Posted by Squiggles on October 22, 2002, at 12:29:16
In reply to Re: My Klonopin (Clonazepam) isnt working, posted by musil on October 22, 2002, at 11:55:43
Hi Viridis,
I appreciate your post. I don't recall meeting
you there. I can tell you that when I joined
that group, I felt as if i was in the 60's. It
was almost a sense of elation. Ray Nimmo was
SO smart. I have kept a description of his
moans and groans--i swear the Monty Python crew
could not have written something so funny. I
would walk down the street and crack up. The man
is a genius. He is also very enterprising and
vengeful. He just won a lawsuit in England for
40,000 pounds for brain damage from benzos.The reason I went there was just after I had gotten
off Xanax, which (as i have described in another
post) caused me panic attacks for about 10 yrs.
I found out the cause was tolerance. I demanded
to be taken off--i don't believe my drs. knew the
real problem. This encouraged me to try to get
off Rivtoril.Ray Nimmo and David Woolfe and Jan, were the people
I worked with--writing the FAQ. I really felt that
I was involved in meaningful advocacy work. Rand
was taking the Canadian front. And there is great
truth in what they were saying-- the withdrawals
from benzos are dangerous and worse MISLEADING.
For example, I still don't know and probably never
will, if Valium withdrawal during college did not
present manic depression symptoms, mistaken for the
real thing.As for the enthusiasm and religious devotion to
getting off all pyschiatric drugs--yes, it's a cult.
Ray did not push me, but really thought, i suppose
from his experience that, that these drugs are
very pernicious. You must have heard of Dr. Loren
Mosher (x-president of the American Psychiatric
Association resigning over the overprescription
of drugs), Dr. Breggin, Lawrence Stevens J.D., Charles
Medawar, David Healy to some extent, and so many
others, who are of the same opinion.I was very happy to work with Ray. However, the
trouble started when the withdrawal from Klonopin
made me sick every day, and all i had ahead of me
was hope, hope, hope, that there was a light at
the end of the tunnel, the only way out is through
[through what I wondered sometimes - through my
*ucking grave]... and I started to whine and
protest that possibly bipolars should not do this.Anyway, I finally came to 0.125 from 1.0mg Klonopin,
and that is when i had the stroke. Ray, actually
had the gall to say to me that I was weak to reinstate--
something which my husband encouraged me to do as i was
literally hugging the walls. Hmmmmm.....Well, i can't say if my w/d was so hard because
of so many years of taking it and thus the brain
had changed, or whether i really need the drug.
In any case, I can't get off--i risked my sanity.The only reason i can offer for the zeal of that
group is the knowledge of the tremendous suffering
that people have gone through in dosage misadministration,
withdrawal, forgetting or stopping without guidance.
Benzo withdrawal REALLY is incredibly awful, compounded
by dose, time, and other factors in the individual.Whether they are Scientologists or not--perhaps some
are, but I don't think that is the MAIN reason
for the push to get off benzos.There were some mysterious events at times which
made me suspicious, but I have not put together
all the pieces of the puzzle.You must understand, that in this world of lies,
filing practices which pass for medical treatment,
lack of compassion, and lack of imagination in
the cognitive and pharmacological arts, a group
like that is very attractive, maybe even transcendent.Squiggles
poster:Squiggles
thread:124171
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021019/msgs/124706.html