Originally Posted by MemphisBlues

Mid, the shaking, the panic-like constant feeling, the sense of approaching insanity were all symptoms I dealt with for a long time.

I do hope you are receiving some intensive after care from a doctor well versed in benzo withdrawal.

I couldn't walk well. My feet were being swallowed by sponge-like concrete when I tried to walk to the store to get cigs.

What you are going through right now and what I went through for a long time is one of the things that keeps me sober. I don't ever want to go back to that. Please don't freak over the whole PAWS thing. Two weeks out it is totally normal to shake, to just be in an all hell-bound terrible feeling. That big wet warm blanket of benzos has been removed from every neve of our bodies and the nerves are screaming for more benzos.

It takes time for the brain to rewire once benzos are removed rapidly. And two weeks, from what I read, is considered a pretty rapid detox.

You were on a much lower dose of benzos than me and I don't think you will pay the price I did. AT two weeks is when the real hell began, but from what I read in your posts you are already at the tail end of it.

Just don't give up. When you are feeling the worst of it remember that you are one day closer to being done with the withdrawal. Some symptoms just might persist. My hands shook for six months. I was on a dose ten time higher than you.

What symptoms did the detox facility tell you to expect? What symptoms did they tell you to notify them or a doctor about? What steps did they tell yo to take to try to alleviate the symptoms?

Some doctors and facilities just don't get benzo detox. They think that once the drug is out of the system the withdrawal is over. Good doctors and good facilities know that it's just when detox is complete that the brain is at the most vulnerable point in causing some real terror. Once benzos are gone it takes the brain time to rewire and deal with its own neurotransmitters again, the ones benzos totally replace.

And please don't read the horror stories -- including mine -- and expect to experience the same thing. I think the power of suggestion when we are in such a vulnerable state is, well, real powerful. The majority of people get off benzos with nary a problem, many have a few bad days and weeks after detox, and a rare few go through what I did.

Please make sure a professional doctor knows what you are experiencing.