The Other Epidemic: Trying to get off benzodiazepines

# Summary Benzodiazepines, long marketed as safe medications, can cause severe and debilitating withdrawal symptoms when patients attempt to discontinue use, as documented in the author's experience tapering off Klonopin after 19 years of daily use. Despite a hospital doctor's assurance that a three-week tapering plan would safely resolve his mood instability, the author experienced extreme withdrawal symptoms including paresthesia, tinnitus, insomnia, depersonalization, hyperhidrosis, and intense electrical sensations that led to multiple misdiagnoses and significantly impaired his functioning. The article highlights a largely overlooked public health crisis involving the difficult and dangerous process of benzodiazepine discontinuation.