Blood Orange Night: My Journey to the Edge of Madness
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About the Book
Blood Orange Night: My Journey to the Edge of Madness
As Melissa Bond raises her infant daughter and a special-needs one-year-old son, she suffers from unbearable insomnia. 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 on a regular basis. Following her doctor’s orders, Melissa takes the pills night after night; her body begins to shut down, and she collapses while holding her infant daughter. Only then does Melissa learn that her doctor --- like many doctors --- has over-prescribed the medication, and quitting cold turkey could lead to psychosis or fatal seizures.
Blood Orange Night: A Memoir of Insomnia, Motherhood, and Benzos
- Publication Date: August 1, 2023
- Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Gallery Books
- ISBN-10: 1982188286
- ISBN-13: 9781982188283