Trauma, Benzo Withdrawal, "Mental Illness" with Ali Zeck You Cured What?!

Ali Zeck shares her story of healing from overprescription of psych meds, misdiagnoses, abuse, trauma, and more to find awareness and live a healthy life.
For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/aliAli Zeck has been through the mental health system. Diagnosed (or as she would later come to understand, MISdiagnosed) with "mental illness", she spent decades on psychiatric medications. She suffered the effects of these drugs, leading to suicide attempts and eventually to very difficult psychiatric medication withdrawal (including "benzo" withdrawal). She has regained her health, and she now looks at the mental health system and at society with a new level of clarity, providing sharp commentary about both online.

[1:00] Joe plugs his DiseaseReversals.com project.

[2:05] Joe introduces Ali.

[3:00] Ali gives her background in the mental health and healthcare systems. She was brought up in a family that held doctors in high regard. She felt anxiety during college. She was diagnosed with bullimia and over-exercise at that time. She was told she was mentally ill and put on Prozac.

[5:35] Ali discusses how she underwent trauma and how that impacted her subconscious and her behaviors. Combined with lots of psychiatric medications, this put her into a psychosis that lasted many years.

[6:40] She had started on a path dominated by the belief system that she just had to find the right drug to cure her "mental health" issues.

[7:25] Over 25 years, what psychiatric drugs did Ali take and what were some of the effects? (Some examples of drugs she was put on are Xanax (a benzodiazepine) and Valium. Also, SSRIs and anti-seizure medications.) The withdrawal effects of coming off these drugs were awful. And some of them gave skin-crawling feelings when she was on them.

[9:15] What was the timeline on Ali coming off benzodiazepines and what were the withdrawal symptoms like?

[10:15] One general practitioner abruptly switched her from Prozac to Lexapro in one day, which is very dangerous. This led to Ali's first suicide attempt.

[10:50] Ali stopped taking benzodiazepines cold turkey (dangerous) in August 2015 and went into a horrible psychosis. She couldn't sleep, she was having heart palpitations, muscle contortions, diarrhea, and she had hallucinations of a man chasing her around her bedroom. She was misdiagnosed at this point with bipolar disorder and put on her more meds which gave her a skin-crawling feeling.

[12:40] What led Ali to wanting to come off the benzos cold turkey? Trauma was a big part of this.

[13:40] Ali was told by one of her psychiatrists that he didn't know what was wrong with her, that the drugs helped everyone else. She later found out that that same psychiatrist had at least three patients kill themselves in a single year.

[14:35] When Ali decided to go cold turkey off her meds, she had an appointment already scheduled with holistic doctor Dr. Kelly Brogan.

[17:20] Ali describes the gaslighting and abuse she faced from many of her doctors. She thought the drugs were making her unwell, but the psychiatrists told her it was actually her genetic "mental illness" causing the problems, not the drugs. She got indoctrinated into their belief system.

[20:30] How did Ali go from being trapped inside the mental health system to being outside of it, looking at it with clarity? Dr. Kelly Brogan did a lot for her, starting by changing her mindset and letting Ali know that Ali was not mentally ill.

[22:45] Dr. Brogan helped Ali change her lifestyle as well after helping change her mindset. This includes diet and meditation. Brogan helped Ali deal with her trauma.

[26:00] What specifics in lifestyle changes were big difference-makers for Ali's health? She references a no-gluten, no-sugar, no-dairy, Whole30ish diet that Dr. Brogan said she needed to go on immediately (and Ali committed). Ali sees that most people don't understand how much alcohol and food impact how