What causes the Polyneuropathy?

[[Su...]]

Hello,

I got Polyneuropathy from stopping benzodiazepines. I have the same damages that diabetics have altough I´m not diabetic: nerve damages all over my body. When I stopped the medication, a pins-and-needles sensation started during the first weeks, numbness, burning pain followed after 4-6 weeks.
What has caused the damages? Does the blood sugar get out of control in withdrawl?

[[Le...]]

you are ok. there maybe some harm but mostly not. Even when just experiencing extreme stressors I have had that. Nervous system acts pretty wonky during this mess. It will pass. 

[[Su...]]

Thank you for your answer, but no, you are wrong. It causes a lot if damage to the body. The people describe it as "withdrawl", but it is a physical damage to the nerves of cause. The burning got better at the end of year 3. I'm in year 4 now.

I just want to know what causes the polyneuropathy?

[[Br...]]

Hello @[Su...] and welcome to BB.  

I'm not a medical professional but from what I understand there are several possible causes of polyneuropathy so I don't think anyone here can give you a definitive answer to your question.  Have you been evaluated by a neurologist?  

In my own case, I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy when I was in benzo withdrawal and after a battery of tests it turned out mine was due to Vit B6 toxicity.  When I stopped taking B6 supplements the neuropathy disappeared.

Here's what the Ashton Manual says about bodily sensations such as those indicative of neuropathy:

Bodily Sensations

All sorts of strange tinglings, pins and needles, patches of numbness, feelings of electric shocks, sensations of hot and cold, itching, and deep burning pain are not uncommon during benzodiazepine withdrawal. It is difficult to give an exact explanation for these sensations but, like motor nerves, the sensory nerves, along with their connections in the spinal cord and brain, become hyperexcitable during withdrawal. It is possible that sensory receptors in skin and muscle, and in the tissue sheaths around bones, may fire off impulses chaotically in response to stimuli that do not normally affect them.

In my clinic, nerve conduction studies in patients with such symptoms revealed nothing abnormal – for example, there was no evidence of peripheral neuritis. However, the symptoms were sometimes enough to puzzle neurologists. Three patients with a combination of numbness, muscle spasms and double vision were diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. This diagnosis, and all the symptoms, disappeared soon after the patients stopped their benzodiazepines.

Thus these sensory symptoms, though disconcerting, are usually nothing to worry about. Very occasionally, they may persist (see section on protracted symptoms). Meanwhile, the same measures suggested under muscle symptoms (above) can do much to alleviate them, and they usually disappear after withdrawal.

 

 

[[Su...]]

You try to give people hope that they can recover from the nerve damages. But if you deny that there is a damage by this medication, is very frustrating for the people who got damaged by it.
I had burning all over so bad, that I put Wick Vaporub on my skin for the first months. I gut polyneuropathy from stopping benzos. 
The burning pain lasted about 3 years. My skin also felt wet all the time.
I still habe the inability to stay asleep because of the brain injury I got. The admins here suggested I have menopause which is also ridiculous. No one is disabled because of that. The inabibiltity to stay asleep is so bad, I can only stay asleep for 1 hour and then I´m wide awake again for 30 minutes to 2 or 3 hours. I can never sleep longer that 5 hours with all chunks altogether. Each and every day is ruined because of that.
My muscles also have not recovered. 
I just want to know what has caused this damage?

[[Le...]]

I think noone can give you a certain answer just the information they have. It is something I experienced and many others. I have very little now and don’t believe it is all damage. 

 

The bodily sensations and muscle sensations section of the manual is likely the best information you can get. 

Edited July 12 by [Le...]

[[Su...]]

The Ashton manual is wrong. It is not only hyperexcitable nerves.

It is also wrong about the insomnia.

This forum provides enough evidence that it is an injury. Why would the neuropathies take years to get better for the people who took benzos for some years or cold turkeyed.

It is good to give the people here hope that they will recover soon. But I think it is not good to deny that it is an injury.

And I still don't know what causes the injuries on the body.

 

[[Le...]]

Some people have other things going on too. Not everything is drug damage. 

[[Pa...]]

Hi @[Su...], I'm so sorry for your pain, and I wish we had answers but you're right, we only have our personal experience which doesn't seem to match yours.  Have you had any luck with the scientific community, have you contacted any specialists or gotten any satisfactory answers from your doctors?  

[[Su...]]

Thank you, the pain got better at the end of year 3. I only wanted to know what had caused the polyneuropathy I got from stopping benzos. 

I don't know, I'm a little surprised. What had happened to me, happens to many people in this forum. I didn't get a little bit of tingeling, I got polyneuropathy all over my body with intense pain. Search this forum for burning skin, happens a lot.

I didn't want to discuss whether I got it from the benzos! That is clear to me that I got it from the medication.

I only wanted to know what caused it. It is obviously not known here.

 

[[vo...]]

I was really interested in this topic and racking my brain for the last hour trying to come up with the theory on this, using myself as the example (if I'm following this thread correctly)....benzos probably don't cause polyneuropathy. I've been on a benzos (Xanax) for decades. I've been going through withdrawal for 13 months now and taking Ambien for the last 10 months. I discovered not long after taking the Ambien that if I take it (another GABA receptor) when my symptoms are active, they all subside - every time!

"If nerves were damaged by a GABA receptor (benzos), it is unlikely that they would work with another GABA receptor. GABA Is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in regulating the activity of the nerve cells in the brain. When GABA receptors are damaged, it can disrupt the normal functioning of these nerve cells and their ability to transmit signals. While there are different types of GABA receptors, they generally have similar functions and are not interchangeable. Therefore, if nerves are damaged specifically by a GABA receptor, it is unlikely that they would be able to function properly with another GABA receptor." So again, it is unlikely that a benzo caused permanent nerve damage.

Now just so you all know, my doctor is tapering me off of Ambien for this exact reason because this doctor knows about protracted withdrawal and as soon as she realized I was going through withdrawal, she announced "the Ambien has to go!".