Intense Exercise

[[Br...]]

Hi Buddies I have been off Ativan for a month now. I was only on 10 weeks total mostly taper. I had a messed up nervous system before this so was more susceptible to damage in that time frame. I am 23 I have been working out since i was like 12 years old. since like 2018 i have been weightlifting 5 days a week. that got put on hold since october of last year. A week after being off ativan even though i suffer from extreme fatigue and sleep issues i forced myself back into intense weightlifting and have been doing it ever since. i refuse to let this take it from me. but i believe i am worse off then when i even jumped. just extreme sensitive to quite literally everything. i was also taking NAC 600 mg once a day since getting off which i stopped a week ago I don’t know if that made me worse too. Currently i’m only taking beef liver pills to try to get nutrients in me which i suspect are very low after all this trauma. My sleep these last few days has been worse than even at the end of my taper and the first few weeks off. Even before the worsening I don’t think my body gets deep rest i have multiple dreams and never feel rested. I am worried I have permanently damaged myself or prolonged my recovery by exercising so hardly but it’s my favorite thing to do and my only outlet right now. 

[[Bu...]]

Hey @[Br...],

I'm sorry things are so tough right now. I really don't think you've done any permanent damage by working out.  Physical activity can really rev up some people's CNS.  But just because there is a flair in symptoms, it doesn't mean that you've done an irreparable damage; it just feels crappy.

I know you didn't take Ativan for all that long, but if you had preexisting issues with your CNS, it might just take you a little longer to recover.  A month off just isn't a very long time, even given short term use.  

As regards to sleep, from what I understand, if you are dreaming a lot it means that you are going through a sleep cycle.  Deep sleep is the third stage of sleep before REM sleep where the majority of dreams occur.  So if you hit REM, you also had deep sleep.  IMO, we are just so worn from this ordeal, that we just need so much more rest than we normally would.

If it were me, I would just take the working out a day at a time and see how it goes.  Exercise is generally good for us, it's just a matter of how much our CNS can handle at a time.  Also, when I have stuff flaring up, I try not to change more than one thing at a time because it can be hard to figure out what is causing what if I do more than that.  I would just sit tight for awhile and see how things shake out.

Here's a couple of links regarding sleep from the sleepfoundation.org:

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/stages-of-sleep

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/stages-of-sleep/rem-sleep

Hope this helps!

 

[[Br...]]

@[Bu...] thank you so much that really was so helpful! i will look into those links! your message made me feel better

[[Bu...]]

@[Br...],

I'm so glad it helped.  Hope you have a great night!

[[jo...]]

@[Br...] I work out regularly and had similar Ativan usage to you.  I was extremely sensitive a month off my last dose and any exercise would send me into a spiral.  I am a year off now and can work out consistently (just now back from a solid gym session).  I recently started including cardio back into my workouts which was very much a trigger for my symptoms last year.  I agree you should try to work out as consistently as possible but keep the intensity low until you start to heal.  You may start to feel like you're healing and then an aggressive workout will bring you back to square one (though you recover faster as time goes on in my experience). 

If anything the routine and interaction with other people is important.  Agoraphobia is another terrible symptom of withdrawal so try not to isolate excessively.

[[Br...]]

@[jo...] how is your sleep now? 

[[Jo...]]

Hi Bree,

I was on Temazepam for about 9 weeks including my taper. Im sure you got off of Ativan because you didnt want to be on a benzo to long and have horrible withdrawals etc. I have been off for about three and half months. Much like you working out is an absolute must for me and I right before this I got my NASM certification. The Drs put me on various meds but I was able to get off most of them. Right now I am on Dayvigo 3.7 mg and Hydroxyzine 25 mg. Now I was taking around 150 mg hydroxyzine and 10 mg dayvigo but I have been able to taper them down. Dayvigo lowest dose is 5 so I'm below the lowest therapeutic dose now. I don't think the pills are doing a whole lot for me. I think I am averaging about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. I have a whole routine that I do and I am taking supplements to help me taper etc. I am working with a guy named Peter Smith out of the UK right now who had me change my standard gym bro diet up to encompass more polyphenols that are essential to neuroplasticity for our bodies to repair themselves. He also has me on a natural supplement protocol as well to help aid this process. I am hoping to be med free and still getting the sleep I am currently getting here in a couple of weeks. I am tapering the dayvigo down to 2.5 mg and the hydroxyzine down to 12.5mg. I hope I will sleep tonight but if I don't oh well either way I need to get off of these meds lol. I don't know if any of this helps but from my understanding since we are short term users we should heal relatively within six months or so. Also, I am doing CBT-I and neurofeedback as well. Next month I will starting hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatment. No matter what all of this stuff will take time for our bodies to heal but remember this isnt forever. Don't listen to the anxiety in your head that this is forever because it is not! We just have to trust the process. If you're not taking any RX meds right now and can get some sleep stay the course! I am also taking NAD+ nasal spray that I think is helping me as well.  

Edited March 28 by [Jo...]

[[Br...]]

@[Jo...] thank you so much this is helpful! i am staying far away from pharma meds after all of this i am so traumatized and have extreme negative views towards any type of pill a doctor could give me. i want to try natural things im just so sensitive to anything and dont want to make myself worse but maybe in time my body will be able to tolerate more natural things to help it heal 

[[Ma...]]

I’m 50 and have been on benzos for a lot longer. I lift weights 4-5 times a week, even as I’ve been tapering off.  It keeps me sane.  I may not lift as intensely right now, but it’s a huge help to me physically and mentally.  You’re 23 and will recover from this if I’m doing it at 50.  

[[Br...]]

@[Ma...] thank you!! i think it causes me to have a lot more chemical anxiety and panic but i don’t plan on giving it up because it’s my passion 

[[jo...]]

11 hours ago, [[B...] said:

@[jo...] how is your sleep now? 

Better.  I usually sleep about 4 hours.  Wake up.  Fall back asleep for 1.5 - 3 hours.  Sometimes I get a full 8 hours which is very refreshing.  I need to cut back on caffeine tho. I couldn't have it for the first couple months after last dose, and then slowly weaned back on.  I'm back to my degenerate coffee habits again so need to tackle that monster.  I'm sure that will improve my sleep.

[[Br...]]

@[jo...] i love coffee so much i miss it so much i used to go to starbucks sometimes twice a day lol ive been too afraid to try any again since its early and i still have weird stuff going on 

[[jo...]]

I think it's my coffee addiction that is keeping me from feeling 100%.  Yesterday I had a lot of coffee and woke up with a mild pulsating headache that I still have.  Going for a coffee now to alleviate it.  But probably need to go off for a while again. 

[[OD...]]

I had to really tone down the intensity of my lifting, and cut out certain very good exercises like squats and lunges, as my nervous system simply can't handle them right now (breathlessness, heart palpitations, nausea etc. from exertion).

For the time being I've mainly switched to very, very slow time-under-tension focused training...  boring? Yes very lol, but it's much more tolerable for me and it's, for the most part, keeping me in similar shape as before the whole benzo ordeal.

[[re...]]

That is great you are having a bunch of dreams. Your brain is healing and at least you are going into rebound REM which these disgusting pills will take away from you. Drug sleep is usually dreamless creepy sleep. And it is only a matter of time before the drugs crap out on you and leave you with still only a couple hours a night while the doctors keep giving you more and more and more poisons. 

Look you are only 23 years old, you are SUPPOSED to be moving and exercising which i am so glad you are doing. Don't be afraid of getting revved up. You are supposed to at first while your body adapts to the stress of it. Exercise is a stressful thing at first, then it becomes normalized and healing given enough time.

At your young age you have sooooo much time and you are well on your way healing if you don't listen to the myth of a chemical imbalance from these doctors and psychs and that you need head meds like a diabetic needs insulin. I am sorry, but your body is not deficient in ATIVAN for god's sakes.  This is the biggest lie perpetuated on humanity by pharmaceutical giants and needs to be eradicated. I definitely believe there are breakdowns and imbalances in the body with hormones, disease states, etc that cause problems in the brain. But that is where movement is more important than EVER. 

I am so excited you are weight training. Although what I have been finding over and over again in so many studies including "spark" by Jon Ratey that the best exercise for BDNF and brain health is aerobic exercise and i have even seen this myself who is way older than you benefit from long cycling and hikes and some HIIT. I just can tell it is working. If you can walk and are not bedbound then you can exercise there is no excuse not to. It will definitely rev up symptoms and you should not go super hard like more than you would normally do, but just pace yourself and definitely get some in everyday. I have this new mindset that if i can walk then i can exercise simple as that. Many on here don't have that luxury and can't even move due to poly pharmacy damage on their CNS.

It is so sad what doctors have done to so many and it enrages me.