Wish I had known these meds were so damaging

[[Di...]]

2004 I was put on  Temazapam 30 mg and Lorazapam 1 mg for sleep problems due to fibromyalgia, alternating between them at night.  Also took 50-75 mg Elavil.  In 2010 the Lorazapam wasn't really working, so I took Temazapam every day.  A year ago I began experiencing extreme anxiety, cried for a week straight, and I had weird waves of sensations going through my head.  Temazapam was named as the culprit, and I was put on Clonazapam 2 mg instead.  A few months ago I began not sleeping normally, I had gained a lot of weight from carb cravings since on Clonazapam, and I was having numbness in my hands in the morning.  I ran out of it on MLK weekend, and the pharmacy where I got it was closed.  Discovered I had withdrawal symptoms, and decided to quit.  Total misery.  Saw the rheumatologist three days later, and he told me withdrawal might last 3-4 more days!  That was almost two months ago.  I am having ringing in ears, waves of sensation all over my body, inner shakiness and feeling of weakness, agitation, and anxiety.  Also have had vertigo since December, which may be inner ear or benzo related.  Was put on Amoxicillin and an anti vertigo drug.  No luck.  3 days of Prednisone.  Biaxin made me sick and my ears started ringing while on it.  But don't know if it was the Clonazapam withdrawal, Biaxin, or they also were trying out Remeron to see if it helped.  It didn't.  Now have been changed to 50 mg Doxepin.  This is total misery.  I am having trouble with simple tasks like counting!

[[Bi...]]

Dizzy Dame,

 

Welcoming you to Benzo Buddies.

 

You will find plenty of support here.

 

If you have any questions, let us know.

Others will be around to weigh in soon.

 

Billy.

[Guest [de...]]

Dizzy

 

I can to a certainty state that your symptoms are benzo w/d. Your story is typical. We are given these meds without proper information. The most relevant pieces of info would be how long will it take to come off these meds, and how much will I suffer.

 

In medical school (pathologist now) I was taught that benzo's were infinitely harder than opiates to come off of. Yet you still have knuckle head doctors handing them out like candy, and spouting idiocies such as "withdrawal will only last 3 or 4 days".

 

So what should you do now. You have been off for 2 months, so you are probably beyond the acutely dangerous/seizure zone. You are so far along that reinstatement may not work. You probably have also healed considerably, even though you feel like hell and probably will for a bit longer (but not forever). Despite my skepticism of doctors, I would try to find a local detox facility or a benzo wise addiction specialist who will, if necessary, provide you with some meds (?phenobarbitol, beta-blocker) to manage some of your symptoms. Run for the hills if someone tries to put you on a new "brain" drug (ssri, antipsychotic, lithium etc). If a doctor wants to reinstate benzo's, it may be worth considering, not sure what I would do. If you do consider reinstating, make sure there is a proper taper plan.

 

Also read the list of Benzo Withdrawal symptoms on Wikipedia.  Good luck.

[[Be...]]

Hi Dizzy Dame,

 

I really feel for you right now. You are having a really rough time. 

 

And I'm sorry your medics didn't know better than to let you continue to c/t.  You must be feeling very scared and worried, and exhausted from struggling so long with these symptoms. I know that it is so difficult to imagine, but things will improve for you.  It may be slow, but you will improve for sure..

 

Are you able to manage to read... The withdrawal and recovery support section will have a lot of information and support..

 

There are good people here who have had similar experiences as you who will weigh in soon...

 

Hang in there and welcome to BB.. This a very supportive environment where people understand what you are going through.

 

Hugs,

Betsy xxxx

 

[[La...]]

Hi dizzy and welcome to bb, wow, you have been on so many meds and your cold turkey withdrawal is hell, I too was on Ativan 1 mg and temazepam 30 mg for insomnia I stopped ativan cold turkey  in Dec then i found bb and found the taper section and have been tapering for 5 weeks now very slowly, I have no advice, you are already 2 months in, but it seems time is the only healer and you will heal, this is not permanent, keep readind and posting and that way you have the upper hand over the withdrawal, knowledge is power. Ladygrace

[[ma...]]

Hello  Dizzy

 

Welcome to Benzobuddies..So sorry for your suffering it will get better but it it takes time, you will get lots of support here

 

keep posting if you can

 

(((hugs)))

 

Margarita

[[am...]]

Hi Dizzy,

You and I have very similar stories. I had all of these things and at the time I was freaked out because I had tapered pretty quickly and was really suffering. I was told the same thing you were - that it couldn't be withdrawal (I was off for a few months by then). But I just kept researching - reading - and I found BB through one of the books I read. There is a great book out there - Benzo-Wise.  It helped me understand I didn't have some horrible fatal disease and it was almost certain that all the symptoms I was having was from the withdrawal and the severity depended on quick I withdrew.  By that time, after reading that - finally, hope!!! I found BB.  Now, I had to reinstate, but not everyone has to do that - but I was in bad shape. The good news - after doing that reinstatement, I returned to work the next day. Then I developed a plan for withdrawing, first dry cutting and then water titrating. Each time I made a cut I could feel it, but things became manageable - and even if I would get dizzy or have tinnitus (which is constantly with me), those began to diminish - the fear was taken out of the picture because I understood. Fear can take us places that are hard to get out of - so that had to go!  So all that to tell you, you are in withdrawal, it can last a while - our receptors need to be healed (which takes time), but if you go slow, you can minimize your symptoms and fear.  For me, I have been decreasing my dose steadily over several months - I'm on my last .125 - that's like a quarter of .5 mg Ativan - and my current tapering schedule still has me another 5 months before I'm done.  That is very slow I know, but my story is no longer a horror story.  Please ask questions - there is so much knowledge here. I found most of the medical community to be uniformed. Good luck.

amb

[[SW...]]

Hi Dizzy,

 

Im sorry to hear about your woes. Fibromyalgia is a really tough thing to deal with - so that is really bad that something that was trying to help came back and bit you...I have chronic fatigue and it has some similarities with fibro-and was also prescribed benzos to help and its really damaged my life...lets keep going and hopefully things will get better!