m so sorry.
@@AngiePeacockMSW iv had morning dread for 17 months and iv started having like adrenaline surges (feels like too much and im going to have a heart attack or something it lasts for ages and then my body shakes inside ) iv had some new experiences and talked about abit of trauma what happened so im just wondering if this could be some kind of release or are my dopamine and cortisol sorting themselves out ? It just feels like my waves are lasting so long and are super intense and i feel like its never gonna end . If you do too much can this cause flare ups ? Or new relationships ? Could it be my nervous system just trying to regulate new experiences and trying to process the old? . This wave lasted for so long and i couldn't get my head back on my shoulders its so hard !
I'm having a hard time going through withdrawals. I took 25mg of Zoloft for 2 months and then I quit cold turkey. It's been 3 months since I quit and I'm still suffering from withdrawal symptoms. What should I do? A. Try to reinstate a small dose B. Wait it out Could somebody give me some advice. I would really appreciate it.
The longer people wait seems to predict it might not work or make you worse. Please read this and consider both options: www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/7562-reinstatement-about-reinstating-and-stabilizing-to-reduce-withdrawal-symptoms/ *not medical advice
Hello, this is Katharine. I did have physical pain. All different kinds of things hurt. Muscle pain, eye pain, nerve pain, joint pain, pains in my mouth with my teeth, gums and tongue, stomach pains, increased headaches, chest pain. I’m sure I’m leaving some out. It was a lot, but all pain has pretty much left except some muscle pain.
@@klz3856 thank u for your reply I’m a year off and this is where im at first 6 months where not so bad then 7 month marks all hell broke what can I do to help some of this
@@Thomas-j2g6xyou’re welcome. I’m so sorry you are experiencing these symptoms. They will go away in time. For me, some of the pain just couldn’t be helped and I relied on coping skills and distraction. Some things helped the muscle and joint pains like massage, stretching and warm baths. Some pains left in year one, some in year two and continued to fade away as time went on.
What do you mean living in terror and not worrying the sun is going to burn you. I went through all that stuff before I went on meds. Honestly was like a horror movie, the meds numbed me in a time of crisis and I put things in place. I am planning to come off the meds extremely slowly, I really hope I don’t have to go through the traumatising nightmare I went through when I was at my worst cos that is unbearable- my experience is with anti depressants by the way
Everyone’s withdrawal experience is differentl. You can watch some of my other videos to listen to my story but I got those symptoms from being taken off cold turkey by my doctor. Please taper safely.
@@AngiePeacockMSW I have watched a lot of your videos :) I am planning to come off as slow as possible as I have educated my self a lot through things like Medicating Normal, Surviving Antidepressants, Mark Horowitz’s advice and your videos. Been on and off meds the last 15 years so really am going to be very gentle with my nervous system! Also Mark Horowitz is trying to set up deprescribing clinics in the UK, where I am. Hopefully the system changes!!
So glad that she has gotten through 4 years off and is feeling better! Maybe not perfect yet, but glad she is able to talk with you and give the rest of us suffering as well some hope!
@@edgetransit3320 thank you! :)
Great interview! I also have PTSD and was prescribed 3mg Xanax daily in 2010 for several months. I started having panic attacks and severe neurological issues. They pushed anti-depressants on me as well and it made me way worse. I saw so many Dr’s and specialists and none of them believed I was in benzo withdrawal until recently. I was CT’d 3 times and did one slower taper, but had to reinstate due to akathisia. It’s 2024 and I’m on my 5th try and am now micro-tapering. I’m also recently recovering from 5 years of mood stabilizers that caused drug induced lupus. I have agoraphobia and a million other symptoms. I’m under the care of a Dr. and am doing CBT, but these Dr’s really have no clue of the damage these drugs actually cause. Thanks for giving me hope because I definitely need it!! ❤️🙏🏻
Thanks for such a great interview Angie. Wish everyone got informed consent. I went through withdrawal to and believe I have been left with some PTSD following what I went through. I never had trauma before. Had to go back on my antidepressant but I’m determined when the time is right to try again with a proper taper. Yes these medications can help some people but I agree and stand by 100% that withdrawal is a thing and it needs much more recognition. I work in Psychiatry and will spread awareness wherever I can. We need to know the risks involved as well as benefits and people need to be given informed consent. Well done Angie for all you do.(without sounding patronising) 😊
Great interview. I’m also a short termer (Benzo only for four months and a one month taper). And everyone told me it would be over in a couple of months. lol. Over seven years and getting stronger and better but wow, it’s a heavy price for a few months. Love your story Katherine, especially that you are fostering. ❤❤
2 weeks. 2 years off and counting. Still cannot walk or talk or visualise or remember or sleep or anything. 2 weeks. Because of a THERAPIST
@@McStorch0 I’m so sorry short term affected you this way. It is very heavy. I’m thankful you are getting better and stronger though! Onward and upward! And thank you for the kind words ❤️ fostering has been so rewarding. And a heartwarming experience that I feel has aided in my healing once I felt strong enough to take on such a task.
Another great “success story”. Love these so much as they are so helpful for those of us still in the throes of ABIND/BIND!❤❤
Omygosh Angie when you said "You can go outside and not worry if the sun is burning you".. that hit me so hard because I have developed this stupid fear ( one of many) of the sun and air quality...it sometimes makes me worry if I'm truly gone insane or not.
Thankyou for helping me not feel so alone in this scary situation❤
You’re not insane. Your brain is just in a fear state. It will calm down as you heal.
I had a fear of breezes! The wind rustling through trees would scare me. It’s just the fear center on overdrive like Angie said. It’ll go away in time ❤️
god bless you sister angie, your light shines brighter than most you sweet sweet soul
Thanks for interview/information. It all helps give hope. It's all very difficult. Peace 🕊
PNW PEOPLE YASSS ❤ Love this. Thank you Angie! -Alyssa
Thank you so much, these videos help so much
Thanks Angie.
God work Angie 💜
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share a bit about my story Angie! This community needs hopeful interviews like you’ve been doing. I still have some symptoms, but there’s only about 8 remaining from the 100 I had. It’s so immensely better. Maybe it would be cool to do an update in a year or so! And I hope you all will forgive me drinking my water and tea all through the video ☺️ the smoke from wildfires in my area have my throat so scratchy. Also if anyone is interested I have a public playlist of somatic practices on my channel here that I use and still do to this day. Love and healing to you all 💛
What would you rank yourself out of 10? A seven?
@@healing.buddies probably that or an 8. I usually feel about 75 to 80% healed.
@@klz3856 amazing I’m 9 months off antidepressant and hovering around a 3. What were you like at my stage? Any encouragement would be welcome
@@healing.buddiesI was still pretty unwell at 9 months. Probably a 2 or 3 around then for me. I had dozens of symptoms still, but they slowly started fading away. I have about 8 left out of over 100 symptoms! It does get better! Just keep on keeping on ❤️
I would be interested what is your channel pls
Very helpful interview!
Time is the healer! So encouraging to keep going, as if we just pass the time, healing is inevitable. But the healing that has happened with time, can be relapsed? There may be some setbacks or waves, but that is different issues. I am now almost a year off, I have no confidence over my mind , and scared about as it is a non linear process.
Just keep your head pointed towards healing because you’re right. It is inevitable!
Excellent video and very helpful for me at 39 months off. Thank you so much, Katharine and of course Angie. You confirmed my belief that the "slow burn" of doing practices like tapping, meditating, etc will add up in the process. It seems imperative to me since I don't take meds or use supplements for relief. These things can't hurt, I don't think so why not keep "doing our time" while employing them? Again, great conversation.
You are so welcome!
Yes, kindling is a huge problem with people that are injured in the Benzo community
Am I kindled if I was given 20 tablets of ativan 1.25mg then 3 weeks break given 20 1.25mg tablets then a break of 3 weeks given 50 1mg tablets then a break 4 weeks given 1 mg 50 tablets.....
Finished ended up in ER 7th day given 10mg valium 2 months then 5mg 2.5. Months.
Now on 3.5mg valium
Is this kindled?
I was diagnosed with BIND 3 months into valium taper.
I'm.up to 3.5mg valium taper....and suffering
Panic attacks
Anxiety
Dpr
Sweating bed out
Depression
But no where near as bad as the akathesia 24 7 first 12 weeks stopping lorazapam and thr insomnia diarrhoea shakes convulsions
Thanks Angie for these interviews. I might not finish them in one go as my brain finds it tiring but appreciate seeing others experiences on these pills and the aftermath.
I m now at a point, where i also agree with that the time is the most important healer. You can try as hard as you want, but you can't speed up the healing of your brain and nervoussystem after psychmed harm! At the end you have to trust the human spirit and DNA that it will restore your system! I often tell people that if you pull at the gras it doesn't grow faster anyway! I pushed my self often so hard to speed up the healingprocess! I often pushen too hard too soon! Now i m 21 months off benzos cold turkeyed and i m still very harmed! In my waves i often think that i might be mental ill but in Windows i m 100% sure that its mainly a physically injury!
I m so motivated to get the best Version of myself! I want to get the strongest, calmest, wisest, fittest and healthiest Version of myself if ever been! I can't give up, i love the life!
You can push when you are ready and not a moment sooner!
Hopefully i m on my last stages of my injury and can experience a rapid exponential healing after i reach my last window!
From the point on where i don't get any waves again, give me 3-6 other months and i think i could make massive improvement!🙏
Hi Angie, I’m nine month’s off Effexor myself and making progress . I was on it for nearly 30 years so it was a mammoth decision to come off. I’ve linked into a couple of your group sessions and had a 30 min 1 to 1 with you ….i think it was in May. Would be happy to do an interview with you at some stage if you were interested in that..but no worries if not. Gillian
Oh wow aren't you amazing ❤. I haven't ever known anyone who came off after 30 years as i am. I am on 28 beads after 4.5 years tapering effexor. A ny chance you live in Canada and like to share? Ty
Wow congratulations 😊
Thanks for this. Can the elderly heal as well after stopping benzos?
YES ABSOLUTELY I have many clients in their 60s, 70s and 80s who are improving.
I'm glad to hear that. My mum, 83 yo, is currently going through a tough setback after 17 months off. Unluckily, she has also become disabled
@@AngiePeacockMSWI would love to talk to you about a very slow taper or the process with these meds😢❤
Forgive me for the trite question Angie, but what would you rank your healing out of 100?
90% symptoms are gone but 200% in other ways! You guys care more about my lingering stuff than I do! 🫶🏼
43:00 It’s like the ultimate exposure therapy all at once. You’re faced with the hardest thing imaginable and it’s almost like a cheat code for everything below that. Forced to address everything whether you like it or not. Like a clean slate of a new life.
This experience sucks and shouldn’t have happened to any of us. But the ONE good thing is it provided this level of self reflection that nothing else could produce.
1000% agree
Can you please post the link to the peer reviewed study that benzos do not help ptsd? Thankyou
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26164054/
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7694098/
Hi i love this one thing thats not discussed much is having no feelings or feeling joy or happiness or is that just me
I had that as well. It was a difficult symptom for me for about 2 years. I lost the loving, joyful feelings. It was really tough and I struggled with it a lot. Especially regarding my senior dog I had. I felt so bad that I felt no connection or good feelings. Happy to say my ability to feel love joy and pleasure returned for all things and for my dog.
@@klz3856 ah thanks for saying least it will return whenever many thanks 😊 what is your channel
@@klz3856 hi what is your youtube channel
@@lyndawebster3313 it looks like TH-cam won’t post my reply for some reason.
@@klz3856 I got this reply
I am in WA state and possibly looking for someone to go to a doctor with me, as I am extremely doctor-phobic. How long are you in Oregon, Angie? I will try and make an appointment with you to speak about this. Thank you.
I’m in WA now and heading back to OR. My schedule is already booked out several weeks so that wouldn’t be possible to me right now at this late notice. I’m so sorry.
Thank you, Angie. I knew it was a long shot and should have kept better track of your whereabouts.
My family gave up on me
My turn Angie!!!! ....lol this was awsome..as you are !!!!
Can you help me please im having loads 😊f weird stuff happen iv nobody to help me 😥
Watch some more videos on my channel! Lots of stories and information here.
@@AngiePeacockMSW iv had morning dread for 17 months and iv started having like adrenaline surges (feels like too much and im going to have a heart attack or something it lasts for ages and then my body shakes inside ) iv had some new experiences and talked about abit of trauma what happened so im just wondering if this could be some kind of release or are my dopamine and cortisol sorting themselves out ?
It just feels like my waves are lasting so long and are super intense and i feel like its never gonna end .
If you do too much can this cause flare ups ? Or new relationships ? Could it be my nervous system just trying to regulate new experiences and trying to process the old? .
This wave lasted for so long and i couldn't get my head back on my shoulders its so hard !
Do you like Oregon better than Colorado Colorado seems kind of dry and it’s not really near any water
I like both for their own beauty in different ways!
I'm having a hard time going through withdrawals.
I took 25mg of Zoloft for 2 months and then I quit cold turkey.
It's been 3 months since I quit and I'm still suffering from withdrawal symptoms.
What should I do?
A. Try to reinstate a small dose
B. Wait it out
Could somebody give me some advice. I would really appreciate it.
The longer people wait seems to predict it might not work or make you worse. Please read this and consider both options: www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/7562-reinstatement-about-reinstating-and-stabilizing-to-reduce-withdrawal-symptoms/
*not medical advice
Angie, did you have, or hear of people having incredible thrush?
Yes once in awhile a person will really struggle with that.
@AngiePeacockMSW Ok thank you.
Im 23 months off an antidepressant and 28 months off a benzo and feeling so much better. Definitely not back to 100% but a good 85%.
When did you turn a corner? I’ve been off a polydrug situation for 11 months and I’m at 40%
Did you she have any physical pain from the meds
Hello, this is Katharine. I did have physical pain. All different kinds of things hurt. Muscle pain, eye pain, nerve pain, joint pain, pains in my mouth with my teeth, gums and tongue, stomach pains, increased headaches, chest pain. I’m sure I’m leaving some out. It was a lot, but all pain has pretty much left except some muscle pain.
@@klz3856 thank u for your reply I’m a year off and this is where im at first 6 months where not so bad then 7 month marks all hell broke what can I do to help some of this
@@klz3856 how long did they last couple of years
@@Thomas-j2g6xyou’re welcome. I’m so sorry you are experiencing these symptoms. They will go away in time. For me, some of the pain just couldn’t be helped and I relied on coping skills and distraction. Some things helped the muscle and joint pains like massage, stretching and warm baths. Some pains left in year one, some in year two and continued to fade away as time went on.
@@klz3856how long did your akathisia last? I’m going through it now for 2 years 😢
Yeah that’s how I got on them Graves’ disease
I’m so sorry you as well. I think I failed to mention Graves’ disease and said just autoimmune disease. But that is the one I have as well.
What do you mean living in terror and not worrying the sun is going to burn you.
I went through all that stuff before I went on meds. Honestly was like a horror movie, the meds numbed me in a time of crisis and I put things in place.
I am planning to come off the meds extremely slowly, I really hope I don’t have to go through the traumatising nightmare I went through when I was at my worst cos that is unbearable- my experience is with anti depressants by the way
Everyone’s withdrawal experience is differentl. You can watch some of my other videos to listen to my story but I got those symptoms from being taken off cold turkey by my doctor. Please taper safely.
@@AngiePeacockMSW I have watched a lot of your videos :)
I am planning to come off as slow as possible as I have educated my self a lot through things like Medicating Normal, Surviving Antidepressants, Mark Horowitz’s advice and your videos.
Been on and off meds the last 15 years so really am going to be very gentle with my nervous system!
Also Mark Horowitz is trying to set up deprescribing clinics in the UK, where I am.
Hopefully the system changes!!