Protracted Withdrawal

[[Ja...]]

Hi friends, I am 1.5 years into my cold turkey withdrawal of Sonata. I have had all of the symptoms TB at have waxed and waned. But lately, my toe feels weird. Like something is on it but there’s nothing there. I’ve been tested for MS, ALS, etc and all came up normal. Is this a common occurrence? I know parasthesia/neuropathy is listed. It doesn’t hurt and isn’t actually numb. Just feels like it is. 

[[Br...]]

Hi @[Ja...] - Many of us take longer that 1 1/2 years to heal; for some it's significantly longer.  The variety of withdrawal symptoms is mind-boggling.  I'm glad you've gotten reassuring results from medical tests.  Here's what Ch. III of the Ashton manual says about symptoms like yours:

 

Bodily Sensations

All sorts of strange tinglings, pins and needles, patches of numbness, feelings of electric shocks, sensations of hot and cold, itching, and deep burning pain are not uncommon during benzodiazepine withdrawal. It is difficult to give an exact explanation for these sensations but, like motor nerves, the sensory nerves, along with their connections in the spinal cord and brain, become hyperexcitable during withdrawal. It is possible that sensory receptors in skin and muscle, and in the tissue sheaths around bones, may fire off impulses chaotically in response to stimuli that do not normally affect them.

In my clinic, nerve conduction studies in patients with such symptoms revealed nothing abnormal – for example, there was no evidence of peripheral neuritis. However, the symptoms were sometimes enough to puzzle neurologists. Three patients with a combination of numbness, muscle spasms and double vision were diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. This diagnosis, and all the symptoms, disappeared soon after the patients stopped their benzodiazepines.

Thus these sensory symptoms, though disconcerting, are usually nothing to worry about. Very occasionally, they may persist (see section on protracted symptoms). Meanwhile, the same measures suggested under muscle symptoms (above) can do much to alleviate them, and they usually disappear after withdrawal.