I need reassurance

[[Sp...]]

Almost two months since jump….I do feel like things are getting better but I still question these symptoms….my left leg still a lot of the time is tingling or has a feeling of static/ tightness. It is a really hard feeling to describe and is mostly the left leg. Sometimes it is like I can feel a bunch of tingling under my foot when I step. Also the cold feet and freezing toes. Snow around my vision outside and very blurry vision when looking at tv or phone. I’m also sore like everyday…my neck is stiff and sore no matter the amount of exertion. I am very active but I just wonder when the feeling I ran a marathon will end. Can someone reassure me again… the weird leg feeling worries me the most…I just keep going back to Do I have Ms? And then the panick sets in and EVERYTHING gets worse. I feel like a repeat poster on here with the same questions but it is just so worrisome and when I say out loud it is the withdrawal process people look at me like I am really over exaggerating or it’s been two months your leg should not still be feeling weird and hurting….

[[Pa...]]

Your symptoms are so common and I know they're scary because you're dealing with one of our biggest symptoms, fear!  If only the fear would leave us alone we could look at our situations and realize these are signs that the drug is gone and our brain is healing from the injury created by it.

 

I kept reading chapter 3 of The Ashton Manual because it explained why I was feeling what I was and it was normal.

[[...]]

I had buzzing hands and feet, numbness, and visual snow/static. It all went away in time. I felt exactly like you — worried I had MS. Even paid to get a full body MRI done. Apparently MS is extremely rare, and it made a lot more sense to attribute these symptoms to benzo recovery. Hang in there. Exercise absolutely saved me.

[[eo...]]

Along with many other symptoms, I had tingling, tightness, heaviness and other sensations that were mostly in my right leg. I am almost four months off benzos and over the past few weeks I have felt definite improvement in my leg. It isn't completely resolved yet, but it is a relief that it feels so much better. I was worried I had MS too! Everyone on here says it takes time, and that is hard to fully believe when the fear is the worst and when it is taking more time than expected, but on my good days I can see they are right. I also have blurry vision which was diagnosed as dry eye disease. So far I haven't had improvement in that, but fingers crossed. I searched the forum and found that some other people had improvement in blurry vision from dry eyes and from what sounded like other causes (early on I felt that some of my vision problems were caused by weakness/soreness of the muscles around my eyes, but that issue has resolved). And the muscle pain does get better! Mine is now gone. I had really bad muscle pain a variety of places, for a while in my back and for a while in my neck, but that type of pain has been gone for at least a month and a half.

 

I hope your symptoms will start resolving soon. I have found that one of the most difficult parts of this is the unsteady pattern of improvement, I'll get a little better then get a little worse, which can be extremely discouraging. Knowing about the windows and waves pattern gives me at least a little hope when I feel like I am backsliding. I do feel that overall I am improving, just like everyone reassured me that I would.

 

-E