Mornings still tough

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Hi All,

 

I have trouble in the mornings where bodily anxiety symptoms are high and my mind gets to racing. I take a dose at 1030am and that calms things back down. This pattern continues even as I reduce, so even though I'm taking a smaller amount, it still does the trick. I'm down to .13mg K in the AM and I'm working if my pre-dose anxiety is more psychological than physical dependency. It should kick in around an hour after I take it but almost right after I take it I start feeling better. My concern is that when I hit 0 and don't have this dose event each morning, will I stop getting relief. Thanks.

[[ia...]]

Hi All,

 

I have trouble in the mornings where bodily anxiety symptoms are high and my mind gets to racing. I take a dose at 1030am and that calms things back down. This pattern continues even as I reduce, so even though I'm taking a smaller amount, it still does the trick. I'm down to .13mg K in the AM and I'm working if my pre-dose anxiety is more psychological than physical dependency. It should kick in around an hour after I take it but almost right after I take it I start feeling better. My concern is that when I hit 0 and don't have this dose event each morning, will I stop getting relief. Thanks.

 

Good afternoon Buddy,

I can relate to this so much. I wake up with racing thoughts, the pit in my stomach, lots of adrenaline etc. I have consolidated my dose to once daily, as that provides me with more relief than dosing twice daily at smaller doses. I often wonder - 'If I'm struggling with this much anxiety during my taper - how much worse will it be when I jump?" I try not to focus on this – and take things one day at a time, but as you know, it can be hard.

Having tapered off benzos once previously (don’t ask me why I got back on them!), I can tell you that when I previously jumped, the anxiety did increase (just slightly) – for about a week, and then eventually day by day, my symptoms really did decrease, and anxiety improved.

Your concerns are so valid. While everyone is different, I think it’s safe to say that when you jump, you probably will not have that ‘relief’ – HOWEVER, your body will adjust and heal. Here’s the thing (As I’m sure you already know): The reason we taper slowly, is so that we can function. So that we can perform our daily tasks and duties like brushing our teeth, taking a shower, answering an email, make the bed etc. In going CT, for many of us we would lose the ability to perform the daily tasks.

The slow taper is not to get relief, but to ease the severity of the WD symptoms. Again, things you probably already know.  You’re doing great. Also – when was your last cut?

 

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Thanks for the reply audigirl! I'm in the same boat as you, I've been through this reinstate/withdrawal process multiple times and it's hard to explain why, especially to people going through withdrawal for the first time. My previous cut was 14 days previous and I just cut again yesterday. I'm interested in why your single dose is at night. Is it to preserve sleep?

[[ia...]]

Thanks for the reply audigirl! I'm in the same boat as you, I've been through this reinstate/withdrawal process multiple times and it's hard to explain why, especially to people going through withdrawal for the first time. My previous cut was 14 days previous and I just cut again yesterday. I'm interested in why your single dose is at night. Is it to preserve sleep?

 

Yes, you're exactly right.

 

As I've gotten 'lower' on my taper - I've found that consolidating to ONE dose in the evening has helped my sleep.

Right now, I'm on about .125 -ish once daily.

 

There was a point at which I tried to split that .125 into TWO doses (.0625 twice daily) but the 'efficacy' was completely lost. With the two doses, I was only sleeping 3 or so hours and experiencing more anxiety. While every body is different - I've been able to successfully get about 7+ hours of sleep per night, taking my dose at night (granted, I have several routines/supplements around bedtime- but it has been SO worth it, just to get 5+ hours of sleep.)

 

The other things I’ve been doing that have really helped my taper are:

Getting out and walking every day as early as possible. Studies show earlier morning walks help with the circadian rhythm. Not sure why – but it’s really helped me.

 

Drinking twice the water I would normally.

 

Omitting caffeine/sugar. Obvious but SO hard in theory.

 

Sounds silly – but the other thing I’ve been doing that has helped tremendously in the AM, is when the intrusive obsessive ‘noise’ and thoughts come in, in the morning, I pause. Take a breath and remind myself “Felicia, you have air in your lungs. Your heart is beating. You’re healing.” I write down one or two things I’m grateful for – and REALLY drop into this gratitude. Sometimes it takes me awhile to sink into the gratitude and ‘feel’ it. But this helps. It positions my mind for the day. 

 

 

 

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Thank you for the tips! I'm at roughly double where you are at now, .13 AM and .13 PM. I may have to consolidate as well if I lose efficacy as you mentioned.

 

And that last item is not silly at all. Gratitude, acceptance and mindset are critical to getting through this. 

[[He...]]

i quit cold turkey and theres an unbelivable amount of anxiety everyday when i wake up and it makes me sick pit in my stomach reminds me of everytime i had a horrible event in my life like exams or loss of a loved ones then the thoughts wont leave what if its me what if this is not withdrawal because i wasnt such a happy person to begin with i have ahistory of taking antidepressant for years and years and get off them and abusing xanax without prescription even and i studied medicine!!!!!!! all im thinking is what if ill stay this way forever because its not ending for example i have very intense PMDD which is intense pms but it was always getting better this feeling doesnt end its just so bad and im worried what if i just gave myself the anxiety with taking xanax just to take the edge of a crappy day which i should have just logically tolarated and went through it.

its so hard to see what ive done to myself