So I Tried the exercise thing

[[vd...]]

So with all the talk about exercise helping recovery it's my day off from work and I decided to try to go for a brisk mile or so walk, I just got back and needless to say it pretty much sent me from a baseline anxiety and symptoms to full blown acute withdrawal again :'( feels like I'm having a heart attack, upper back is tight chest is in pain extremely dizzy and drunk on my feet, this is not how I remember exercise, I used to be very active before all this and it sucks to feel like this, I know I have to ease back into working out and I may have just forgotten what it's like to recover from exercise, but is there anyone else that has started a routine and experienced this? Does it get better as working out will slowly start to help or should I have a heart check up lol

[[2t...]]

Was it really hot out where you live yesterday, did you over heat yourself?

I know I went for a walk to try to reduce the anxiety I was feeling and after about 2 miles was so hot and sweaty I had to head for home, it took me some while to get to feeling ok after that.

I am looking forward to the cooler weather if it ever gets here so I can walk and loose some of the flab I seem to have gained during this benzo taper hell

[[vd...]]

Actually yes it is about 90 out here I didn't even put that into consideration, gotta love brain fog and anxiety taking over lol it is taking me quite some time to recover though which sucks

[[Ma...]]

This exercise thing is interesting.  I am 67 and retired.  I started 3 and a half years ago to ride my exercise bike every day---which I did--a lot---12 miles a day.  Around May when I decided with my now-doctor---to try to taper off clonazepam--I started riding even more---18 miles a day in two sessions and sweating a whole lot.  So I now am at 21 days at zero clonazepam, after having been on 2 mg a night for almost 8 years---I kept riding the bike every day, sweating etc and feeling good that I could do it.  And I was really getting into shape. But just over the past week or so, my symptoms and effects have gotten truly horrible and I am so sick that I simply cannot ride the bike now.  It makes me crazy and my doctor loved how much I was exercising--etc etc---but I cannot do it.  Sort of makes me crazy but I cannot eat either, not much, and I don't sleep.  Eventually I think I will be able to ride again.  I don't walk like I did years ago and I prefer the bike because it is safer.  I don't want to fall and break something and have to deal with that.  I told my doctor well I cannot ride my bike now.  And he accepts it.  I am not truly sure if exercising is good or now.  He thinks it it----then I read and hear that during the withdrawal it is not good to exercise too much or to sweat.  I am mostly interested in not dying and not losing my mind and not deciding to jump off the roof or something.  Anyway, this exercise thing is something I don't understand.  It did make me feel good but now nothing makes me feel good.  I would like to have input from you experts.

[[lu...]]

Doing anything in the heat dies me in.  I mean temps above 90 and the higher the humidity the worse it gets.  Otherwise I found I am ok with light to moderate exercise but if I push it I suffer. 

This looks like an individual thing.  For me I need to try to maintain tone and not overdo it. 

 

[[er...]]

Well, I think one has to get into exercise again very slowly.  Perhaps a mile in the heat was too much to do at first.. I know I felt too sick during my taper, and for a few months after I jumped.  When I began again, I started by going to gym (it's got AC), and just stretching - after a few days I did a few minutes on the spin bike and the elliptical, and then I worked my way up from there.

 

Now, it's 2.5 months later, and I'm very into hard, cardio workouts.  I feel light years better after each workout.  For me, exercise gets rid of symptoms and doesn't bring them on.  But, that's just where I'm at now, in my recovery.

 

Lately, I've been using exercise to fight off symptoms of the risperdal taper I'm doing now.  This morning, I had some very strange, "chemical" anxiety, so I went to gym and did about 55 minutes of a few different cardio exercises, and now I feel much better than I did earlier.  So, I don't know, but I'm glad it's working for me now.

 

I think the brain chemicals that get produced in exercise are really helpful in fighting off the depression that these drugs give us when we are coming off of them.  Hope you keep trying it, and don't let one bad experience persuade you not to do this, exercise has been the single best thing for me, besides work, in helping me to recover from this benzo ordeal. - Eric

[[Ia...]]

I'm only a few weeks off benzos and my heart races like crazy, I was never very athletic ever which now I wish I was... Anyway I went to the treadmill today and walked slow for the first time for about 15 min.  It still had me at 130 135 Bpm but it was somethings... I live in Texas an dita hot as hell... The other sayin walked to my mailbox which is only a block away and when I got back my heart rate was at 170... So apparently heat kicks my ass... Got to go slow.

[[si...]]

Exercise is great, if you can tolerate it. The science behind exercise is solid and in normal cases it helps people heal and feel better.

This is where we are a little different right now. Our cns is damaged from the benzos and when we exercise it stirs up all of those chemicals and hormones in our bodies that we naturally produce. However the receptors that they need to connect with just are not healed enough to receive them and distribute them properly. So it over loads our system and we feel worse.

Some of us can exercise and that is great and I would say keep it up. But for others it just doesn't work for the moment. This is how benzo wd works. What works for some doesn't work for others.

We will all be able to workout again, just give it time.

I know I can not wait for that feeling again of a good hard workout.

[[Ge...]]

Same here, I walk daily for 1-2 hours, but in acute my heart rate spikes to 100-110bpm when walking (normally around 80 when walking) and if it's hot, then it gets even worse.

 

I monitor my heartrate with the Fitbit Surge. Solution is simple: just walk slower. On day 4 I walked 1 mile in 1 hour to keep my bpm below 100. Last couple days it has been better.

 

Start slowly and build it up. I would probably go crazy without my daily walk.

[[Kl...]]

I would love to exercise but it revs up my CNS and I start getting the acute withdrawals again (including bloated stomach!). I would say don't push yourself much when it comes to exercise and do what's comfortable...