Dead weight

[[Al...]]

Hello everyone, struggling with a feeling of severe lethargy at the moment.

It’s like I am a dead weight or have weights attached to my limbs.

Feels like an effort to get up the stairs. Unsteady legs etc it’s almost as if my body rings or vibrates  with fatigue.

Anyone experienced anything similar this late out from the CT?

[[Pa...]]

Fatigue and lethargy are common symptoms, although I didn’t have them and you’re still early in recovery so this happening is completely normal, you quit the drug in January of this year?

[[Br...]]

hello Alexcambo91 .

 

When I started withdrawing Rivotril (Clonazepam) here in Brazil, I felt very tired, as if it were lethargy. A lot of heaviness in the legs and arms. These are classic symptoms of Benzo Withdrawal.

I appreciate your improvement and God bless you with good health and peace.

 

Hugs from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

[[Al...]]

Hey Pamster, thank you. Yes since January. Is that long or short term? And Brazil buddy thank you for your support. It is horrific isn’t it.

[[Pa...]]

Typical recovery is between 1 and 2 years so you’re very early.  Symptoms will lessen, then increase, then change, then change back again so more fun to come. 

[[...]]

Hi Pamster,

Around when do symptoms increase after decreasing? Is this typical? I thought they could just slowly decrease over time and then go away.

[[Bi...]]

Hi Pamster,

Around when do symptoms increase after decreasing? Is this typical? I thought they could just slowly decrease over time and then go away.

 

They decrease then can bounce back but worse throughout withdrawal then decrease again and continue. I thought the worst was over about two/three weeks ago when I felt fairly close to normal again and now I'm back in an unbearable wave.

[[Pa...]]

Hi Pamster,

Around when do symptoms increase after decreasing? Is this typical? I thought they could just slowly decrease over time and then go away.

 

They decrease then can bounce back but worse throughout withdrawal then decrease again and continue. I thought the worst was over about two/three weeks ago when I felt fairly close to normal again and now I'm back in an unbearable wave.

 

Birdypie is correct, our symptoms wax and wane, its terribly discouraging because we’ll begin to feel better then get slammed again.  Recovery for most is a journey of changing symptoms that over time begin to lessen in intensity and the resurgence of symptoms come less often.  Some only know symptoms have actually gone for good when they realize they haven’t felt a particular one in awhile.  It’s difficult to declare oneself recovered when we don’t trust we’ve actually seen the last of our symptoms.

[[...]]

So what do you think is a reasonable timeframe to determine if a symptom has resolved? How long should you wait to see if it won't come back?

 

Also, I assume when sxs resurface they are less intense/shorter duration? Or can anything happen?

[[Pa...]]

Anything can happen but generally, the symptoms should diminish over time.

 

I’ll give you the example of my friend, he took Ambien for years and did just fine until he had to take a huge amount of antibiotics for a tooth infection.  Within days, he was in severe withdrawal.  He suffered for a few months, then he recovered or so he thought.  One day, he got thrown back into it and he suffered for 2 weeks, then he felt totally recovered for another 3 weeks, then it happened again, and he felt awful for another two weeks, then good for another 3 weeks. 

 

Each 2 week symptom surge was terrible but his symptoms during those two weeks were slightly diminished, barely even noticeable.  But the pattern continued until now.  Tomorrow marks his 3 weeks of feeling good but there has been a little bit of fatigue during this time and we’re hoping this means that he won’t have the terrible 2 week surge after the 3 weeks of feeling mostly good, he’s 11 months from his cold turkey from Ambien.

 

None of this makes sense, how can we feel perfectly normal for 3 weeks, then get thrown back into symptoms, I don’t know but this is what has been happening and it shows just how random and inexplicable this process is. 

 

So, with this huge explanation I’ve provided, bottom line is I can’t predict a timeframe.