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PATIENTS' RIGHTS ADVOCACY
Waikato Inc.
65 Tawa Street, Hamilton, New Zealand
Telephone: International + 64 – 7 – 8435837
Contact: Anna de Jonge
Email: rens.dej@clear.net.nz
PRAWI Community Adult Education
Continuing Education
Benzodiazepines – how they work and how to withdraw
Waikato Times, June 2001
A group of prescription tranquillisers – benzodiazepines – is now classified as Class C drugs because of risks of addiction and side-effects. A class at Hamilton's Fraser High School this term is dedicated to teaching people how to come off them safely.
"It is important to keep in mind when going through withdrawal from minor tranquillisers that it is a very erratic process," tutor Anna de Jonge said. "There are lots of ups and downs so we must accept it will take time to get back to functioning normally."
Adverse effects of benzodiazepines can include anything from lack of concentration and poor memory to blurred vision, agoraphobia, aggression and incontinence.
Anna teaches participants how to achieve withdrawal from the drugs in a specific way. "There are different equations and strengths of the drug, and different lengths of time it works in the body. This means each case is individual and how you approach withdrawal depends on what you take," she said.
Anna is liaison officer for the Patients' Rights Advocacy Waikato Inc and worked for 27 years as an operating theatre charge nurse. She is a published author on the dangers of benzodiazepines.
The three-week course runs on Tuesdays, 7-9pm. Inquiries to Hamilton's Fraser High School, ph: 847-9044 extension 2.
Patients' Rights Advocacy Waikato Inc
Professor Ashton's Benzodiazepines –
How They Work & How To Withdraw
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