Can it still be withdrawal symptoms?

Dear all,

 

I have been using Xanax retard 0,5 mg twice a day for approx. one year. I tapered of the medication and I'm benzo free since october 2022.

 

Beginning January I started to have anxiety symptoms again. Things are getting worse and worse. I'm constantly anxious, have pain all over my body, probably caused by muscle tension. I wake up at 04.00 am with a racing hart beat, nausea and an extreme fear of dying. My fear of dying is very prominent, also triggered by the physical sensations.

 

Can this still be a consequence of medicine use or is that not possible anymore?

 

Thanks for your feedback.

 

 

You're still pretty early in withdrawal after your jump in October 2022 and what you describe are very common withdrawal symptoms.  It sounds like you're in a wave (an uptick in symptoms). Fear is one of the most common withdrawal symptoms.  All of your symptoms will ease up over time but they can come and go over the course of your recovery.  Sometimes we can point to a reason for an uptick in symptoms - an increase in stress, illness, and a new medication or supplement often lead to a wave.  Other times we don't know why. But again, with time it will ease up.

 

Here are two links I think you'll find helpful:

 

Four Phases of Withdrawal

Chapter 3 Ashton manual, list of symptoms

Thanks for your feedback!!

I was also a bartard, but I had pre-existing issues that were only identified sometime later after the withdrawal (2021). It turned out that I had latent OCD all my life, and it was beginning to fully manifest in my early twenties. We all got on benzos for different reasons, most of us for sleep or mental health issues (specifically anxiety), those conditions don't just go away after cessation from benzos. Certainly your anxieties could be connected to benzos, but it could also just be whatever you were dealing with before using them.

I guess you are right, I was dealing with anxiety already before I started with benzo's. Unfortunately it got so worse that I'm taking them again at the moment, but they are not very helpful to be honest. Still doubting if I should taper them of again a.s.a.p.