Food Anxiety, Morning Anxiety

[[Be...]]

Greetings to all.

Well, we are all caught in a world-wide conundrum aren’t we?

For myself, I have decided to continue my taper for now. I’m doing a dry-cut,

Basically eye-balling each cut with a razor blade. Latest cut is at .63 +/- mg Valium. At this pace my

taper should be complete by July 2020. A full year to taper off from 3.75 mg Valium/day.

During this process ive completed surgery and radiation for breast cancer and told to transition to a mainly plant-based diet. My benzo is for anxiety and I’m in active therapy etc and doing tolerably well. Unfortunately a side-effect occurred in that I developed food anxiety over making the “right” choices and basically became afraid to eat. The anxiety support group here seems to be inactive so I’m m wondering does anyone here have anxiety making food choices? And my other question is do we know if morning anxiety and associated nausea ever goes away when our tapers are complete?

[[Br...]]

Hi Belle67,

 

Good for you doing a slow careful taper.  As you probably know we typically suggest making cuts of no more than 10% of your current dose every week or two, or whatever your symptoms allow, in order to minimize symptoms and maintain the highest level of functioning.

 

You have a lot on your plate and it's really admirable that you're pressing forward with your taper. You will be so glad you did. 

 

Anxiety escalates for many of us during taper and post taper - it comes in many forms.  The fear center of the brain takes some time to recalibrate and heal so it tells us to be in flight, fight or freeze in any number of areas of our lives.  It seems to manifest for you in anxiety over food choices and I'm certain you're not alone in that.  This link is really helpful What's happening inside your brain

 

I'm glad you're finding therapy helpful.  The anxiety board is sometimes less active as you note but you can find a lot of good tips there (and all over the forum) for managing anxiety. And of course, current events make this an even more challenging time for those of us who struggle with anxiety.  Hang in there.  We understand.

 

No one can tell you whether morning anxiety and nausea will go away once your taper is complete - everyone's path varies to various extents.  It's important to understand that your brain continues to heal for a while after the benzos are out of your system. You may or may not still experience it but please don't let that discourage you - it won't mean you won't heal - rather it means you're still healing.  It's frustrating that it takes time, but healing takes time. 

 

Take care,

Brighterday

 

[[Be...]]

Hi, Brighterday!

Thank you so much for responding. I’m one of those people who were just not able to comprehend the whole liquid titration method, or the scale weighing method. I cut the 2 mg Valium into quarters, then each quarter in half (as needed) and then crush the .25 piece, divide it and use half. So right now I am clumsily using a .50 (quarter tab) piece plus half of the crushed .25 piece. It is all very primitive but I have/had no one to assist me in this process - and so far it has worked. Not great, but working. This is my second day at +/- .63 of a 2 mg tablet. Usually my waves kick in at one week and again at 17 days. I even out at 20, check how I feel on day 21 and make the next cut on day 22. I did read about keeping cuts at below 10% of the remains dose but that is just a physical impossibility for me. It seems like s/x are kicking up early and I am monitoring- harder times are built into the process due to our current situation, I guess that’s inevitable!! Again, thank you.