Talk:Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome

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cold turkey how long for withdrawals to last?

Hello,

You should speak to your doctor urgently, you can experience psychosis or epileptic seizures. You should read The Ashton Manual by professor heather ashton http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/ Withdrawal from short acting benzodiazepines can occur within 24 hours and more long acting benzodiazepines can occur after 3 weeks. Withdrawal symptoms especially from cold turkey withdrawal can last months or sometimes longer. I can't help you any further as wikipedia is not really the place for healthcare advice but I would say that you should seek medical attention urgently, as cold turkey withdrawal can potentially have very serious health effects. Please speak to your doctor and tell him what you have done.

Carpetman2007 02:06, 22th June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Current Detox Facilities Bad Medicine

I went to a very expensive detox facility that was supposably very good, and they practiced horrible medicine.

I have been on Benzodiazepines for years from a supposably very good neurologist/pain specialist. He gave me large doses of Benzodiazepines for insomnia for years. I had been gradually getting in poor health over the years but the issue of longer term Benzodiazepine use was never brought up, even after seeing numerous doctors.

I thought on my own based on evidence I had read, that my "medicine" was to blame for my health problems. So I went to very expensive detox facility that was supposably very good. They knew all my medicines that I was taking but never in the time I was there did I get a medication that addressed the Benzodiazepines I had been taking for years. They gave clonidine and other medications but the GABA issue was left unaddressed, the result was a "cold turkey" reaction, horrible medicine!

Someone tell the medical community that they have huge issues that need to be addressed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Equilibriummike (talkcontribs) 14:00, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

It is well known that gradual withdrawal over a period of months even up to a year or more is needed. In the uk these guidelines are issued in the British National Formulary which almost every doctor has a copy of. The warnings against rapid withdrawal are known world wide as well with most medical authorities stating that benzos need to be gradually reduced. Detox centers shouldn't be detoxing people off of benzos as a first resort, if at all. Benzos typically cause a severe physical dependence where seizures, psychosis and other serious withdrawal effects emerge during rapid detox and can remain acute and severe for several months. Stimulants cause a mild physical dependence but cause a strong psychological dependence and opiates a moderate physical dependence and strong psychological dependence. So benzos are different in that respect. The withdrawal syndrome is often too intense and too prolonged and in some cases brutal to be done cold turkey or rapidly. The wikipedia benzodiazepine articles reflect the medical knowledge base fairly well in my opinion. Nowhere in the wikipedia benzo articles does it suggest to the reader that abrupt withdrawal is a good idea. I think that your doctor is merely ignorant of benzodiazepine dependence and how to manage it. Many of these detox centers just want to make money to be honest.--Literaturegeek (talk) 19:08, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

I just reread the following comment you made which I have highlighted in bold. "Someone tell the medical community that they have huge issues that need to be addressed." I wasn't sure if this comment was implying that the wikipedia benzo articles were lacking in withdrawal information or not. Were you talking about the articles or just sharing your experience? These discussion pages are really only meant to be used to discuss the article.--Literaturegeek (talk) 19:12, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes it was just my experience in the medical community in the US. I applaud the Wikipedia article or I'd still be lost in very poor health. Someone needs to shove this article in the face of every doctor in the US, because I was seeing the top doctors in southern California and they seem to no nothing of this information.--Equilibriummike (talk) 06:27, 12 April 2008 (UTC)