Date: Wed Jun 6, 2001 12:29 pm

Subject: Detox, Recovery and Healing

Dear friends, I have been recovered now for 21 months. I have been off valium for 26 months and have not been near a doctor for as long. I hope I never have to see one again. They have no idea how to treat/remedy illness only how to mask symptoms temporarily with one poison after another, thus eventually creating greater health problems and possibly addiction to the poisons they push, as we have learned first hand.

I was in one state or another of my benzo related nightmare for 17 years of my life. I eventually lost everything as a result. I was forced in 1982 to go cold turkey off of 80 milligrams a day. I thought it would kill me for sure. It lasted four months during which time I rarely if ever slept. Insomnia does not kill but it sure is a miserable problem to endure. I had ever symptom there is to the max. Those did not kill me either. I was scared out of my mind as my health problems mutiplied, intensified and crippled me. They did not however kill me.

There was no information about valium addiction short of the Barbara Gordon book titled, "I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can" (which, by the way, scared the life out of me). There were no support groups. There was no internet. There was no one who even believed the intesity of my suffering or for that matter that it was caused by the damn valium withdrawal. I was told to "get over it and get on with it". My family was told that I was looking for sympathy and that the best thing they could do was not offer any but instead force me to regain my independance!

I was eventually put back on 40 milligrams and I did stabalize and get on with my life. I then made the unfortunate mistake of moving, not once or twice but several times. Doing that caused my nightmare to go on and on and on for all those years as each new doctor I sought help from refused to give me more than 5 millgrams a day. Apparantly during the 80's here in the USA the government was cracking down on Valium prescriptions, thinking that the increase in cocaine addiciton could be slowed down if they couldn't get valium!)

Naturally the newer benzo's, like Xanax and Ativan were more available but did not work on someone like me who had taken Valium first. I was in a state of withdrawal for years and how or why I've lived to tell is very hard to understand. I was told repeatedly by many different kinds of doctors that benzo's, cannot cause the problems I had. I was told that I was actually suffering from hormonal imbalance, bi-polar disorder, severe depression, irritable bowel syndrome, and on and on it went. I looked into rehabs and detox centers for help and there was none.

Desparate for relief many times I begged doctors for more valium, only to be repremanded and treated like an idiot and as if it were my own fault that I got hooked in the first place. I was intimidated, humiliated, and abused by the very people who got me sick in the first place but still I had to pay my bill. How infuriating! In Jan. 1999 I was referred to yet another shrink to be treated for bi-polar disorder (again) and he in his infinite wisdom said that I was not bi-polar but that I was suffering from a pre-existing anxiety disorder for which I should take valium for the rest of my life to keep in check. I never was anxious until benzo addiction made me anxious. (DUH!) Crooked Bastards they are. All he wanted was $96.00 a month for the rest of my life, nearly $12,00.00 a year to poison me further with a lifetime of monthly appointents for more valium. WHAT a deal! That was the last straw for me.

I was determined not to be controlled by or dependant on another doctor ever again. I wanted my life and my health back. I made up my mind to find another way and I finally succeeded. I found a natural/wholistic medicine practitioner and with her infinite knowledge of human health I regained my own health and ended the vicious cycle of addiction and withdrawal for good. I learned about toxicity and what it does to the human body.

Prescription drugs are toxic, man-made, synthetic chemicals that eventually cause illness when taken on a regualr basis. It matters not if it is paxil, valium, neuronton, or aspirin, they are all toxic to the human body and will when used for any length of time result in many different symptoms and illnesses.

Stop the intake of toxins, rid the body of existing toxins through the lungs, the sinus's, the skin, the urine, the colon and the body begins to repair itself naturally. Add to the elimination process greater amounts of nutrition, in the form of green powder drinks, carrot juice, raw, (preferrably organic) fruits and veggies, nuts and legumes and the rate of healing increases dramatically. In only 5 months of doing exactly what I have just stated, and also dealing with dental problems that were exacerbating my symptoms, ALL OF MY SYMPTOMS WERE GONE! Going to doctors for anything other than to get enough meds to taper with is a waste of time and money. Going to people who understand whole body health, the human energy system, (such as accupuncturists) and learning how people maintained their own health before we became dependant on doctors to do it for us, will get you well much faster than any modern doctor who knows nothing other than symptom=diagnosis=prescription drugs to mask symptom and cause more symptoms which will result in more diagnosis, more drugs and more money for the doctor.

I not only learned how to end my benzo suffering I learned how to care for my health for life. I am NEVER sick. At age 46 after years of medical abuse and iatrigenic addiction I am healthier than I have ever been. I look and feel fantastic. No one believes my age. I no longer suffer in any way but financially and I am addressing that now. I have been reading posts on and off here the last few days and it breaks my heart not only to read of the suffering but to be reminded of how many people still think that taking chemicals, or putting them on skin will help anything get better.

Will Retin-A treat pimples? Retin-A will make it harder for the skin to eliminate toxins and will also add more toxic waste to the already overtoxic body, thus delaying it's healing. The same theory applies to putting anything toxic on the skin. It makes it harder for the skin to help detox the poisons. The skin is the largest and hardest working organ in our bodies and if left alone will rid toxins that make us sick. Will taking over the counter anything help the body heal? NO it will add to the burden of eliminating those toxins it is already struggling to eliminate.

I am so thankful that God, through my endless hours of prayer, guided me to my naturopath. I am so thankful that from her and from many, many books I have read that I've learned what all of us should have learned growing up. We can be our own best doctors if we understand that food, when properly taken is our best medicine and greatest healer. When we put food that is less than nutritous, such as fast, frozen, microwave and processed foods we creat two problems, malnourishment, and over toxicity. Every time our bodies try to eliminate toxins we feel symtptoms occur, that we don't like, to one degree or another as the poisons leave the body. It takes a massive amount of energy for the body to eliminate toxins and if we haven't fueled it properly with highly nutritous foods it doesn't have the energy to do it's job and we feel exhausted. It becomes a vicious cycle.

If however we have fueled up with the most potent fuel there is available and we have avoided as many toxins as we can, the body can do it's job. It does know how to heal itself. All we have to do is support it's efforts to do so. Although I seldom read messages here, I am with you all in spirit and continue praying for your recovery. If you have not yet signed the petition please do so soon at www.petitiononline.com/benzo/petition.html Together we can make a difference.

Cindy Samora