Health anxiety during wave

[[ma...]]

Sorry for the rant all, Not doing well, I originally took Benzo for health anxiety type issues, and my initial Benzo symptoms seemed a bit like ALS, along with some old sport/back injuries which didn’t help things.

 

I have a few ALS ish symptoms but they are also Benzo withdrawal symptoms, and rationally I tell myself that I’ve been cleared by doctors and I’ve had these symptoms for 9 months and am still fine, so rationally I know it’s not that, also that they  come and go which isn’t how that disease works. If I had some extreme disease like that I’d have gone downhill but I haven’t because my issues are Benzo related and in my last window I had zero symptoms for a week.

 

Also I’m shattered because I got over this whole paranoia/anxiety about obscure diseases that I know I don’t have, months ago, and this latest wave has brought it all back at full power..

 

 

[[ma...]]

Didn’t word above well, sorry, mid panic a bit.

 

End of the day this is Benzo withdrawal, I know this, just ruminating on “what ifs” that don’t fit the evidence and in a loop of worst case scenarios and all this kind of thing.

Wave feels like I’m almost back at acute

 

  :

[[Br...]]

I'm so sorry you're suffering with these fears in a wave.  It's a terrible feeling and hard to shake.  I know from experience.

 

As I'm sure you know, fears about health and fears of all kinds are a hallmark of benzo withdrawal - the fear center has to rebalance after Benzos are out of our system and the brain is working overtime to find equilibrium.  We feel all kinds of symptoms in withdrawal and in response the brain sends out red alert signals.  Basically our brains have to relearn how to assess risk.  It may help a little to repeatedly remind yourself that the fear messages your benzo brain is sending you are lies.

 

This piece was very reassuring to me - I read it over and over.  What's happening inside your brain

 

I hope you're taking kind, gentle care of yourself and that your wave passes soon.