How many people HAVE to work while tapering

[[pe...]]

I started Seriphos a week or so ago and my sleep has improved. I read that you shouldn't take it with adrenergic agonists. I take Wellbutrin. Does anyone know if these two are a problem together?

 

Thanks,

Peace

[[Co...]]

I have to work also. I am at work now in the first window that I have had since this started.It is so odd being here without being paranoid. No tinnitus. No  nausea. I  know it will not last but this gives me so much hope. I  forgot what it feels like.  Maybe I  will  get  one  more  day.

[[et...]]

PAWS - always a pleasure mate come back and check in once in a while please. It's been our pleasure having you along and I'm sure everyone here will agree.

 

Peace - don't see how there could be a problem but maybe someone else has researched it to death

 

Colorado - glad you're getting a window....windows good ya! Keep on going and think you're on the upswing...who knows right?

 

etown

[[et...]]

Have a good weekend everyone

enjoy

etown

 

[[He...]]

Hi everyone!

@gaer, thanks for your concern and suggestions. Yes I have a pretty good gp and I take Imitrex a half pill usually knocks it out although I still have a bit of cog fog. I enjoyed reading your posts and am so glad for you that your migraines just stopped. Mine are painful and debilitating at times but I'm fortunate that I don't experience nausea, needing to lie down in a dark room, vomiting, etc. Heh, more nausea coming off benzos. I think I have trigeminal nerve problems since cutting V and the headaches are more about that now. I use a bite guard at night as I've been a grinder and that seems to help. The headaches come for about 5 days during which I medicate and then go away for awhile.

 

After 3 months of dropping my dose and several weeks of holding at 13 mg, I'm beginning to adapt to some of the symptoms and learn what I can push through. This thread is very inspiring. I did get a small award of Unemployment Insurance (found out yesterday) so that will help for now. I'll seek something as low stress as possible p/t and see where it goes. Glad for those who are in a window, enjoy the weekend. I'm sort of in one except for my face hurts and the general low-level Sx. At least I have an appetite which as you know is fantastic when it happens!

 

I wanted to say thanks for the posters about the glutamates: I went shopping for food yesterday and am revising my diet. This has been a process and so I think it's just another level of going toward healthier fresher eating anyway. But so grateful for knowing what to watch out for!  Take care all, with heart, Charlotte

[[Co...]]

Hey etown,

 

Window shut at 36 hrs. Woke up sick but you know what? The window gave me hope. I got to have dinner out. I sat in a restaurant w/ other people. My ears were not ringing. I felt like I was having the best day of my life. I am ok. I am hoping that by the New Year I will have more windows. Thanks for your kind words. :boxer:

[[et...]]

Colorado chick - sorry the window shut but you know what? you are coming down the home stretch as soon you will be ALL windows. Be strong, go slow and you'll be fine.

etown

[[Co...]]

etown...Your comments help. The home stretch in sight. No one ever got anywhere by standing still. I am up and mobile. Positive thoughts. Thanks.

[[...]]

Hey Everyone,

Hope you all had a good weekend.  (imagine me saying that with a Texas drawl!)  :laugh:

 

The Evening Primrose Oil did make me feel amazing the first day I took it but the next two days it seemed to rev up my heart rate - so, no dice.  Ahhh well it was worth a try.

 

Hope everyone has a good week.

 

Taper on my friends!

[[On...]]

Hey Everyone,

Hope you all had a good weekend.  (imagine me saying that with a Texas drawl!)  :laugh:

 

The Evening Primrose Oil did make me feel amazing the first day I took it but the next two days it seemed to rev up my heart rate - so, no dice.  Ahhh well it was worth a try.

 

Hope everyone has a good week.

 

Taper on my friends!

 

So sorry to hear the evening primrose did not work out. I guess its a good thing then that my husband did not bring it home when I sent him out foraging for some.    The only one he found came encapsulated in gelatin caps, a high glutamate product, and I've also gotten so distrusting due to encapsulated oils often being rancid but we don't know that because they're, well, encapsulated. 

 

I slit open a gel cap of CoQ10 last week to take from a spoon and it was so nasty rancid it made me gag. I had to throw the whole bottle out.

 

I'm wondering what it was about it that made your heart rev. That's not a good thing. 

 

Still taking the Serophos?

 

Happy Monday, all, and welcome back to another work week. Im in pathetic condition ( don't ya just love knowing that, hah) but working today anyway. Deadlines coming up fast. Argh.

[[...]]

Hi Onelove,

I wondered the same thing myself and when I punctured the gel cap the oil smelled rancid to me too.  Not sure if that was the issue or if my body just did not agree with it.  Before this benzo nightmare, I never was much of a supplement taker - just never needed to.  The only thing I ever took was a high quality multi-vitamin made in New Zealand and Omega 3 fish oil.

 

Now I cannot take the multi or the fish oil because the rev me up too much.

 

Sigh..........

 

This goes out to Etown.  I have the Trazodone prescription and will pick it up today.  I have read that there is a need to start slowly at 50mg and gradually build up to as much as 150mg if needed for sleep. 

 

How much do you take and at what time works best for you?

[[Sk...]]

Work is going alright but could be better.  I hope this government stuff in th U.S won't make things worse...

 

-SZ-

[[et...]]

Hey Eliz - I take 50 mg about 15 min before I want to sleep. It has really been good for me and I feel comfortable that it will be much easier to deal with once off the Benzo. I don't want to go more than 50mg yet because I may need that 100mg card somewhere down the road. I still practice good sleep hygiene and promote an atmosphere that increases sleep quality etc.

 

Sky - seems like a contagious disease with jobs right now. I hope things get better for you. It makes the tapering life so much easier when you have contentment at work and at home.

 

Keep battling guys

etown

[[...]]

Work is going alright but could be better.  I hope this government stuff in th U.S won't make things worse...

 

-SZ-

I am taking this this whole Russian Roulette thing with the government very seriously. The children are in charge, and we are all paying for it.

 

Work - I'm at work. I'm still working. I've worked all through withdrawal, and I swear some days have been better than today, even days when I felt really badd

 

Some days are just hard. Sometimes the only good things we can say about work is that we survived another day of it.

 

[[On...]]

Did I already say that my doc wouldn't give me trazadone today? 

 

First time he's refused me anything. 

[[et...]]

Too bad it is one of the safer sleep meds out there. P Doc's prescribe more because they understand it's usefulness. Its a pretty old drug and was originally prescribed at doses in the 100's of mg for depression. Not used much anymore with the advent of the more dangerous SSRI's but its the same with Benzo's. Prescribed often for sleep now. Useful in short bouts of anxiety during the day in small chunks too.

etown

[[je...]]

I've been working.. I def. want to run away and hide a lot of the time.

[[et...]]

Jericho - welcome here and thanks for your input. You are tough working through this as you are. You're a really good person for this thread to encourage and be encouraged.

Keep it up we are here for you

etown

[[On...]]

Okay, I have questions. I hope you more experienced folks won't mind too much answering these. I hope to be better soon and promise to stop with the whiney baby stuff.

 

I am in a LOT of pain, general muscle, ligament, spinal, and gut pain. It feels like a ferocious case of arthritis in every cell of my body. I did not have this kind of all over pain until I switched to Valium and had been on it for about a month. It has just built and built since then. My eyes are blurry and keep getting blurrier. My ligaments are pulling so much I am hobbling. My legs and arms feel so heavy I can hardly pick them up. My gut, especially midsection, is in constant pain. IS THIS NORMAL FOR VALIUM WITHDRAWAL?

 

I just met with my doc again today. He shrugged off the Lymes test, sleep med, and pain med, but did say I was the worst case of benzo withdrawal he's ever seen in his career 

 

I kept thinking that all this pain was a result of metabolites building up in my tissues as I have no fat for storage. I also kept telling myself that the body only builds up so much and then clearance keeps it fairly constant so the pain would at least quit worsening once I peaked. . But I've been on Valium  long enough now to have passed that point long ago I believe. Why do I continue to worsen?

 

I changed my dose times recently from 7am & 7pm to 6&6.  So in the mornings this last week, I take my dose without getting out of bed and go back to sleep while it is taking effect. I notice that about 1 to 1&1/2 hours after taking it, when I SHOULD be getting a relief feeling from full uptake, I am instead getting an onset of terrible pain, including muscle spasms. Why would I get this from taking a dose?  Does this mean I am paradoxical, in tolerance, or just overly toxic with metabolizes?  And this is getting worse every day. Wtf is going on? I don't know how I'm going to stand a ride all the way down like this. Will I reach a lower dosage level where this kind of pain will be better? I'm afraid of holding very long because holding at 3 mg just made me feel worse as time passed and I have not made much progress since then. Yet ever tiny drop makes me crazy with symptoms. I promise I am not imagining it.

 

Is there any help or any hope for me? I am beginning to see what drives some people to cut too rapidly or CT. This is hell.

 

Sorry for the rant. I guess I really just want to know if this is normal wd sx and I need to just suck it up. I wonder if my body will ever recover from this.

 

Warmest regards to you all,  ~OneLove

 

 

[[et...]]

One - this is probably W/D coupled with some GI issues. I think you may be right about the fat storage. Illness in general seems easier to fight when you have a few pounds to play with.

I am sorry for the constant suffering you are going through. On the pointof a hold. In my opinion the only way a hold doesn't work is if you are holding the wrong dose. Even your hold at 3mg may not have been the right dose or the right hold time. When I had all those rough times I held until I was ready to taper again. So, right hold dose and right hold duration. Lets say for example someone hard tapered from 8-4mg then couldn't take it anymore. Where would they hold? If they hold at 4mg and the brain is still repairing at 6 or 7mg would the hold at 4mg help? Eventually the brain would catch up but may take weeks or months. I am not saying this is you but something to ponder as to why holds don't work for some people. I held for like 2 months. Remember, fast tapering or c/t will not necessarily fix anything because you will have extra recovery time to deal with anyway. I'm actually at a point where I am going to go back a few days and hold for a bit. Just too many annoying symptoms and I need things to calm a bit. So we are all exposed to these decisions One, just have to make them sooner than later. So if I powered through, like I want to by the way, and got in big trouble a few weeks down the road what would I hold at. See?..staying on top of your taper by measuring symptoms and correcting them immediately is the only way to control those crazy symptoms. Finding these corrective doses is the hard part.

etown

[[On...]]

:smitten:

 

Thanks, etown, for your very well explained and detailed explanation. I am so sorry you are having symptoms and a hard time. I hope you get relief from your corrective dosing. I need to learn to think in those terms if I'm going to make it through this journey.

 

And my apologies to everyone; I actually thought I was posting this on the Valium support thread,  , so I think I should take this conversation over there.

 

Back to another work day; I hope everyone gets through the day with peace and grace. 

 

 

[[...]]

Welcome Jericho those of us here who have to work know what you are dealing with.  Hopefully we can all provide each other with moral support and encouragement when things get rough.

 

OneLove, I think Etown is right.  One thing I have noticed is that changes to valium take two weeks to show up as side effects for me.  I remember when I moved my dose from 9am to 11am over a week's period of time.  Two weeks later I had some serious shakes between 9:30 am and 11am.  It lasted for only three days but it was the first clear indication I had about how long changes for me take to show up. 

 

Etown, I have had a rough Monday and Tuesday with my afternoon symptoms breaking through my dose.  I believe I am at the minimum duration of effect with the valium of 6 hours.  The dose I take at 11am usually kicks in by 11:30 - quarter to 12.  It usually will last until 6pm.  I picked this time to take it specifically because my worst symptoms are in the afternoon only.  I hope I do not have to hold at this dose the rest of the week but it is a possibility.  I am supposed to cut today but measured out .001 extra in a separate vial if I decide a hold is in order.  Hang in there everyone and if a hold is necessary then hold.  The march downward will recommence.

 

Regarding the Trazodone.  Does it take a few days to kick in or should I have noticed it work right away.  Last night I took 50mg and noticed nothing.

[[et...]]

eliz - Tarazodone worked right away for me. At your taper level I expect to be taking the 150mg so you may need to creep toward that. I am going to hold for a bit and let things settle. Because of the time it takes to feel the effect of a change I will correct sooner than later. Not crazy symptoms but not 70/30 so I'm heading back to that or it will eventually get out of control. We've both had a pretty steady ride the last while so sometimes we may need to paddle a little less instead of more.

 

One - once you get the "program" entrenched in your head it will be better for you. I hate standing by and not being able to DO something for you. I'm just wired that way.

etown

[[On...]]

eliz - Tarazodone worked right away for me. At your taper level I expect to be taking the 150mg so you may need to creep toward that. I am going to hold for a bit and let things settle. Because of the time it takes to feel the effect of a change I will correct sooner than later. Not crazy symptoms but not 70/30 so I'm heading back to that or it will eventually get out of control. We've both had a pretty steady ride the last while so sometimes we may need to paddle a little less instead of more.

 

One - once you get the "program" entrenched in your head it will be better for you. I hate standing by and not being able to DO something for you. I'm just wired that way.

etown

Please don't let yourself feel distressed the least little bit by my situation!!!!  You have truly been a Godsend for me. In the condition I was in when I first found BB, I know I wouldn't still be here today without all your help. You should feel GREAT about that rather than distressed. And while I am feeling rough right now, you have been in a rougher place than me. Considering where you have been and how much better you have been lately until your current setback, your own journey has been, and continues to be, inspiring in and of itself! 

 

On getting with the program, here's my confusion in a nutshell:  when I reach a point where my symptoms are better and I am managing okay (eating enough to survive, sleeping 5-6 hours, breathing ok), which is what I am "guessing" 70/30 is for me, and I feel like I can tiptoe into a tiny .01 cut, I get slammed so hard. How can a person cut less than that?  I can't seem to figure it out.

 

On my gut issues, here's my best theory:  since I have virtually no fat and down to even little visceral fat around the gut and organs, I'm guessing the metabolites have built up to a very high density in my gut viscera and also that the earlier Ativan severely downregulated my GABA receptors and  up regulated the glutamate receptors. The cascade of effects this causes, I believe, means that my gut pain is going to continue until those receptors are repaired enough. I've grown accustomed to living with this reality. As long as my gut "functions", the pain is something I may just have to accept. I've already eliminated about every food that could cause problems, had every test my doctors will do, and I do notice my gut pain is somewhat better when I'm in that "70/30" state. I believe it is benzo and neural receptor related. I think that is true going back to before benzo even entered the scene when I unknowingly CTd several GABA modulating supplements at one time. This included a 20 something year use of gingko daily. Then benzo use shot it into a horrific nosedive. I'm tending to believe I need to figure out better supplementation to help my body weather this ferocious storm. I'm open to suggestions. 

 

Please don't stress or worry; it is what it is. We are all rowing together in the same boat, same direction. We all have our own individual and unique issues as we row along and we are all pieces of the same larger puzzle, no 2 pieces alike or they wouldn't fit together, KWIM?  I do believe ANYone alive is here by divine intent and purpose. And love is all that is truly real; EVERYTHING  else is just props and set design. EVERYTHING in life is just on temporary loan for us to steward for a time. And you are being magnificently wonderful in using your gifts in helping me and many others here at BB. You are a blessing, I thank you from my deepest depths for that, and I wish many blessings showered upon you and yours. 

[[On...]]

Eliz, I am so sorry about your difficult symptoms and am glad to see you slow down as needed also. Those who have gone before are right: repair is the name of the game and being too symptomatic must be our body's way of signaling that we have gotten too far ahead of its abilty to keep up. I have really come to believe that, along with rebuilding GABA receptor integrity, preserving the viable receptors we still have is vital. Too many sx = too much possible damage to those still viable receptors. I am basing this on all the research I have read on disorders known to have GABA / glutamate receptor disregulation as a strong component. (And yes, I AM realizing that I learn and share a lot of information and then am not the best at utilizing it for my OWN good, lol)

 

Here's a little helpful tidbit on regenerating GABA receptors. Hope it helps someone. 

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=92164.0