6-12 month thread....

[[He...]]

Took last Clonazepam on Oct 4/15 so just over 6th months.  Have really not improved.  Insomnia terrible (2-4 hrs broken sleep), burning nerve pain, anxiety has become intense and lasting throughout day, blood pressure has gone from being high to low, exhaustion, depression off and on.

 

Seems like most of you have had windows, maybe because I had too rapid a taper and the loss of my husband a year ago now.

 

Any words of encouragement, by people in a similar situation?  So hard to do this everyday.

 

Sunny

 

Sunny, it gets better.  Just hold on and don't lose hope.  I was doing terrible at 6 months out, but now at almost 10 months, I am so much better.  I turned a big corner at month 8.  Still have waves where things are bad, but they don't last long and my baseline improves afterwards.  Just hold on and let time be a healer.

 

Herckie

[[Cl...]]

Leo, good to hear!! Could you elaborate on the toxic sleep you had?  Are u sleeping normally now?

 

Sleepless, to put it honestly, I sleep like a log. I sleep so nicely I dont want to get up and go to work! I truly spent days without sleeping during the bad waves and it would ruin my days. I take naps in the afternoon and its great. As for toxic sleep, when I did manage to sleep I would wake up confused, sweating and trembling. I would have both of my arms numb and be extemely scared. That, thank God is history. Good riddance!

 

Leo! I am very happy for you!  ...

Herckie, I also turned a big corner at 7-8 months, my issue is with sleeping, I can wake up very early, but it is less often now...very slowly improving on this last beast.

[[Su...]]

Herckie, I lost track of this thread.  Thank you for your kind words.  I hope you heal soon.

 

I'm having such a hard time, sxs just keeps getting stronger.  Sleep, if lucky, a couple of hours then awake with terrible burning pain and now sweating again, the sweating had stopped in earlier months.  Back to using ice pack.  Aching all over. Never had a window but felt better in the evenings, now that is going.  Last night slept 11-1am then awake suffering but trying all sorts of distraction, music, prayer, TV then must have dropped off around 4-6, again awake and burning which is lasting throughout the day.  I just don't understand this, I know what I read on here but it's still so dreadful people having to suffer this.  Even the one or two family members who are supportive and open to what we've learned, are starting to think I need something.

 

I'm 6 1/2 months out, seems like most people have had breaks at some point along the way. I was such a good sleeper prior to all this.  Praying for us all to heal soon.

[[Bl...]]

For some reason I was under the impression that if you did a super slow taper then you would be healed within a couple months after the jump. Haha...my mistake. Well, I'm 8 months out after a 1.5 year taper, and still largely non-functional. I have seen improvements. I don't suffer from the insomnia I had during the taper and the first 3 months after. I am able to sleep, but it doesn't seem like restorative sleep. I still have night sweats, fatigue, serious cognitive problems, unable to accomplish anything, feel unable to work but have to get a job in the next two months, loud tinnitus, still holding onto the 30 pounds I gained during withdrawal despite healthy eating, still have no appetite, and extreme caffeine hypersensitivity. I actually go through withdrawal from caffeine if I drink one glass of soda. It's totally crazy. But my physical symptoms of nausea and headaches are completely gone and disappeared at about the 6 month mark. I still get some hypnic jerks, but they are not nearly as frequent and not every night. I used to have hypnagogic hallucinations all the time when trying to fall asleep but those also disappeared around month 6.

 

I guess I'm lucky because despite all these problems I am mentally healthy and strong. I have faith in the human body's capacity for healing and have faith that in time I will be healed and I will be healthier, stronger, and happier than ever. I have to believe that the future will be better. I have to believe in healing. Stay strong buddies. We will all be so much stronger, more capable, and more compassionate when we come out the other side. We are all such strong people for doing this and I am impressed and proud of all of you for having the werewithal to see it through no matter how hard it is.

[[sl...]]

Blueskies,

 

Thanks for commenting on your Hypnic jerks... I have them so terribly bad!  How debilitating were they for you?  Glad you didn't suffer too long as they are such a complete nightmare to deal with!  I'm lucky to get 5 hours broken sleep with them.  I've just recently had 2 nights of zero sleep this month becaus of constant spasmning and contractions... Complete misery to say the least. 

 

Sleepless

[[Bl...]]

Blueskies,

 

Thanks for commenting on your Hypnic jerks... I have them so terribly bad!  How debilitating were they for you?  Glad you didn't suffer too long as they are such a complete nightmare to deal with!  I'm lucky to get 5 hours broken sleep with them.  I've just recently had 2 nights of zero sleep this month becaus of constant spasmning and contractions... Complete misery to say the least. 

 

Sleepless

 

It seems that particular withdrawal symptom was more debilitating for you. Mine were more of an annoyance that made me take longer to fall asleep. I took low dose seroquel for sleep throughout my taper, so maybe that made them less disruptive? I'm sorry to hear you have so much trouble with them. I really hope that both of us see improvements in our symptoms by the 1 year mark.

[[Su...]]

I'm at 7 1/2 mths off Clonazepam.  Insomnia, nerve pain and anxiety all worse.  Is it because I was tapered too quickly?  Have had a few hours in the day where I've felt like myself - told this is a window?  The burning pain lasts most of the day now and I'm so achy.  Anyone in a similar situation that can provide encouragement?

 

Thank you

Sunny

[[Va...]]

Hi sunny,  I'm at 9.5 months. My nerve pain vanished about 3 weeks ago. And the morning toxic wake up went puff. Gone. I had some aches stuff too after that and is going away.  I had the nerve pain mostly 7-8 months time frame. My insomnia improved to where I am getting 6+ hours of sleep. But last night I had some Hershey kisses and the insomnia was back. Won't eat so much of that again near bed time.  It will go away soon.

Hope for healing soon.

Val

[[Su...]]

Hi Val.  So glad you nerve pain vanished and insomnia improved.

Unfortunately, for me I've had the nerve pain while I was tapering and throughout the 7.5 months since jumping and it's been getting more intense which makes the insomnia worse.

 

Worry about the rapid taper causing this.

 

Sunny

[[Va...]]

Sunny, 

Don't worry about the rapid taper causing nerve pain. It's good you have 7.5 months of w/d behind you. It will get better. Just before I realized the heavy nerve pain was gone 3+ weeks ago I had this weird experience with the nerve pain. I woke up one night around 4 in the morning where my whole right side of my body was having intense nerve pain and slight nerve pain on the left. It lasted a few seconds. Then went away. Since then I haven't had nerve pain and my insomnia has lessened.  I'm sleeping more. Last night I slept from 11:00 pm until almost 9 this morning. Woke up a few times but fell back to sleep. I'm still feeling some underlying anxiety but is very very little. 

I had nerve pain from beginning and then it became stronger at eight months. Then has gone away. I hope for good.

 

I fast tapered too and didn't know I was doing a fast taper. But I had to get off this junk because I felt so bad being on it. Had a paradoxical reaction to it. Even though I'm going through all of this w/d I'm getting my life back and am feeling like my old self. I'm dealing with GI issues that are letting up too. I feel I'm coming out of this nightmare.

You are doing the right thing to move forward and letting time heal you. I was reading Dr Claire weekes book and she said about insomnia that your body will eventually sleep. Even if you go through several days of of insomnia your body will recover and sleep.

Hope my words help you feel better.

Sending you hope and healing to you! 

[[Su...]]

Thank you for the encouragement Valgirl. I really do appreciate it.  Wow, what I'd give to sleep almost 10 hrs.  So pleased for you that you're feeling better and that you'll be your old self again soon.  It gives me hope that you did a fast taper too.

 

All the very best.

 

Sunny

[[Sh...]]

Sunny I don't think yours was a rapid taper. I'm trying to read your signature but it's quite confusing (no offence). It looks like it took you about 6 months?

[[Su...]]

Thanks Shamo, no offence taken.  I'd sure like to think it wasn't a rapid taper. It is confusing. Dr directed taper (2 mths) when husband took a turn for the worse.  Overwhelmed, dr. said to delay taper.  Husband died, resumed tapering for another 4 mths, so as you say 6 mths.

 

I think why some have said it's a rapid taper is because 1 mg Clonazepam = 20 mg valium, which I was not aware of so decreases I made were well over the 10% mark and jumping at .0625 mg was like jumping off valium at 1.25 mg.

 

Being 7.5 mths from jump and experiencing insomnia (2-4 hrs), burning nerve pain, anxiety etc. with very little let up, it makes me think that the rapid taper is to blame.

 

Anyone else in a similar situation?

 

Thanks

 

Sunny

[[Sh...]]

In my opinion that is not an overly dangerous taper. 6 months is a fair while to taper for most people. And millions of people dont come to bb to check out the % rate or what should be done. I know of people that had no idea and just went from 10mg to 7.5 to 5 to 2.5 to 0 valium. That was exactly what I was doing and doing great until I hit a road block.

 

But I spose 1.25 is a difficult spot to jump from and would be too high for me also. But ai definitely wouldnt think its a rapid taper overall. Im down to 0.7 now doing the cut and hold. What a ride this whole thing is ay?

 

Cant wait to be free.

[[Su...]]

You have a good attitude Shamo which will serve you well in withdrawal from what I've read.  Thanks for the support.  I so need it.

 

Anyone else jump from Clonazapam at at fairly rapid pace and doing ok?  Just looking for encouragement

 

Sunny

[[Sh...]]

My friend is tapering Clonaz from 4mg. She was only on it for 2 weeks and somehow got addicted...the first thing she did was search benzos and found this place. So she got terrified and started doing an extremely slow taper. Her pdoc says that because she was on for such a short period, she could have done a really quick taper and would have been fine. So now the poor girl got stuck and has to do a long one.

 

She has been cutting quite quickly though....0.125 every 2 weeks and sometimes even every week. Shes gone from 4mg down to 1mg in about 4 months and is doing quite well. If she gets off soon that would be considered a very quick taper to go from 4mg to 0 in about 6 months. That would be equivalent to 80mg V.

[[Si...]]

My friend is tapering Clonaz from 4mg. She was only on it for 2 weeks and somehow got addicted...the first thing she did was search benzos and found this place. So she got terrified and started doing an extremely slow taper. Her pdoc says that because she was on for such a short period, she could have done a really quick taper and would have been fine. So now the poor girl got stuck and has to do a long one.

 

She has been cutting quite quickly though....0.125 every 2 weeks and sometimes even every week. Shes gone from 4mg down to 1mg in about 4 months and is doing quite well. If she gets off soon that would be considered a very quick taper to go from 4mg to 0 in about 6 months. That would be equivalent to 80mg V.

 

Yeah, it may be worse that she was on longer than she maybe should have, but my not be. I can attest to the fact that it may have not been as all pie in the sky for her getting off quickly as her pdoc makes it sound to be. It only took 15mg of Lorazepam within 2 weeks to drop me into hell. Spent another 2-1/2 weeks trying to fast taper with 10 more mg's. When that was going terribly I just dropped off at .25mg. Then an odyssey of 2 years of up and downs since. Some people don't have to be on much of this stuff for very long for it to do some very bad things to them.

 

I hope your friend the best and a speedy recovery once she's off.

[[ma...]]

Hey Everyone

 

I am new here and wanted to post to share get support

I am in my 7th month from valium and a quinolone reaction.

I am struggling with anxiety and insomnia as well as strange ear problems in my left ear, i am a sound engineer and my career has been destroyed so this has been really rough on me.

Anyone have any insight on recovery.

 

Wishing everyone healing

[[Si...]]

Hey Everyone

 

I am new here and wanted to post to share get support

I am in my 7th month from valium and a quinolone reaction.

I am struggling with anxiety and insomnia as well as strange ear problems in my left ear, i am a sound engineer and my career has been destroyed so this has been really rough on me.

Anyone have any insight on recovery.

 

Wishing everyone healing

 

Hi and welcome!

 

These drugs are definitely a bunch of bs. Sorry to hear about your career. I'm not sure how I hung on to mine. I was still coming into work after not sleeping for 2 or 3 nights in a row. That's mostly over now. I haven't missed a full night in 6 months. I occasionally have a rough night, but nowhere near as bad as it use to be. The only suggestions I can make are to eat healthy, exercise when you can and drink plenty of water. I had to avoid as much sugar and caffeine as I could and no alcohol at all. I now don't have any problems with the sugar and caffeine. I still mostly stay away from alcohol other than maybe having a few beers once a month. The main thing is that it just takes time. I think I had trouble with Cipro way back when I was in my late teens, but I didn't realize that's what it was until I was reading about what they can do to people on this forum. It all made a lot more sense after that. Just keep doing the best you can to make it through everyday. You'll get better little by little. 

[[ma...]]

Thanks so much for your words of encouragement.

Its good to know that the symptoms will get better eventually.

Did you do anything in particular to help with your insomnia? or did it just get better with time?

 

Marct456

[[Si...]]

Thanks so much for your words of encouragement.

Its good to know that the symptoms will get better eventually.

Did you do anything in particular to help with your insomnia? or did it just get better with time?

 

Marct456

 

I of course tried all kinds of stuff short of taking any more pharmaceuticals. Melatonin didn't help, just made me feel sick. Magnesium worked a little, but then made me feel super hot and didn't work every time. I took Hydroxyzine for a short while, but I'm paradoxical to antihistamines. So no point in taking it in my case. It's like snorting meth when I take any antihistamine. Even any of the OTC stuff. You may have better luck with that though.

 

I did go to my PC and found my Vit D was low. So started on a script for that. No idea if that eventually helped or not. I took tart cherry juice twice a day for months and also Krill Oil for Omega-3. No idea if all of that was a coincidence to me feeling better / sleeping or not. There's no way to tell for sure. Time definitely will help healing.  Epsom salt baths are good. I like the kind with Lavender. Other than that, I never really found anything that was sure fire.

[[ma...]]

Yeah i have tried most of those things and they really didn't help much either except for Magnesium and Exercise.

Did you get those hyptic jerks that keep waking you up as your drifting off to sleep?

[[Si...]]

Yeah i have tried most of those things and they really didn't help much either except for Magnesium and Exercise.

Did you get those hyptic jerks that keep waking you up as your drifting off to sleep?

 

Yeah, they were pretty bad when I actually could start to go to sleep. For a long time my worst problem was actually going to sleep at all. My wife thought they were kind of funny LOL. It will get better. It's no fun, just try to remain calm as much as you can. Getting worked up about won't help at all. There were plenty of nights where I would just want to put my fist through the wall.

[[ma...]]

Yeah lol i know the feeling iv wanted to put my fist through a wall too but i try and just get up and play guitar or something to take my mind off. So do we ever get our sleep back like how it was before? I cant believe just 5 weeks of valium and 2 pills of antibiotics could cause so much damage. Needless to say i fired my doctor lol

[[Si...]]

Yeah this stuff can really hit some people hard. I was barely on Lorazepam for 2-1/2 weeks when I got stuck. Spent 2-1/2 more weeks trying to rapid taper before I said f.i. and just gave up. You're sleep should come back. No idea if it will ever get back to how it was pre-benzo for me. I could drink caffeine at night and still knock out no problem. The only times I ever stayed up all night were when I wanted to.