OK, I am going to try this route first. It is free and if a lawyer is interested they will contact me. The more people that sign on, the more likely a law firm will take interest and take it on as a class action. The site SueEasy has been up for several years and was featured on CNN. If this doesn't work I will personally try to find a local lawyer who does Class Actions. Lets see how many people sign on. Feel free to tell others about it who maybe interested. I am trying to find an edit button on that site because I wrote "What" instead of "Watch" and it is driving me crazy.
Anyway, your private information when you sign up for the site is not displayed.
"My name is Brian Baxter and I live in Albany, NY. I have been injuried by taking generic Xanax (Alprazolam) a benzodiazepine.
Benzodiazepines are drugs such as Xanax (Alprazolam), Librium (Chlordiazepoxide), Klonopin (Clonazepam), Valium (Diazepam), and Ativan (Lorazepam) among others.
Over the past year of being sick after coming off Alprazolam I have seen countless doctors and have received no help except the denial that these medications can injury people in the way that I have been. Turning to the internet I have found 1000's of other people that have taken a benzodiazepine and have been injured in the same fashion that I have.
To hear my full story up till August 2009 please watch my story http://blip.tv/file/2507763/
Everyday I continue to get emails from others who have been injured by this class of drugs and the forums I have become a part of have new members all the time looking for help. People stay sick on average for 6 to 18 months and indeed longer.
If you have been injured or damaged by a benzodiazepine please sign up for this class action.
To date if I stand I get very high heart rates 120+ beats per minute. Taking a shower my pulse is 140+ beats per minute. I have severe fatigue and severe gastric disturbances along with a list of other medical issues that were not present before being on Alprazolam.
My hope is to go after the companies who make these benzodiazepines and bring public awareness to this problem. People have suffered alone in silence too long."
If you have been injured by a benzo please click here to sign up. http://www.sueeasy.com/class_action_detail.php?case_id=389
18 comments:
we need to put a stop to this drug.i had taken it in 2004 which was prescribed by a doctor in the emergency room at a hospital in ny.i should have been allowed to go through the natural grieving process after havinga miscarriage and losing my fiance a few days later. instead i was given this quick fix and have not been the same since i stopped taking it in 2005. I have seen cardiologists,neurologists,many emergency room visits, EENT, had a swallowing evaluation and more. I havent been the same and i would like for this company to pay for damages it has caused me. I would never recommend this to anyone. My life has changed for the worst since xanax. I went from healthy to having daily issues since xanax.
My name is Karen and I was first given Xanax in 1997 for PTSD. I took it for 14 years and then it turned on me like wild fire. I ended up in a detox center, where they foolishly did a cold turkey ( you never cold turkey a benzo) I too have been to countless dr's, incurred unimaginable medical bills all because of these poisons. I had to reinstate on a benzo after the cold turkey and a totally ignorant dr put me on 8mgs of Klonopin! The dose almost killed and the withdrawal is inhumane. These drugs are legal, when smoking a joint will get you jail time??? RIDICULOUS! These poisons should be illegal and banned. They ruin your life and destroy families, marriages and careers! I would love to see some justice done over this horrible issue.
Thanks Brian
Your video is the subject of my latest blog entry.
http://wp.me/pWzKG-Q
My story is the first blog entry.
http://wp.me/pWzKG-1
I haven't read up on your proposed class action yet, but intend to do so right after I post this.
Thanks :-)
I too have had very severe problems from being prescribed alprazolam. My doctor prescribed it for me when I was hospitalized for pneumonia in 2000. I asked him repeatedly over a number of years whether it was O.K. to be on this drug and he said it was fine. In 2009 I asked him to be taken off of it and he did not give me the proper taper. I ended up being hospitalized (not by him, not at his hospital) and nearly died from withdrawal. I went from having a GPA of 3.53 and published papers to living in a homeless shelter and being ostracized. Thankfully I'm in a better situation now and I'm seriously considering suing my doctor. I know that pharmaceutical companies are promoting benzo medications but doctors should educate themselves that they should be used for short-term use only.
How is the class action going? I would certainly join in as I too have been wrecked by this evil drug.
Thank you, Brian, for undertaking such an important mission. Your "Welcome to Hell" video made me cry when I saw it. I developed postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome this January. It was of sudden onset. Doctors were convinced I was just "anxious" and put me on xanax, which was a roller coaster ride in purgatory. I was switched to klonopin and became suicidal by the second week I was on it. I tried to taper off for two months and a half months, until I wound up in the hospital with seizures. The psychiatrist there labeled me as somatizing, and switched me to ativan. He said there wasn't the "depression profile" with that benzo. He was wrong. By the way, the somatization label was given to me even though the neurologist I saw new damned well what had happened: I had had convulsions caused by the klonopin! I am now off the ativan,and am in day nine of my withdrawal. I had tried four times before. The only reason I am succeeding now is because I have no choice: I stopped breathing the last few times I took it (.125 mg!). The POTS tachycardia has worsened a LOT, but I know I am not alone, at least. The depression has been overwhelming, and part of it may be because of how debilitated POTS has made me, but I know I had never been a suicidal person until I had benzos foisted on me. I spent 24 hours yesterday shaking and sobbing in terror and despair. I have a family history of bi-polar disorder, and thought I might have been experiencing my first "manic episode." I would have checked myself in yesterday, but my husband said they would just put me on benzos again, and so I stayed home. I would rather risk my life from the uncontrolled tachycardia and blood pressure than be put on benzos again, and risk taking my own life, as I almost did. Keep educating people. You may save a life. In fact, you may have already save lives.
Thank you, Brian, for undertaking such an important mission. Your "Welcome to Hell" video made me cry when I saw it. I developed postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome this January. It was of sudden onset. Doctors were convinced I was just "anxious" and put me on xanax, which was a roller coaster ride in purgatory. I was switched to klonopin and became suicidal by the second week I was on it. I tried to taper off for two months and a half months, until I wound up in the hospital with seizures. The psychiatrist there labeled me as somatizing, and switched me to ativan. He said there wasn't the "depression profile" with that benzo. He was wrong. By the way, the somatization label was given to me even though the neurologist I saw new damned well what had happened: I had had convulsions caused by the klonopin! I am now off the ativan,and am in day nine of my withdrawal. I had tried four times before. The only reason I am succeeding now is because I have no choice: I stopped breathing the last few times I took it (.125 mg!). The POTS tachycardia has worsened a LOT, but I know I am not alone, at least. The depression has been overwhelming, and part of it may be because of how debilitated POTS has made me, but I know I had never been a suicidal person until I had benzos foisted on me. I spent 24 hours yesterday shaking and sobbing in terror and despair. I have a family history of bi-polar disorder, and thought I might have been experiencing my first "manic episode." I would have checked myself in yesterday, but my husband said they would just put me on benzos again, and so I stayed home. I would rather risk my life from the uncontrolled tachycardia and blood pressure than be put on benzos again, and risk taking my own life, as I almost did. Keep educating people. You may save a life. In fact, you may have already save lives.
I saw your video on Youtube and added you as a friend. I started on Ativan in 1999 and by 2005, my psychiatrist had me ramped up to 6 mg of Klonopin per day. When I lost my health insurance, I lost my medication and went through an endless cycle of emergency room visits, short scripts from doctors to detox in 10 days, and even a 28 day treatment program. Sadly, I am still on 1 mg of Klonopin per day. My family blames me, I am now a "drug addict" who can't be trusted. Honestly, I have not found one doctor who will listen. I have lost all respect and hope in doctors and medicine, my dad is a retired doctor and my sister is a physician!
12 years of fighting this beast, dogmatic doctors, insensative family members, and greedy drug companies. I've had it up to hear and am ready to take serious action. This crap has destroyed my life but of course, it's all my fault for being a "drug addict." Sad, but that's how I am looked at, no one ever holds doctors accountable, it's time to take action!
Sir! if you can get ativan/lorazapam banned then please go for it. I was put on it in march 2005 for a month and it made me psychotic so I went cold turkey off it at home and oh boy , that was like 3 week bad trip in hell. Oh Lord that was just wrong . I can't say anything good about being on that stuff and getting off it was by far the most harrowing experience of my entire 41 years on Earth.
Zopiclone is another one that is just evil poison. I my experience I must say that Grass, hash , Acid, Mushrooms, speed , booze .. none of them as anywhere near potentially horrific substances as these legal pills.
I am fit , healthy , clean and content now in July 2011.My life is back on track more than ever before. Peace be with you all.
Khudaa haafiz
Mr. T.
Is this class action still waiting to go ahead, any lawyer contacted you? Thank you Brian for even making an attempt at this, certainly the benzo family of medication needs much stricter regulation in every country and should NEVER be prescribed for longer than a few days. I am in Canada and can't even begin to talk about the never ending nightmare benzodiazepines have turned my life into.
Ok now I am getting somewhere I really thought I was alone, morally flawed, actually insane. I was able to trace, in my mind, the start of the spiral was a xanax presciption. It turned into such a a problem I was placed in a behavioral health unit destroying my self worth. The treatment you ask? Klonipin-more accurately clonazepam. The cure for a benzodiazepine is...you guessed it more benzodiazipines. You see the problem wasn't just in my mind it was my mind. Never had a problem before the benzos. Now I know it wasn't all in my mind and that my reasoning wasn't shot. I quit on my own but my life is in a shambles it,s been 2 months but my ears still ring and I still twitch but it's improving. I call bullshit on this method of treatment. It's quackery. I live in saratoga ny I will join your cause cuz it's mine to. Let's roll.
This drug is Synthetic Insanity!
They have ruined my life and all I ever did is obey the doctors orders. They said Dry mouth and Drowziness were the ONLY side effects... Not Hell on Earth.
The people who manufacture it and give it out like candy should be punished... This is a crie against humanity and more people die from it everyday... Heath Ledger, Cobain, Whitney Houston... how many more people have to die for this terrible abomination before it is banned.
Brian, have any lawyers shown any interest yet?
hi brian, I am in my 4 month of Klonipin withdrawal after being on benzos for 17 years. 3 previous unsucessful attempts at getting off this poision. 2 cold turkeys made me psychotic so I had to reinstate it. I am now more lucid, and rationale than I have been in years. I will do what I can to help. This poison practically ruined my life. I became an accidental addict and was not informed of it being addictive, nor the damaging side effects and withdrawal syndrome. I became depressed, attempted suicide once, aggressive violent, memory loss, inability to rationalize, blunted emotions, the list goes on and on, I have lost everything I owned and loved, family and friends. I want the world to know what these drugs do to you. Pharma and Big Brother are working together just for the money and killing people ruining lives. It must stop!!!
The last 10 years I doctors were prescribing Diazepam, known by the brand name Valium, and recently it was raised from 15 mg to 40 mg each day. The last ten years and the effects of Valium on me resulted in divorce, estranged from my 18 year old son, bankruptcy, eviction and now homeless. I do not remember, but it seems like my dependancy and first impressions offended or was disliked by potential friends, hiring agencies, companies and life in general.
Hi Brian.
A few years back, I was treated for anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from flash-backs of childhood sexual abuse. The doctor at that time prescribed Ativan to help with the anxiety. It was a quick fix at the time, and eventually, I was weaned off. Unfortunately, what occurred after has resulted in a domino effect of life-changing events over which I seem to have no control. The panic attacks came back with a vengeance! I frequently have increased pulse levels to the 140's to 160's, cold sweats and panic, for seemingly simple reasons. I cannot tolerate crowds, so I avoid shopping malls, particularly around the holiday time. I am fearful of escalators, and can no longer drive a vehicle on a highway without having a panic attack. The last time, I nearly died in an accident because all of a sudden I started having a panic attack while driving on a major inter-state highway and could not pull over to the side of the road. When I finally managed to do so, my heart was pounding in my chest, I had trouble breathing and I was drenched in prespiration. After about 20 minutes, I was able to drive to the nearest exit. Since then I am fearful of driving on the highway in case it happens again. I have also had trouble with short-term memory loss and inability to concentrate, as well as emotional labile. My life is not the same since taking this poison.
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