Feeling better for a couple weeks then symptoms come back.

[[...]]

For the first 2 months of my withdrawal process I felt very bad symptoms. After that, I had a good 3 weeks of feeling relatively okay. This past week, almost everything has come back. Im wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them and how long the wave was when the symptoms rebounded?

[[jo...]]

This is called windows and waves. I get it too. You have a wave of symptoms that lasts for however long it lasts and then a window of time where symptoms reduce and things become more bareable. This is a common pattern that this process takes. Trust me I know how hard it is to be feeling ok and then get slammed by a wave. I'm in a wave now and feel terrible.

[[jo...]]

This wave has been going on for the best part of a month for me now. That doesn't meen thats how long yours will last. If your having windows though it's a good sign.

[[...]]

Its crazy. I thought waves and windows would be hour to hour or day to day. I was feeling good for 3 weeks. This withdrawal keeps pounding on me. Do you think that windows could be caused my stress? Or just random? 
Thanks for your answer, I needed to know im not crazy. 

[[jo...]]

I think it's just random. There's nothing you can do to avoid them sometimes. All though certain things like alcohol, over excercising etc. have been known to throw people into waves. So when your in a window and feeling ok you should still be mindful and take good care of yourself.

Edited June 20 by [jo...]

[[...]]

Thats interesting you say exercise. When my window started, I started walking crazy steps per day. I do 15k per day but yesterday I did 28k. Definitely overworked myself.

 

[[jo...]]

[[jo...]]

Just now, [[j...] said:

I made the mistake of going for a run when I wasn't feeling great thinking it would make me feel better. I didn't sleep at all for 2 nights if I remember correctly.

You have to ease yourself into things. Don't over do it.

[[...]]

I do have a habit of over doing things. Last night was the worst of the last week. This whole process is Unbelievable. 

[[jo...]]

[[...]]

Good advice. Appreciate you helping me here. Do you use anything to make it more comfortable?

[[Cr...]]

[[jo...]]

I've tried all sorts of vitimins etc. as have many others. Nothing much works in my experience other than gritting your teeth and seeing it through. People say distract yourself but that can be difficult when your at your worst. There are things we can do to help, like light excercise, good diet, etc which will obviously help generally. It depends on what symptom your trying to treat really as to what you can potentially do. 

[[Cr...]]

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

There are things we can do to help, like light excercise, good diet, etc which will obviously help generally.

I would like to add that people shouldn't assume these things aren't helping just because they still feel awful and have symptoms. Nothing is going to stop the symptoms or speed up recovery, but exercise and a healthy diet are good for physical and mental health. It is possible that the symptoms you are feeling now could have been a lot worse had you stayed sedentary with a bad diet.

As I said before, even if diet and exercise had 0 effect on symptom intensity, you will at least be more fit and healthy once you recover. No downsides in that.

[[...]]

35 minutes ago, [[C...] said:

This is a good reason why people are often misdiagnosed with various mental illnesses while recovering from benzo use. 

Withdrawal from many other drugs often just ranges from a few days to a few weeks with a predictably gradual easing of the symptoms until they are permanently gone. Benzo withdrawal is something else.

Imagine someone that stopped using benzos and went through a rough 3 week acute withdrawal but got a lot better and felt like life was pretty much normal except for some mild, but tolerable symptoms.

2 or 3 months goes by and benzo use/withdrawal has already started to become a distant memory. Then one morning they wake up with horrible symptoms just as bad if not worse than acute benzo withdrawal. If they don't associate these symptoms with benzo withdrawal they are likely to be even more terrified causing even more symptoms.

Since they have been off benzos for 4 months benzo withdrawal is not even on the doctor's or patient's radar. So have to figure out what is wrong based on symptoms. Doctors diagnose the person with Anxiety disorder, Panic disorder, or depending on the symptoms, Bipolar disorder. And thus people find themselves stuck on drug cocktails to treat issues they never had prior to benzos or in the case of Bipolar, issues they may not actually have.

This almost happened to me, especially when I had a bad reaction to Lexapro. BP disorder was in consideration. Luckily for me I knew it had to be related to benzo withdrawal.

Like a newly pregnant woman reading a book on what to expect during a whole pregnancy term, educate yourself on what is typical, possible, and unlikely in regards to benzo withdrawal. Fear and ignorance make us suffer more than we need.

Thanks a lot, this helps a ton. I was ready to go to my doctor tomorrow to discuss whats changed. Appreciate the clairty. 

[[...]]

34 minutes ago, [[j...] said:

I've tried all sorts of vitimins etc. as have many others. Nothing much works in my experience other than gritting your teeth and seeing it through. People say distract yourself but that can be difficult when your at your worst. There are things we can do to help, like light excercise, good diet, etc which will obviously help generally. It depends on what symptom your trying to treat really as to what you can potentially do. 

Yeah, makes sense. Next week is my next doctors appointment. Maybe he has a different treatment I havent tried. Well see. Gota look forward to the future. I knew 2 months was too good to be true. 

[[Cr...]]

[[...]]

1 minute ago, [[C...] said:

You should still go. If your doctor is not benzo-wise don't expect them to believe any of your current symptoms are still from withdrawal.

A doctor can provide you with tests to reaffirm that you are healthy and rule other issues out like hormone and vitamin levels. Your doctor may be able to prescribe meds that can help with certain withdrawal symptoms. Like a beta blocker for fast heart rate, something for insomnia that hopefully is not a Z-drug like Ambien and Lunesta. They sre basically a lighter version pf benzos.

So your best bet might not be to not bring up benzo withdrawal and just see if there are any ways to treat individual bothersome symptoms (e: insomnia). If you can get through this process without using other meds that is great, but don't be ashamed if you need help.

He is actually very well aware of the benzo withdrawal process. Hes the one who tapered me. Luckily. I was thinking clonidine and beta blockers. 

[[Cr...]]

You are lucky. My doctor suggested a 7 day taper I recall and believed no symptoms after another 1 to 2 weeks.

[[...]]

21 minutes ago, [[C...] said:

You are lucky. My doctor suggested a 7 day taper I recall and believed no symptoms after another 1 to 2 weeks.

Thats rough. My doctor tapered me for a year and a half and was willing to do more. I jumped at 10mg of valium a day. 

[[Le...]]

[[jo...]]

Can I have your doctors phone number?

[[...]]

2 minutes ago, [[L...] said:

thats quite the doc compared to most

Yes, I am lucky about that. He was ready to reinstate last month, I didnt do it. He knows whats up though. 

[[jo...]]

Just now, [[j...] said:

Can I have your doctors phone number?

Mines an idiot.

[[...]]

Just now, [[j...] said:

Can I have your doctors phone number?

Just now, [[j...] said:

Mines an idiot.

Your serious lol? I know how valuable it is to find someone who understands the taper process. Hes actually pretty well known in my area for addiction medicine.