For just shy of 5 years I was prescribed and took a benzo daily for my seizures called Clobazam. It's relatively weak, extremely long-acting, and slightly structurally different than the ones people most frequently abuse.

Today marks a week since I've totally stopped. It's been interesting to see the relatively low-stakes rollercoaster that getting off it has been. The bigger roller coaster was how sedated I was last month, because before stopping I started another epiplepsy drug that increased how much of this benzo I metabolized. While I see how this experience has ranged from euphoria to insomnia to exhaustion, it's certainly been nothing like this author (so far).

When I started this benzo, my psych said something to me I'll never forget: "oh, there's nothing wrong with taking benzos daily... as long as you take them every day at exactly the same time for the rest of your life." My epileptologist swore that wasn't the case and seems to have been right, but that advice still lingers with me about benzos in general.