Anyone experience benzo belly?

[[Ti...]]

I've tapered from 3mg ativan to 1.75mg and for the past week, I've had GI issues. Should I expect this throughout the taper and after? It's pretty bad. But I can handle anything besides this no sleep stuff. Anyone else get gas, bloating, etc...

[[mi...]]

I just started having this a little over a month ago. Did you have any G.I. symptoms before this hit or did it come out of nowhere? Did you have any other changes or big cuts that just happened that could’ve triggered this or did it just come on randomly. What has been your cut rate and how long have you been tapering? Also, what are all of your symptoms you are experiencing digestively?

[[Ti...]]

This happened two days after I cut. No GI symptoms prior. I cut 10 percent but didn't hold long (2 weeks). I have bloating, cramping, gassy feeling but hard to get anything to come out (sorry if TMI), needing to move bowels as soon as I get out of my bed, and again two times in the day... used to just go once a day with some effort. 

[[mi...]]

I had minimal digestive problems during my taper, but I just went through a stressful time in my nervous system where I changed brands a couple times, and my stomach just exploded on me in that I have a very nervy feeling inside, where I bloat like I am pregnant, if anything, touches my stomach, it feels incredibly uncomfortable, it feels inflamed and sore, and I have trapped gas and burping a lot. My stomach actually feels like it’s sour. Basically the entire thing is crazy. I take a stool softener every day and have for two years and my bowel movements are actually pretty easy each morning.  I feel like I am constipated all the time even though I’m not, and it feels like there’s a piece of sheet metal lining my abdomen like everything is stiff. It’s extremely unnerving for me and makes my anxiety go through the roof. It does come and go and I’ve had some lessening of symptoms here and there the past week but it’s still very much there and I’m afraid to eat or drink anything other than basics. The ironic thing is just came on suddenly one day where the day before I was eating steak and cheese and barbecue sauce and carbonated drinks with no issues whatsoever and then my stomach just froze. Now I’m afraid to eat anything and it’s terrifying. I had this once before two years ago when I had a reaction to an antibiotic and it took some time to resolve. From what I have been researching it is a Benzo Belly, and it seems to come when we are in a withdrawal state of some sort. Some people seem to get it all the time when they are tapering and others don’t get it until they jump and then others get it at various points in their taper. There seems to be no rhyme or reason other than it is associated with withdrawal. I’m going to try to hold my dose for a while to see if it goes away or settles down. I’ve been in a pretty horrendous wave for three months so I think it is somehow tied to that. It doesn’t feel like a digestive condition, it feels neurological, and that it has nerves and muscles more than it is for digestion if that makes any sense. I feel like it and my mental state go hand in hand. Yesterday I had a very good day mentally and my symptoms were almost gone. When I was stable and tapering I had zero issues for probably a year and a half. 

[[be...]]

@[Ti...] I had benzo belly, it started not long after I started tapering and lasted most of my taper. I got used to the ups and downs and swollen belly and all that goes with it....but it did start getting better after I walked off. Life with most sx from benzo tapering, it will go away, when it is time. It is common knowledge around BB, that our tummies are our second brain, and it stands to reason we would have problems there too. Hang in there. I agree with you, no sleep was worse for me, than my benzo belly, I just got used to it. Stay Strong.💖Peace and Healing.