anxiety induced by withdrawal and damage induced by anxiety?

[[be...]]

it is obvious to me that withdrawal has caused my anxiety

 

but some of the problems i have now could have been onset by anxiety, and may be permanent

 

examples:

floaters(in the absence of detectable vitreous floaters), afterimages and blue field entopic phenomenon  are all comorbid with visual snow, can be onset by anxiety, and are generally permanent.

tonic tensor tympani syndrome: my ears thump and crackle in response to any sound, including my own voice, this is comorbid with hyperacusis and tinnitus, and is also caused by anxiety.

 

so on the one hand i am trying to ride this out by living through the anxiety but on the other hand the anxiety keeps adding on permanent disabilities to my basket.

 

how do i know what to expect to heal from when anxiety can trigger secondary chronic diseases.  any thoughts? opinions?

 

 

Daniel

[[sp...]]

Perceptual problems seem to be some of the last issues to resolve, but if benzos are all that's going on, then resolve they should with time.

 

Ear crackling/etc is probably just muscle tension in the eustachian tubes; I have this too, but I've had TMJ issues for years. I do think tapering made it worse, but I also think that's temporary.

 

Visual snow is something I'm intimately familiar with, because I took too many drugs (notably LSD) in highschool and have had floaters, afterimages, etc ever since. I've never heard of benzos causing these problems permanently, so again I think you're probably in a different situation than me, and these issues will get better with time, But, for what it's worth, I think I'm living with more permanent versions of essentially all the problems you mention, I spend almost no time being bothered by it, and in fact I'm almost never aware of it unless I do something like read one of these threads. So, the best/likely scenario is that you stop thinking about all this stuff as it gradually goes away, but I actually think that the worst case is probably something like "it doesn't go away but you stop thinking about it entirely at which point it doesn't really exist, or at least is not a factor in your life".

 

If you're quite certain that all of this for you is a direct result of coming off benzos, then I wouldn't worry about it being permanent. Worrying that symptoms are permanent is one of the hallmarks of benzo w/d! They aren't. That said, perceptual problems especially seem to exist in a feedback loop with consciousness, meaning that the mere act of focusing on them (especially with adverse/judgemental thinking) literally makes them worse. I've noticed that if I meditate with my eyes closed it's easy to get distracted by my visual field because meditation can provoke very bizarre entoptic reactions for me, and, fascinatingly, being in that state gives me a degree of conscious control over the visions.

[[na...]]

it is obvious to me that withdrawal has caused my anxiety

 

but some of the problems i have now could have been onset by anxiety, and may be permanent

 

examples:

floaters(in the absence of detectable vitreous floaters), afterimages and blue field entopic phenomenon  are all comorbid with visual snow, can be onset by anxiety, and are generally permanent.

tonic tensor tympani syndrome: my ears thump and crackle in response to any sound, including my own voice, this is comorbid with hyperacusis and tinnitus, and is also caused by anxiety.

 

so on the one hand i am trying to ride this out by living through the anxiety but on the other hand the anxiety keeps adding on permanent disabilities to my basket.

 

how do i know what to expect to heal from when anxiety can trigger secondary chronic diseases.  any thoughts? opinions?

 

 

Daniel

 

Chicken or egg?

 

Which caused which?

[[An...]]

Yeah, I keep trying to tamp this down as well. The anxiety and focusing inward tends to absolutely KILL any ability to stop being anxious. It's really bad for me right now, because I am in PT and supposed to CONSTANTLY be focusing on the muscle groups that are shutting off and trying to turn them back on. Every time one goes out, I get a cascade of symptoms that involve freezing half to death, shaking like mad, sweating, etc. Worrying about them just keeps your nervous system over-excited, I'm finding. That doesn't mean I can manage to talk myself out of it and stop worrying, but when I can I just want to kick myself for having worried at all. These problems will resolve, they will. Worrying that they may become permanent just keeps them here stronger in the here and now. (I say as I try desperately to calm my own stupid self).

 

Spengler, I agree, meditation is a great way to control this a bit. I'm trying to do it laying down lately, sitting for it just gets me focused on my stupid torso/core muscle issue and kills it. Still, it seems to be the best way.