Losing coordination and ability to use muscles

[[Sk...]]

Seasalt52,

 

Thanks for the virtual hugs. I send the same to you. My dizziness has been pretty much constant for nine months. It only got worse in that time, and that is why I decided to push forward with the taper. Holding at 0.1 mg for three months did not help me in the least. In fact, I only got worse in time. Today I dropped to 0.026 mg/day. My progress is slow, but steady. I hope things get better after I am completely off that poison. That is all I have now, hope. I also hope you make a speedy recovery.

[[se...]]

Skyglidder,

 

This crap is so unpredictable.  I’m so sorry you have been suffering so long!  You are at the end now, will you jump now that you are at .02?  Are you functional with all the dizziness?  It must be so bad, ugh!!

 

It can only get better.  I am going to pray for you, stay strong!!

[[Sk...]]

Seasalt52,

 

Last night’s sleep was horrible. In addition to my usual abdominal spasm when I inhale, I had severe abdominal cramping as well. In addition, my right leg was restless pretty much all night. I cannot jump from my current dose. 0.026 mg of Clonazepam is equivalent to 0.52 mg of Valium. I am horribly sensitive to this poison. I am very worried about my future. I cannot continue to function on 1-2 hours of sleep per night. I just can’t.

[[se...]]

I have had those same symptoms early on in my taper when I was dosing down at higher percentages.  I am sure your body is awakening and it is really unpleasant.  Try to hang in there, I know it is very bad, I am so so sorry.

 

Please try to think positive, THIS WILL END AT SOME POINT...I promise.  It is so hard when you have only received a few hours of sleep. As you know, benzo's really impact the gut. 

 

My suggestion would be to try breathing exercises to try to help get through it.  I will continue to pray for you...hugs

[[Sk...]]

When are you planning on jumping off the rat poison? If you taper from 0.17 mg at 2.5%/week, it will take you 18.5 months to reach my level of 0.026 mg, and it will be hard to control your cuts at that level. I use a liquid titration at 0.1 mg/ml, and can dose to about the 0.001 ml level, or 1 microgram/day per cut. However, at my current dose of 26 micrograms, my next cut will be about 4% of current dose. As I go lower, this percentage goes up. I.e., if I make it to 5 micrograms, a 1 microgram cut will be a whooping 20% cut. I hope at some point my body accepts the fact it will not get more of that poison, and starts repairing the damage so I can jump off at some non zero level without incurring debilitating symptoms. Like I said before, hope is all I have at this point. When do you plan to jump? I.e., at what dose will you take the plunge?

[[se...]]

I am reducing 2.5 percent of my original dose of .50.  I am down 75 percent of my original dose.  If all goes ok, I should be done in August.

 

I am planning to jump at the last 2.5 percent.  That may change as I get lower.  I am thinking I will probably try the daily liquid reductions.  I guess I will just see how I am feeling.  I am now at .12..

[[Sk...]]

Good luck in your quest to get off of this rat poison. I too plan to walk down to a very low dose before I jump off. I was on 1 mg, so a 2.5% reduction for me would be 0.025 mg, basically where I am right now. However, there is no way I can jump from here. My last 0.001 mg cut caused my right leg to be restless, and resulted in pretty bad abdominal cramping. My right eye is also swollen for no reason. The withdrawal effects are killing me. Benzos are not drugs, they are central nervous system toxins. I hope you can get off without too much pain. I am already in a world of hurt and suffering.

[[se...]]

I am still at a relatively high dose, I will probably be in the same boat as I get lower.  My guess is I will go as low as I possibly can.

 

It truly is a nightmare on this stuff..

[[Sk...]]

Xanax is 10 times more potent than ValiumClonazepam is 20x more potent, whereas clonazepam is 20x more potent. So to compare your 0.17 mg dose to mine, you should divide by two. I am at 0.026 mg, and you are at 0.085 mg, or a little over three times my dose. So you don’t have that far to go to catch up yo me in terms of equivalent dose.

[[Sk...]]

Sorry, I just saw you said you were at 0.12 mg, so compared to my 0.026 mg, you are at 0.060 mg, or double me. That is pretty good, given that you can still cut 2.5% of you original dose each time.

[[se...]]

Hoping I can keep going at this pace.  Are you feeling any better?

[[Sk...]]

No, I feel terrible. Today, I am very dizzy and my POTS symptoms are very bad. I feel like my life is already over. My abdominal muscle spasms with each breath, making sleep pretty much impossible, not that I slept much anyway. I am still working, but worry about being able to continue to do so. Once I lose my job, I will probably end up homeless.

[[se...]]

Please try to stay positive, I know it is incredibly difficult.  It can only get better, think about how great it will be when you no longer have to prick up a prescription for this drug.  A year from now you will look back and be thankful you were strong enough to weather the storm.

 

Please remember that the body believes what the mind tells it.  It is so important to believe you will heal (you absolutely will).

 

You’ve got this.

[[Sk...]]

It is hard for me to stay positive these days. My insomnia has gotten very bad. One thing that really makes it difficult to sleep is that my abdominal muscle spasms strongly every time I breathe in. Has anyone else experienced this? It is really incompatible with being able to sleep. If I am lucky, I get 1-2 hours of fragmented sleep. Also, as I cut to lower doses, I never get sleepy tired anymore. Right now I take 0.024 mg/day of Clonazepam, and I am afraid to continue cutting the dose because of all the horrific side effects I have been experiencing. Lately, I have had restless legs at night, and severe burning skin. I don’t know if I can survive all this torture. Not being able to sleep is the worst torture there is. I go to bed and lay in bed for hours before any sleep is possible. I am thinking about just not going to bed for a day or two to see if that helps. Any advice is much appreciated. I am in a world of suffering, and I am losing hope by the minute.

[[se...]]

Yes, I have had the muscle spasms (really bad at the beginning of my taper and then it stopped).  Now it is every once in a while.  It will get better.

 

Today I am battling dizziness, and blurred vision ...no fun

[[Sk...]]

I have had the abdominal spasm when I inhale for five months now, and it is getting worse. I also have tons of other random muscle spasms that sometimes occur with a frequency of about one per second. They come and go in time, but definitely are correlated with my taper. Again, these drugs need to be banned.

[[Sk...]]

Sorry to hear you are battling dizziness and blurred vision. I have been constantly dizzy for nine months, so I know it is not fun. I also had blurred vision for a while, but as my dose got lower, it went away. I hope it works that way for you as well.

[[se...]]

Skyglider,

 

Those muscle spasms are brutal, I still get them, not just every day.  I hope it passes, it is definitely withdrawal.

 

Thanks for the reassurance on the dizziness, I am also experiencing muscle jerks at night, it scares me that this will continue. 

 

I hate withdrawal!!!

 

 

[[Sk...]]

Seasalt52,

 

I sometimes experience muscle jerks and restless leg syndrome at night, especially after a cut. Good news on that is they don’t happen every night. However, I have constant random muscle spasms throughout my body, around one every couple of seconds. They are not forceful, but I feel them. I am continuing to cut my dose in spite of them. I tried holding for three months when I was at 0.1mg/day, but things just got worse in time, so I don’t see the point of holding for too long. Now I am down to 0.023 mg/day, and am in a world of pain and suffering, but will continue cutting till I no longer take this poison.

[[se...]]

You are so close and I agree it’s time to get off this poison!!  I hope I can make it that far and still have a job!

 

The sx’s are definitely amping up.

[[Be...]]

These drugs are neurotoxins for sure.  Hope you can calm down soon and get some sleep. 

[[Sk...]]

I am really very worried right now. My ability to sleep is disappearing before my very eyes. I really fear for my life now. I went to bed at 10:40, then laid there till past 12 before I drifted off for some fragmented sleep. Then woke up at 2:30 and couldn’t fall back asleep. Took 4 mg melatonin and drifted off around 4:30 till 5:45. I could not fall back asleep. Around 8 took two Benadryl, but couldn’t fall back asleep. Now I feel horrible. Physically tired and wired at the same time. My ability to sleep is vanishing as I cut. I can’t take this anymore, and I don’t know what to do now. Benadryl used to work if I took two. Now it just makes me feel terrible. Unisom doesn’t work either and makes me feel terrible. Melatonin works, but not all of the time. I won’t take any other mind-altering meds for sleep. At this rate, I don’t have long before the little sleep I do get rapidly disappears for good. I am afraid, very afraid, and I don’t know what to do now. Still at 0.023 mg/day of that neurotoxin Clonazepam. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[[se...]]

I am having the same type of sleep pattern.  I get up at 5:30 no matter how much sleep I get.  I find that over several nights I get so tired I finally get consecutive sleep.  As I type this my foot is in a full spasm!! Ugh

[[So...]]

Not gonna lie.....sleep is a bitch during this!

I'm so sorry, as I know all to well the suffering that it is. And nothing worked for me either. Benedryl can help, but it can sometimes wire you up, which is what it did to me.

If it were me, I would try to take the melatonin if that is helpful at the same time every night , and go to bed at the same time, and then try REALLY hard not to feel terrified if I got broken and fragmented sleep. I know it sucks!!!!! Sucks hard.

Wish I had more tips.....but what I do have is encouragement that this is survivable. The inhumane amount of sleep deprivation won't kill us, though we feel like it will. The human body and brain has an amazing way of preserving itself... I knew this before, but not the way that I know it now!

Keep going

This will seem neverending, but it DOES get better!!!!!!

[[Sk...]]

Southernbelle08,

 

Have things gotten better regarding your symptoms? As I cut everything just gets much worse for me, especially sleep. I really do fear for my life right now, and don’t know how I should proceed from here. I am now at 0.022 mg/day of Clonazepam, and I want to be off of this poison. However, I am afraid of jumping from here, but also don’t see how I can survive 22 more microgram cuts. As I type this there is a random muscle spasm in my body about once a second or so. Also, my left abdominal muscle spasms each time so inhale. I wonder if this will ever heal. I wonder if I will ever be normal again. I don’t see how I will ever heal if I can’t get any sleep. The drug took away my ability to feel sleepy tired. Even if I don’t sleep at all at night, I am still not tired the following night. I also can’t exercise anymore because I developed POTS while taking this poison. My body is wasting away, and it is horrifying to me since I jogged and lifted weights my entire life. Has anyone truly recovered in a reasonable amount of time from this damage? I really need to know there is still hope for me.