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"They told me Ativan would be a part of my life for the rest of my life. Well, they were right—but not in the way they thought it would."

Meet Luanne Wall—registered nurse with 41 years of critical care experience, wife, mother, grandmother, and survivor of benzodiazepine dependency. When pandemic stress, family illness, and mounting anxiety led her to seek help from her doctor in 2021, she received a prescription for Ativan to be taken three times daily. What followed was a descent into dependency that would affect not only her life but her daughter's and infant grandson's as well.

In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Luanne reveals the brutal reality of prescription benzodiazepine use that most doctors won't acknowledge. From experiencing severe interdose withdrawal despite taking the medication exactly as prescribed, to being told she "wouldn't become addicted" because she "didn't have an addictive personality," her story exposes the dangerous misconceptions perpetuated by medical professionals about these powerful drugs.

Most compelling is Luanne's refusal to distinguish between her experience and that of street drug users. "If I'm an addict, what does that make you?" she challenges her prescribing doctor. Her insight that "street dealers know they're not smarter than the drug they're dealing" while doctors believe they can outsmart these substances cuts to the heart of our broken approach to prescribed medications. After finding salvation through the Ashton Manual and completing a grueling seven-month taper, Luanne now lives with the permanent consequences of her prescribed dependency—tremors, hearing loss, and nervous system damage.

Whether you've experienced dependency yourself, know someone who has, or simply want to understand the truth about prescription drugs, this episode will transform how you view the line between medicine and addiction. Share your story with us and help break the stigma around prescribed drug dependency.

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