Hello. I'm new to the site - looking for any advice/signposting

[[wr...]]

Hi everyone,

 

It's been eye opening to start reading some of the stories of others who have or who are going through the same thing. For years, whilst on the drug and going through withdrawal I felt like I was going crazy and the only one to experience this, as I'm sure many of us have felt.

 

In 2012 I contracted a virus with a chesty cough. During the following months I started to feel like I couldn't breathe properly. After a year of not being believed, doctors abroad (I'd moved abroad for work) finally found I had 60% lung capacity and asthma. I was put on strong asthma drugs and Bromazepam to cope with the psychological effects caused by stress, anxiety and the lack of oxygen in my body of the course of a year.

 

About two years into it I started having hypoglycemic-like symptoms (this has never been properly tested so I don't know if this is it). I just remember feeling very odd one day - with cold clammy hands, dizzy and that food helped. This has been a predominant symptom in my life ever since; experiencing it at least once a day, every day, since 2014.

 

A year or so later (still on the drug) I started experiencing tachycardia/palpitations which could happen anytime day or night and last on average 30minutes. During this time I was still working but the 'hypoglycemia', palpitations and general feeling of fatigue and numbness from the drugs were quite prevalent.

 

I moved back to the UK at the end of 2016 to try and get to the bottom of it all. Whilst waiting for a doctors appointment with the new surgery I ran out of the Bromazepam. I went off it cold turkey which was pretty indescribable.

 

Over the coming weeks I was in a tentative position with my homelife and finances and so I forced myself to get a full time job in London, which felt like my only option as the medical tests showed there was 'nothing wrong with me'. 6 weeks into that I contracted another virus, which was very similar to the one back in 2022.

 

From that point on I'd say I've been living a disabled life. I couldn't get out of bed without my heart being around 180bmp. I had a enormously high sensitivity to everything and extreme brain fog.

Calling 111 the first time I was seriously worried about my heart rate they sent an ambulance. After 40 minutes my heart rate returned to normal and because all my other observations were normal, I was sent home. Without any explanation for why it happened.

Over the past two and a half years I've had 17 ambulances sent, and each time I was sent home in the same way.

 

I haven't worked at all since February 2017 and have struggled to do anything normal. I now have severe agoraphobia and as I guess many of us know it's not just a case of 'pulling yourself together' as some people have suggested.

 

I'd say I've probably been 90% flat-bound during that time, and 60/70% bed bound.

 

Here are the main symptoms:

hypoglycaemia

virus chesty cough flares up every now and then (not sure if separate issue)

tachycadria

fatigue

anxiety

depression

agorophobia

insomnia

dizziness

vertigo (had for 6 months in 2017 and an acute episode two weeks ago)

pressure in head

feeling very out character

sometimes overeating / sometimes undereating

constant tembling muscles

sporadic (but still daily) upper body spasms from Nov 2018 the day the doctors tried to put me on antidepressants

 

The 'hypoglycemia' (weird and scary feeling that I'll collapse or have a seizure if I don't eat), the tachycardia (severe once a month or so), and the general physical and mental fatigue are the 3 main symptoms that hold me back from living some kind of normal fulfilling life.

 

A couple of weeks ago I awoke in the middle of the night with a tachycardic episode but for the first time ever it combined with an extreme episode of vertigo. The room started spinning and I couldn't talk at all for a good few minutes.  If anyone's ever had a nightmare where you try to speak but your mouth feels numb - that's exactly what it was like. Eventually my body seemed to rebalance itself. Paramedics were sent but all my vitals were fine.

 

I've really tried doing the 'right' things such as meditation, eating clean, cutting out alcohol, mild exercise but it's a challenge a lot of the time. I've actually found that alcohol helps and have been self medicating on that. In the first 6 months it was almost every day, now it's maybe a glass or two twice a week. My aim is to have a year of full sobriety as I now recognise the alcohol was probably filling in for the benzo, and for the brain to fully heal I have to be tee-total for a while.

 

The other thing that does help and may be of use to others (but as always check with docs and do you research) is the supplement Catecholacalm. This does help me sleep a bit better. Without it I'd seriously worry about my lack of sleep, but with it I still wonder if it's preventing the brain from fully healing itself.

 

So, (if you've made it this far thankyou), I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas on what to do / where to go next?

 

The main things I'd like to find answers for are:

 

- what is the hypoglycemic feeling and how to fix it?

- has anyone had virus-like symptoms/cough and has anything helped?

- what risk-free things help other people to enjoy a better quality of life whilst the body rebalances itself?

- has anyone else experienced the link with alcohol and managed to steer clear of it?

- any general thoughts/advice/links based on the info above?

 

Thank you in advance

 

[[ea...]]

I am so sorry no one has responded to you. But I will. I really feel for you, write. I went through much of the same thing. Your moving etc placed more stress on you, as I am sure you know.

The truly difficult thing about benzo wd is that it can mimic many dread disease. This leads most of us to become Dr Google search, and we truly think we have this disease or that disease. When those hypoglycemic like episodes began, were you on benzos? Knowing will help me advise you.

I need to know more about your current benzo use to help you. Feel free to Private message me, I always answer them. And sometimes, being OFF the open forum is a good thing.

IF you were still on benzos when all of this happened, I would have to suspect benzos caused some of it. It sounds as if you have been medically examined and nothing wrong was found. Benzo wd can cause all of those things. That IS scary, but all of this can be dealt with. Please give more info so I can try to help you.

east

[[Ma...]]

Hypoglycemia means low blood sugar level. Did you ever measure your blood sugar?

[[ba...]]

Hi! What you described are my symptoms! I've been through all that too. It's hard! But there is hope. Thank God! Hugs!

[[wr...]]

Hypoglycemia means low blood sugar level. Did you ever measure your blood sugar?

Always been normal. Although one GP suggested it might be something called reactive hypoglycemia, apparently more challenging to diagnose but never had a test for it as I've had to move around so much.

[[wr...]]

Hi! What you described are my symptoms! I've been through all that too. It's hard! But there is hope. Thank God! Hugs!

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully there's some comfort in the fact other people do experience these - for a long time I thought I was going crazy.

Has anything helped you?