Does anxiety ever let up?

[[jo...]]

Hi, 

I'm fairly new here and 3 months in do a withdrawl from Vallium CT which I was only taking for a 5/6 weeks at about 20/30 mg a day. However, I have had two withdrawls in the past the last one being only a couple of months before this one and the first being a few years ago. Both were intense but fairly short lived. I have also used benzos scattered around this time period of a few years sparadically without withdrawls. I have multiple symptoms but the worst have been anxiety, depression and insomnia. The anxiety borders on being unbearable and can go on for days at a time without much let up. For those who are further out than me and experience this as a main symptom, can you please tell me if it gets any better or remains a constant problem. I'm really struggling with it and nothing helps. It's the one symptom I have that makes me consider reinstating even though thats really not what I want to do.

Many Thanks

[[An...]]

I would try not to reinstate, but I also know how debilitating anxiety can be.

OP said>>>

Quote

The anxiety borders on being unbearable and can go on for days at a time without much let up. 

How often does it let up and when it does, how much relief do you get. How long does this relief last before it starts building back up again?

OP said>>>

Quote

 I'm really struggling with it and nothing helps. 

What things have you been doing naturally to try to manage w/o reverting back to benzos? After 5-6 weeks of 20/30 mgs per day, what did you decide to CT? Were you starting to experience tolerance? Why did you start out taking 20/30 mgs per day? Do lower doses of Valium have no anti-anxiety effect?

[[jo...]]

Hi AntiBenzo7,

it usually goes on for about 12 hours a day then starts to deminish to a bearable level over the next few hours. I then get what sleep I can and it starts again with a cortisol rush as soon as I wake up. you can almost set your watch to it. 

I've been walking and eating a high fat low carb diet to try and help symptoms. No vits as they can amp me up.

20mg would have the desired affect. I ran out and hit withdrawl 2 days later and decided it wasnt so bad that I couldn't ride it out. I was wrong. I thought it would be a fairly short lived withdrawl but now Im at 3 months.

Thanks for replying

[[Br...]]

Hi @[jo...] - Anxiety was the reason I started benzos in the firsts place but the anxiety I experienced in withdrawal was way more intense and made me completely miserable and desperate.  

4 hours ago, [[j...] said:

For those who are further out than me and experience this as a main symptom, can you please tell me if it gets any better or remains a constant problem.

To answer your question - Yes, it gets better.  Way better.  It takes time but it becomes more manageable.  I'm 4 1/2 years out since my doctor put me through a rapid taper and I can go days and weeks without experiencing anxiety.  And mine was really bad.  I don't expect anxiety to disappear from my makeup - stress can trigger it - but again it's on a scale that's manageable.

You're still early in withdrawal.  It's not surprising you're experiencing rough symptoms, I'm sorry to say. With time, as your body and brain heal, your symptoms will start to ease up.   You'll get through this.

When I was in the thick of early withdrawal I found these things helped the most:

Distraction - pouring yourself into an activity that absorbed your attention

Moderate exercise - it helps discharge that awful anxious energy and nurtures a sense of well-being

Self care - eating healthy food, drinking lots of water, meditation, yoga

Here is a link to a page with some more ideas for coping with anxiety.

[[jo...]]

9 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

Hi @[jo...] - Anxiety was the reason I started benzos in the firsts place but the anxiety I experienced in withdrawal was way more intense and made me completely miserable and desperate.  

To answer your question - Yes, it gets better.  Way better.  It takes time but it becomes more manageable.  I'm 4 1/2 years out since my doctor put me through a rapid taper and I can go days and weeks without experiencing anxiety.  And mine was really bad.  I don't expect anxiety to disappear from my makeup - stress can trigger it - but again it's on a scale that's manageable.

You're still early in withdrawal.  It's not surprising you're experiencing rough symptoms, I'm sorry to say. With time, as your body and brain heal, your symptoms will start to ease up.   You'll get through this.

When I was in the thick of early withdrawal I found these things helped the most:

Distraction - pouring yourself into an activity that absorbed your attention

Moderate exercise - it helps discharge that awful anxious energy and nurtures a sense of well-being

Self care - eating healthy food, drinking lots of water, meditation, yoga

Here is a link to a page with some more ideas for coping with anxiety.

Thanks again! yeah its the reason I started it too. I cant do much excercise as that seems to ramp things up. this is a mine field. I'm gonna check out that page now. 

[[An...]]

@[jo...], have you struggled with anxiety a long time (before you ever took any benzos)? When did it 1st become a problem where it got so bad until you needed to seek medical treatment? Do you have anxiety with or without a panic attack component.

@[Br...] mentioned some good tools to try to manage naturally, but you said exercise amps things up. When you try to exercise, what kind of exercise do you try to do?

[[jo...]]

.

Edited April 24 by [jo...]

[[jo...]]

40 minutes ago, [[A...] said:

@[jo...], have you struggled with anxiety a long time (before you ever took any benzos)? When did it 1st become a problem where it got so bad until you needed to seek medical treatment? Do you have anxiety with or without a panic attack component.

@[Br...] mentioned some good tools to try to manage naturally, but you said exercise amps things up. When you try to exercise, what kind of exercise do you try to do?

I have struggled with it most of my life, I had my first panic attack when I was around 8 years old I think. I was put on an anti depressant for 1 year when I was around 12 years old! Since then I just dealt with it. Self medicated with drink and drugs from quite a young age. A few years ago I was given sertraline after a health scare and reacted very badly when I started the drug. I persevered through 3 weeks of intense anxiety and insomnia before my brain adjusted to it and then suffered more side affects! I decided it wasn't for me and then got some valium to help me taper off quickly as I was scared of experiencing similar symptoms.

It worked but I ended up dependant upon the Valium! DOH! The withdrawl from that after a couple of months use was intense but short. Doctors in the UK will throw AD's at you but rarely give you benzos so I bought them online. This is the story of how I was introduced to benzos and first became dependant on them. I had another withdrawl 6 months ago after a month of use which was mercifully short but was caught out this time again after fairly short term use. all my withdrawls have been CT's. An absolute mess!

I haven't had a panic attack since I was a child. I would call what I'm suffering prolonged anxiety attacks. Intense with intrusive thoughts that are distressing.

I tried to go for a jog about a month ago and paid the price for about 4 days after.

 

Edited April 24 by [jo...]

[[Br...]]

Hi @[jo...] -  I had prolonged panic attacks and clusters of panic attacks in a row when I was in the early months of withdrawal.  I'm 4 1/2 years out and  haven't had a panic attack in a couple years now.  I also had intrusive thoughts.  These symptoms are very common in withdrawal as the brain heals.  Here's a good explanation of why we get symptoms like this.

On 23/04/2024 at 22:00, [[j...] said:

I tried to go for a jog about a month ago and paid the price for about 4 days after.

A lot of us find we need to pull back on intense exercise and exercise way more gently.  I had something similar happen to me - early in withdrawal I exercised the way I was used to and I paid for it with intense symptoms for several days - palpitations, panic attacks etc.  I learned that starting slow and building up to long moderately paced walks was the best approach for me.  You might want to try gentle walks in nature too.  I know it's frustrating but  for some of us our central nervous system is so disrupted that adding any more stress like vigorous exercise can throw us into a wave of symptoms.  It won't always be like this - it will get better but it takes time and patience.  You'll get there!

[[Th...]]

I would definitely NOT reinstate.  That will only reset your healing and recovery time clock.  Intense exercise always jacked up my symptom intensity and ensured I would not get much if any sleep.  The hardest part of recovering is not knowing how long it will take.  Your other recoveries were shorter but there is no guarantee each future recovery will be short-lived too.  There is a theory called "kindling" that suggests that repeated starting and stopping Benzos can make future withdrawals last longer and have more severe symptoms.  This is only a theory, but there is anecdotal evidence from many Buddies to suggest that there is some merit to this theory?  

Symptoms ease up over time, but healing from Benzo withdrawal doesn't heal pre-existing conditions.  If you had anxiety before Benzos, then you most likely will still have some degree of anxiety after you recover?  Peace!@