Thanks so much Gustav, I really like your videos, they always help me! Can I ask you what drug you were tapering when you started practicing the mind body theory?
Thanks so much! Reason I ask is I am currently tapering diazepam and even though all your videos are so! helpful to me and I plan on doing TMS for however long it takes after I am off, I still feel that acute chemical withdrawal from benzo’s is unavoidable for me. I didn’t know about withdrawal and wasn’t afraid when I quit these meds because I knew nothing anout them, but I got intrusive thoughts, SI, DR and akathesia without knowing what any of these things were… I had to go back on and taper. Am currently down to 0.85mg of diazepam and ‘stuck’ because every tiny cut gives me horrific symptoms… I’ve never had mental health issues in my life, was prescribed these drugs for menopause symptoms 🙈 and now am stuck with this… I guess what I am trying to say or ask is, do you not agree that with some drugs, acute withdrawal is unavoidable, and can be as horrific as I just described…?
Hi, thanks, you’re very kind in your comments. I'd first say that it doesn’t matter what I think because I can only speak from my own experience and each person’s experience is unique to them. Each person must define their own experience and decide for themselves whatever value this approach may have for them individually.
Given your question though, and speaking generally, I would think it depends largely on what is defined as acute withdrawal. If someone takes a benzo to the point of physical dependency and then stops it I would think withdrawal symptoms are likely unavoidable. It doesn’t matter if a person’s heard of withdrawal or not. The drugs are likely to cause dependency and therefore withdrawal. I don’t think acute withdrawal is TMS.
When tapering very, very slowly though I think it can be more murky as to what is acute withdrawal vs TMS. I made a video about when I was slowly tapering and I thought I was experiencing withdrawal and yet when I came to understand TMS the “withdrawal sensations” stopped. So, as turns out, I only thought I was experiencing acute withdrawal — I wasn’t actually. I then carried on with the taper and didn’t have any more problems or feel stuck again. So my experience (and I know others who have had similar experiences as well) suggests that the slow tapering/withdrawal situation is not always clear and, yes, people can still experience horrific sensations despite this.
But even before I resolved the “withdrawal sensations” with a TMS approach I had questions like: why would such a tiny cut cause such powerful withdrawal? What would be the biochemical process behind that? I couldn’t make sense of it but the idea of withdrawal was the only one I had at the time — I had no other way to understand it.
It wasn’t until I learned about TMS that I came to understand that my nervous system was in a stress response state and firing danger signals that caused all these sensations to persist. A big part of what put me in that stress response in the first place was acute withdrawal itself. I mean it’s a scary experience and it can kick-start a stress response that can go on and on. This is in part because a preoccupation with the sensations themselves may begin or a great fear of the drugs might develop. Those things can keep the danger signals firing and keep the sensations going. Ultimately the belief that someone has something fundamentally wrong with them can keep this stress response going. Other important factors, especially true to myself and the concept of TMS, are life stressors, personality traits, or emotional tension that can contribute to this stress response or even form its basis.
So is acute withdrawal unavoidable? It depends on whether it's actually acute withdrawal or not. And again I think that’s something that people have to determine for themselves. I can only speak from my own experience and generalities. But for a TMS approach to achieve effectiveness reframing sensations away from withdrawal is important, as is acknowledging any contributory sources of stress or emotional tension.
My situational stress is enormous unfortunately… Difficult divorce, abusive ex and son (very good and kind people but with severe adhd and hence short fuse / bad temper), big financial struggles etc. I was always able to handle anything and everything and now I can handle nothing… Unfortunately I didn’t taper slowly, went way too fast because I knew nothing about it… Now stuck at 0.85mg of diazepam and terrible symptoms…
Thanks so much Gustav, I really like your videos, they always help me! Can I ask you what drug you were tapering when you started practicing the mind body theory?
Hi, thanks for your comment! Yes I was tapering mirtazapine and lithium when I started this mindbody work.
Thanks so much! Reason I ask is I am currently tapering diazepam and even though all your videos are so! helpful to me and I plan on doing TMS for however long it takes after I am off, I still feel that acute chemical withdrawal from benzo’s is unavoidable for me. I didn’t know about withdrawal and wasn’t afraid when I quit these meds because I knew nothing anout them, but I got intrusive thoughts, SI, DR and akathesia without knowing what any of these things were… I had to go back on and taper. Am currently down to 0.85mg of diazepam and ‘stuck’ because every tiny cut gives me horrific symptoms… I’ve never had mental health issues in my life, was prescribed these drugs for menopause symptoms 🙈 and now am stuck with this… I guess what I am trying to say or ask is, do you not agree that with some drugs, acute withdrawal is unavoidable, and can be as horrific as I just described…?
Hi, thanks, you’re very kind in your comments. I'd first say that it doesn’t matter what I think because I can only speak from my own experience and each person’s experience is unique to them. Each person must define their own experience and decide for themselves whatever value this approach may have for them individually.
Given your question though, and speaking generally, I would think it depends largely on what is defined as acute withdrawal. If someone takes a benzo to the point of physical dependency and then stops it I would think withdrawal symptoms are likely unavoidable. It doesn’t matter if a person’s heard of withdrawal or not. The drugs are likely to cause dependency and therefore withdrawal. I don’t think acute withdrawal is TMS.
When tapering very, very slowly though I think it can be more murky as to what is acute withdrawal vs TMS. I made a video about when I was slowly tapering and I thought I was experiencing withdrawal and yet when I came to understand TMS the “withdrawal sensations” stopped. So, as turns out, I only thought I was experiencing acute withdrawal — I wasn’t actually. I then carried on with the taper and didn’t have any more problems or feel stuck again. So my experience (and I know others who have had similar experiences as well) suggests that the slow tapering/withdrawal situation is not always clear and, yes, people can still experience horrific sensations despite this.
But even before I resolved the “withdrawal sensations” with a TMS approach I had questions like: why would such a tiny cut cause such powerful withdrawal? What would be the biochemical process behind that? I couldn’t make sense of it but the idea of withdrawal was the only one I had at the time — I had no other way to understand it.
It wasn’t until I learned about TMS that I came to understand that my nervous system was in a stress response state and firing danger signals that caused all these sensations to persist. A big part of what put me in that stress response in the first place was acute withdrawal itself. I mean it’s a scary experience and it can kick-start a stress response that can go on and on. This is in part because a preoccupation with the sensations themselves may begin or a great fear of the drugs might develop. Those things can keep the danger signals firing and keep the sensations going. Ultimately the belief that someone has something fundamentally wrong with them can keep this stress response going. Other important factors, especially true to myself and the concept of TMS, are life stressors, personality traits, or emotional tension that can contribute to this stress response or even form its basis.
So is acute withdrawal unavoidable? It depends on whether it's actually acute withdrawal or not. And again I think that’s something that people have to determine for themselves. I can only speak from my own experience and generalities. But for a TMS approach to achieve effectiveness reframing sensations away from withdrawal is important, as is acknowledging any contributory sources of stress or emotional tension.
My situational stress is enormous unfortunately… Difficult divorce, abusive ex and son (very good and kind people but with severe adhd and hence short fuse / bad temper), big financial struggles etc. I was always able to handle anything and everything and now I can handle nothing… Unfortunately I didn’t taper slowly, went way too fast because I knew nothing about it… Now stuck at 0.85mg of diazepam and terrible symptoms…
I do want to say again however how much I appreciate your videos! I recommend them to a lot of people!