Random Adrenaline Spikes - Anyone? Please Help!

[[Fl...]]

I am at 1 year off benzos. During acute(jump - 3 months) I experienced these adrenaline spikes. They went away from months 3-9 and then boom after a major life event(big move and moving in with my girlfriend for first time), I started to get them again. They are different though. This is usually how it happens. I will be sitting at my work desk, feeling okay, not stressed or anxious and then I will feel either a pinching pain in my left shoulder/back area on left side and or this flush surge over my body. I start to immediately feel uncomfortable, like im full of energy though so much it makes me uncomfortable. I can feel it like ripples all over my body. Then I will start to get these muscle twitches in my legs, chest, arms, back or ribs. The twitches are never painful. I will from time to time get a feeling like my chest, and entire mid-section is being squeezed and that its hard to breath. I am still able to take a deep breath though it does not feel satisfying. I have had recent blood work and ECG with no issues at all. I do not experience chest-pain or true shortness of breath. I just get these random Adrenaline spikes, im guessing that is what it is? It makes me feel like crap. It happens most in mornings and afternoons, though by time I get home I am fine in regards to these adrenaline spikes. When I wake up in the morning my body has this toxic panic feeling all over that slowly subsides by time I make it to work. Anyone else have this? Know what this is? Any tips on how to deal with this? When will it go away, is it going to be around forever? I never had these issues until I cold-turkeyed benzos a year ago. Thanks in advance to all that reply, it means a lot! 

[[Sh...]]

Hi Florida Blue,

 

I too get these random rushes much like you described.  I am on a very similar timeline as you being 14 months off.  I had them very intensely during acute for about 4v months.  Then they went away like yours did for about 6 months.  Now they are back, but nowhere nearly as bad as in the beginning.  Mine starts with a feeling of being hyped up, a bit anxious and dizzy, then a flushed feeling along with an uncomfortable feeling in my chest, increased heart rate and a blood pressure spike and a feeling of being overheated.  During the worst of them during acute, I have laid down in a quiet room and rode them out.  Now I find that if I give it any attention at all that it gets a bit worse and stays longer.  If I distract myself then it subsides fairly rapidly within minutes.  I call them adrenaline rushes and find that they come during times when I am stressed or over stimulated for the most part, but sometimes it is when I feel completely relaxed and it is a bolt out of the blue.  Since everything has checked out okay for you (it did for me too) and you were never bothered with them before your benzo withdrawal, you can be pretty sure it is all down to withdrawal.  Hang in there.  It is sure to get better for both of us as more time and healing goes by.

 

She

[[Fl...]]

Thank you for your reply. I guess sometimes we feel as if we are alone in the these bizarre symptoms. Then we find out others are going through the same thing. This is one of my worst symptoms because it usually triggers a racing heart episode which then leaves me feeling whipped out and like crud for some time after. Wish I knew how to make these things go away! Thanks again for your response! 

[[ld...]]

Hello FloridaBlue and SheWhoMust

 

    I am about 8 months out and have waves and windows and I too have this symptom. Mornings are the worst for me. It usually fades away by midmorning, with the afternoons and evenings much better. I dread the mornings! Just letting you know you are not alone.

[[Fl...]]

Thank you for your reply. This is frustrating. I get full of adrenaline and panic like now when I drive only in the afternoons after work. No panic on way to work. I give up figuring this out. You would think I'd be more adrenaline filled on way to work, not on my way home. Wish I knew what month this goes away, it drains me. My heart palps come most often when I have adrenaline feelings. Those are the absolute worst. My heart will randomly go from 80 to 150 in a second, then more adrenaline comes and I panic, thoughts of dying enter my mind daily. It is exhausting.

[[Sh...]]

Thank you for your reply. This is frustrating. I get full of adrenaline and panic like now when I drive only in the afternoons after work. No panic on way to work. I give up figuring this out. You would think I'd be more adrenaline filled on way to work, not on my way home. Wish I knew what month this goes away, it drains me. My heart palps come most often when I have adrenaline feelings. Those are the absolute worst. My heart will randomly go from 80 to 150 in a second, then more adrenaline comes and I panic, thoughts of dying enter my mind daily. It is exhausting.

 

I hear you FloridaBlue.  The adrenaline surges are the worse symptom for me.  If that would go away, I think I could cope with the rest.  As for the timing of when your occurs, I don't think it has too much to do with our external circumstances.  No, stress is not good and probably makes these surges worse, but it is more to do with what is going on in our brain and nervous system rather than anything outside causing it.  I am on a beta blocker, which helps a great deal compared to before I started taking it, but they didn't go away entirely.  I think time and healing is the only thing that will get us there.  Unfortunately, we can't predict when that will be.  YES very exhausting and frustrating.

 

XX

She

[[sl...]]

It's strange how this mostly affects people during the day when mine are all at night- waking me at the very moment of sleep.  I also wake with horrible anxiety. Things have been more manageable for the last 10 days, thank goodness.  I was ready to go skydiving w/o a parachute before this window appeared. 

[[Fl...]]

Thank you again for your reply SHE. I appreciate it as hearing others helps comfort me some. This is only temp though feels like forever.

 

Sorry you are still going through this sleepless. Nothing about the way we each suffer makes sense. Some people can sleep, some cant, some have heart issues others don't. Just bizarre all the way around. Hope you are able to get a 10 hour sleep here soon!

[[re...]]

Hello FloridaBlue and SheWhoMust

 

    I am about 8 months out and have waves and windows and I too have this symptom. Mornings are the worst for me. It usually fades away by midmorning, with the afternoons and evenings much better. I dread the mornings! Just letting you know you are not alone.

 

This is my worst symptom too. I'll be 8 mo on October 3rd

 

If those would go away I would be fine with the other symptoms.

They are terrible in am, improved by pm

 

I've had a 24 hour urine hormone test

Cortisol is through the roof

 

 

[[Fl...]]

Thanks for your reply Reba. Several buddies have suggested a cortisol test. I think I will have to do one. Is that a blood test, or?

[[De...]]

Nothing new to really add but wanted to lend support. I get these too; both being woken out of a dead sleep and in the dreaded mornings.  Stressful situations are still real tough.  I completely agree.  When I was in acute, all I could do was ride them out.  Now, at 6 months out, the more I distract myself the better.  If it happens at 4am, I get up, on a computer, watch tv, play words with friends, anything to occupy my racing body.  Then it clears up.  Why just lay there and suffer if you are able to occupy your  mind. I hope this is just a temporary setback for you and everyone else suffering this horrible wd sx. 

[[Va...]]

Morning panic/terror/rage was one of my worst symptoms during a long tolerance withdrawal and during acute. I would wake up two hours after falling asleep, covered in sweat, adrenaline pumping. If I went back to sleep, I would wake up in the same state.

It eased up a little just weeks after c/t, and I stopped waking in the middle of the night, but still my mornings were often dominated by pounding heart, irrational worry, racing thoughts, anger. At about month 6, I began to consistently gain control and deliberately calm myself immediately upon waking. Now at month 8 I am calm when I wake, and when I feel an adrenaline spike in the morning (it's always in the morning for me) I can get calm pretty quickly.

[[Fl...]]

Thanks DeeJay and Vahday for your replies. The last 2 days were good for most part, now today al of a sudden my body is surging full of toxicity and adrenaline. What gives? Wish I knew a reason why it happens when it does and doesn't other times.

[[re...]]

I'm getting them constant today.

 

Causing rush of acid feeling in my throat and I can't relax

 

This truly sucks

[[Fl...]]

I agree Reba, this is a symptom that is pure torture. Sometimes with the adrenaline surges I will get muscle twitches and my heart will start to suddenly beat very very fast like I was running, though usually im just sitting still when it happens. I look forward to the day these symptoms are in the past, it sure does wear me out living in the body I have right now