Sudden severe withdrawals amidst stable phase of taper? (long read)

[[Wa...]]

Hi everyone, first I'll give a brief summary of my benzo situation

 

It all started with two consecutive bouts of strong alcohol withdrawals.  The first one I managed to beat by staying awake for 8 days with occasional afternoon naps.  Small seizures would happen at night if I tried to sleep

 

After I got over my withdrawals I waited about 5 days and thought my body reset it's alcohol tolerance (I was very ignorant lol), so I drank heavily again for a few days.  I had a big seizure this time a couple days later and almost died, so I immediately found the name of an anti seizure medication online. 

 

I went and got Clonazepam and started taking 4-6 mg every night for a few weeks until the box ran out.  I didn't bother reading about benzos (again being stupid), so I just quit and was surprised when it felt like I was starting to have a seizure a couple of days after quitting.  I called a friend whose cousin takes Clonazepam and asked her to bring me 6 mg for an emergency, then did a lot of reading that night.  Armed with knew knowledge and finally knowing what was happening to me, I went to a Dr to get some more the next day to taper off.

 

He suggested tapering from 6mg but I wanted to get off them as soon as possible.  I started at 2mg and went through hell for a few weeks of withdrawals but the 2mg was just enough to stop seizures at night

 

Eventually my body started stabilizing and my withdrawals became less dangerous, the extreme tachycardia went away and I was just left with a bunch of annoyances and uncomfortable symptoms

 

After a couple more months I finally got down to about .125mg stable.  I had a week long experience with "benzo belly" just before that which I hated.  Anyways I cut my dose again to approximately .08 mg for a few days and decided I might as well try quitting.  I lasted 3 days on zero and started getting unbearable symptoms like my head was going to explode and my body wasn't moving properly

 

I went back up to .125mg again since it was the last stable dose I was taking.  It has been maybe about 12 days now on .125mg and I have had extreme benzo belly, difficulty breathing, pains all around my torso but I've been able to sleep at night

 

Fast forward to tonight.  I had just cut up a new pill.  The smallest they break into are .5mg so I just cut the .5 into 4 pieces and try to make them as even as possible.  I took the biggest piece which was around .15 and thought I'd have a great sleep

 

Suddenly just as I was falling asleep a familiar horrible feeling that I hadn't felt in ages came back.  My body was going numb everywhere and the pressure was building up between my head and chest.  It was the first stages of a seizure I had felt in the past, this time accompanied with dizziness and nausea.  I had to take another .25mg and try to keep myself from getting any weaker while the medicine kicked in

 

Over the next few hours I slowly got better but I was really disturbed by what had happened.  I didn't think it was possible at such a low dose and without trying to cut the dose.  I thought maybe it was covid 19 or something

 

 

Does this happen very often to people near the end of a taper on a stable dose?  I'm very confused as to how that happened.  I get "brain zaps" many nights which are apparently small localized seizures but I haven't come close to having an actual seizure for months

 

 

[[...]]

So sorry you had to go through so much.

Just curious why you thought it might be covid?  Did you get infected?

 

I'm asking as I had what you described most likely due to covid, seizure or stroke like episodes.

[[Wa...]]

So sorry you had to go through so much.

Just curious why you thought it might be covid?  Did you get infected?

 

I'm asking as I had what you described most likely due to covid, seizure or stroke like episodes.

 

It's probably not.  I just don't understand how I suddenly got symptoms like I just quit cold turkey or made a big dose drop

 

Maybe that happens to some people but it seems weird since I have been taking a similar sized dose for at least 10 days, maybe even 2 weeks by now

 

I even ended up taking 3 of the 4 pieces of my pill that I usually take one of each night, and tried to take a nap a little while ago because I was up all night.  It didn't seem to help as I went numb and dizzy again as soon as I was close to sleeping

 

My left arm and face are still half asleep

 

These symptoms were common when I was having proper strong withdrawals but I don't understand why they suddenly appeared now

[[Aj...]]

0.5mgs of Clonazepam is equivalent to 10mgs of diazepam.

 

 

Ppl taper down from that over months or years cutting of tiny amounts such as 0.001g each time using a jewellery scale or by making it into a liquid and gradually reducing it - microtapering.

 

Your nervous system is sensitised (as is mine). It is hell.

 

I now get horrific  symptoms from dosing as well as from WD.

 

If things ease for you once the dose kicks in and of the dose lasts more than a couple hours you are lucky because if you hold long enough you might be able to stablise on that dose.

 

Some ppl hold for months or a year to try to get stable before slowly tapering off.

 

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t

 

A lot of ppl are never able to get stable and have to taper off regardless.

 

There is no easy way out of this and no specific answer as to what you should do.

 

I am very  ill and confused by what dose you are now on.

 

One thing for sure is you need to get a scale and measure your doses properly or sort out moving to water.

Simply randomly breaking pills up will give a big variance in each dose.

 

 

 

 

 

[[Wa...]]

0.5mgs of Clonazepam is equivalent to 10mgs of diazepam.

 

 

Ppl taper down from that over months or years cutting of tiny amounts such as 0.001g each time using a jewellery scale or by making it into a liquid and gradually reducing it - microtapering.

 

Your nervous system is sensitised (as is mine). It is hell.

 

I now get horrific  symptoms from dosing as well as from WD.

 

If things ease for you once the dose kicks in and of the dose lasts more than a couple hours you are lucky because if you hold long enough you might be able to stablise on that dose.

 

Some ppl hold for months or a year to try to get stable before slowly tapering off.

 

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t

 

A lot of ppl are never able to get stable and have to taper off regardless.

 

There is no easy way out of this and no specific answer as to what you should do.

 

I am very  ill and confused by what dose you are now on.

 

One thing for sure is you need to get a scale and measure your doses properly or sort out moving to water.

Simply randomly breaking pills up will give a big variance in each dose.

 

I was on roughly 0.125mg for the last 10-14 days.  It was my last stable dose about 3 weeks ago before I quickly cut to zero in a few days, then lasted 3 days on zero before I couldn't handle it

 

I was doing well since then, the only problem I had was benzo belly but pretty severely.  I ended up taking between at least .35 mg last night because of the seizure like symptoms and it still wasn't enough

 

Another strange thing is the pretty strong nausea I've been feeling since last night.  Nausea hasn't been a common withdrawal symptom for me at any time

 

 

My forehead doesn't seem hot though, so it's probably somehow related to the benzos

[[Aj...]]

So you cut too fast from the 0.125mgs and went into acute WD when the only thing preventing you seizing is the Clonazepam.

0.125 is 2.5mgs of diazepam.

 

If you have gone back up for more than a few days you might have to hold there for a long time in hope of stabilising.

 

 

I have the pumped up feeling from chest to head. No idea of it is seizure stuff.

Feel like in constant non convulsive sensory seizure that is being held in check by colonazepsm but get horrific symtoms from taking it now.

 

Body crushing itself.

 

 

I presume you have read the Ashton a Manual? A lot of ppl find that Too fast and a lot taper right down to 0 over many months. 2.5mgs of diazepam is a lot to jump from.

 

Here is a full symptom list: https://benzo.org.uk/slistz.htm

 

 

 

[[Wa...]]

So you cut too fast from the 0.125mgs and went into acute WD when the only thing preventing you seizing is the Clonazepam.

0.125 is 2.5mgs of diazepam.

 

If you have gone back up for more than a few days you might have to hold there for a long time in hope of stabilising.

 

 

I have the pumped up feeling from chest to head. No idea of it is seizure stuff.

Feel like in constant non convulsive sensory seizure that is being held in check by colonazepsm but get horrific symtoms from taking it now.

 

Body crushing itself.

 

 

 

 

I presume you have read the Ashton a Manual? A lot of ppl find that Too fast and a lot taper right down to 0 over many months. 2.5mgs of diazepam is a lot to jump from.

 

Here is a full symptom list: https://benzo.org.uk/slistz.htm

 

Thanks, I read through parts of the manual in the beginning.  It's pretty helpful

 

 

I get the pressure almost all the time without seizures but when it is accompanied by my body starting to fall asleep, beginning with my face and left arm, it's bad news

 

My face and left arm are often half asleep with no problems but when it spreads like a wave through the rest of my body, that's when it's trouble

 

 

The reason why I was so puzzled this time is because I was doing OK on .125mg after my failed attempt to quit.  I was stable for almost two weeks and just had really bad benzo belly