u/mynormiemask

I've been trying to understand something that seems contradictory in the benzodiazepine recovery literature.

Many sources discussing chronic benzodiazepine exposure describe:

GABA-A receptor uncoupling

Changes in receptor subunit expression (e.g. α1 downregulation and compensatory increases in other subunits)

Long-term neuroplastic and epigenetic adaptations

Persistent alterations in GABA/glutamate balance

At the same time, many people report full or near-full recovery years after discontinuation.

My question is:

If these receptor and gene-expression changes are real, how can complete recovery occur?

Are these changes actually reversible over time, or does the brain compensate through alternative pathways and network-level plasticity?

In other words, when someone says they have "fully recovered," does that imply:

The original receptor composition and sensitivity returned to baseline?

The brain developed compensatory mechanisms that restored function despite persistent molecular changes?

We simply don't know because these adaptations are difficult to measure in humans?

I'm particularly interested in evidence from neuropharmacology rather than anecdotal reports.

Are there studies showing normalization of GABA-A receptor subunits, receptor coupling, or related epigenetic changes after long-term benzodiazepine exposure and discontinuation?

I'd appreciate any papers, review articles, or expert opinions on this.

I mean, can BIND or any other condition cause post exertional malaise in 72h after the triggering event?

I am on Luvox, and this inhibits the enzymes that metabolize diazepam.

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Omega 3 does this in vitro and is considered non substantial but with Luvox and my Nordiazepam blood levels on 1333 I Wonder if it's a safe play.

How did it went if benzos deal with the mental symptoms? Did you get better? Is It worth?

How did it went if benzos deal with the mental symptoms? Did you get better? Is It worth?

I barely have life quality. Can only watch TV like 1 hour, read for 2 hours, I don't drive anymore, I don't take car rides anymore, I am housebound and with something mimicking ME-CFS or even the disease.

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Those things were impossible without crashing after an autistic burnout due to high dose of NAC withdrawal, enduring sensitive stress for 2 hours in the subway train (that was my trigger for whatever I have that has ME-CFS symptoms). That until I was hospitalized and they increased my Luvox from 100mg to 300mg. But I was on 10mg, and there is a powerful interaction between those drugs, so diazepam increased A LOT in my blood. I was against this but I was an unvoluntary inpatient.

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The stressful event occured on 2023 and I was able to drive, binge watch TV, read as I wanted, talk, take showers, run. I was already impaired to work full time due to the benzo because screens was a problem after my first taper attempt, I also couldn't play videogames nor complex boardgames anymore, so my system was already impaired due to benzos which I was still tapering for the second time.

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I developed dependency on benzos since 2018 so that is another issue since I will need to taper as I have a tolerance profile, but I can't stop seeing the tapering of diazepam as the beginning of the end.

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I guess my life it's over. I am a 37yo males, my mother aged a lot due to stress with all the situation and my lack of autonomy, together with bleak thoughts, and seeing me having a poor life unable to seize even entertainments at home.

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I am divided if life is still worth as I just want to heal and if torture with no guarantee of recovery for more and more years is the way, I guess the time has come to give up. I don't want my loved mom carrying such a cross and having maybe unrealistic expectations about recovery.

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So, if I die, I wonder if the grief would be much shorter than the hell we are going together because of me. In a phone call, as she is traveling, I put it all off crying, she was irritated and said that everyone overcomes with time. I guess that is my free pass to say goodbye.

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I am in the intersecction of two invisible diseases (BIND/benzo tolerance and something mimicking ME-CFS (I have reasons to suppose I 'just' developed dysautonomia and central sensibilization) but maybe it's the real disease.

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So you, as a mother, seeing your own son bedbound most time, seeing the time pass and without autonomy to even see the grandparents with her, knowing the horror story of such conditions and the prognosis, being in charge of everything in its 60yo. I wonder if you would rather have your son dead rather than enduring a living death that might become a torture with a benzo tapering.

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I barely have life quality. Can only watch TV like 1 hour, read for 2 hours, I don't drive anymore, I don't take car rides anymore, I am housebound and with something mimicking ME-CFS or even the disease.

​

Those things were impossible without crashing after an autistic burnout due to high dose of NAC withdrawal, enduring sensitive stress for 2 hours in the subway train (that was my trigger for whatever I have that has ME-CFS symptoms). That until I was hospitalized and they increased my Luvox from 100mg to 300mg. But I was on 10mg, and there is a powerful interaction between those drugs, so diazepam increased A LOT in my blood. I was against this but I was an unvoluntary inpatient.

​

The stressful event occured on 2023 and I was able to drive, binge watch TV, read as I wanted, talk, take showers, run. I was already impaired to work full time due to the benzo because screens was a problem after my first taper attempt, I also couldn't play videogames nor complex boardgames anymore, so my system was already impaired due to benzos which I was still tapering for the second time.

​

I developed dependency on benzos since 2018 so that is another issue since I will need to taper as I have a tolerance profile, but I can't stop seeing the tapering of diazepam as the beginning of the end.

​

I guess my life it's over. I am a 37yo males, my mother aged a lot due to stress with all the situation and my lack of autonomy, together with bleak thoughts, and seeing me having a poor life unable to seize even entertainments at home.

​

I am divided if life is still worth as I just want to heal and if torture with no guarantee of recovery for more and more years is the way, I guess the time has come to give up. I don't want my loved mom carrying such a cross and having maybe unrealistic expectations about recovery.

​

So, if I die, I wonder if the grief would be much shorter than the hell we are going together because of me. In a phone call, as she is traveling, I put it all off crying, she was irritated and said that everyone overcomes with time. I guess that is my free pass to say goodbye.

​

I am in the intersecction of two invisible diseases (BIND/benzo tolerance and something mimicking ME-CFS (I have reasons to suppose I 'just' developed dysautonomia and central sensibilization) but maybe it's the real disease.

​

So you, as a mother, seeing your own son bedbound most time, seeing the time pass and without autonomy to even see the grandparents with her, knowing the horror story of such conditions and the prognosis, being in charge of everything in its 60yo. I wonder if you would rather have your son dead rather than enduring a living death that might become a torture with a benzo tapering.

​

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I want to check if there are objetive numbers on this, and maybe conscientize my parents about how serious it is.

I want to check if there are objetive numbers on this, and maybe conscientize my parents about how serious it is.

Suppose someone is very sensitive and have to make tiny cuts after like one month or more taking maybe even a decade to quit.

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Isn't best to go quicker enduring the suffering to avoid the accumulation of the drug toxic effects through time? Or the glutamate spikes and inflammation would only delay recovery if going quicker?

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Anyway, someone who needs a very long taper is in a real mess?

Suppose someone is very sensitive and have to make tiny cuts after like one month or more taking maybe even a decade to quit.

​

Isn't best to go quicker enduring the suffering to avoid the accumulation of the drug toxic effects through time? Or the glutamate spikes and inflammation would only delay recovery if going quicker?

​

Anyway, someone who needs a very long taper is in a real mess?

So, after watching a video of Dr. Josef from the TaperingClinic on YT, I got worried about permadamage once he says that protracted withdrawal is due to brain damage.

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Do we really heal or for some it's just Impossible after enough time, stress and the higher the doses?

So, after watching a video of Dr. Josef from the TaperingClinic on YT, I got worried about permadamage once he says that protracted withdrawal is due to brain damage.

​

Do we really heal or for some it's just Impossible after enough time, stress and the higher the doses?

It's been 11 days. Should I gave up and accept a new normal? How long does it take to get back to the previous baseline?

Years ago, after an extremely intense sensory/stress event, I suddenly became unable to tolerate normal cognitive or sensory stimulation. I could barely watch TV, listen to music, read, or even hold conversations without feeling overwhelmed and mentally exhausted. It might be ME/CFS. I developed dysautonomia too.

Eventually I was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic because I could barely function cognitively anymore.

At the time I was taking diazepam and 100 mg of Luvox (fluvoxamine). During the hospitalization, they increased the Luvox from 100 mg to 300 mg. As many of you probably know, fluvoxamine can massively increase diazepam/nordiazepam levels and half-life through CYP inhibition.

Ironically, after that increase, I became more functional again. I could tolerate some TV, some reading, and some stimulation. But now I’m realizing that many people with similar sensory/autonomic symptoms seem to use diazepam itself as a way to suppress or manage those symptoms.

And now I feel trapped.

I’m developing tolerance to diazepam, and eventually I may have to taper. But if the diazepam is one of the only reasons I can still cognitively function at all, then what exactly am I tapering toward?

Sometimes it feels like I could spend the next decade doing an extremely slow taper only to discover that I merely prolonged my suffering — and my mother’s suffering too.

I genuinely don’t know how to think about this anymore. Has anyone here been in a similar situation?

Years ago, after an extremely intense sensory/stress event, I suddenly became unable to tolerate normal cognitive or sensory stimulation. I could barely watch TV, listen to music, read, or even hold conversations without feeling overwhelmed and mentally exhausted. It might be ME/CFS. I developed dysautonomia too.

Eventually I was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic because I could barely function cognitively anymore.

At the time I was taking diazepam and 100 mg of Luvox (fluvoxamine). During the hospitalization, they increased the Luvox from 100 mg to 300 mg. As many of you probably know, fluvoxamine can massively increase diazepam/nordiazepam levels and half-life through CYP inhibition.

Ironically, after that increase, I became more functional again. I could tolerate some TV, some reading, and some stimulation. But now I’m realizing that many people with similar sensory/autonomic symptoms seem to use diazepam itself as a way to suppress or manage those symptoms.

And now I feel trapped.

I’m developing tolerance to diazepam, and eventually I may have to taper. But if the diazepam is one of the only reasons I can still cognitively function at all, then what exactly am I tapering toward?

Sometimes it feels like I could spend the next decade doing an extremely slow taper only to discover that I merely prolonged my suffering — and my mother’s suffering too.

I genuinely don’t know how to think about this anymore. Has anyone here been in a similar situation?

Years ago, after an extremely intense sensory/stress event, I suddenly became unable to tolerate normal cognitive or sensory stimulation. I could barely watch TV, listen to music, read, or even hold conversations without feeling overwhelmed and mentally exhausted.

Eventually I was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic because I could barely function cognitively anymore.

At the time I was taking diazepam and 100 mg of Luvox (fluvoxamine). During the hospitalization, they increased the Luvox from 100 mg to 300 mg. As many of you probably know, fluvoxamine can massively increase diazepam/nordiazepam levels and half-life through CYP inhibition.

Ironically, after that increase, I became more functional again. I could tolerate some TV, some reading, and some stimulation. But now I’m realizing that many people with similar sensory/autonomic symptoms seem to use diazepam itself as a way to suppress or manage those symptoms.

And now I feel trapped.

I’m developing tolerance to diazepam, and eventually I may have to taper. But if the diazepam is one of the only reasons I can still cognitively function at all, then what exactly am I tapering toward?

Sometimes it feels like I could spend the next decade doing an extremely slow taper only to discover that I merely prolonged my suffering — and my mother’s suffering too.

I genuinely don’t know how to think about this anymore. Has anyone here been in a similar situation?

Years ago, after an extremely intense sensory/stress event, I suddenly became unable to tolerate normal cognitive or sensory stimulation. I could barely watch TV, listen to music, read, or even hold conversations without feeling overwhelmed and mentally exhausted.

Eventually I was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic because I could barely function cognitively anymore.

At the time I was taking diazepam and 100 mg of Luvox (fluvoxamine). During the hospitalization, they increased the Luvox from 100 mg to 300 mg. As many of you probably know, fluvoxamine can massively increase diazepam/nordiazepam levels and half-life through CYP inhibition.

Ironically, after that increase, I became more functional again. I could tolerate some TV, some reading, and some stimulation. But now I’m realizing that many people with similar sensory/autonomic symptoms seem to use diazepam itself as a way to suppress or manage those symptoms.

And now I feel trapped.

I’m developing tolerance to diazepam, and eventually I may have to taper. But if the diazepam is one of the only reasons I can still cognitively function at all, then what exactly am I tapering toward?

Sometimes it feels like I could spend the next decade doing an extremely slow taper only to discover that I merely prolonged my suffering — and my mother’s suffering too.

I genuinely don’t know how to think about this anymore. Has anyone here been in a similar situation?