By benzodiazepines, specifically Ativan and Klonopin. It's the dependence and tolerance that happens when you take them long enough. I was never addicted but I sure got treated like I was at times because even health care works seem to lack the knowledge to know the difference of what dependence and addiction is and how they can be separate. Minus the stigma, the withdrawal is terrible and the absolute ignorance of health workers can make it even worse.
I was in a treatment center for anorexia for 3 1/2 months, they upped my dose of ativan and changed it to 3 times a day when previously I was only taking it once or twice a day. Then I got transferred to a different one and when I got there they lowered my dose by half and changed it so I only got it once every 24 hours. Well its a short acting benzo and I had already been taking it for more than a year then, so the withdrawals happened shortly after the cut. My anxiety got so much worse, my ptsd symptoms got so much worse, for the first time in years (like 13 years) I was extremely paranoid, it killed my appetite because of extreme anxiety and flaring up my ARFID which was very much anxiety based. I was having panic attacks and crying constantly, I would constantly hide and crawl into corners like a kid and freak out constantly, thinking the worst about everything. Had big fears people were making fun of me, I was bullied growing up so that's where that came from.
Well I realize after a week that I may be withdrawaling from the ativan. I go to the nurse and tell her and she has the audacity to say "that's not possible, you're still on it." So I dumbly believed her and the rest of the stay there felt like hell. When I got home and saw my doctor and explained everything, they confirmed that yeah I was withdrawaling from it and yes you can get symptoms even if you're still taking the drug. I also will mention I had unbearable physical symptom such as, body twitching that I couldn't control, lightheaded, brain fog, memory loss, my cognition also seemed to decline a bit too.
Right now I am fully off of them, tappered off them with klonopin. I still have withdrawal symptoms. Fun fact about benzos is that they can cause a protracted withdrawal. I also can not believe the amount of anger I feel through this process, I have never been more angry in my life which is probably because of anxiety and lack of sleep because nightmares/insomnia. I hate benzos so much. The thing I can't stand the most is the uncontrollable body movements and the fact that I really seem to have lost intelligence. I don't even know how to explain it but after getting off of it, I have trouble speaking, I mix up words constantly that make no sense (for example: saying pen instead of apple), I have trouble pronouncing and reading things. I can't remember stuff and my concentration is far worse. I am so embarrassed by it, especially because the one thing I used to be certain of was that I was smart and now it's like I can't say I'm that anymore.
Oh and anytime I went to the mental hospital they would just cold turkey me off of them even though they literally can cause sezuires and death if you do that. They would use the excuse of "well you used them in a OD so we aren't going to give them to you here." Which is dumb as heck because well one I can't OD in a psych ward and two can't you help me get off them then? Especially because they would be the same people who would tell me in a later session how dangerous benzos would and about the tolerance and all that, completely ignoring the fact that I was in that state despite me saying it and it probably being clear be how my body was acting. They would also shame me for being on them, they acted like I prescribed them myself. I felt so guilty after each visit with the psychiatrist in a psych ward because id end up leaving feeling like I did something wrong by literally taking my medication as prescribed.
Sorry I wrote so much, I have trouble keeping things short and simple.
