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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ME/CFS and Protracted Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: Different Conditions or Overlapping Phenotypes?
If you have been through a long benzodiazepine withdrawal and someone has suggested you might have chronic fatigue syndrome, or the reverse, you are not alone in that confusion. Patients with protracted…
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Jaw Tension and Cervical Dystonia in Benzodiazepine Withdrawal, Misdiagnosed as Temporomandibular Disorder
Can a benzodiazepine taper make your jaw clench and your neck pull? Yes, and it does so often enough that Professor C. Heather Ashton wrote it into the Ashton Manual. Chapter III,…
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Long COVID and Protracted Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: Why the Clinical Picture Looks Nearly Identical
Long COVID and protracted benzodiazepine withdrawal produce symptom profiles that, viewed side by side without reference to their triggering events, are nearly indistinguishable. Fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, post-exertional worsening, orthostatic intolerance, autonomic instability,…
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Why Am I Suddenly Reacting to Foods I Have Eaten All My Life? New Food Sensitivities During a Benzodiazepine Taper.
Foods that were harmless for decades can start causing reactions during a taper. Have you started reacting to foods that never bothered you before? It is a common question during a benzodiazepine…
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Dysautonomia After Long-Term Benzodiazepine Use: What Autonomic Function Testing Can and Cannot Show
Patients with autonomic symptoms after long-term benzodiazepine use (orthostatic intolerance, palpitations, temperature dysregulation, gastrointestinal dysmotility, urinary dysfunction, sweating abnormalities) are sometimes referred for formal autonomic function testing (AFT) to objectively characterize the…
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Histamine Intolerance During Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: Is a Low-Histamine Diet Worth Trying?
Is a low-histamine diet worth trying during benzodiazepine withdrawal? For some people, yes, as a short experiment with an end date written on the calendar before it starts. A low-histamine diet can…
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When a Neurologist Orders an MS Workup for a Patient With BIND: What the Differential Should Include
A patient with paresthesias, tremor, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and sensory disturbances arriving at a neurology clinic will often leave with an order for a multiple sclerosis (MS) workup. The reasoning is straightforward:…
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How Should a Doctor Answer When a BIND Patient Asks If They Will Ever Fully Recover?
Will you ever fully recover? Will you ever fully recover from benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction, or BIND? It is the hardest question you can put to your doctor, and the one most often…
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When Benzodiazepine-Induced Neurological Dysfunction (BIND) Is Misdiagnosed as Functional Neurological Disorder, How Do You Get the Chart Corrected?
Why does a functional label follow you from one doctor to the next? Because a chart never forgets and rarely reconsiders. When benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction, or BIND, is written up as functional…
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Can Low-Dose Naltrexone Help With the Symptoms of BIND?
Why do patients with BIND keep asking about low-dose naltrexone? Can low-dose naltrexone help with the symptoms that linger after a benzodiazepine is gone? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Benzodiazepine-induced…