Can it be lorezepam? Please help - really rapid symptoms

[[as...]]

I needed to know if what I am experiencing could really be related to lorezepam use. My usage of psychiatric drugs starts when I was around 16 - I was given as needed xanax and daily klonopin for anxiety (~2006). I went off those no issue (CT). I didn't really touch other psychiatric drugs until, believe it or not, last year in Oct 2022. I had a bad, bad COVID + Strep infection that caused a lot of weird neurological issues and was prescribed Lorezepam. I took 2, I think, and never took more. The psychiatrist then put me on seroquel (terrible sleepy side effects) and later trazadone to manage symptoms (which lingered for some months...I only felt better around Feb/March 2022). In September of this year, my anxiety began to come back and I was freaking out about ALS due to some muscle twitches (I have illness anxiety). My doctor put me on sertraline 50mg. I took 4 pills and developed serotonin syndrome (actually DX'd at the ER). To manage the issues from that, I was taking Lorezepam about every other day for a week, but decided to discontinue its use as well (CT). I say CT, but I had only had a handful of 'as needed' pills about once every other day for a week. I had 3-4 weeks of pure NIGHTMARE neurological and cardiac symptoms which I can't tell were related to the benzos or the sertraline or both. Went to the ER again because I was having seizures and everything. MRI and CT were clear. Things kind of faded. Late Oct I injured my radial nerve somehow (or that's the orthopedic doctor's theory) and had a numb thumb. It didn't resolve for a month and so my ALS anxiety took off once more. Twitches have been ongoing since September, but kicked off with sertraline. Last week I would say, beyond the numb thumb on my right arm and some muscle twitches and irregular arm fatigue, I was feeling pretty well. However, I decided to take Lorezepam again to fight my ALS anxiety spiral, like I have done in the past.

Since about 8 days I have taken 3 more Lorezepam doses. I always took them as needed and never with regularity. The first dose was something like Nov 17th then again maybe Nov 21 and the last 2 days ago (Nov 24). I first noticed on a long drive (8 hrs) my arms were WAY more fatigued than natural...that was 2 days after the first re-introduction of Lorezepam. Since then everything has went haywire and is getting progressively worse. I can't sleep at night due to neuropathic burning sensation (off and on) and severe muscle pain in my arms. I haven't managed to eat much and I have some bad nausea and a few episodes the last 2 days I thought I would puke. I'm definitely losing weight rapidly. I am getting a headache sometimes (mild). Tylenol/Advil does nothing for this pain. The pain on my right side extends from my shoulder up to my neck and jaw and down my arm. On the left side it is more isolated to my arm and hand. My hands my gosh. They ACHE. It is sometimes a bone-deep ache and sometimes a burning, muscle-fatigue ache. And sometimes, especially at night, it feels like my skin is just on fire. The twitches are all over (which hey have been mostly) but I feel them even in my face/lips...everywhere.  My forearms are very, very stiff now and I feel like I am getting weaker...lifting things costs me more and yesterday I couldn't really lift my arms for some reason to eat dinner like my muscles went offline for a bit. Now if I try to lift a tea kettle I have such bad shoulder pain (burning, muscle-fatigue type pain) that it's tough to fight through. What I am worried about it how progressively worse my symptoms are getting - I am now not with any moments of relief. At first, I would have times I felt relieved. Could this be 'kindling'? Is it all in my head? My big fear is ALS and my symptoms seem to line up more and more with it, but the onset was so rapid (8 days). Any advice or insight would be so appreciated. I am considering going to the ER, but I am not sure if they can/will help. I have a neurologist appointment, but not until Jan 24th. If it helps, I am a 32 year old woman.

[[pi...]]

Hello @[as...] and welcome to Benzo Buddies!

I am sorry you have had to deal with so many health challenges. That isn’t easy.

Your situation is very complex so I’m not sure we’ll be able to find an exact causal relationship to what you are experiencing.

It is a good idea that you have an appointment with a neurologist in January. 

It appears that lorazepam is having a negative effect for you. Taking just 3 doses, I don’t believe, would cause you to develop dependency. However, stopping benzos suddenly can bring on some withdrawal effects.

I have had both shoulder and cervical spine issues. Have you looked into seeing an orthopedist?  Cspine issues can refer to the shoulder and arms, and cause weakness. 

A few questions, are you still taking Sertraline? AD’s can have side effects. How many times have you taken lorazepam in the pat 2 months? Do you feel recovered from covid? Some people do have neurological issues due to long covid.

We’ll do our best to help you through this difficult time. Our members are very kind and helpful. We look forward to your response.

[[as...]]

Thanks so much for the response! I agree...I'm not sure what's going on. I was diagnosed with radial nerve entrapment a week ago for the thumb numbness and am going back to both an orthopedic doctor and a PCP tomorrow. I'm hoping to get a more urgent neuro appointment so I am following up as best I can on the medical front and working with doctors. I had a CT and MRI since I've had ongoing episodes of neurological issues since September, but everything was clear. I've been wondering if it's ortho related, but I'm not sure if it would come on so fast if it were? 

I think what is disturbing me is how fast everything occurred. I was absolutely fine except for the numb thumb (wasn't even noticing the twitching much!) just last week. Then by Tuesday I started to have more and more pain and it's just progressed so much. My hands ache just to type anything atm. It's basically down my shoulders, arms and into my hands and, on the right side, in my neck and up to my jaw. It seems to just be getting worse and the skin burning set in yesterday. I have waves it feels better and worse (never comfortable, but sometimes not as intense). I did manage to eat a little today, but I am losing a lot of weight with the nauseau. I was hoping someone experienced something like it.

I had COVID back in Oct 2022 and had bad neurological and cardio symptoms (not the same as now, but bad in their own right). I was fully recovered by March 2023 up until Sept of this year, when all this started. It actually started because I was exposed to COVID at work and tested positive 3 days later, but I never had symptoms. That was when the twitching started and the doctor put me on Zoloft. I took 4x50 mg pills, ending Oct 2nd and discontinued because of the extreme symptoms and ended up in the ER on an IV with serotonin syndrome (my reaction was very severe immediately). I took lorezepam at the time every other day to cope, until about Oct 8th when I got nervous it was exasperating everything. Since then, I've not taken any meds...I've been too afraid. That is until last week when I took a Lorezepam again and then 2 more this week. My last of those 3 was 2 days ago now and things seem to have gotten worse, but they were slowly worsening since last Tuesday. I know, also, I had some kind of infection Oct 16 the ER picked up when I was there for some seizures after the Zoloft overdose (so ER round 2).

I hope this is all just anxiety, but all these symptoms are so strange and I've struggled off and on since the sertraline I had read about "kindling" and was thinking maybe my nervous system is just so fragile from everything the lorezepam set if off again. It's the only thing I can really pinpoint that I changed between last week to this.

 

Thanks again! I hope that explains things better 

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by [as...]

[[ou...]]

9 hours ago, [[a...] said:

I had read about "kindling" and was thinking maybe my nervous system is just so fragile from everything the lorezepam set if off again.

This certainly sounds like a reasonable assumption which is why you need to make sure that the neurologist is aware of the potential brain injuries caused by psych drugs.

[[as...]]

Thanks for the answers all. My symptoms are unfortunately getting worse. The ortho doctor tested me and confirmed the numbness, but she said the region wasn't consistent with nerve entrapment anywhere in the arm. 

I am going through a battery of tests at the moment for all sorts of things, but I still can't stop thinking about how this started when I began taking Lorezepam again (although maybe it is coincidentally).

My GP suggested Lyrica/pregabalin. Does anyone have any idea if that could help or would just cause more problems? 

[[Ya...]]

@[...]astrorocks
how are you?
did you take  Lyrica/?

[[Ra...]]

15 hours ago, [[Y...] said:

@[...]astrorocks
how are you?
did you take  Lyrica/?

@[as...] i am on lyrica, and it can give horrible withdrawals. I was putted on lyrica because of akathisia.later i found that it can also cause akathisia.

Edited March 11 by [Ra...]