Mental Health LSD, benzos withdrawals

[Oopsyloopsy]

Hi. I’ve just joined so I get a better understanding of what my 17 year old son is going through. In March he overdosed at school. He took lsd, mdma, codeine and Itizelam. Yep. All at once. We had no idea he was even doing drugs. Anyway, this really scared him and was his wake up call. He hasn’t taken anything since. A week after his od, he had 2 seizures. We were told this could possibly be from going cold turkey. After many tests we was told he could possibly have epilepsy. Still being tested. For a few weeks he was very anxious and panicky and unsure if he was dreaming or in real life. This has passed but his main problem now is he has this feeling of dejavu and strange feelings he can’t describe several times a day. It makes him panic. He’s also wondering if he’s going to have any more seizures. I’ve never done drugs apart from pot so I’m really not sure what he’s experiencing. He’s terrified he’s done permanent damage to his brain. I’m interested in your experiences. Thanks for listening.

 

[nuttynutskin]

Sounds like it's from stopping benzos. You should have an honest discussion with him and ask him if he was taking benzos daily. He may need to be put on valium or such if he was taking benzos for an extended period as cold turkeying benzos is no joke and can be deadly.

 

[awesome31311]

Hi Oopsyloopsy! Welcome to BL forums!

To actually "get a better understanding" of what your 17 year old is going through, I strongly recommend a child counselor. They are experts in child psychology and will be able to better assist you in that matter. Our community knows certain drugs better than most counselors do, for example, the new RCs which were not in use when the practitioners themselves were younger or in training. I'm not familiar with what Itizelam is, did you perhaps mean Etizolam?

Seizures are definitely a symptom of benzodiazepine withdrawal. LSD does not have withdrawal symptoms (To mine and modern scientific literature's knowledge), so I'm certain that this was caused by the benzodiazepine withdrawal. You have to had been addicted to it for a very long time to get to that stage, where you get a seizure from withdrawing cold turkey. This factor must not be ruled out by anybody who is now diagnosing him as an epileptic. The anxiety/panicky states are fluctuations that can be attributed to benzodiazepine withdrawal as well, which is absolute hell, and can lead to not knowing what is real and what is not real. As for the "strange feelings", those are is his receptors recovering from the MDMA.

Yes, at that age, his brain is still recovering, and the damage could well be permanent, should be carry this into adulthood. However, the sooner you stop, your brain will find a way to heal itself, it will take time. However, stopping benzodiazepines cold turkey is a serious mistake. People get emotional about their addiction and try to let it go all at once, and it can have severe consequences. These substances were created by big pharma to get you hooked, it's not easy to come off them. I recommend a gradual taper, buy a pill splitter and taper very, very slowly. He only needs to taper from the benzodiazepines (to my knowledge). LSD he can stop right away without worrying about withdrawals. For MDMA your brain has to recover from it slowly, so you need time off the drug sober (Get 5-HTP capsules from Amazon to help keep your sanity as you recover).

I'm not sure about the codeine though. Perhaps another bluelighter can help me out in terms of what he can do.

I hope this helps,

I understand it can be a pretty traumatic experience coming off benzodiazepines. In my case, I was forced onto them in a psychiatric ward and I got addicted. I never took that shit after I got out, and it took a massive toll on my brain.

 

[Oopsyloopsy]

Sounds like it's from stopping benzos. You should have an honest discussion with him and ask him if he was taking benzos daily. He may need to be put on valium or such if he was taking benzos for an extended period as cold turkeying benzos is no joke and can be deadly.

 

[Oopsyloopsy]

Thanks for replying.
He’s been seeing a psychologist weekly since it all happened. He’s very happy with the way he’s progressing. It’s been nearly 3 months since he’s taken anything. He has been using drugs for about 12 months. Lots of lsd, mdma and Etizolam (Yeah thats must be what it is) and pot. Would he still be feeling the effects even though it’s been that long?

 

[Oopsyloopsy]

Hi Oopsyloopsy! Welcome to BL forums!

To actually "get a better understanding" of what your 17 year old is going through, I strongly recommend a child counselor. They are experts in child psychology and will be able to better assist you in that matter. Our community knows certain drugs better than most counselors do, for example, the new RCs which were not in use when the practitioners themselves were younger or in training. I'm not familiar with what Itizelam is, did you perhaps mean Etizolam?

Seizures are definitely a symptom of benzodiazepine withdrawal. LSD does not have withdrawal symptoms (To mine and modern scientific literature's knowledge), so I'm certain that this was caused by the benzodiazepine withdrawal. You have to had been addicted to it for a very long time to get to that stage, where you get a seizure from withdrawing cold turkey. This factor must not be ruled out by anybody who is now diagnosing him as an epileptic. The anxiety/panicky states are fluctuations that can be attributed to benzodiazepine withdrawal as well, which is absolute hell, and can lead to not knowing what is real and what is not real. As for the "strange feelings", those are is his receptors recovering from the MDMA.

Yes, at that age, his brain is still recovering, and the damage could well be permanent, should be carry this into adulthood. However, the sooner you stop, your brain will find a way to heal itself, it will take time. However, stopping benzodiazepines cold turkey is a serious mistake. People get emotional about their addiction and try to let it go all at once, and it can have severe consequences. These substances were created by big pharma to get you hooked, it's not easy to come off them. I recommend a gradual taper, buy a pill splitter and taper very, very slowly. He only needs to taper from the benzodiazepines (to my knowledge). LSD he can stop right away without worrying about withdrawals. For MDMA your brain has to recover from it slowly, so you need time off the drug sober (Get 5-HTP capsules from Amazon to help keep your sanity as you recover).

I'm not sure about the codeine though. Perhaps another bluelighter can help me out in terms of what he can do.

I hope this helps,

I understand it can be a pretty traumatic experience coming off benzodiazepines. In my case, I was forced onto them in a psychiatric ward and I got addicted. I never took that shit after I got out, and it took a massive toll on my brain.

He’s seen a neurologist and had formal testing including eeg’s. There was some unusual brain activity when he was asked to perform different tasks and there is also a family history of epilepsy. They are aware of the drug use.

 

[awesome31311]

Oh, wow. In that case, it can be fatal for him to continue using benzodiazepines. A seizure is well documented as a withdrawal symptom. Has he been able to come off all substances cold turkey in a matter of 3 months, and does he still get withdrawal symptoms to this day? If he doesn't get withdrawal symptoms, then it seems like he is on track to living a stable life! (That is, provided he gets treatment for his epilepsy, if he winds up having it)

 

[Oopsyloopsy]

Oh, wow. In that case, it can be fatal for him to continue using benzodiazepines. A seizure is well documented as a withdrawal symptom. Has he been able to come off all substances cold turkey in a matter of 3 months, and does he still get withdrawal symptoms to this day? If he doesn't get withdrawal symptoms, then it seems like he is on track to living a stable life! (That is, provided he gets treatment for his epilepsy, if he winds up having it)

We were kind of hoping the seizure was part of the withdrawal but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Yep he’s off everything now. The only thing that bothers him now are the dejavu feelings and if he gets up too quickly and gets a bit dizzy he might have a panic attack thinking he might have a seizure. He doesn’t know how to explain the strange feelings. I think his brain is adjusting to life without drugs, but what would I know

 

[awesome31311]

We were kind of hoping the seizure was part of the withdrawal but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Yep he’s off everything now. The only thing that bothers him now are the dejavu feelings and if he gets up too quickly and gets a bit dizzy he might have a panic attack thinking he might have a seizure. He doesn’t know how to explain the strange feelings. I think his brain is adjusting to life without drugs, but what would I know

Also, let's not neglect the hormonal factor, either! At the age of 17, I was feeling weird things even without drugs!

 

[Oopsyloopsy]

Also, let's not neglect the hormonal factor, either! At the age of 17, I was feeling weird things even without drugs!

I haven’t been in the mind of a 17 year old boy but I imagine it’s pretty crazy in there. I remember feeling a bit all over the place as a teenage girl though. The thing bringing him down at the moment is he can’t drive for 12 months. He’s right in the middle of having his learners and getting lessons. He’s hoping to get an apprenticeship next year but everyone requires a license. He’ll get there. It might just take him a little longer.

 

[KB215]

Hi. I’ve just joined so I get a better understanding of what my 17 year old son is going through. In March he overdosed at school. He took lsd, mdma, codeine and Itizelam. Yep. All at once. We had no idea he was even doing drugs. Anyway, this really scared him and was his wake up call. He hasn’t taken anything since. A week after his od, he had 2 seizures. We were told this could possibly be from going cold turkey. After many tests we was told he could possibly have epilepsy. Still being tested. For a few weeks he was very anxious and panicky and unsure if he was dreaming or in real life. This has passed but his main problem now is he has this feeling of dejavu and strange feelings he can’t describe several times a day. It makes him panic. He’s also wondering if he’s going to have any more seizures. I’ve never done drugs apart from pot so I’m really not sure what he’s experiencing. He’s terrified he’s done permanent damage to his brain. I’m interested in your experiences. Thanks for listening.

Sorry for what you are going through definitely get him a one on one Counsolor so he has some one he can talk to the opposite of addiction is connection with people... so definitely stay intoch so we can see the progress

 

[nuttynutskin]

Sounds like he's on the right track. Is he getting more tests for epilepsy?

 

[Oopsyloopsy]

Yes. Booked in for a 3 hour sleep deprivation eeg in a few weeks. Pretty sure he’s experiencing other types of seizures as well as the tonic clinic ones. He has feelings of dejavu and feels like he’s dreaming sometimes. Apparently these are either warning signs a big seizure is on the way or actually a type of seizure. Hopefully find out some answers soon.

 

[Xorkoth]

Do you have a sense for how long he was using etizolam? Benzo withdrawal from a serious habit lasts for a long time and seizures, delusions and feelings of unreality are the symptoms. If someone has been on benzos (like etizolam) for a daily period for a while, medically speaking a slow taper is the only way to avoid seizures and all kinds of serious trouble.