What is happening in your brain?

[[Sh...]]

I take Immitrex.  It doesn't seem to interfere with my taper. FWIW

[[St...]]

Hi 2200,

Thanks for your response.  I am into my 8th month of withdrawal.  When I first went off the clonazepam I was severely ill for about a month.  I did go on the valium for 12 weeks because my doctor thought it might help the dizziness.  I didn't know at that time I was kindling and this wasn't a good idea, I rue the day!  Thank goodness when I went off the valium, that did nothing for the dizziness, I did not go back to the state I was in in March.  It basically has been about the same for 5 months.  Intense dizziness/disequilibrium, head pressure and inner vibration are my worst symptoms right now, but I still suffer from insomnia and some other symptoms.  The worst of it is behind me at least.  I have had migraines for almost my entire life.  They have gotten worse in the last 10 years or so.  I take 600 mg. of magnesium a day, in addition to some other supplements.  I suffer from chronic migraines, sometimes 15 or more in a month.  The imitrex works great unless I take too much of it, which is often the case.  Then it can lead to more and more intense migraines.  I'm having a procedure done next week in the hopes it will give me a break.  I never had this type of dizziness with my migraines in the past.  This is totally different than any dizziness I have ever had in my life.  Its so frustrating that I went on valium to help the dizziness and it has only slowed down my recovery.  I wish I had known better, since my doctor has no clue.

[Guest [...]]

Gosh Stephanie,I feel so bad for you having such bad migraines,and for years too!Ive heard how bad they can be,so you must be really suffering with them!I had a friend who got one while we were on a plane and she was in terrible pain.I get little weird head and face pains off and on,but they dont last long,thankgoodness!I think most of them have been benzo withdrawal related,a tiny bit of sinus pain,and alittle menopause hormonal stuff.The dizziness your having if its benzo related,will gradually go away,but for me its taken a very long time.The last couple of months its been the lightest its ever been,like a 3 on a scale of 10.I learned the scale rating from Lapis on the dizzy post!I still get waves of high anxiety,jitters and dizziness,but not near what it was a few months ago.Take care Stephanie,and I hope you get a break from the darn migraines and dizziness!

[[St...]]

Thanks 2200!  They haven't always been as intense as they are now.  They were really bad in March when I went off the clonazepam and better for a few months and then I got put on the valium and went off the valium in september and they went crazy again.  Hopefully since I am not trying any benzos ever again they will calm down.  Congratulations on being down to a 3, my day is coming, I know it!

[[de...]]

Sttill feeling little bit depressive, not getting fresh in the morning,bloating,observing some mood change in myself,today is 70th day from the day,I reduced clonezapam dosage from 1.25 to 1 mg. Holding this tapper for last 82 days,taking other meds also

 

Fluvoxin 150

Venlor xr 150

Clonzapam 1 at night,

Nootropil 800

 

After reducing dosage my symptoms are changing day by day,at present I feel emptiness in brain,fatigue,lack of interaction with my kids and wife,depressive,can some body guide me upto when I will have to face such symptoms, I m on meds for last 15 years.Also I am in need of article in simple language benzo withdrawal or tapper so that I can tell to my wife abt the complications of it.

 

Thanks in advance to all

 

Regds

Deep215

[[Hi...]]

http://www.rlcure.com/glutamate.html

help i think im being poisoned  by glutamate im so sick my mind is  flipflopping getting  worse im so kindled and trying to  taper ativan  so slow i have not been  stable but am getting  worse akathisia and  terror  im on gabapentin  too. And methadone  how  can i get stable.  Im a mess someone  please help me understand is glutamate  damage  permanent  it says it is but im in severe tolerance  withdraw  but going up makes it worse  im about to lose it i dont have  Windows  anymore  everything is  slowly  getting  worse

[[Da...]]

Excellent

[[nx...]]

Good read so msg like salts anything processed, man my diet has done a 360 since I started this whole mess

[[12...]]

Thank you for this wonderful article.  It was just what I needed right now.

[[hs...]]

It sure takes the brain a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time to completely heal from this mess. Im really hoping that the brain DOES HEAL ITSELF COMPLETELY.....I've reached the 4 year mark this november and still in a loooooooot of pain...

[[Ea...]]

Thank you SO much for going into such great detail; I've learned much more about the brain than I ever would have imagined.  I'm wandering if you are still active in this forum??  I would love to pick

Your brain (no pun intended  ) or anyone else's who may be able to help me.  I've been working on this since July (tapering off of 0.5 mg of Clonazepam 2X/day that i=3 been on continuously for 15 years);  :'(  I'm crying just hearing myself type that because I feel l I keep I've lost a huge part of my life, living with this sluggish, malfunctioning organ in my head.  I have questions about the brain that I hope you or someone might be able to help me with.  First of all because I am a survivor of childhood incest I know that a brain formed in such a chronic, stressful environment is different to begin with.  I developed DID as a way to cope and wonder how all of that affected my brain.  I realize that in an of itself is a HUGE question and one nobody may know the answer to.  I guess my other questions belong in other forums so stop here .  Thank you again!

[[Ja...]]

Parker thank you so much for this fantastic information. My question for you is are we healing while we are tapering?

[[Ro...]]

Jayne3 I think your brain is in shock during taper. I am in my 29 month of hellish pain. I am healing but it is brutally tasking. Everyone heals at different rates because of different factors. Stay on course in time you will heal.

[[jr...]]

best thread I have read since joining! Thanks parker and keep up the good work. I , too, am considering a book on my taper. I have kept an  exact log and also a daily journal. But I have a ways to go b4 jumping. the large doses are fast and furious (lol) and the smaller doses are slow and careful. your supplement page was also very informative and I may give it a go and see.

[[Sa...]]

Parker, I love that explanation.  I have been working on getting off my be so for over a year.  I have been so discouraged (even on good days).  I love your post. 

I like the idea of remeron to help with sleep. That is the most impossible symptom.  I have been taking Ambien (not every night) to get through this.  I don't think it is leaving my GABA and glutamate repair.

I have been doing Neurofeedback and find it helpful. I usually sleep the nights I do this.

Thank you for your post!!!

I don't know how to do a signature but I took 2-3 mg of Klonapin every night for 8+ years. I have been working since Sept 2014  slowly slowly down after a few attempts to cold turkey or go too fast.

[[gr...]]

Parker, I love that explanation.  I have been working on getting off my be so for over a year.  I have been so discouraged (even on good days).  I love your post. 

I like the idea of remeron to help with sleep. That is the most impossible symptom.  I have been taking Ambien (not every night) to get through this.  I don't think it is leaving my GABA and glutamate repair.

I have been doing Neurofeedback and find it helpful. I usually sleep the nights I do this.

Thank you for your post!!!

I don't know how to do a signature but I took 2-3 mg of Klonapin every night for 8+ years. I have been working since Sept 2014  slowly slowly down after a few attempts to cold turkey or go too fast.

 

U should NOT be taking ambien. It works on the same receptors as benzos!

[[...]]

Parker, I love that explanation.  I have been working on getting off my be so for over a year.  I have been so discouraged (even on good days).  I love your post. 

I like the idea of remeron to help with sleep. That is the most impossible symptom.  I have been taking Ambien (not every night) to get through this.  I don't think it is leaving my GABA and glutamate repair.

I have been doing Neurofeedback and find it helpful. I usually sleep the nights I do this.

Thank you for your post!!!

I don't know how to do a signature but I took 2-3 mg of Klonapin every night for 8+ years. I have been working since Sept 2014  slowly slowly down after a few attempts to cold turkey or go too fast.

 

U should NOT be taking ambien. It works on the same receptors as benzos!

 

I noticed what you had to say and was about to say the same as groovejuice did but he beat me to it.  So I'll "here here" what he had to say and reiterate the same.  Ambien is considered a non-benzodiazepine.  In that it works on the same receptor as your everyday run of the mill benzodiazepines do.  Healing does begin as we taper.  Our bodies adjust and adapt to lower and lower concentrations as the receptors are less and less inundated with medicines (this is obviously not a clinical explantation, but rather an experiential one, being that I experienced it...and lived to tell, or did I, live that is, mooo-hahahha.  No, I'm very much alive, well, at least the last time I checked I was.)

Right now at 14 months out I've experimented with Belsomra (this is my third go of it, and you know what that say about the third time), and I am experiencing it's intentions, which is - sleep!, glorious sleeeep!  Hoooot sausage and mustard!  Oh, no, wait.  That's from Oliver.  Sorry (that scally-wag).  The first two times were: (1) at 2 months out, and (2) at roughly 7 months out.  It appears the physical structures (for me that is) have healed to a point where sleep is now possible.  Whereas before no amount of physical exertion, much less emotional and mental exertion as that had long been over-taxed years beforehand, helped to promote sleep more or less then the benzodiazepines themselves did.  I took 20mg four nites ago and slept, and it was a nice sleep.  I took the nite before last off and ended-up not sleeping until around 8am to roughly 11:50am.  Then last nite I took another 20mg and slept from 2am to 8am only to briefly wake and then gently fall back to sleep and eventually roll out of bed around 10 or so. 

It's said that Belsomra has no "ill-effects" whatsoever.  Well, if we recall correctly, and I believe we do, the very same was said about Benzodiazepines, and we all know how that panned-out.  I just don't want to experience similar or the same as what Monsieur Benzo brought my way.  I figure if my brain/body can get some rest it will heal all the more better, and quicker, than if it didn't at all.  Which is pretty much what has been happening for the last...6 years?!!!  Capishe?

 

peace & light

eli         

[[Le...]]

This post is my rock. My ebb and flow is constant. There is a portion mentioned by Parker that I would love some more information on.

 

ippocampus - This is the "memory" center of the brain. It ties in old memories to emotions.  The same thing is happening here that is happening in the amygdala with GABA and Glutamate. So - voila. You get intrusive memories from ALL times in your life.  It's wild and wicked and wooly. But it can't hurt you. And if you can learn to visualize this as what is happening - then you can learn to be objective and realize it's normal.  And like the amygdala - it will come and go and frustrate you, but it will go away when the physiology is restored.

 

Does the information above also equate to intrusive thoughts?? Any information would be a Godsend.

 

Blessings to all of you,

 

Leo

[[Ge...]]

Thanks for the info in this post - and the reminders of it coming back up in the stream of posts.

[[Bl...]]

Someone had this link in they're profile and I'm trying to find it. Does anyone know where I can find this again please. I'd appreciate this a lot.

 

The article was about your brain healing from benzos.

[[Mo...]]

Someone had this link in they're profile and I'm trying to find it. Does anyone know where I can find this again please. I'd appreciate this a lot.

 

The article was about your brain healing from benzos.

 

Hi, its right on top on the ...Withdrawal Support (during your taper) section......

the very first entry on top.

 

[[Hi...]]

I just ctd gabapentin  im on day 5 and not doing good at all but i wanted off it. Im on 4mg  of klonopin  now they switched me in the hospital  from 7.5mg of ativan  its like im overmedicated  but im still in withdrawal  after ct and reinstatement  so many times the terror and torment and akathisia  feel  permanent  i am honestly  suffering  worse than ive ever seen anone on here. I feel like  i need to go to detox  again im trying to get into  detox again  because  its too unmanageable.  Is the reason  why im getting worse and worse  because  my receptors have changed so the benzos  just make me worse ? Is this common  with reinstatement?  I feel  traumatized  last ct i lasted 6 months and soe things got better but i feel like i have permanent  brain syndrome and  the akathisia is  terror are getting worse and worse  im lost in my on mind. Does this  go away. I need hope but i also know  detox is the only way off for me tapering  is too unmanageable  can someone  ttm about this is the terror  being caused by the benzos?  Ot gabapentin  wd i was having  it before i cts gabapentin im  lost. I need to understand  whats happening  if i go to detox  is it better to stick with the ativan  as aposed to klonopin  because  its shorter action it will be out of my system  sooner? I cannot stay awake i know  kpin has long Half-Life  and is strongest binding i also have liver problems  ans uses the same pathway as methadone. I need to know what to do will wistiril and clonidine  help with the restlessness  and akathisia  after detox again. I wish i didnt switch to kpin cuz its one more thing thats complicating me  i cant get  stable. Im so so sleepy  ativan  bypasses liver metabolism  thats why ive stuck with it for so long but would switching back after being  on kpin for 5 days mess me up even  more?  I need to get off everything vor i cant heal but i dont feellike im can take any more oain. Am i in ggabapentin wd also?  Why cant i stay awake  but have akathisia. Scaneed guidance

[[Ab...]]

Wonderful,  inspired and brilliant perspective 

[[we...]]

Can someone tell me what kindling is??

 

[[tr...]]

Here ya go:

 

"Kindling due to substance withdrawal, refers to the neurological condition which results from repeated withdrawal episodes from sedative-hypnotic drugs such as alcohol or benzodiazepines. Each withdrawal leads to more severe withdrawal symptoms than the previous withdrawal syndrome."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindling_(sedative-hypnotic_withdrawal)