PHOTO CREDIT: SIMON SCOTT

Shinjuku Station, Tokyo: Revisited 12 years later

– The busiest train station in the world –
(Where the equivalent of NZ’s population passes through daily)

I would stagger through the maze-like multilevel pathways and exists through the masses of people, as I headed to the clinic, where I was being given a prescription for addiction without even knowing it.

Despite expert warnings regarding long term use and multi prescribing, I was prescribed 5 different drugs concurrently, including 3 kinds of benzodiazepines mixed together in powder form, for a total period of 10 months whilst being completely mislead / misinformed over the treatment. This was later confirmed by Dr. Judson (addictive medicine expert) in Section Four of his fourth report. Also, I had no idea what the drugs were (there was basically no information on the internet for me to refer to at the time either).

As benzodiazepines work directly on the CNS they affect our entire bodily and mental functions, and subsequently, I suffered from a wide range of movie-like physical and psychological symptoms which were extremely debilitating in nature. It was like my entire body had become out of control (palpitations etc) and it felt like I was going out of my mind (panic attacks, mood swings etc).

My dependency experience was made worse for 2 reasons:

1. I had to endure it in another country and language by myself without any support around me.

2. I had to endure it without knowing what was happening to me or why because I hadn’t been given proper informed consent about the drugs or the treatment.

Many experts (Japan & Internationally) have since provided expert verifications that the prescribing doctor’s extremely quaint diagnosis of Sylvian Aqueduct Syndrome was not only incorrect, but it was also in complete contradiction to his drug treatment.

A comprehensive account of prescribing issues was given by Addictive Medicine Specialist, Dr. Graeme Judson’s in his fourth report.

This inappropriate drug treatment also likely hindered the recovery from my original problem of vestibular neuronitis (inflammation of the nerve in the inner ear).

Subsequently, I was left walking like a drunk 24/7 for over a year and suffering from the additional debilitating effects of the involuntary dependency for much longer.

See official Statement 1 for more details on how the dependency formed.

See official Statement 2 for more details on the impact.

See My Medical Experience (benzo dependency) in Japan for more details on symptoms etc.