Can alcohol bring back withdrawal symptomps?

[[Ha...]]

So, I had chronic anxiety for most of my life, eventually I decided to try a benzo for my symptoms, in the two weeks that I took it I was the most functional I have ever felt ever. But the benzo came with a nasty side effect, I would wake up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep, so without much thought I simply quit cold turkey on the 25th of December. The following period was the most horrid experience I have ever had, as I'm sure many of you can relate. Nothing can describe it, I ended up in the ER, couldn't sleep more than 1-2 hours for a week, I felt like I would go crazy, I do not know how I managed to pull through. The bulk of it lasted for about 2 weeks after which I progressively got better, by March I felt completely normal, the same went for April, but come May and easter, more social activity and I had a few drinks, spaced weeks apart. The moment I started drinking symptoms slowly started coming back, I had a few panic attacks and since yesterday I had a full blown remission but with symptoms being slightly more manageable, though not by much. Can the alcohol cause this, or is it just in my mind? I know now after reading about it that alcohol does affect the same pathways as benzos do, so drinking while recovering might not be the best idea.

[[...]]

Hi, @[Ha...]! Welcome to BenzoBuddies) My congratulations on being benzo free. So glad you realised the danger rather soon and so sorry for the ordeal you went through. Luckily you got better.

I'm not an expert on alkohol but you're right it works through the same pathways, although, i think, differently. So it must have something to do with the uptick of your symptoms. Besides, our unsteady yet nervous system can hyper react to any alien substance. My guess is the farther you stay away from alkohol, the better, at least for a while.

I do hope and believe your symptoms will soon settle down. Good Luck yo you!)

[[Ha...]]

Thank you @[...], in this withdrawal state words like yours mean a lot, I have taken the decision to not touch alcohol anymore and indeed while in those two months that I felt normal my nervous system made much more cortisol than usual, I think in the withdrawal period the nervous system is the last one to recover, even after the withdrawal symptoms have gone away.

[[jo...]]

Absolutley alcohol can cause a wave of symptoms. I was nearing three months off and feeling a little better so I had a drink. Big mistake. It threw me into a wave of symptoms that was quite severe and lasted a few weeks. I now know that I was in a window which is where your symptoms let up some but you are still in withdrawl. Alcohol acts on the same receptors in your CNS that benzos do so it's notorious for causing a flare up of symptoms. I would avoid for a good while if I were you. You will get better though just be careful.

[[Cr...]]

@[Ha...]

We seem to have quite a bit in common. When I was on clonazepam my body wouldn't let me fall asleep until 2:30am and I got up at 6am for work.

When I first cold turkeyed after 3 months of daily use I too ended up in the ER about a week or 2 later thinking I was losing my mind.

After my 2nd c/t of klonopin I was binge drinking heavily for a year. What I technically was doing was self-medicating my withdrawal away since alcohol acts on benzo receptors. Im Dec. 2010 I stopped alcohol c/t as I could still feel myself worsening even on it. A few days later I was a mess.

First 3 weeks in Jan. 2011 I reinstated .5mg klonopin then hopped off again. For the next 8 weeks my symptoms improved and life started feeling livable again then I made a huge mistake. March 16th (I remember that day) I binge drank for the first time in 3 months. Did not realize what a mistake this was for a healing body. Next day had to take 1mg of klon followed by another 1mg the following day as the anxiety, mental symptoms were through the roof and physical symptoms (burning skin) started appearing.

I was unstable from that day all the way until mid-May 2011. Lost a lot of weight but learned a valuable lessen. Early in recovery one should no drink, let alone drink enough to get drunk.

 

[[Ma...]]

As the others have mentioned, alcohol can and does bring back w/d as it is the only substance other than benzos that affect our GABA receptors. It’s frequently called ‘liquid benzos’.

You goal in recovery and healing is to up regulate GABA. Most stay off alcohol for at least a year but I have read too many stories of consuming alcohol many years later can bring it all back.

Try not to worry as you are definitely not the only one to experience this, but I’m sure it will pass sooner rather than later.

[[Ha...]]

Thank you all for your replies, it seems my assumptions were correct. I will not drink from now on in order to let my body recover, however long that might be. Since I was able to recover so quickly, probably from my limited use of only two weeks, I hope recovery from this mishap will be quick as well.

[[jo...]]

It took me a few weeks but I've read many stories on here of it taking a few days. Try not to worry too much I'm sure you'll be fine!

Edited May 26 by [jo...]