Lorazepam/oxazepam - Extreme cognitive decline, impairment and no memory (And severe insomnia) - Anyone else?

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Hey Buddies - I am looking for hope...

I suffered from three traumatic brain injuries, resulting in post concussion. And the third one gave me sleep disorder and anxiety. I tried various medications. Nothing worked. And I got severe reactions.

It ended up in me getting Ativan. I have not followed the doctors recommendations and went up and down in dosages. Then I went to the hospital which wanted me to taper in 7 days and switched me from 3 mg ativan to extreme low dosages of oxazepam.

This resulted in me feeling I was electrocuted 24 / 7 (extreme electrical feeling and noise - it must have been status epilepticus)- my head was burning like crazy and all of my memory, social abilities, congitive abilities just went out of the window for 10 days this happened. And I got worse and worse, ending in extreme delirium and running around in my room and my body was making extreme movements and shaking and I was feeling I was really about to die. Literally.

So I had to start again on Ativan to make it stop I am still on a high dose and trying to go down but in another hospital now.

Since then my congitve capabilities has gone completely out the window. I have difficulties finding thoughts, words and speaking. I dont remember what I was thinking about 5 seconds ago, and I dont remember new peoples names, conversations or anything.

I had extreme mental capabilities, intelligence and memory before - remembering every day and everything happining to me in detail. ALSO NO SLEEP. And my body doesnt longer feel like mine. And it feels strange. I still have burning feeling when the effect of ativan goers out. So it seems like there must be som neurolepic going on.

Now I am super scared. Cause this is not me and its not livable. I also have severe insomnia, sleeping maybe just 30 minutes a night. Which doesnt help. And my body etc..

Is there any hope.

 

 

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[[Re...]]

Hello @[...], Welcome to BenzoBuddies,

I am so happy you found us!

I am terribly sorry for what you are going through, I can imagine you have bee struggling quite a bit with this experience and your accident. 

I can assure you that the symptoms you are reporting are common during withdrawal. Actually I experienced the same extreme short memory and insomnia back in 2017 as a part of tolerance I formed to the medication, and that involved a sudden switch, too. It took a while for my symptoms to ease. 

I can assure you that it does get better and your memory will return so do your cognitive abilities. They definitely did for me and others report this as well. 

May I ask how much medication you are taking now? How longs have you been on them exactly? Is there any other psychiatric medication you stopped or you took in the past? 

Please let us know how we can help you. 

Take care, 

RR

[[...]]

Thank you for your answer! 

I am now on 1,5 rativor... (an ativan brand) have never taken any other psychiatric medication before the last months where Ive tried a lot but not I and dont take anything else. But before this I have been trying a lot to heal what I have been going through with anxiety and stress and depression.

How you can help me is be here with me during the journey. At the moment I am in another  hospital and I cant leave. because no one understands that benzo can create such fucked up problems here in Norway apparently. And everyone defined it as psycitatric, since I started with the medication due to anxiety and very strange reactions and senations that "cant be explained". But I think it also has something to do with my head injury and post concussion.

How would you recommend me to taper? And have anyhone else experienced ht burning head syndrome.. And if it works.

So I am struggling to understand what I should do to handle the new rapid taper.. And I think I might.. Not .. survive.. Since I can not do it on my own time and in safe environment. 

 

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@[...] Certainly, we will try to support you. People in this community are extremely kind and helpful, as a peer support group we motivate each other and share our thoughts and experiences. I am, again, sorry for what you have to endure. 

I am sure our Buddies will soon give their insight, as they could have been in the same situation already. 

[[...]]

Thank you Ruben Ralph. And you may move this thread! But have you heard of anyone else getting electrodcuted and status epilepticus during switch and burning head syndrome?

Edited March 28 by [...]

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@[...]There have definitely been some mentions of the above. 

I encourage you to read the Forums and try to feel yourself at home. There is a search function of the website on the upper-right edge of the screen, so that you can learn other people's experiences. I have used this a lot already and has really been useful. 

Please don't forget about the Success Stories, we have many users who already recovered and shared their journeys after they got better. 

 

 

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How can I taper in the best possible way? You think. to avoid more happening.

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@[...] Under this link you can find general information about tapering benzodiazepines. This site is quite useful, it is definitely worth trying to get informed. 

I am not sure, however, how long you have been on lorazepam and how long on oxazepam. Dependency can take a few weeks to develop. In case of very short use (days, few weeks) there is a short taper recommended. 

I understand you are after a traumatic experience, and are currently in a hospital, but I really hope you can find a common ground with your healthcare providers in this quite difficult situation. 

[[...]]

Thank you ♥️ I hope so too.

But its not ideal. But being home was also difficult.

I've been on it up and down, up and down just following my own instructions. for some months. And then oxazepam and then lorazepam. And different brands etc.

[[PE...]]

[[Id...]]

Hi @[...],

 you’ll forgive me if I am not able to type much, but I wanted to chime in to reassure that everything you wrote it’s absolutely relatable to what I lived, and also more. With cognitive problems it’s difficult to grasp sometimes so I wanted to write this to let you know that every symptom you asked about and everything you described is relatable in a similar situation and I wish I knew it sooner. 
 

And I didn’t have physical injuries, just medication and medical system (also European) ones, so this might help you to discern in your situation.

Welcome here and I am glad you found this place, it’s really helpful, resourceful, and good.

Also thank you @[Re...] for what you wrote about mental capacities, I don’t know how but before I have never stumbled upon someone that testified an improvement, this means so much ❤️