Claudia A. Merandi

Founder - Doctor Patient Forum/Don’t Punish Pain (opinions are my own)

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Dr. Josef advertises the following pricing for his psychiatric medication tapering program.

$32,000 if paid in full for the year.

I’m going to save you $32,000

If you want to taper, ask your doctor to work with a compounding pharmacy.

They can prepare customized doses that aren't commercially available, including liquid formulations or capsules containing precise amounts of medication.

I will work on building a list of compounding pharmacies

[Dr. Josef @DrJosefWD]

If you take a prescribed benzo or Ambien, please don't check into a detox center to get off it.

Most detox centers are built for addiction. People using huge, chaotic amounts of street drugs who need to get off fast.

That's not you if you take a normal dose your doctor prescribed. And an addiction approach can leave you worse off.

Here's what I see:

1. They rush you off in 1 to 3 weeks. The American Society of Addiction Medicine recommends slow, patient-led tapers instead, often over 1 to 2 years.

2. You leave on more drugs. The withdrawal is so bad they add Lexapro, gabapentin and Seroquel. One dependence becomes three.

3. A fast taper can hurt your brain. It's called protracted withdrawal. Ringing ears, light sensitivity, tingling, severe anxiety. In my clinic, recovery often takes 18 months to 2 years.

What to do instead:

→ Reduce by about 5 to 10% the first month, then adjust to how your body responds.
→ Use a liquid version of your drug and a 1 ml syringe for precision.
→ Address why you started. Usually it's a high-achiever living in hyperarousal who hit a crisis. Learn to sleep and manage anxiety naturally.

Don't white-knuckle it. Come off slowly, with a prescriber.

Want to come off safely? Comment TAPER and I'll send you my free safe tapering guide.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Putting people on Suboxone long term has been an absolute disaster

[David Wayne @DescribeHealth]

@CMerandi Benzodiazepines save lives in extremely limited use cases. Putting people on them long-term and at scale has been an absolute disaster

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

@DescribeHealth Now do Suboxone

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Benzodiazepines save lives

Muscular dystrophy patients are being ripped off their benzodiazepines

BIND/opioid induced hyperalgesia/central sensitization/are all bogus medical terms used to justify withholding medication

[Dr. Josef @DrJosefWD]

Jordan Peterson developed this condition eight years ago. He is still recovering from it today. And there’s a good chance your doctor has never heard of it.

It’s called benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction, BIND for short: a late-onset toxicity from drugs like Klonopin, Xanax, and Valium. The reason most doctors don’t know it exists isn’t negligence. It’s timing. This condition has only been described in the medical literature over roughly the last five years, and most prescribers’ knowledge of benzodiazepines was set decades before that. So patients show up describing it and get blank stares, or worse, new diagnoses.

Here’s what it actually looks like, from a research team out of Colorado and Vanderbilt who studied these patients. Ninety percent experience nervousness, anxiety, and fear, often extreme, running through the entire day. Sleep disturbances. Difficulty focusing. Low energy. And a strange hypersensitivity to light, sound, and a whole range of ordinary stimuli, as if the nervous system’s volume knob is stuck on maximum.

And the detail that separates BIND from everything else: these symptoms can continue for years after the medication is stopped. That’s what makes it so disorienting for patients and so invisible to doctors. “The drug is out of your system” is true. The injury it left behind is the condition.

If you’ve been on a benzodiazepine long term and this list reads like your life, you’re not imagining it, and you’re not rare. The literature finally exists. Bring it to your doctor.

If you’re looking to safely taper off a psychiatric medication, comment TAPER and I’ll send you my free tapering guide. It’s the exact protocol we use with our patients at TaperClinic.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Stay away from Stanford Pain at all costs

This interventional pain clinic will experiment on your spine, dope you up on gabapentin/Cymbalta, convince you to pay for a ridiculous pain rehab class, or attempt to dupe you into getting a spinal cord stimulator

They don’t care about patients

[Stanford Pain Medicine @StanfordPain]

Patients deserve the truth. If a procedure is painful, they should be told upfront—and offered options for pain relief.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Congratulations to all the troopers (mine included) ♥️♥️♥️♥️

May God continue to protect our brave law enforcement officers!

[RI State Police @RIStatePolice]

Last night, the Rhode Island State Police held a promotional ceremony to recognize Troopers for their recent promotions. Congratulations to all! #AlwaysThere

[Bev Schechtman🇮🇱 @ibdgirl76]

I have Crohn’s disease and inflammatory arthritis. I do everything right. I eat healthy, consume very little sugar, exercise, drink a gallon of water a day, and take my medications. Biologics, methotrexate, prednisone when needed.

For nearly a decade, I was mostly in remission.

Then, two months ago, everything changed.

Out of nowhere, I developed a fever, ended up hospitalized, and had surgery the next day. I still need another surgery. After a decade, my biologic stopped working. I'm starting a new treatment this week.

And right now? I'm in pain.

Some mornings I wake up and can barely walk. I can barely use my hands. Crohn's is flaring. Inflammatory arthritis is flaring. Despite doing everything "right."

Because that's the reality of chronic illness. You can do everything right and still get incredibly sick.

I can't take NSAIDs because of Crohn's.

Yet somehow, we've reached a point where the prevailing narrative would have you believe that opioids don't help chronic pain, and conditions like mine shouldn't require them.

I'm here to tell you that Crohn's HURTS. Inflammatory arthritis HURTS. And opioids absolutely CAN help.

I cannot believe how far off the rails we've gone. Patients are suffering, losing access to medications that help them function, and there are STILL people pushing to restrict opioid prescribing even further.

How much more do chronic pain patients have to endure? How much more access needs to be taken away?

When will it EVER be enough?

I will never stop fighting for patients like me. Because I know firsthand what it's like to live in a body that hurts despite doing everything you're supposed to do.

And I refuse to let anyone pretend that pain isn't real or that relief doesn't matter.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

@candiomercer Isn’t that something? Only pain patients get hyperalgesia never the addict.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

The VA started putting up these ridiculous signs years ago, leading people to believe they could simply train their brains away from physical pain.

I think we should apply that same philosophy to addiction.

Let’s start hanging signs in addiction treatment clinics telling people they can train their brains away from drug cravings.

If we’re going to tell people living with chronic pain to think their pain away, why aren’t we telling people struggling with addiction to think their cravings away?

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

@Asteroidplease1 You’re either being funded or you’re being exploited by benzodiazepine lawyers/benzo-hating nonprofits who receive funding from Pharma

Which is it?

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Daniel, who’s funding you?

You didn’t wake up one day and decide to speak out against benzodiazepines

Where do you receive your funding from?

[Daniel Owens @dsowens17]

I’m all for patient advocacy, and I’m open to the possibility that the response to the opioid crisis has overcorrected, leaving people unable to access pain medication they desperately need.

But this is really not the way to go about it.

Describing the opiate crisis as 'manufactured' and dismissing those who have been harmed by opiates, benzos and other meds indiscriminately as 'addicts' is completely unacceptable and shameful behaviour.

In fact, the best way to avoid overly restrictive prescribing is to not let things get so out of control so there is no crisis in the first place.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

@Asteroidplease1 @sash_andy I’m paid $1000 a month and we rely solely on donations

Squeaky clean and the benzo haters can’t stand it

Benzo haters continue to amuse me

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Unlike Suboxone, kratom is not linked to catastrophic dental decay, mouth, trauma, oral cancer

Kratom Saves Lives

[Ashley Campbell @AshleySG]

@stevero40104467 @CMerandi @Meta The subject is kratom. No, she is not speaking against it but against its criminalization.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Kratom overdose deaths are now equal to the number of people killed by unicorns

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Benzodiazepine save lives

[Ronda G @thislady12inva]

@Boopiedx @CMerandi When my mom would sundown from
alzheimers everyday, Diazapam saved her from completely spinning out.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Benzodiazepine save lives

[Pam Richardson @PJRich13]

@blu_noz_pitbull @PsychoMechanics @CMerandi I too was given a benzo, after I herniated 3 discs in low back, couldn’t walk, sit long, lift my leg to get in my truck a stick shift 😩 I couldn’t get up off the floor when it locked. Those 10 valium saved me, gave me a chance to relax those muscles. And heal some.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]


Opioid use disorder was created as Suboxone marketing tool.

In 2013, psychiatrists helped develop the diagnostic criteria for opioid use disorder. Two of the scumbags, Dr. Marc Auriacombe and Dr. Walter Ling, disclosed financial relationships with Reckitt Benckiser, the original manufacturer of Suboxone. Both also had ties to other addiction pharmaceutical companies.

Another psychiatrist involved in developing the OUD diagnosis was Dr. Wilson Compton, who later served in an advisory capacity during the review process for the disastrous 2016 CDC opioid prescribing guideline.

The 2016 CDC guideline recommended the dental decaying opioid buprenorphine for patients diagnosed with the newly created (fake diagnosis) OUD.

Then, in 2022, the CDC went even further, suggesting that chronic pain patients could be transitioned to buprenorphine even without an OUD diagnosis.

By the way, opioid settlement funds were used to pay for this ridiculous initiative.

[Rhode Island Department of Health @RIHEALTH]

Opioid use disorder is a treatable, chronic disease, and recovery is possible with the right supports. Take the first step towards treatment. Learn more: https://t.co/HXZu4qGdON. @RIBHDDH @RIEOHHS

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]


Opioid use disorder was created as Suboxone marketing tool.

In 2013, psychiatrists helped develop the diagnostic criteria for opioid use disorder. Two of the scumbags, Dr. Marc Auriacombe and Dr. Walter Ling, disclosed financial relationships with Reckitt Benckiser, the original manufacturer of Suboxone. Both also had ties to other addiction pharmaceutical companies.

Another psychiatrist involved in developing the OUD diagnosis was Dr. Wilson Compton, who later served in an advisory capacity during the review process for the disastrous 2016 CDC opioid prescribing guideline.

The 2016 CDC guideline recommended the dental decaying opioid buprenorphine for patients diagnosed with the newly created (fake diagnosis) OUD.

Then, in 2022, the CDC went even further, suggesting that chronic pain patients could be transitioned to buprenorphine even without an OUD diagnosis.

By the way, opioid settlement funds were used to pay for this ridiculous initiative.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

@Meta

@Meta, can you explain why anti-kratom posts haven’t been flagged or removed, yet my account has repeatedly faced suspension for posting about the exact same subject?

Why are mainstream media outlets allowed to discuss kratom without consequences while patient advocates like myself are penalized?

I’d like an explanation for what appears to be selective enforcement of your community standards. The rules should apply equally to everyone.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

Millions of pain patients continue to be treated like rabid animals while everyone around them gets rich off the anti-pain medication narrative.

Entire industries have profited from this manufactured crisis while patients are left to suffer, abandoned by the very healthcare system that is supposed to help them.

At what point will members of Congress finally step forward and put an end to this systematic cruelty and suffering?

How many more pain patients have to suffer or die before Congress takes action?

https://t.co/W4dS6nQuJx

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

The benzo haters don’t care about a growing suicide list in the pain community

They care about themselves

I know they’re being exploited by pharma- funded nonprofits/lawyers, and others who will monetize off their “Benzo injured” story

Sackler haters/benzo haters are cut from the same cloth

[Stephanie @2ComplexSteph]

@Asteroidplease1 @CMerandi I'm alive right now because of a benzo. Heart medications almost killed me. Benzo put it in remission. YOU are killing people by spreading whatever the hell this is and I am FUCKING TIRED OF YOUR KIND! I DID NOT SURVIVE WHAT IVE SURVIVED TO ENDURE YOU & YOUR SHIT!

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

“Mapping the online harm reduction influencer landscape”

Good gravy, cut the harm reductionists funding off once and for all.

Nobody wants dirty syringes/drug paraphernalia in their backyard

This isn’t harm reduction. This is harm encouraging.

And how dare harm reductionists ask for the support of the chronic pain community?

You greedy vultures are swimming in opioid settlement dollars while pain patients are dying by suicide

But some idiot will fall for the harm reduction scheme