Brain zaps and fear of reducing dose again

[[AT...]]

Hello all, I'm posting to see what everyone things of whether or not its safe for me to go ahead and recuse my dose again.  I have now been on my current dose of .9375 mg Xanax and .5 mg klonopin daily for nearly 2 weeks.  My days aren't as intense as when I first did my cut(which was 1mg Xanax to .9375 mg) but I definitely am having symptoms still.  Main symptoms as of now are extreme fatigue and weakness, some dizziness and blurred vision, brain fog and brain zaps which really scare me, warm burning skin and occasional itching, some nausea and inability to eat very much(but I am maintaining weight so I guess not too much of a concern), and the occasional wave of panic or terror that tends to pass after 10-15 minutes.  I don't really see myself getting any better on this dose, every day feels about the same now.  The first 2-3 days were horrific but since then they've all been about the same.  My question is should I go ahead and cut another .0625 mg Xanax?  Is it safe to go ahead and cut as in not having a seizure?  The brain zaps absolutely terrify me as I always think it's an impending seizure or something.  I should note I have never had a seizure in my life, but I am terrified of them through this process.  What does everyone thing?  Go ahead and cut?  Wait another week or so?  I just don't want to drag it out if I'm not seeing any difference on staying on this dose.  Also, is cutting my .0625 mg every 2 weeks slow enough to prevent a seizure?  Thanks for any help or advice!!

[[Nu...]]

I can't speak on the other parts, but a cut of that amount is highly unlikely to cause a seizure.

[[AT...]]

I can't speak on the other parts, but a cut of that amount is highly unlikely to cause a seizure.

 

Thank you!!!  That is what I needed to hear.  I have just become so so afraid of every single thing through this, every weird sensation, literally everything.  I've all but convinced myself that seizures are inevitable.  I know it sounds ridiculous I'm just so afraid.  Thank you for the reply!

[[Nu...]]

You are welcome. It seems those most at risk for seizures are in the high-dose and high-cut/CT group. It seems that I remember Dr. Ashton stating this somewhere, although it's been a while since I've read it.

[Guest [...]]

Hi Patrick

 

Because of your symptom profile, I would hold for longer whilst logging all of your symptoms daily. Give each symptom a rating out of 10 (daily) and jot down any slight changes… ‘is it slightly easier to make breakfast this morning than it was making it yesterday’ or ‘can I hold a conversation better today than I could yesterday.’

 

The above are only examples… you can rate any experiences you’re having difficulty with.

 

The seizures are less of a concern here… what concerns me most of all is the potential dark path you are heading down…

 

Have you read the Colorado Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidelines?

 

Colorado Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidance

 

My concern is that you have set yourself the same reduction amount (not percentage) at two week intervals, which means that the percentage of each following reduction will continue to climb as you go lower in dose. The percentage should be recalculated before you make each reduction so you stay at that same percentage all the way down, or at least until you get considerably low. Example: If you were down to .1250 and you made that .0625 reduction… it would take your remaining dose to .0625, which would be a 50% reduction. The brain doesn’t experience it as ‘only the same reduction as the previous one’… it’s the percentage of the remaining dose that you are removing that matters to the brain.

 

I understand your impatience, as do most members here… we’ve all been there, and the end result (more often than not) is intense suffering, beyond anything we could have imagined. Believe me, the level of suffering you are experiencing right now is nothing compared to the levels of  suffering you will most likely experience if you continue along this trajectory. Please reassess your taper plan.

[[mi...]]

Hi Patrick here your neighbour in Atlanta.

 

I also had brain zaps during my prevoius taper. It was for two or three months then they evenutally were gone. I actually had to think about them and it was then when they will show up. It happened mainly when I look at the ceiling or fixing my sight on something.

Try not pay attention to them. I was trerrorized at the very beginning but when I heard it was a withdrawal sympton they reduced a lot.

Mice

 

 

[[Ro...]]

Hi Patrick here your neighbour in Atlanta.

 

I also had brain zaps during my prevoius taper. It was for two or three months then they evenutally were gone. I actually had to think about them and it was then when they will show up. It happened mainly when I look at the ceiling or fixing my sight on something.

Try not pay attention to them. I was trerrorized at the very beginning but when I heard it was a withdrawal sympton they reduced a lot.

Mice

 

That's weird -- that's when I fix my sight on something I sometimes get brain zaps.  I get them less now then I did at the beginning of my taper.  They're nothing to be alarmed about.  I mentioned it to my benzo-wise psych, and she was surprised but not at all alarmed after hearing of them.

 

 

[[AT...]]

Thank you all. I think I’m definitely going to wait longer to cut. This is just too horrific. I’ll make a separate post about today but I’m really in a bad place right now

[[mi...]]

Patrick,

Sorry for the situation. I've been dealing with this for some time know. The best you can do in my opinion is hold and tried to stabilize.

You are a young guy !!! you WILL get out of this. But the less traumatic you do it the better.

In the mean time I would try to look for a more slow way of tapering. Suspension has been the way I did it and this is my third taper. No easy but way less painful.

Clonazepan can be converted to a suspension same would be for X. I use this program to do the reductions. There is an explanation in it if you want to do it yourself. It would be easy for your psychiatric to order the suspension from a compound pharamcy. The program I use is this benzoalwaysdata.com. You just put the drug name the numbers and it will come up with a pdf sheet with all the daily reductions for rate you set up. You can set % or qty. Pills and a mix of pills and liquid. It's a very straight forward program. Was designed for a BB member years ago. His name was Jim hawk. you can find some of his posts explaining the program.

Have a look. If you need I can help.

Just hung in there. I know what you feel, I've been there. It'll pass! Give it time. Your priority now is to be funtional. Forget tapering for now!

Relax! Go outside! get fressh air!

Mice