For those with morning anxiety what was your original or primary benzo?

[[Wi...]]

I'm just curious if there is a trend or if this is simply part and parcel of the whole benzo "experience" for many...

[[Fl...]]

Mine was Xanax to start. Mornings were wretched when I reached tolerance.  Much better on klonipin, but they inadvertently doubled the dose, so no reliability there.  When they cut my dose by 60% to put me on Valium, I started drinking to compensate and mornings were immediately intolerable.

 

Now, after 14 months of tapering with no alcohol, my mornings are better than when I first started, 12 years ago.  Go figure. 

[[Wi...]]

Flip,

 

My theory is that the majority of us who had/have the morning issues were Xanax or Ativan users.  I'm thinking much of it is as an ongoing result of the interdose w/d of the shorter acting benzos (although for this purpose, alcohol would certainly also apply).  So it makes sense that K would make it less of an issue because of it's longer half life.  But again only a theory...

[[An...]]

I'm a morning cortisol sufferer tho' intensity varies. Is that what you term 'morning anxiety' WWWI?  I was on Xanax then Valium.

[[re...]]

I had very bad morning anxiety all through my taper from Klonopin. I called it The Terror. Not so bad since I jumped, but recently it's been acting up again. I think it can be a withdrawal symptom from any benzo, short- or long-acting. Klonopin withdrawal totally wrecked my sleep. I'm just starting to recover the ability to take a nap. I still wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time getting back to sleep. It takes me half the day - literally - to come completely out of the dream state, which is more of a nightmare state, and makes me feel like I'm sinking into insanity.

[[Bi...]]

Klonopin

 

And I still have morning terror. In my taper, my anxiety in the morning was rough, too. My stomach felt bloated, had gas, so on......

 

I tapered w/ Valium, though.

[[el...]]

I was thinking the samething.Ativan 4xs  .5mg aday for 8yrs here..I never had sleep problems at any point in my life before benzos.At 8mts free on Mar 11,my sleep is so messed up..Im up all night..I cant call it morning anxiety,because it has to do with whatever time I wake up..For the first 6mts free it went away after a few hours,now it has peaks,but stays with me all day.Its been horrible the past 2 months.I know I will turn a corner but 2 months is a very,very long time to have this symptom..Also no windows for the past 2 months...I hope others will let me know this is normal for some of us..This was my first bad tolorance symptom to Ativan...When I told my doctor,she said right away it was from my Ativan.Thats when she switched me to Kolonipon..My taper bagain 3 days later...

[[Wi...]]

Looks like K can be a culprit too.  And yes Angel, I think the cortisol surge contributes/initiates(?) the morning experience.  I used the word anxiety, but it can also feel like panic, terror, fear, heightened negative thinking, tremors or anything where there is a surge of distress upon waking.  Redevan, for me it was very much akin to what you call The Terror.  But over the last month it's morphed into a lesser form, although still exceedingly distressing and i'm still tapering.  Billy, was valium your original benzo?

[[sh...]]

My mornings were filled with anxiety, before and after my taper. Like WiseWoman said, it could be because the shorter acting benzos have such a short half life that they don't carry over into the morning but, it could depend on the individual as well. Who knows? These benzos are tricky.

[[no...]]

Klonopin has been my morning terror delivery system. Although I am a firm believer in the cortisol theory, as I experience morning anxiety before during and now post-benzo. post benzo has been the worst. I also think that over time, it becomes a habitual way of waking. I hope I am wrong.

[[be...]]

Hi WWW!

 

clonazepam- I've got it bad too-massive adrenaline, tormented thoughts, rapid heart rate as soon as I'm conscious. 

[[GH...]]

I was given xanax for axxiety originally. The first few months off I had wicked severe anxiety. I just wanted to stay in bed away from the world.

[[ba...]]

Dr.  Prescribed valium for morning anxiety, that was  my poision later dr. Switched to ativan, then back to valium because of chronic interdose withdrawl  bando

[[An...]]

Hi WWW!

 

clonazepam- I've got it bad too-massive adrenaline, tormented thoughts, rapid heart rate as soon as I'm conscious. 

 

 

 

That is an accurate description.  I am short-term 10 months off and it hasn't improved.

[[wy...]]

Add me to the Ativan pile. I started on xanax sparingly though years ago. Ativan is the one that cause all the chaos in 2011. I took it daily for almost 8 months. I took 1-2mg per day, never less than 1 mg

MOrnings have been rough for me. THough now that I am almost 6 months off, they are much better than they were in the beginning.

 

[[Ga...]]

www1

xanax, as soon as I get done with morning anxiety, the inner vibrating starts in

 

I know Im healed when someday these 2 go away. I hope it wont be too much longer!

 

I dont think it matters, x,k, or A it all seems awful to deal with from what Ive read

[[mo...]]

Me too, Ativan.

[[jo...]]

Klonopin. Never had morning anxiety until the tolerance wd sx started, now I have it first thing in morning, sometimes it wakes me up and every time I sleep, take a nap, it is there waiting for me. Can take 4 to 7 hours for it to calm down.

Jo

[[ne...]]

My morning, middle of the night anxiety started when I was on Klonipin right after I quit Cymbalta(and Abilify, Topamax,Depakote...LOL).  It was horrible, would wake terrified, racing negative thoughts, severe heart palps, racing heart continued until early evening.  Then was switched to Ativan which made K-pins seem like a walk in the park, it was my undoing.  Now, I sleep longer but still wake up with negative racing thoughts sometimes when I am stressed.  I've been off Ativan since early December, evil drug that it is.

 

Newrain

[[Wi...]]

So it's looking like Ativan, Xanax and K are the worst offenders for this particular "morning experience". 

[[os...]]

Librium was my original Benzo and i am tapering off it now, no change. I am alcoholic, yet i never mixed the pills with drinking, ever. I used to drink once a week and when i did drink, i left out the Benzo that evening (i only ever dosed in the evenings).

 

I never reached tolerance, i am essentially tapering because my Doc is retiring, yet i started out in AA and figured after a few months that i was not "truly" sober until i quit the pills too, deep down i knew that (for me), real sobriety had to mean being clean also... i had no "buzz" from the Librium and used to flatly deny i derived anything from it, yet it took the edge off, just enough to quash any thoughts of drinking... in a sense it was a deterrent... if i popped a pill, i knew i could not drink and in most cases, after it started working the thought of a drink would dissolve anyhow... that is essentially why i carried on taking it and later on, to stop withdrawals obviously.

 

Now i am tapering right down into the lower numbers, i am finding that i am having little to no effect at all, other than to stave off withdrawals as much as possible, i never had "morning anxiety" before, yet i have it now, if my taper goes even slightly too fast, i get those surges, i have had the terror and the fear also, i literally had no idea that quitting this was going to be so hard... i thought my battle was alcohol, now i realize it is the Benzo also... that i was not prepared for.

 

I am not sure how i feel about being "addicted", if i were i do not think i could have tapered this far... physically dependent? Absolutely... yet when this taper is over, i am really wondering if i will just be able to forget about the Benzo? I know that my cravings for alcohol will be far more intense, i will have no drug to help that, it will not be easy and i am starting to see why so many alcoholics turn to AA for help as alcoholism is a life time thing... yet apparently, once we are healed from Benzo´s it´s over, yet for an alcoholic like myself, i cannot help but wonder if i will crave a Benzo BECAUSE of my alcoholism or whether i will simply be craving alcohol itself... in all probability it will be both... to a lesser degree with the Benzo, Librium is the weakest of them all and i am, at this stage, grateful i did not get into any other Benzo´s, probably why my Doc put me on Librium to start with, there is no recreational value to Librium, not really... having said that, for an alcoholic like myself, it was better than nothing at all, in many ways it allowed me to stop/start drinking again but ultimately at a price far higher than i anticipated...

 

I do not think i will go for days/weeks/months craving Benzo´s, i don´t now and i have a drawer full of them, i have enough to last me a year, i have no desire to "cheat", yet i am aware that my defense against drink is far less now... so on top of tapering and feeling bad at times, i also have the added battle in my mind with alcohol... last night i was really fed up and bored (at least i felt well enough to feel bored i suppose), yet the thought of a drink was not far off... or... something, just what i need in this journey...

 

 

Morning stress and anxiety? I never had it before but i do now... many times i even questioned if i should really be quitting the Librium... most have the "luxury" of having something to take the edge off after all... but i can debate that one over and over, my main goal is to give real sobriety a chance, i am sure we all heal from Benzo´s, as far as the addictive issue goes, i cannot answer that yet... in some ways it can be seen as "booze in pill form"... so i may not be so lucky, i guess i´ll just be doing a lot of AA meetings once i am over this taper, right now, i cannot cope with the thought of addressing booze also... for now my thoughts are mostly wrapped up in my taper, when i get thoughts of a drink, i´ll just have to tough it out one day at a time... i know a better life is ahead, i can only live that life if i go to it, if i don´t i will never find out... and as for the anxiety, i just pray as an alcoholic, that this passes in time... alcoholics recover too but the thoughts of a drink can persist for life... it´s an ongoing process that can only be met one day at a time.

 

Oscar

[[Mi...]]

Lorazepam - which I think is generic Ativan. Last spring started severe gut wrenching anxiety.

and continued until I found this site. I did not realize I was in dose dependent w/d. I have been

taking Loraz. for over 12 yrs. I am now into taper - 12 wks. today (yey me).

 

I now know how to manage my doses so the anxiety is at least tolerable esp. in the morning.

 

I think this site is saving my life, I've been soooo sick for soooo long.

 

Thanks for all the support! 

[[da...]]

I'm six months benzo free and still suffering from morning andrenaline rushes and terror.  I was on a low dose of Valium...didn't even take it every day.  I guess it doesn't matter what the dosage or kind of posion...

 

Donna