24:09 and taking the antidepressants value became a big problem i don't know if you remember the movie dancing as fast as i can because they discovered how addictive valium was so they created. More benzo's that were supposed to be less addicted in one of the next expenses they created was at a van which was supposed to be less addictive and less harmful. But these drugs have half-lives, and Valium has a very long half life so it stays in your body for a long time. Ativan has a very short half life and only stays in your body maybe 24 hours. And I only took Ativan at night to help me sleep along with Ambienz. So I mean, I was on like a triple cocktail
25:01 Really bad pharmaceuticals that no one should take because they're just so harmful what happened i started with drawing from all of my hobbies everything that i enjoyed became a girl but hardly left the house life just held nothing for me anymore i didn't know what was wrong I didn't discuss it with anyone but Patrick because i felt no one would understand or wouldn't think i was crazy and this went on for close to a year. And that was when i decided okay, im gonna get off the antidepressants. I thought that was the problem It took a long time, i tapered very very slowly and thats something thats very important for people to understand
25:53 Never ever go cold turkey off of any of these pharmaceutical drugs because it could cause you to want to kill yourself. I tapered very, very slowly off of these took me probably close to nine months but unfortunately that didn't solve my agoraphobia, my apathy, my lack of motivation and i was on the phone with Patrick and he said Annette I don't think your gonna feel yourself again Until you get off the out of and it been so that as a thing. And i said patrick i just don't see how i can do that right now i just got off of the antidepressants any said well sounds like addiction to me, add always felt that i had a dependence on these drugs but i never felt addicted and addicted is really a trigger for me because i had a son that was drug addict and couple days later
26:54 That statement just really upset me and I got on the internet and started researching. And i discovered this fantastic website www.benzo.uk.org, it's a United Kingdom British website by Professor Heather Ashton called The Ashton Method. And I looked through that website and discovered everything that had been happening to me and i discovered that i have thrown myself into withdrawal from an event because i wasn't taking enough of it, how is only taking at night and i had thrown myself into withdrawal. And all of the symptoms the agoraphobia black motivation the withdrawal from hobbies and things that are used to enjoy i stopped cooking for myself
27:54 All of these things fit what happened. And the solution per the Ashton method is to switch from the short half-life at a van, which the generic name is lorazepam, switch back to Valium, which the generic name is diazepam and taper from there. Luckily I had a very caring primary care physician I sent her this information and she agreed to work with me. So, i saw her mid-april and so she wrote the prescription out for Valium there are taper schedules on the ashton... on the benzo.uk.org website that tell you how it slowly taper also i was taking like two or three milligrams of Ativan at night
28:52 I didn't realize that one milligram of Ativan was equivalent to 10 milligrams of Valium. So when the doctor switched me over, she gave me 30 milligrams of Valium a day to take. Well my body... they react very differently. Ativan is very subtle. I never felt sleepy or...I mean like if i took it during the day, I never felt altered But when i started taking value again it altered me considerably ten milligrams made me feel like a drunk person so it was very easy to taper quite quickly. So i started mid april and by june, how is back to myself again in fact i felt better than i felt ages my motivation was back life became meaningful again i started getting out more i started