Blood Orange Night

My Journey to the Edge of Madness

De: Melissa Bond

Narrado por: Melissa Bond

Brain on Fire meets High Achiever in this “page-turner memoir chronicling a woman’s accidental descent into prescription benzodiazepine dependence—and the life-threatening impacts of long-term use—that chills to the bone” (Nylon).

As Melissa Bond raises her infant daughter and a special-needs one-year-old son, she suffers from unbearable insomnia, sleeping an hour or less each night. She loses her job as a journalist (a casualty of the 2008 recession), and her relationship with her husband grows distant. Her doctor casually prescribes benzodiazepines—a family of drugs that includes Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan—and increases her dosage regularly.

Following her doctor’s orders, Melissa takes the pills night after night until her body begins to shut down. Only when she collapses while holding her daughter does Melissa learn that her doctor—like so many others—has over-prescribed the medication and quitting cold turkey could lead to psychosis or fatal seizures. Benzodiazepine addiction is not well studied, and few experts know how to help Melissa as she begins the months-long process of tapering off the pills without suffering debilitating, potentially deadly consequences.

Each minute thrums with the heartbeat of Melissa’s struggle—how many hours has she slept? How many weeks old are her babies? How many milligrams has she taken? Her propulsive writing crescendos to a fever pitch as she fights for her health and her ability to care for her children. “Propulsive, poetic” (Shelf Awareness), and immersive, this “vivid chronicle of suffering” (Kirkus Reviews) and redemption shines a light on the prescription benzodiazepine epidemic as it reaches a crisis point in this country.

©2022 Melissa Bond. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Powerful!

I couldn’t stop listening! Melissa writes PERFECTLY- her words are gripping and eloquent. I am a nurse and have learned so much from Melissa - I have taken benzodiazepines for anxiety and had NO idea of the danger! I am personally thankful for this masterpiece!

Important message. But needs serious editing.

This book is about addiction, medically prescribed addiction. But it ends up being so full with adjectives that you lose up in the twirls. Way too many. Hundreds of adjectives and forced “beauty”. The narration is way too corny. Needs serious editing.

A compassionate, sensitive, good mother persevered

This author is passionate, truthful, accurate, & very inspiring. All at once. I recommend this listening session, to anyone.

Raw Memoir

Beautiful writing. I struggled with her perception of people who cross from dependent to addiction.

Great insight the dangers of benzodiazepines

I liked the book because it shows how addictive benzodiazepines are, and that many doctors are not aware of this. I listened to this audio book because a coworker took his owe life because of an ignorant doctor prescribed him a strong benzodiazepine sleeping pill. He took it for three month then couldn’t function at work because his tolerance increased and withdrawal started. He tried to tapper,but this put him in bed for 3 month until he could take it anymore.

Strength and courage

Thank you for sharing your story. You are a hero and an inspiration to many.

Must read for everyone.

As a person who has been prescribed Benzos, I was shaken to my core. I had no clue how dangerous these "perfectly safe" little pills are. So many of my symptoms have started making sense. this should be shared in all school curriculums.

Powerful

Powerful and moving! I have more understanding and empathy for those afflicted by the use of benzodiazepines. Thank you for sharing your story!

Easy to listen to

After reading the reviews I’m wondering what I found to be so compelling. I’m now embarrassed that I enjoyed it so, maybe it’s because I don’t read (or listen ) very often. I identified with the author and felt her way of writing pulled me in. She was very descriptive, so much so that I sometimes felt her pain. I enjoyed it.

Mispronunciations

Why not look up a word before you mispronounce it? Distracting: Ischemic, femur, just basic medical terms found in the dictionary.