Joyce had been off her sleeping pills (temazepam) for eighteen months. During the early months she had suffered a lot of sleepless nights but had coped well. When she rang a tranquillizer support line she was embarrassed by how distressed she was, but as she explained, she felt she had gone back to square one, and was feeling as ill as she had in early withdrawal. To make matters worse she had some strange symptoms and her husband said she was being silly: she felt sick and dizzy when she was near strong perfumes; cleaning products she had always used made her feel ill. She had always enjoyed shopping but she now found she felt headachy and sick in
certain department stores. She had suffered panic attacks in early withdrawal and knew these feelings were different. Eating was also a problem; her pulse raced and she had hot flushes after certain foods. It was such an odd collection of symptoms she wondered if she was imagining them and was greatly reassured when she was told about Candida and food and chemical intolerance. Because she had lost a lot of weight and was by now confused about which foods upset her, she decided to see a clinical nutritionist. Here she had a cytotoxic test (a sample of blood is looked at under the microscope after it has been in contact with various foods to see whether the white blood cells react or not), and was then given an exclusion diet and supplements. The first three weeks were a struggle and she did not feel she was getting very far, then she started to feel stronger and gained two pounds in weight. Six months later she felt well and was working full time.
While the post-withdrawal problems of tranquillizer use are not yet widely medically accepted, particularly with regard to Candida and food intolerance, the dangers of long-term use of these drugs are well known.
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