I echo the above response about the reality of PAWS.
Interestingly (or not
), I didn't even know what PAWS was until I was well past it! I stumbled across a thread about it, early on, but, didn't read it because I didn't think I was experiencing withdrawal, therefore it didn't apply to me.
Once I was past my first year and most of the cognitive and memory issues (major), anxiety (particularly health anxiety), depression (which I did get treatment for), racy heart, etc, etc, etc, had passed, then I read about PAWS and was astounded that I was ticking every box!
I am firmly in the camp that it exists.
Editing to add that when I "play the tape forward", I play it all the way forward through my first year. I NEVER want to go through that again!