Setbacks/Blips/Roller-Coaster

[[Di...]]

After 18 month of on/off use I had decided to taper and stop the Diazepam (up to 10mg per day intermittent use)

Six months ago I was prescribed DULOXETINE/CYMBALTA and due to dreadful business of non stop diarrhoea I had to taper and stop these too. There was an overlap where I was doing both tapers at same time and had no choice

The taper and stop of diazepam ended about 10 weeks ago but the taper of Duloxetine continues ( it has a bad press where withdrawals are concerned) and I am now at 8mg per day with another 20% drop scheduled in a fortnight 

When I make the DUL drop I can tell when the WD symptoms are due to start...night sweats/bad dreams and so on, then the anxiety/depression kicks in for a while.

It normally settles and then I can have a run of good days again

My question is, sometimes when I am nowhere near the time of a drop in dose I get a run of the the same symptoms..anxiety/depression/hopelessness....often this drops in out of the blue and despite the experience of having this multiple times I still struggle to accept and cope....are these random visits of WD symptoms (hopelessness and doom) to be expected?

It's FEAR I feel...scared of something and thinking I have all sorts of physical symptoms waiting to get worse.....tinnitus in these spells DOES get worse,louder

When these WD symptoms do come on is it OK to treat with a half tab of Mirtazapine, a 15mg dose once daily when necessary helps big time.....am I ruing the healing process with this "cheat" tab that helps the anxiety?

PS Am I right in thinking it gets harder as I near the end even although the dose size,and taper increments, has decreased a lot?

 

Edited January 23 by [Di...]

[[Di...]]

@[pi...]

[[pi...]]

Hello @[Di...],

I see that you are just 10 weeks off diazepam. I would have to believe that a lot of your symptoms are due to benzo withdrawal. You are still really early in recovery. If I think back to those days, I remember having some easing of symptoms and also some very bad days. At 4 months new symptoms showed up as well, the dizzy boaty feeling. This lingered for some time. Being off benzos is great, but the recovery is not immediate, as much as we’d like it to be. I as sure I would be healed by no longer than 3 months. After all, I was back on the tennis court two weeks after gall bladder surgery. The nervous system works differently and the reset takes time.

I really can’t offer you any advice information about cymbalta or mirtazapine since I never took these drugs. I don’t think they interrupt healing, in my opinion, the only thing that would is a benzodiazepine. Hopefully you’ll hear those who have experience with these two medications. 

Remember that fear is a common withdrawal symptom. After all, we experience some very inexplicable symptoms. I had to distract as much as possible, and for me, belief in my healing was key, knowing that I didn’t have any of these issues before benzos entered my life.

[[Di...]]

thank you M'am

[[dj...]]

I doubt mirtazapine would interrupt your healing.  But, it’s not designed to be used on an as needed basis.   That could just be marketing though.  
 

I have a lot of personal experience with mirtazapine.  On and off many times.  First took it back in 2000 and actually used it as needed on many occasions (although my doctor didn’t know that).  Man, when my sleep had been crappy and I was a nervous wreck, I could take a dose, sleep great and feel like a million bucks the next day.  The weird thing is when I took it daily, it lost that effect.  

[[Di...]]

On 24/01/2024 at 12:55, [[p...] said:

Hello @[Di...],

I see that you are just 10 weeks off diazepam. I would have to believe that a lot of your symptoms are due to benzo withdrawal. You are still really early in recovery. If I think back to those days, I remember having some easing of symptoms and also some very bad days. At 4 months new symptoms showed up as well, the dizzy boaty feeling. This lingered for some time. Being off benzos is great, but the recovery is not immediate, as much as we’d like it to be. I as sure I would be healed by no longer than 3 months. After all, I was back on the tennis court two weeks after gall bladder surgery. The nervous system works differently and the reset takes time.

I really can’t offer you any advice information about cymbalta or mirtazapine since I never took these drugs. I don’t think they interrupt healing, in my opinion, the only thing that would is a benzodiazepine. Hopefully you’ll hear those who have experience with these two medications. 

Remember that fear is a common withdrawal symptom. After all, we experience some very inexplicable symptoms. I had to distract as much as possible, and for me, belief in my healing was key, knowing that I didn’t have any of these issues before benzos entered my life.

See, ^ this is where I struggle....I DID have episodes of anxiety and depression before Benzos became a part of my life and I am therefore somewhat unsure or not convinced that what I get from time to time by way of "set backs" is not just my old friend anxiety/depression once again

One I AM going through is mostly a week or two of relative good days and then a CRASH! comes....this is mostly anxiety followed by worry over health matters and it usually subsides in two or three day,sometimes less, and a reset takes place and I am good once again

If I may say so myself it does not sound like the classic anxiety or depression symptoms but I still require some reassurance from time to time that all is well and what I am likely experiencing is Benzo WD......I'd LOVE to be able to believe that what I am going through is simply WD and not some random episodes of anxiety/depression....so how can I be sure, in the same way you were, that you did not have the symptoms prior to your time on Benzos? I was thinking specifically about the line knowing that I didn’t have any of these issues before benzos entered my life...and it got me thinking, surely you had anxiety/depression and intrusive thoughts when you tapered and stopped?

 

Hope this makes sense and thank you

@[pi...]

 

Edited February 4 by [Di...]