Sleep anxiety.

[[Ja...]]

Hi everyone

 

How do you know if hypnic jerk insomnia is a side effect of benzo or just severe anxiety

[[ma...]]

Hello JackieGrace Welcome to benzobuddies

 

I had anxiety but I never experienced these jerks until I started tapering off benzodiazepines.  Ive never experienced them since!  It was definitely benzodiazepines caused mine.  Its a common symptoms in benzo withdrawal.  If you search the forum you will find many threads, here is one.

 

hypnic jerks, please help desperate

Can you tell us a little about your benzodiazepine situation, type of benzo you take or have taken. Have you strted or finished your taper.

 

The Ashton Manual  is a great resource, for reading about possible withdrawal symptoms with explanations. CHAPTER III

 

The Ashton Manual 

 

 

Lets know how we can help you

 

Magrita

[[Ja...]]

Hi thank you.

So I’ve had ADD, pure O and anxiety my entire life.

I’ve always had a script for Ativan and even abused in my 20s. But I got to the point where I barely use in adulthood up until last year.

 

I was under an extreme amount of stress and had a bladder flare of interstitial cystitis. I was so afraid the flare would never end that I took a few Ativan & Tramadol. & some baking soda as a rescue remedy. I remember being in the shower and feeling lightheaded and thinking omg I messed up my brain chemistry what is going on, could it be the baking soda?

I took a nap and then I was never the same since. I experienced a crazy brain burning and goosebumps to any emotional reaction the brain burning got so bad I couldn’t sleep. Everytime I would try to go to sleep I would get right to the point of falling asleep and my brain would light on fire. I took melatonin, Benadryl, NyQuil nothing would put me to sleep. Mentally I just felt like my brain was active and would not shut down. I got severe adrenaline rushes. I ended up in the ER after 7 days. They loaded me with Halidol & 2mg of Atvian and I did fall asleep.

When I got out of the hospital I was given buspar and clonazepam to take for the next two weeks. I still had sleep anxiety but I think the fact that I finally slept made me feel better. I took the clonazepam and tapered it down over the next two weeks until I was back to normal.

 

Now on year to the day later, I still have sleep anxiety. Last Tuesday I had four sips of beer with my buspar. I immediately felt dizzy and worried like crazy until I worked myself up. I had a tight chest, numb fingers. But I could still sleep. Day 3 of anxiety I took an Ativan I felt a little better but next morning woke up with massive anxiety. Unstable mood ok then crying. Took .5mg of clonazepam to knock myself out last night and woke up this morning and felt like I was dying. Insane panic, adrenaline rush etc.and now can’t fall back asleep without hypnic jerks.

 

I don’t know if I just need to calm my nervous system down or if Benzos are making me worse. They worked last year.

[[ma...]]

 

Hi JackieGrace

 

I am sorry you’re dealing with ADD and pure O. I would say benzodiazepines make things a whole lot worse, definitely made me worse. It works like magic at first I thought I’d found a friend, but it doesn’t take long to turn on us.  It sounds like you’re experiencing interdose symptoms.

 

Buspar is a drug used to treat anxiety, alcohol consumption, even in relatively small amounts, is not advised with either of these drugs, alcohol acts on same receptors as benzodiazepines. A small amount of alcohol can and often does trigger waves of withdrawal symptoms

 

If you are considering tapering off the benzo it’s recommended to get on a stable daily dose before starting a taper.  It’s generally advised to reduce between 5/10% 10/14 days. 

 

I'll leave you a couple of links to resources:

 

Planning Your Withdrawal(TaperPlans)

 

Withdrawal Support

 

If you would like to add a signature (history of meds/doses etc) it will help members give you relevant advice.  Go to the top of the page and select PROFILE then choose forum profile then insert drug history into the text box and remember to click change profile

 

Magrita

[[he...]]

if you never had it similar in your life then its benzos... my entire life id only get the famous sleep jerk like once a year more or less, maybe it even skipped years and it always was just one jerk and then 8+hours of peaceful sleep.

 

since benzos... jerk party, at my worst in acute it would be like 15ish, and they were different jerks than the one normal sleep jerk, like they would now come from anywhere, like my rump, my neck, my stomach (sometimes knocking the air out of me), my legs, my fingers, even had parts of my face jerk. and they can be real strong, like lift me off the bed a bit.

 

but my specialty is!!!! hypnic JAW SNAPS!!!! i think i must be the queen of jaw snaps at benzobuddies. I have found a few people that had jaw snaps (like hypnic when you start to drift offor wake up and then you get a myoclonic jerk SNAPmaking your jaw snap closed all by it self, quite freaky). i havent found anyone that has had as many as me and for as long as i did. i am still having them at 20 months, though they do seem lighter. they started like day 3 after my cold turkey and at its worst it would be like 50 a night. though i lose count and i also have exploding head syndrome so sometimes i am not sure what was what cause the snaps sound like a loud thump/whack/snap on my mouth guard. sometimes so loud it makes my ears briefly ring.

 

so anyway... yes hypnic myoclonic jerks/sleep jerks are a very common side effect of benzos. for most this seems to be nothing too crazy and pass in a few months, maybe come and go until it fades out.

 

my body jerks are mostly reduced to 1 to 3 a night if at all, havent had much body jerks at all the last months and the jaw snaps do seem less an dlighter, but i am not trusting anything until i am waaaaaay better.

 

oh and i have had anxiety in my life and never got the jerks from it, and i can have massive anxiety after a bad night and no jerks or feel peacefull and get strong jerks... seems so random... ofcourse sleep anxiety aint making things any easier ever...

 

hope it passes quickly fo ryou

[[he...]]

Hi thank you.

So I’ve had ADD, pure O and anxiety my entire life.

I’ve always had a script for Ativan and even abused in my 20s. But I got to the point where I barely use in adulthood up until last year.

 

I was under an extreme amount of stress and had a bladder flare of interstitial cystitis. I was so afraid the flare would never end that I took a few Ativan & Tramadol. & some baking soda as a rescue remedy. I remember being in the shower and feeling lightheaded and thinking omg I messed up my brain chemistry what is going on, could it be the baking soda?

I took a nap and then I was never the same since. I experienced a crazy brain burning and goosebumps to any emotional reaction the brain burning got so bad I couldn’t sleep. Everytime I would try to go to sleep I would get right to the point of falling asleep and my brain would light on fire. I took melatonin, Benadryl, NyQuil nothing would put me to sleep. Mentally I just felt like my brain was active and would not shut down. I got severe adrenaline rushes. I ended up in the ER after 7 days. They loaded me with Halidol & 2mg of Atvian and I did fall asleep.

When I got out of the hospital I was given buspar and clonazepam to take for the next two weeks. I still had sleep anxiety but I think the fact that I finally slept made me feel better. I took the clonazepam and tapered it down over the next two weeks until I was back to normal.

 

Now on year to the day later, I still have sleep anxiety. Last Tuesday I had four sips of beer with my buspar. I immediately felt dizzy and worried like crazy until I worked myself up. I had a tight chest, numb fingers. But I could still sleep. Day 3 of anxiety I took an Ativan I felt a little better but next morning woke up with massive anxiety. Unstable mood ok then crying. Took .5mg of clonazepam to knock myself out last night and woke up this morning and felt like I was dying. Insane panic, adrenaline rush etc.and now can’t fall back asleep without hypnic jerks.

 

I don’t know if I just need to calm my nervous system down or if Benzos are making me worse. They worked last year.

the people here with very persistent sever jerks were often on clonazepam... and the brain burning feeling i have had that a lot and worst in acute after coldturkey, i wouldnt touch any benzos anymore if i were you and buspar is capable of terrible things too, its basially all posion for our brains the only way out is take nothing and time, it sucks massively but its true

[[Ja...]]

So if I didn’t really have a standard dose that I took. Just kind of sporadic over the last 3 days how do I taper? Where do I start?

[[Ja...]]

If I am within tolerance how do I go about tapering. I’m So tired and I can barely type. I’m afraid to go to the ED. Is there a list of psychiatrists in each state who will use Ashton manual?

[[Th...]]

Unfortunately almost all doctors and psychiatrists in the US will not or do not recognize Benzo WD.  They will tell you have some type of Anxiety disorder or sleep disorder or another psychological illness; depression, etc., for which they will want to put you on more Rx drugs.  I had a very similar experience and was told I had GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) along with 3 other "conditions" I no longer remember.  I did not follow any of their advice or recommendations for additional Rx drugs and completely recovered proving their diagnosis was 100% wrong. 

 

There are some Benzo-wise MDs and psychiatrists in the US, but they are hard to find.

 

As long as your prescribing doctor is OK with you doing a slow taper, you can follow the recommendations in the Ashton Manual that typically has you reducing 5 - 10% of your current dose every few weeks.  I did not taper, so I don't have any advice there.  But there is an entire section on this forum devoted to tapering, just as there is an "insomnia" board.

 

Please note that a slow taper will not guarantee reduced symptoms and/or symptom intensity.  Many on this forum that did slow tapers still had a difficult WD.  But a slow taper is highly recommended over a CT (Cold Turkey).

 

Good luck.