FloridaTaper
Evidence-based information on benzodiazepine tapering, withdrawal, and BIND
FloridaTaper publishes careful, evidence-informed writing on benzodiazepine tapering, withdrawal, and recovery — for patients, families, and clinicians.
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Latest articles
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Akathisia During Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: The Restlessness Nobody Warns You About
Akathisia is one of the most distressing experiences a person can have, and one of the least understood by clinicians who have not seen it in benzodiazepine patients. The word itself comes…
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What Is the Ideal Cut Percentage? Finding the Sweet Spot in Benzodiazepine Tapering
The most common question patients ask once they decide to taper a benzodiazepine is also one of the hardest to answer: how much should each cut be? A patient who reads the…
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Why the Ashton Manual Crossover Fails for Some Patients, and What to Do When Diazepam Provides No Relief
Why does the Ashton Manual want you on diazepam in the first place? Because diazepam leaves the body slowly, and a slow exit is easier to taper. In Chapter 2 of the…
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Hydroxyzine vs Promethazine: Which Works Better for BIND Symptoms, and Which Is Safer?
In short: Hydroxyzine and promethazine are sedating antihistamines that are sometimes prescribed off-label as comfort medications during a benzodiazepine taper or Benzodiazepine-Induced Neurological Dysfunction (BIND), and neither one is reliably effective or…
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Temperature Dysregulation in Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: When Hot Flashes Are Not Hormonal
Why am I having hot flashes in the middle of a benzodiazepine taper? Hot flashes, drenching night sweats, and swings from chilled to sweating are a recognized physical symptom of benzodiazepine withdrawal.…
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Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and BIND: Neuroimmune Overlap or Separate Disease?
Patients with benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction (BIND) and patients with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) frequently describe overlapping symptoms: flushing, gastrointestinal (GI) trouble, palpitations, sensory hypersensitivity, new food and medication reactions, sleep disruption,…
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Is Vagus Nerve Dysfunction the Missing Link in Gastroparesis During Benzodiazepine Withdrawal?
Why does food just sit there during a benzodiazepine taper? Why would a stomach stop emptying in the middle of a benzodiazepine taper? Is it the withdrawal, or a new disease with…
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Lyme Disease Workups in Protracted Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: What the Clinical Overlap Actually Looks Like
If you are in protracted benzodiazepine withdrawal, there is a fair chance a Lyme disease workup has come up somewhere along your diagnostic odyssey. The reasons are understandable. The symptom overlap is…
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Is Benzo Belly During a Benzodiazepine Taper Really IBS?
Why does the stomach trouble start in the middle of a benzodiazepine taper? Because the gut is part of the withdrawal, and it is usually left out of the conversation. New bloating,…
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Fibromyalgia or BIND? A Diagnostic Collision Patients Keep Running Into
You were told fibromyalgia. Could it still be the benzodiazepine? It could, and in a patient with your history it often is, at least in part. Fibromyalgia describes widespread pain, exhaustion that…









