Killer Brain Candy: One Woman’s Odyssey Through Benzodiazepine Addiction and Withdrawal or How Chicken Little Got Her Head Crushed

Melissa Bond describes the history of becoming dependent upon Ativan (generic name, Lorazapam), one of the most potent of the benzodiazepines. Hers is an all too common story: A doctor prescribes consistent use for insomnia that was caused by pregnancy. After two years of high-dose use, her body begins to fall apart, and Bond has no compass, no help from her doctor, only more prescriptions and the knowledge that this drug is slowly disassembling her brain and body.

Melissa Bond The 99th Mile: When Benzo Withdrawal Meets Parenthood

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March 19, 2013

This is how it started: Pregnancy. Now, you may guess that a hormonal tsunami could turn my body into wreckage and you’d be right. I’m not the first woman to get pummeled by the swift waters of pregnancy and I won’t be the last. What you might not guess is that despite knowing this, a doctor specializing in these particular imbalances would proffer benzodiazepines as a cure for hormone induced insomnia. You might also be surprised that my first script would be written for an amount usually reserved for those having grand mal seizures.
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Categorized in: Benzodiazepines, Blogs, Featured Blogs, Psychiatric Drugs

Melissa Bond There’s No Duct Tape for Benzo Withdrawal

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October 11, 2012

It’s stunning what a quarter milligram of a benzodiazepine can do to the body. Even less than that, I’ve found, can send the body spinning into the deep dark unmentionable. I’ve been detoxing off a high dose of benzodiazepines since …
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Categorized in: Benzodiazepines, Blogs, Featured Blogs, Popular, Psychiatric Drugs

Melissa Bond Killer Brain Candy: One Woman’s Odyssey Through Benzodiazepine Addiction and Withdrawal or How Chicken Little Got Her Head Crushed

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September 26, 2012

I have almost four months to go until I am done with the little pills. After that, I’m told it will take two to nine months until my brain will regulate, until I will be able to eat normally, to stand without shivering, to hold my children without fear of falling. I will make it. But I am here to state the obvious: Benzodiazepines are dangerous. We need more research. We need to know that an invisible epidemic is in our midst and there is much that can be done.
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Categorized in: Benzodiazepines, Blogs, Featured Blogs, Pregnancy & Birth Defects, Psychiatric Drugs