It’s my time,
Great question……and a tough one to answer. I will do my best to share my experience and that of others who have had setbacks who I remain in contact with via personal email.
My thoughts to share. For me and some others we have found that BB was helpful in the beginning of our journey, but not so much now after years of being protracted. It is so difficult for us to offer continued support to others , because we find it is not healthy for us with the constant reminders , please don’t view this as being selfish but rather as self survival, trying to lead a somewhat normal life, but unfortunately, we continue to have our struggles. I understand your need to take a break from BB.
I believe some of us will always remain sensitive to medications, vaccines , dental procedures, anesthesia for Colonscopies or surgeries.if we can do our best to try to avoid triggers, we need to do so, but sometimes exposure to antibiotics or anesthesia can’t be avoided, and we need to prepare ourselves. Most physicians do not understand. I always avoid Fluroquinolones drugs, but there have been times when I couldn’t avoid taking an antibiotic for pneumonia or UTI. I found that penicillin caused me to have a setback ( after 7 years) for 2 months, right back into horrific WD , including fear, anxiety, crying and physical symptoms of pain, burning, numbness. I recovered from this setback got to about 85%.
Then dental procedures happened , (8 years out) where per the recommendation of the benzo setback list, I requested Carbocaine plain, but it caused me to go back into WD for four months. However, interesting to note, I had 4 Carbocaine injections over a 6 week period, after the first Carbocaine injection, I notice slight symptoms mostly in the background, by the 4 injection, I got slammed, including physical and psych symptoms. I also have another BB friend who reacted after one Carbocaine injection and her setback lasted a few weeks.
I recently had to have dental work done again and went to a new dentist. She really listened to me about protracted WD and my reaction to Carbocaine. she questioned whether the setback or reaction to the Carbocaine was “dose specific” or “time specific”. I needed to have 3 fillings plus crown prep, instead of scheduling this dental work in segments, spread out over time, she suggested to do all the work at one setting, and also recommended to use the novacaine with a combo of septra/ epi drug. She stated with Carbocaine plain it would require more of the drug to get numb rather than the novacaine combo. She also gave me the lowest dose possible , so
I had 4 injections of novacaine over 3 hours and completed the dental work in one visit, versus spreading it out. I did not react so far, and it been 10 days since this dental work.
I also have been on numerous ABs for UTIs, during the past 5 years, initially I was ok with penicillin, and did not have a setback from the
penicillin in year 3-5, and at 3-5 years out, benzo WD setback was not even on my mind, I thought it was behind me, so the slight symptoms I had from the penicillin, I didn’t recognize it as WD symptoms. , I just thought it was a slight side effect of the AB. But at 7 years out after 21 days of an antibiotic for UTI and pneumonia, the bizarre symptoms of WD came back, and I knew I was in benzo hell again, and couldn’t believe after 7 years, I was back into it,,,,,,,,the fear, the crying, the physical pain………pure hell, lasted two months.
I have another BB friend who recovered at 3 years and was 9 years out, after getting her first moderna vaccine, she reacted within 8 hours of the vaccine, and went right back into benzo hell. It has been seven months for her, she said she is better but not fully recovered.
It does help tremendously for me to focus on the activities I can do, and not focus on the benzo symptoms that still remain. For the most part this recent setback that lasted 4 months, the symptoms that remain are more in the background not in the forefront.
In summary, I have had two major setbacks , the first at 7 years out due to 21 days of antibiotics, and it took 2 months to recover and be able to engage in normal activities again. The second setback at 8 years after Carbocaine injections, took 4 months to recover and resume normal activities again. And a few minor setbacks, flareups lasting a few days or weeks after antibiotics or anesthesia following Colonscopy.
So the bottom line is I still have setbacks at 8.5 years out, I remain sensitive to drugs that hit gaba A blood/ brain barrier. But with time, I have been able to recover from the setbacks,,,,,,,,I am so tired , just so worn out from this process……,,,,trying to lead a normal life and not let fear rule me.
Hope this info helps you in some way.
Always, [...]
