Thinking of my mother today and wishing benzos had never entered into our lives.

Were you given them by a psychiatrist, in what year, and for what reason if may be so bold as to ask?

A neurologist prescribed them for myoclonic jerks in 1975, within a few months I was very unwell and deemed to have a psychiatric disorder, thereafter I was a patient with a psychiatric disorder and that lasted for decades. The real reason for my being unwell was never noticed.

I did attempt to come off benzos in the 1980s when the alarm bells started ringing about this class of drugs, was offered no tapering advice, became increasingly unwell yet again and went back onto them.

I'm a relic of the little yellow pill era, because despite self-reporting and having a lifetime of medical issues, would not shut up because I knew something was very not right with my health. First, valium. Then, ativan, then clonazepam. 38 years later, I get off of Clonazepam.

I am sorry this happened to you too. I really didn't know that the benzos were making me so unwell, I transitioned quickly to psych and more drugs which made me very unwell too. Hard to think clearly about anything in that state. Then the years rolled by ..

Honestly, benzos were the only class (not all of them but class of) meds that gave me relief from non psychiatric issues. I don't believe we can separate mind/body nor do we have but a tiny grasp on our own physiology. One size never fits all.

Benzos certainly controlled the myoclonic jerks in my case but the harm far outweighed the benefit.