Gaba damage from previous benzo use, chronic illness and Lemon Balm

[[Qu...]]

Hi guys, this is going to be a long and complicated one , I really dont expect anyone to have any answers, I guess I should start at the beginning, in 2011 I had a series of seizures that put me in ER....they gave me Ativan .5 mg to take 3 times a day for 30 days...at the end of the 30 days I came off and had and extreme cold turkey, which last about 2 years to recover from although I was recovered I remained sensitive to many things. Over the last 7 years I had some very large personal tragedies and also sustained a complex brainstem injury from my neck being injured, and mal de debarquement syndrome ....life has not been roses yet after expericning benzo withdrawal even these bad things seemed bearable in comparrison to what I went through in benzo hell, yet I still struggled mainly because of the unrelenting dizziness from my mal de debarquement syndrome which was disabling me very badly, so I saw a naturopathic doctor early  in 2018 he gave me tincture of lemon balm, with california poppy and motherwort he told me this would help repair my nervous system from all the damage it had sustained, so I took it and only microdosed it and only used it 2 times a week....it helped me alot along with this tincture and regular chiropractic for my neck ! It gave me a new outlook on life and I was clear headed and and happy, able to work and live life... Flash forward to Feb 2019 my husband and I caught the flu a really bad flu it was so bad that he landed in hospital with pneumonia, my temp went to 104 and my neck and head felt like they were going to burst....after the fever I was left with neck stiffness which I tried to alleviate by mildly cracking my own neck, as soon as I did this I noticed something was very wrong I no longer could cough mucus up from my lungs it was as if that part of me was paralyzed and I felt extreme anxiety my thoat began to dry up and it became obvious to me that I had done something to the vagus nerve...this embarked me on a 4 day bout of extreme insomnia and depersonalization....it wasnt until I had finally slept that I realized I had not been taking my lemon balm tincture for almost 2 weeks, at that point I was still tooo messed up from what I did to myself plus the flu to have the ability to take it...so I didnt...things seemed to spiral down hill after this....the nerve I affected did not go back to normal and my chiropractor did eveything he could think of to mitigate the damage it got worse as the month wore on I coughed so much feeling like there was something stuck in my chest....and it affected my digestive system...I no longer  could feel my stomach, my food became hard to swallow and I could feel the food sitting in my chest pushing on my lungs...Iam fairly certain I paralyzed a part of my esophegus....so during this time I had intense anxiety so much so that it was reminiscent of benzo wd.... I had paranoia, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, dp/dr , brain fog, dizziness, fainting, night sweats, cold chills, morning fear, constant crying, tremors, loss of appetite, loss of will to live, ocd, constant worrying about illness, pain all through my body, numbness, i was convinced I was dying I had been through so many things and had never experienced anything close to this except benzo wd.....I then realized I had not been using lemon balm for about 2 months...3 days ago I took it again to see if it would affect anything...well it did...I no longer felt the extreme anxiety related to my condition....I still couldnt swallow, the nerve to the digestive and esophegus was still damaged ...but I was calm and normal and focused ....I then researched lemon balm and California poppy they both work on the gaba system...apparently to help raise gaba levels and to bind with them natural health practioners prescribe it as a better alternative to benzos....normally lemon balm is wonderful for people who are in wd...but Iam the rare unicorn who has most likely developed a lemon balm wd which is basically a benzo wd....have any of u experienced such things....Iam still at odds with my health and dont have any answers on how to fix or treat the damage to my vagus nerve...my husband thinks I should keep taking the lemon balm until we fix or figure out whats happening to my esophagus and stomach....I just dont know what to do or if iam in the right place.....all I know is that iam scared.and sad

[[Aj...]]

I have lost all sensation in stomach since WD and have swallowing problems.

 

Has someone actually confirmed you have damaged the Vagus nerve?

[[Ea...]]

I have lost all sensation in stomach since WD and have swallowing problems.

 

Has someone actually confirmed you have damaged the Vagus nerve?

 

I was wondering the same thing. I also thought I had damaged my vagus nerve & was developing gastroparesis bc of it but after extensive testing found out that damaging the vagus nerve to the point of this is pretty difficult. It’s usually seen in patients who have had a portion cut during a medical procedure or diabetics with high blood sugar levels uncontrolled over a long period of time. With that being said, vagus nerve dysfunctions r among more common conditions. My difficulties began within 6 month’s after starting benzo’s again in 2015 & have finally started to show some significant improvement since my CT in Sept 2018. No more difficultly swallowing as well as sensations along the nerve branch path returning. This is actually comforting to hear bc the issues ur dealing with sound extremely similar to the one’s I have dealt with as well which gives me the indication that it is just due to the benzo’s. Hope this can b helpful, all the best in healing.