09-03-2022, 01:53 PM
(08-16-2022, 04:20 AM)Beeker25 Wrote: The person who made this thread is just like me in a lot of ways. I have more responsibilities in the biz world then the ave. One thing I didn’t realize going in was my minds inability to deal with certain negative things. Biz is biz. I wish this personal all the luck and hope they were able to achieve their goal! My advice is definitely slower the better. You can be just be clocking out on your duties or you will be sure to bring more stress to yourself!
Oh it was me who started this - a long time ago.
Well the pandemic didn't help. I know so many vulnerable people, that I felt a huge responsibility not to give them COVID. Luckily I avoided acidentally killing anyone! ;-)
One theme of this thread was taking a benzo withdrawal real slow. I worked out a schedule that was about two years. Then COVID came along and I sat tight because everything had become so stressful. Friends had it really badly, some died. Other friends were furloughed (UK Gov scheme to pay staff wages if their employer had to pause trading). I've got to admit to being rather jealous of certain friends who effectively got an 18 month paid holiday/personal sabbatical. It's interesting how many then decided they wanted to do something different with their lives e.g. moved out of the big cities into much cheaper housing in small villages. They earn less, but life is simpler and cheaper.
In my world of education my workload went through the roof as we had to pivot from doing everything in person to online. Meanwhile students needed more pastoral support as they were scared and family members died. (The UK had a particularly high death toll as a percentage of population thanks to Boris Johnson's mixed messaging and late response.) So it was a very stressful time.
To be fair I know people who ran out of their meds as the postal system slowed to a crawl. That must have been grim. I was very fortunate to have an ok supply. Anyway, I've got a few things to work through, like a bullying boss, but he won't be in charge forever.
I keep saying that once things calm down I'll taper, but things keep getting crazier each year. It's like being in some never ending disaster movie! Russia has just turned off the gas pipes going into Europe, so this is going to be an interesting winter.
Probably the solution isn't to wait for the world to magically calm down, but accept we aren't in an age of stability any more. I think that means doing a taper, but even slower... maybe three years or more. I hear people can often make some quite large cuts at the start, but it is towards the end you have to go really slow. Some people find Ashton's schedule too fast.
Anyway, I got myself off tr@madol after about 10 years with zero help from my doctor, so these things can be done. (Although it was not fun.) Good luck to anyone else tapering, or even just trying to plateau and not increase their dose!
Best wishes,
barq-
It is Well with My Soul 