'The doctors here have the guts to medically detox someone': Mikhaila Peterson on her father's condition

In a video and script given to the National Post, Mikhaila Peterson provides an update on her father, the author and professor Jordan Peterson, who is currently recovering from near death at a clinic in Russia.

Hi everyone, it’s been months since we’ve given an update on Jordan and my family’s health and it’s time for one so here goes.

The last year has been absolute hell for the Petersons.

Dad was put on a low dose of a benzodiazepine a few years ago for anxiety following an extremely severe autoimmune reaction to food. He took the medication as prescribed. We weren’t aware that he was developing a physical dependence on the drug until last April when my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and the dose of the medication increased. It became apparent that he was experiencing a paradoxical reaction to the medication, meaning the benzos did the opposite of what they’re supposed to do. These reactions are rare but are not unheard of.

The worst symptom for dad was akathisia. Akathisia is an absolutely god awful condition where the person feels an incredible, irresistible restlessness, and an inability to sit still. It was so severe he was suicidal.

• Jordan Peterson's year of 'absolute hell': Professor forced to retreat from public life because of tranquilizer addiction

For the last six months he’s been in horrible, unbearable discomfort from this drug, made worse when trying to remove it because of the physical dependence. We took him to several hospitals in North America where he experienced multiple cases of misdiagnosis, and the addition of more medications to cover the response he was experiencing from the benzodiazepines. He nearly died several times.

In early January my dad, my husband, my daughter, and I flew to Russia. To make matters worse he was diagnosed with a fever and pneumonia in both lungs upon arrival. He was put into an induced coma for eight days and had the most horrific withdrawal I’ve ever read or heard about. He almost died from what the medical system did to him in the West. The doctors here aren’t influenced by the pharmaceutical companies, don’t believe in treating symptoms caused by medications, by adding in more medications and have the guts to medically detox someone from benzodiazepines.

So, finally Dad is on the mend. His sense of humour is back. He’s smiling again for the first time in months, but he has a long way to go to recover fully. He spent four weeks in the ICU, he has neurological damage from the benzodiazepines, which is hopefully temporary.

He’s still taking anti-seizure medication, and he can’t type or walk steadily yet. Still, this is a vast and rapid improvement. Last week he couldn’t sit up without help. The week before that he couldn’t lift an arm or speak.

Bringing him here and watching this without knowing what’s going to happen has been the scariest experience I’ve ever had.

All that being said, the JBP you guys know will be back and we did get through this by the skin of our teeth.

He’s alive because I know how to research, because my husband negotiates extremely well and speaks Russian, because my family was willing to trust us and take a huge and terrifying risk, because we’ve had extensive help from family, friends and supporters from all over the world who helped get him here, because we have access to money, and because we found a number of extremely gutsy and competent Russian nurses and doctors that were willing to take a risk.

It took a village and a lot of luck. His recovery has been unbelievable. He’s improving dramatically daily.

So let me make a couple of things clear:

1. This was not a case of psychological addiction. Benzodiazepine physical dependence due to the brain changes that can occur in a matter of weeks can destroy lives. It can be made even worse by paradoxical reactions that are difficult to diagnose. The medication almost killed my dad. He’s a psychologist and even he wasn’t aware of how bad these medications are for some people. Physical dependence can occur in a matter of a few weeks of daily use to biologically susceptible individuals.

2. Dad will recover fully but it will take time and he still has a ways to go.

3. We are extremely lucky and grateful that he’s alive.

The next update will come from him directly.

Thanks again for all the support –

Mikhaila Peterson

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