Mark Leeds, D.O. is an osteopathic physician and deprescribing specialist in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He helps patients come off benzodiazepines and sleeping pills with a slow, patient-directed taper guided by the Ashton Manual and the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines. Physical dependence is not addiction, and a careful taper is measured in months, not days.
Anyone preparing to get help with a benzodiazepine problem in Fort Lauderdale will find no shortage of providers using the word detox. The word itself…
Is fear during a benzodiazepine taper really a fear of relapse? No. Fear during a benzodiazepine taper is normal, and it can be planned for.…
Many people searching for a benzo recovery center in Florida have already figured out the most important thing: the Ashton Manual approach, with its gradual,…
The decision to come off a long-term anxiety medication almost never happens at the first sign of trouble. It usually comes years in, after a…
Key Takeaways A benzodiazepine is tapered by lowering the dose in small steps over months, with a hold whenever symptoms rise, at a pace the…
Key Takeaways Food steadies the body during a benzodiazepine taper while the taper itself does the work, and no meal shortens the time the nervous…
Searching for a benzo detox center in Fort Lauderdale usually begins with a sound instinct. Something about the medication is no longer working, and stopping…
Why does mindfulness come up in benzodiazepine withdrawal at all? Benzodiazepine withdrawal is what a nervous system does while it readapts to life without a…
Key Takeaways Anxiety that rises within days of a dose reduction and eases over the following weeks is usually withdrawal, not proof that the original…
Key Takeaways The patient decides when a benzodiazepine taper starts, how fast it goes, and when to hold, while the physician prescribes the medication and…
Why does the Ashton Manual switch people to diazepam before a benzo taper? Because diazepam (Valium) leaves the body slowly, and because it comes in…
Key Takeaways A benzodiazepine taper takes months and often longer, it never runs in a straight line, and a bad week inside it is usually…
