MY 27-YEAR DRUGS HELL AFTER FIANCÉ DIED
Bristol Evening Post
July 10, 2002
A woman from Bristol has spoken out about her 27-year addiction to tranquillisers after starting to beat her habit through the Bristol and District Tranquilliser Project.
Susan Castle, aged 48, is now urging other users to seek help with their addiction to prescription drugs. The addict has spent the last 20 years in and out of hospital struggling to cope with her drug use after she lost her first love in a tragic car crash.
The death of her fiancé days before they were due to get married sent her spiralling into depression. And to help her cope, a psychiatrist prescribed the 21-year-old with temazepam, sleeping tablets, tranquillisers and two types of anti-depressant.
After four years, she became hooked on the drugs. When the course ran out, she broke down. She started to try and hurt herself. After a major overdose she ended up in Barrow Gurney psychiatric hospital for six months. But when doctors prescribed more of the same drugs, they became less effective and she started to take more of them.
Now after spotting a leaflet on the Bristol and District Tranquillisers Project, Susan is on the road to recovery. She has been a member of the project for four years and has cut her drugs by three quarters.
The Bristol Tranquilliser Project helpline is 962 8874.
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