Date: Tue Dec 11, 2001 3:32 am

Subject: Re: Fear

Hi all I can only endorse what Tom just said about fear.

-I am also an oldtimer who was on Benzos for 20 years. In all these years I was not aware that it was the Benzos which made me so fearful, but it surely was, and the fear and anxiety in early wd was really, really awful. You all know it too well! In many months I couldn't go out on the street alone, I was also too fearful of being at home alone, I felt I was trapped inside my self, and thought it would never get better.

-Today 19 months after my taper, I don't have that kind of fear anymore. I am still far to sensitive to stress, but I do almost everything, and I know the rest will come to me. Last Christmas I was depended heavily on my husband, and we did almost everything together, this year I do a lot of things on my own. It is hard to describe the feeling but I call it freedom, and you will get it too. -I want you to know that even though you have a difficult time right now, it will get better. As time goes by all your symptoms will lessen, and you will be able to do more and more things, and more important, feel good about it. I feel like I have got a whole new life.

Love Linda

Copenhagen/Denmark