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Steve Wohlberg Goes Public About His Worst Crisis Ever – Today is November 15, and I feel great. But I’m being honest when I tell you that the summer of 2017 was absolutely horrible for me. Beyond words. A nightmare. I didn’t think I would survive. The devil whispered that I was lost, abandoned by God, and hopeless. I’m not kidding. I thought my entire life was over. Like David wrote in the Psalms, I “drew near to the gates of death” (Psalm 107:18). But thank God, the crisis is past. I am sooooo grateful. About a month ago God opened the door for me to share my story in my home church in Newport, Washington. “Ok Lord, here goes …” That talk was called, “I Can’t Sleep! My Crisis. God’s Victory.” It’s now posted on Audio Verse, and is being downloaded almost 500 times a day. This is amazing to me. From the responses we are getting, God is using my struggle to encourage many of His people. None are hopeless. None are abandoned. Satan is a liar. Jesus loves us all. To hear that talk, click the picture below. I hope it is a BIG blessing to you!
“He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:3), wrote David. I can say the same thing. My Lord Jesus Christ has restored my soul, my heart, my mind, my sanity, my faith, my strength, my health, and my relationship with my dear family. Praise His holy name! Now that Jesus has rescued me from my darkest pit, I’m holding seminars as usual, trusting God as usual. I’m also going to write a small pocketbook about my battle soon, which hopefully will encourage many hearts to keep trusting Jesus no matter what. He is always faithful. The CD of “I Can’t Sleep!” is now available from White Horse Media. Our next LIVE “Startling Prophecies for America” seminar will be held this weekend in Whitmore, California. Details are below:
If you live near Whitmore, we hope you will join us. If you come and want a hug from me, just ask. I’ll be glad to give you one. IT IS SO GOOD TO BE ALIVE, FOLLOWING JESUS! After hearing, “I Can’t Sleep!”, here are just a few of the many responses we have received:
Pastor Steve, I listened to your testimony about your summer early this morning. My heart just broke for you and your family. Thank you for being willing to share your story and make yourself that vulnerable. We need transparency today. The enemy wanted to take you down, I have no doubt. David and I will take our prayers for you and your family even more seriously now. God bless you and thank you for your faithfulness … Give your family my love and best regards. Dianne
As I listened, the tears rolled, I whispered, “Yes, I’m familiar” … I praise Him for working in our lives to prepare us and also for His encouraging and strengthening heavenly agencies of love … Amanda
Reminds me of Mike Adkins song, “No Matter What You Are Going Through, You ARE Going Through.” Praise God. Your testimony will help many. Lydia
Because of God Almighty alone, White Horse Media is going still strong.
As always, thank you so much for your prayers.
It was clearly God’s providence that opened the door for me to be a guest for 30 minutes on The Stew Peters Show on April 11 to discuss current false prophecies about Israel, Jews, red
White Horse Media’s newest video (only 4+ minutes) is about Israel, Iran, red heifers, the Temple Institute’s plan to rebuild a third Jewish temple, Antichrist, and Bible prophecy. Writing specifically about how “the man of
Here’s some exciting news. This morning I was a guest on The Stew Peters Show (he has a very large audience) for 30 minutes discussing popular end-time theories about Israel, the Tribulation, a rebuilt temple,
In “the time of the end,” stated a holy angel to Daniel the prophet, “many shall be purified, made white, and tried; But the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand;
In yesterday’s enews I made a small mistake when I wrote: “To discover what the Holy Bible says (and doesn’t say), join us on Thursday, April 8, at 4 pm Pacific Time for a Bible
This Monday (April 8) will be a historic day for many North Americans as the moon perfectly aligns with the sun causing a rare total eclipse. An estimated 34 million Americans will witness the celestial
17 Comments
Dear Bro Steve,
I am so sorry to hear about this crisis that you went through, and I am so glad that you are feeling better! Praise the Lord! This sounds a lot like exhausted adrenals, a serious health situation where you are literally exhausted, but you cannot sleep at all. I recommend powdered magnesium, called CALM, it is an essential mineral most of us are severely lacking, it is a calming essential mineral, and it is important for the heart’s function, for the adrenals and many other bodily systems. Please get some right away, you can find it online at amazon.com or at most health food stores! Please take it every day, it truly is essential and will help you so much with your chest pain and sleeping problems. Important: magnesium is not a sedative, it is non-habit forming, it is a calming mineral, essential for the body. In fact, if a person has a heart attack, the paramedics inject a person with magnesium, as it is the main heart mineral to ensure proper function. God bless you, Bro Steve, and thank you for sharing your story!
I just listened to your testimony about your crisis. This is a powerful testimony of God’s love for us!
I started to cry for joy when you said you were able to take a nap. You knew this was the beginning of God’s healing.
God is so amazing. My heart is touched. And my faith increased.
Blessings on you and your precious family.
Please thank your wife for me. I appreciate her supporting you!
Thank you for keeping the faith. Praying, praising God,reading your Bible and SOP and obeying God’s voice to not give up.
Thank you again Son of The Most High God.
Thank you so much for sharing your testimony. Anxiety and panic are difficult to deal with and I believe are the enemy’s tools. So many are being affected by this, as was I many years ago. It is as much a spiritual battle as it is a physical one. Praise God for the victory in you! I will share your message. Blessings Steve and thank you for White Horse Media.
I started taking Benzos back in May of 2016 for some sleep issues. Started with Xanax 1mg and then quickly went up to 2 mg in about 4 weeks. When those stopped working they put me on Temazepam and Klonopin at the same time! Took that for another 4 weeks and finished with a few days of Valium. I kept building tolerance so my sleep got worse and worse over time. At first, the Xanax could put me out for 8 hours, then it went to 7, 6, 5, 4, you get the picture. So, I had to up the dose to 2mg and that quickly faded as well. I was taking 3mg of Klonopin and 30mg of Temazepam at the same time. Found out later that the effect of taking 2 Benzos at the same time is magnified by 30%! Some doctors are not very smart and apparently I wasn’t either as I continued to take whatever they told me to. They even wanted me to try haldol, no thanks, check out the side effects from that. Even the Pharmacist said it could cause permanent uncontrolled jerks/movements in my arms, legs, neck, etc.
I quit Xanax cold turkey when I switched to the Klonopin and Temazepam. I quit both of those cold turkey as well as my doctor told me that I wasn’t on them long enough to have withdrawal or seizures. I took Valium for 2 nights about a week after I CT’ed the benzos. In all, I was on Benzos for just under 3 months. Then I found Benzo Buddies. I joined in August 2016 under the name ThEwAy but had my account deleted so I wouldn’t be tempted to come on this site after being on it for almost 8 months. You can go back and look at some of my early posts. I rejoined under my current name. […].
My sleep went from what I thought was decent to 2 hours or less a night. As soon as I quit cold turkey, I started with the zero-hour nights. They were horrific as many of you know. I would often go for 3 and sometimes 4 nights in a row with zero sleep. This lasted almost 8 months. Along with the brutal insomnia I had a plethora of other symptoms including claustrophobia to the point where I couldn’t even go into a large store and I had to spend my nights on the sofa with the front door open. I also had Panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, muscle twitches, major constipation, noise sensitivity, clenched jaw, ringing ears, panic attacks, horrible anxiety and depression, loss of appetite, weight loss, etc.
I literally thought I was going to die. I seriously considered quitting my job that I usually like and have been doing for 27 years. It got so bad that my mother-in-law was talking to my brothers and other family members and was trying to get me committed to a psych ward. The doctors thought I was crazy so did my wife and kids. They didn’t think it was a withdrawal problem, they thought it was mental illness. I was in 4 different Emergency rooms over a one-month period and all they wanted to do was put me on more drugs. I tried a bunch of other non-benzo drugs that really didn’t work. Then I found Benzo Buddies and took the advice of some veteran Buddies that said my best bet was to get off of everything. So, I quite taking the Remeron and Seroquel and whatever else they had me on and it was a lot of different things. I usually only took them for a day or two and when they didn’t work, I flushed them. The best thing I ever did was stop taking everything and let my brain learn how to sleep on its own again. Today, I don’t even take “natural” supplements for sleep. I don’t think they are bad, but I just wanted to be completely free of everything. For those considering CBT for sleep or Sleep Restriction or any other method, I don’t think they work well for withdrawal insomnia. They didn’t for me. The other thing to keep in mind is that you don’t need 8 hours of sleep a night. That is a myth. You can function normally on much less. And you DON’T have fatal insomnia. I think most people (myself included) think they have that at one point or another, but you don’t. It is ALL withdrawal.
I thought I would never get better and considered suicide, but was too chicken to ever follow through or even attempt it. I think the thought of having a “way out” made it more tolerable. I would call the 800 prevention lines from time-to-time just to talk to someone. So, for those of you contemplating suicide my advice would be think about it but never act on anything. Don’t keep anything around that you could use, such as a weapon, etc.
I live in the Midwest and flew out to Virginia to the Coleman Institute and paid a lot of money in desperation for his Flumazenil treatment. Unfortunately, it did not work and I think only prolonged my recovery? That was in September of 2016. Right after that I started seeing a Counselor at a Christian Counseling center and then ended up seeing their Psychiatrist. The counselor and the Psychiatrist were very familiar with Benzo withdrawal as both had worked in some large rehab clinics out east. Coincidentally the Psychiatrist’s name was also Dr. Coleman. He told me that I would recover in 1 – 4 months. I thought he was crazy. His definition of recovered was sleeping 4-6 hours 95% of the time and having my symptoms reduced 80% or more of where they were currently at. I was skeptical, but they really helped me through this recovery process. The only drawback was that it was an hour drive one way to Madison, WI.
By January of 2017 I started to get a little sleep maybe 2-3 hours at a time for 2 or 3 nights in a row. Some of my symptoms started to fade. It was very up and down for a long time. I went on a cycle where I would get some sleep for one day and then none the next day. Gradually it got better and better and I started getting sleep for 2, 3 then 4 days in a row. But those Zero days were still there and those were the worst, I kept a sleep log and had 65 zero nights over 8 months. Some good Benzo Buddies, Aloha and Siggy were there for me through PMs and just on general posts. They kept telling me I would get better, and they were right. And there were also many other BB too numerous to mention that gave me hope and encouragement by responding to my posts. Thank you everyone and the BB community!
At about 8 months out I started sleeping almost every night for at least 4-5 hours. The sleep was broken but, it really helped me heal. Within a few weeks all of my symptoms rapidly faded. About 6 weeks after I started sleeping all of my symptoms were gone. It was amazing. No more anxiety or depression and the dreaded claustrophobia was gone too. I really started to appreciate and enjoy life again. Little things made me happy that I used to take for granted pre-benzo. I was hoping it just wasn’t a window as I read about the windows and waves that most go through.
It has now been over 7 months of being symptom free and having fairly good sleep every night. The last time I had a zero night was April 11, 2017. My sleep is not perfect. Still broken with lots of dreams, but I usually get 6-7 hours per night. I usually wake up 2 -4 times per night, but can usually fall back to sleep fairly quickly. Other nights it takes an hour or so. The biggest difference is that I stopped caring if I slept or not. That was super hard to do, but got easier and easier over time. Now, I know I can fall back to sleep when I wake up at 1:00 or 3:00 am and 90% of the time I do fall back asleep. For the first 8 months after my cold turkey, I wouldn’t get tired. I would feel tired, but my brain felt wired. Now, there are some days that I get so tired I fall asleep on the couch watching TV. As you notice I am writing a lot about sleep. That was my biggest issue that I struggled with besides the Anxiety, depression and claustrophobia.
The other thing that helped me, besides not worrying if I slept or not, was to take a break from Benzo Buddies. Please don’t get me wrong, this site has been a great resource for me and has lots of people that experience the same things. Many of you helped me by responding to my posts and reassuring me. So if you need to be here, please stay and let others going through the same thing help you get through withdrawal. My issue was that I made everyone else’s recovery timeline, my timeline. For example, if someone did not start sleeping well until 2 years out, I would say things such as “it might take 2 years or longer for me to start sleeping again.” That is just how I process things. So, I took a break from Benzo Buddies and I had a friend lay hands on me and pray for me. He has the gift of healing. Some of you will say poppycock, but I believe it as I experienced it. That was about 2 weeks before I starting sleeping pretty well out of the blue. I give God the glory and the praise.
Now at 15 months off, I am claiming success. I have my life back. I live the way I used to before this whole benzo ordeal started. My family and I even went on a 7-day cruise in June and it was awesome! I want to point out, that when I or anyone else claims success or writes a success story, it really isn’t what we do, but what we went through to get to where we are now. If there were some magic diet or supplement to take, we would know about it by now. Time and God are the only healers I know.
At my worst, I thought about taking the Family Medical Leave Act and taking a bunch of time off, but I used sick days instead. I think I ended up taking 20 days spread out over several months. As I already mentioned, I thought I was going to have to quit my job but, I also learned that I could function pretty well on little or no sleep. I kept my job and my family…I needed too, I had bills to pay and my family needed me. Not that I handled it the best…I didn’t…to this day my wife still says I was out of control, but she still doesn’t understand how much benzos make you temporarily mentally ill! I did what I could do to get through the mental torture and there wasn’t much to hold onto.
The other thing that I did that I think helped me recover was eating a clean diet. I followed Dr. Gundry’s The Plant Paradox diet. The book, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in “Healthy” Foods that Cause Disease is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. I also walked 2 – 4 miles every day even if I got little or no sleep. It was hard, but it helped in the long run.
For those still struggling, it will get better. I don’t know when, but it will. It just takes time and more time. The benzos lie to us all and make us believe we will have symptoms forever. Not true. A big fat lie. You will recover, you will get your life back. I did. I would say I’m 100% healed from the physical and mental symptoms and 90% healed in the sleep department. Enough to live a great life and enjoy it…and believe me I do. I wake up everyday and thank God for the day and the chance to live it “normally.” Even going to work is “fun.” There isn’t much I don’t enjoy or appreciate now. It’s like I was given a 2nd chance at life. I hope this helps some of you have some hope? I pray for the day when you get your 2nd chance too. If I had to do it all over again, I still think I would go cold turkey. Yeah, the symptoms were brutal, but for me, I think I recovered faster by getting the poison out of my body as fast as possible. God’s speed to everyone still going through withdrawal.
Steve, you have had quite an experience. Thanks for sharing it. I suspect it was not easy to do so. But I understand having had some dark periods in my life.
May God our Heavenly Father bless and guide you always.
Dear Steve and family including ministry family
I have not read your book yet, but felt the opportunity to share my experience, strength and hope.
Lying to onesself, is called denial.It is one of the main traits in the dysfunctional family system. It may also well be called not living in the Truth. It battles against the soul.
Lack of sleep if not treated can cause depression and a symptom of depression can be the inability to sleep well. It’s a vicious circle. I know from personal experience.
I would guess with little chance of being wrong that your health habits far exceed my own, that being said, Life happens, deep concerns arise, our bodies change physically,and chemically. Our minds change also, they may be affected by these changes, these changes may or may not be any fault of our own. Hormones play apart as chemicals in our body and they affect the emotions. Women understand this fact extremely well as they age. Men….welcome to the Club. I laughed here but this isn’t a laughing matter. I also suffered w chronic pain, neck back due to stress and a previous work related injury.
I thought I was losing my mind, or acquiring early Alzheimer’s disease about 2008, a family illness.I couldnt sleep at night.so id pray, get up and read my Bible, work around the house. I was getting forgetful, my short term memory was failing. I couldn’t remember what I’d just said, or what you said, or what I said I’d do this afternoon. I would cry so easily talking about sad things. Id cry in church, id cry in everyday conversations, something was
wrong. The tip of the ice berg was when, one day, my daughter called me from school asking me to pick her up early, then my son called and said he was coming over and i agreed to go w him. Just an hour or so later my daughter called me wondering if I was still coming to pick her up. My family was being affected. There were other family confrontations saying basically the same thing, ” i asked you or i told you already” yet I honestly had no recollection of the conversations.
I had in my past during stressful situations been prescribed and taken anti depressants for short durations successfully.
I asked for a refereal from a State Employment Rehab agency that was working with me and i was granted a Psychiatric Evaluation based on the symptoms I was experiencing. After a series of psychological tests
It was found that I had a condition called “dysthymic depression” or “dysthymia”. It is a chemical low in my brain. Always keeping me on the very boarder of severe depression.
To this day, by the Grace of God and medication, combined w the 8 natural Doctors advice, I am able to function quite happily. Godly Counselling has helped short term during CRISIS as well.
All my problems are not solved, but I can function, I work full time in my own Alterations Shoppe at home. I can sleep better ( I do take 3mg serotonin ea night) a natural supplement) I don’t cry with the past frequency. Though I do feel sad at times but when I do I turn to my Comforter and His Promises and i share my concerns with my other best friend and consoler, (my husband) who is also a fellow traveler in this journey, with a story of Jesus to tell as well.
I hope I will have the opportunity to read your story.
It takes real courage to be truthful in heart and let others know that you’re not a pillar but Jesus is. When you don’t have it all together it’s OK. When we are weak HE IS OUR STRENGTH. There is no shame in Christ or the Gospel. We get sick! There is no shame in sickness especially mental illness. The mind/heart/ soul and body are a very delicate system; when one is affected all suffer.
Always keep speaking the Truth as it is in Jesus from your HEART in love from Him.
Rejoice and be glad in Him…and again I say Rejoice in the Lord always.
We have passed through yet another trial strengthened by the aid of our personal trainer ready for whatever, whenever with Him living in us.
Thank you for your ministry and for being an inspiration to so many. May your ministry continue to warm the hearts of so many just as it has did for me.
Hi Steve
Thank you for sharing your story. I have listened to it with the greatest interest. I have personally experienced with my own father what you went through.
I well remember the satanic attacks he talked about and the desperation of
Sleeplessness for months on end. He became so desperate that finally he did
Take his own life. I can sympathize with anyone who has gone though this
Tragedy. I bear no ill feelings toward him, I only wish that the help which is now
Available would have been available 25 years ago. You are absolutely right that
The devil is vicious and he is a killer. He wants to destroy all of us.
Thanks again Bernie
I appreciate the sharing of your story. I know Satan went after you so viciously because we need you in these Last Days! I will listen to this more than once, because I know it will strengthen me in the days ahead. Praise His Name, and I’ll see you and your family in the first resurrection!
Steve, as I listened to you story, I could not help but cry. I, too, have been were you were. I am so sorry this has happened to you. I have suffered anxiety and panic attacks since I was twelve-years-old. As I got older I suffered from profound depression. I had to hospitalized due to the extreme weight loss, and semi catatonic state. I went through several series of electric shock therapy. This did not bring me out of my depressive state either. So I was loaded with mind altering drugs which made the depression and anxiety worse. After several weeks of hospitalization, I was sent home to deal with my situation the best that I could. On top of the severe mental anguish, I developed anerexia nervosa. Then if that wasn’t bad enough I developed bulimia. I battled the anxiety, panic attacks, and bulimia for twenty five years. I am still dealing with panic attacks to the very present. Satan came to one day and told me I was lost. The feeling that I was lost became so intense that I considered going to the emergency room to get sedation. This horrible feeling lasted over 24 hours. He has told me this lie several times. Each episode so intense I wanted to be sedated so I wouldn’t feel the horror of it. One day while in the kitchen washing dishes he made another uninvited visit. He told me that God hated me so bad that He wanted me to die. He told me God would cause some awful thing to happen to my body that would make it explode. All the time screaming to me God hated me! Thank God the feeling did not last too long. I am also an insomniac. It has become chronic. Satan told me the same thing he told you. He told me I will wake up in the second resurrection. I hated being told these lies. I claimed God’s promises, prayed like my life depended on it, and put my trust in Him. I have been in several hospitals due to terrible mental anguish. When you telling your story, I really empathized with you. I am so happy you are feeling better. I think God is allowing these horrible trials to prepare us for what is coming upon the earth. It is so nice to have a family such as yours for support. Bless their hearts. I will keep you and your family in my prayers. God definitely lead you through a deep and dark valley, but He did not leave you there. Praise God for His love and goodness to us all. He is greatly to be exalted! God bless and keep you safe in His loving arms.
My wife had a stoke June 17-2017 9:15 p.m. She was on life support for four days. I did not know if she would wake up or not. When I realized how serious the situation was I went to the heavenly Father expressing how I don’t even know what to ask for or what to do. I put it all on the alter and asked for his will to be done. It has been a long journey and I can’t see the end of this as we have along way to go. We have been blessed with mercies, grace and blessings. It appears a lot has happened to people being attacked this year and I don’t think next year will be any lesser on attacks.
The signs of Jesus coming back are getting more amplified by the day. We have a very short time. I hope my wife gets well enough before the Sunday law comes in but know God is in control either way.
Where is my post?
It was just approved. We need to manually approve posts due to the amount of spam we receive.
Dear Steve,
Hi from Australia, and thank you so much for sharing your testimony of going through anxiety. It must have been hard to share, but thank you! I have had depression and anxiety in the past, but listening to your story gave me much more insight into what people suffer – especially with insomnia! That sounds like the worst 🙁 Praise the Lord that you are sleeping again.
Thank you very much for choosing to share this testimony. I have been going through something very similar, and it encouraged me greatly. My family was actually looking into Weimar for me yesterday. God is very good. I am so happy to know that He loves us. Thank God, and thank you again.
Thank you Steve for sharing your crisis. All too familiar to me. Thought I was alone in this devastating darkness. I’m afraid I’m still there.
Dear Pastor Steve,
I think I can relate to your experience. It happened when I was in college and working at the same time. The stress was so great that for two months I was unable to sleep, but the Lord is great and merciful.
May God be with today and always!