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Lots of physical symptoms is this all withdrawals? Help


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I am having a really rough time right now, perhaps I am tapering too fast, but my body, mouth, skin is burning really bad!! I have lots of internal twitches and I get constant chills like goosebumps, feel hot and cold, my mouth is like fizzing like I have pop rocks in my mouth!

Is this all withdrawals? I’m so worried, it scares me so much . I am so emotional too, sees pain so easily too.

 

Please advise if you have suggestions I’d really appreciate it.

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Hi Hope4me34

 

Yes, they all sound like very common withdrawal symptoms. Haven’t heard of the fizzing, although there doesn’t seem to be any symptom withdrawal can’t cause. You could try holding for a little longer to see if your symptoms settle back down again. We generally have to make smaller cuts and possibly slow down the taper the lower we go in dose.

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I'm sorry you're having these symptoms and they sure sound like withdrawal to me. The cuts you've been making are pretty big so it's not surprising you're having intense symptoms. It would help if you hold for a while and if you slow down your taper. Your symptoms should then be more manageable. I hope you feel better soon.  :smitten:
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Thank you for your advice, when do you suggest I make the next cut?

I was thinking to hold this for the next month or so.

Best from Me

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If it were me, I'd hold for no less than 6-8 weeks because of the consecutive number of large cuts you made. When we make a couple of large cuts consecutively they have an accummulation effect and withdrawal can be very nasty. It's best to give your body enough time to recover to make sure the following cuts will have 'normal' withdrawal symptoms.
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Thank you so much for the support.

One more question, how long will these strong withdrawals last.?

Would I be better off reinstating my mid day dose?

It’s pretty unbearable :-[ :-[ :-[

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If things are too tough then yes, you can reinstate the mid day dose. If your symptoms were rough before this cut you might even want to consider updosing to where you were beginning of December because your taper has been very rapid.

 

I personally don't believe in suffering it out if you've tapered too fast. It happened to me and I updosed twice because it was excruciating. I don't regret it. Sometimes suffering is inevitable but when you've tapered too fast you have a possible way out and that is going back up in dose.

 

Please let us know how it's going.

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If things are too tough then yes, you can reinstate the mid day dose. If your symptoms were rough before this cut you might even want to consider updosing to where you were beginning of December because your taper has been very rapid.

 

I personally don't believe in suffering it out if you've tapered too fast. It happened to me and I updosed twice because it was excruciating. I don't regret it. Sometimes suffering is inevitable but when you've tapered too fast you have a possible way out and that is going back up in dose.

 

Please let us know how it's going.

 

I love this!! Screw the stigma and reinstate dose if the withdrawal symptoms are too much from tapering too fast. I’m day 9 on 50 percent reduction of Clonazepam, it was bad withdrawals, still feeling the effects, my cravings went away but the anxiety is next level. Seriously thinking about reinstating tonight and tapering properly once I’m stabilized and ready.

 

My questions though:

 

1. Will my body recognize the reinstatement immediately or will it take time to get back to that stabilized baseline? (I only ask b/c I already pissed off my nervous system, most likely will be pissing it off again reinstating, plus you’ve been there so just want to get a general idea of what to expect.)

 

2. Wouldn’t going up in dose produce a “kindle” effect therefore making it harder for other tapers and making withdrawal symptoms much more intense?

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To answer your questions

 

1) it depends on each individual how quickly they recover after updosing. Both times when I updosed I felt back to "normal" within one day. But I've come to know I'm in the minority. I am yet to find another person who recovered this quickly. You should feel a significant difference within 3-5 days though. It also depends by how much you updose.  If the dose isn't enough then you might not feel an effect. That's why I gave Hope4me two options as one updose might not be enough. What I have noticed though is that updosing works the majority of the time when you've clearly made big reductions.

 

2) I know people keep talking about kindling in updosing. I haven't found studies that support it. Kindling hasn't really been studied in benzo's but we do suspect it works the same as alcohol which has been studied. In alcohol the problem is stopping and starting the process (updosing is not cessation). Now I don't think it's good to regularly fluctuate your dose up and down simply because you need your blood serum levels consistent. When I updosed twice and then stabilized, my taper was functional and bearable. I have not been in benzo hell. If I was kindled I think I should've struggled immensely. There are people here who have never updosed and have worse symptoms than me. So in my opinion I don't think it's a big risk. We are more concerned about kindling when you've completely stopped and then start using benzo's again.

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To answer your questions

 

1) it depends on each individual how quickly they recover after updosing. Both times when I updosed I felt back to "normal" within one day. But I've come to know I'm in the minority. I am yet to find another person who recovered this quickly. You should feel a significant difference within 3-5 days though. It also depends by how much you updose.  If the dose isn't enough then you might not feel an effect. That's why I gave Hope4me two options as one updose might not be enough. What I have noticed though is that updosing works the majority of the time when you've clearly made big reductions.

 

2) I know people keep talking about kindling in updosing. I haven't found studies that support it. Kindling hasn't really been studied in benzo's but we do suspect it works the same as alcohol which has been studied. In alcohol the problem is stopping and starting the process (updosing is not cessation). Now I don't think it's good to regularly fluctuate your dose up and down simply because you need your blood serum levels consistent. When I updosed twice and then stabilized, my taper was functional and bearable. I have not been in benzo hell. If I was kindled I think I should've struggled immensely. There are people here who have never updosed and have worse symptoms than me. So in my opinion I don't think it's a big risk. We are more concerned about kindling when you've completely stopped and then start using benzo's again.

 

Thank for the reply.

 

Good to know that you go back to normal after a day to a few days. Question again LOL, do withdrawal symptoms usually go away too and the body returns to some sort of homeostasis? TBH, even though I'm managing the withdrawal okay right now, I'd rather play it safe than sorry. I have a lot of variables at play here, so even after 9 days of withdrawal, as in my case, I would reinstate original dose and somehow my body flips like a switch and in a few days all seems return to normal? I'm just worried about bringing about more symptoms that I don't need after reinstating...is there such thing as reinstatement symptoms though?

 

Also, let's say if I updose and reinstate my original dose from 0.25mg to 0.5mg (which yes was a hugh drop in dosage) how long should I stabilize on that before doing a proper taper? 14 days? One month?

 

 

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Thank you for your advice, when do you suggest I make the next cut?

I was thinking to hold this for the next month or so.

Best from Me

 

I would definitely hold for a month minimum. You have been cutting hard, congrats on the progress, but slow down because getting it right the first time is key. And yes your symptoms sound very much like typical withdrawal symptoms. And resuming the .125 mid day dose is not a bad idea. That would put you back on .5 which is still substantially lower than you were in the fall, so its not so much a backtrack. Although if you settle down a bit it may not be necessary.

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To answer your questions

 

1) it depends on each individual how quickly they recover after updosing. Both times when I updosed I felt back to "normal" within one day. But I've come to know I'm in the minority. I am yet to find another person who recovered this quickly. You should feel a significant difference within 3-5 days though. It also depends by how much you updose.  If the dose isn't enough then you might not feel an effect. That's why I gave Hope4me two options as one updose might not be enough. What I have noticed though is that updosing works the majority of the time when you've clearly made big reductions.

 

2) I know people keep talking about kindling in updosing. I haven't found studies that support it. Kindling hasn't really been studied in benzo's but we do suspect it works the same as alcohol which has been studied. In alcohol the problem is stopping and starting the process (updosing is not cessation). Now I don't think it's good to regularly fluctuate your dose up and down simply because you need your blood serum levels consistent. When I updosed twice and then stabilized, my taper was functional and bearable. I have not been in benzo hell. If I was kindled I think I should've struggled immensely. There are people here who have never updosed and have worse symptoms than me. So in my opinion I don't think it's a big risk. We are more concerned about kindling when you've completely stopped and then start using benzo's again.

 

Thank for the reply.

 

Good to know that you go back to normal after a day to a few days. Question again LOL, do withdrawal symptoms usually go away too and the body returns to some sort of homeostasis? TBH, even though I'm managing the withdrawal okay right now, I'd rather play it safe than sorry. I have a lot of variables at play here, so even after 9 days of withdrawal, as in my case, I would reinstate original dose and somehow my body flips like a switch and in a few days all seems return to normal? I'm just worried about bringing about more symptoms that I don't need after reinstating...is there such thing as reinstatement symptoms though?

 

Also, let's say if I updose and reinstate my original dose from 0.25mg to 0.5mg (which yes was a hugh drop in dosage) how long should I stabilize on that before doing a proper taper? 14 days? One month?

 

If you're still managing okay right now and not getting worse it's probably not necessary to updose. When going through withdrawal we just need you to be functional. Functional means you're not feeling good or great but you're able to do what is expected of you on a daily basis. If you look at my signature you'll see at the start of my taper I went from 2mg Clonazepam to 0.5mg. I was really sick and struggled to function and didn't know it was the benzo reduction. Eventually when I figured it out, I updosed, BUT I only updosed to 1mg not 2mg. So I started with a 50% reduction. Then I made another 50% reduction. This time I became bedridden with severe acute symptoms - diarrhea, vomiting, could barely lift my head from the pillow etc. I couldn't function at all and updosed back to 1mg again.

 

However, I understand you're dealing with LC as well and if this cut is causing a lot of anxiety and stress and you feel mentally unsure about it, you can updose. Sometimes peace of mind is just as important. If you're going to keep stressing about the cut, it's not worth it in my opinion.

 

Withdrawal symptoms "doesn't go away" completely. When you make a cut it intensifies and then it becomes less intense. We talk about symptoms waxing and waning or windows and waves. So that's why I said I felt "normal" in inverted commas. In comparison to the severe symptoms I felt, I was back to a state where I could much easier manage my symptoms.

 

I would hold for 6 weeks just to be sure, especially with your LC. This is either starting from your cut or starting from the date of the updose. Your body has taken a big knock. I hope this helps.

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To answer your questions

 

1) it depends on each individual how quickly they recover after updosing. Both times when I updosed I felt back to "normal" within one day. But I've come to know I'm in the minority. I am yet to find another person who recovered this quickly. You should feel a significant difference within 3-5 days though. It also depends by how much you updose.  If the dose isn't enough then you might not feel an effect. That's why I gave Hope4me two options as one updose might not be enough. What I have noticed though is that updosing works the majority of the time when you've clearly made big reductions.

 

2) I know people keep talking about kindling in updosing. I haven't found studies that support it. Kindling hasn't really been studied in benzo's but we do suspect it works the same as alcohol which has been studied. In alcohol the problem is stopping and starting the process (updosing is not cessation). Now I don't think it's good to regularly fluctuate your dose up and down simply because you need your blood serum levels consistent. When I updosed twice and then stabilized, my taper was functional and bearable. I have not been in benzo hell. If I was kindled I think I should've struggled immensely. There are people here who have never updosed and have worse symptoms than me. So in my opinion I don't think it's a big risk. We are more concerned about kindling when you've completely stopped and then start using benzo's again.

 

Thank for the reply.

 

Good to know that you go back to normal after a day to a few days. Question again LOL, do withdrawal symptoms usually go away too and the body returns to some sort of homeostasis? TBH, even though I'm managing the withdrawal okay right now, I'd rather play it safe than sorry. I have a lot of variables at play here, so even after 9 days of withdrawal, as in my case, I would reinstate original dose and somehow my body flips like a switch and in a few days all seems return to normal? I'm just worried about bringing about more symptoms that I don't need after reinstating...is there such thing as reinstatement symptoms though?

 

Also, let's say if I updose and reinstate my original dose from 0.25mg to 0.5mg (which yes was a hugh drop in dosage) how long should I stabilize on that before doing a proper taper? 14 days? One month?

 

If you're still managing okay right now and not getting worse it's probably not necessary to updose. When going through withdrawal we just need you to be functional. Functional means you're not feeling good or great but you're able to do what is expected of you on a daily basis. If you look at my signature you'll see at the start of my taper I went from 2mg Clonazepam to 0.5mg. I was really sick and struggled to function and didn't know it was the benzo reduction. Eventually when I figured it out, I updosed, BUT I only updosed to 1mg not 2mg. So I started with a 50% reduction. Then I made another 50% reduction. This time I became bedridden with severe acute symptoms - diarrhea, vomiting, could barely lift my head from the pillow etc. I couldn't function at all and updosed back to 1mg again.

 

However, I understand you're dealing with LC as well and if this cut is causing a lot of anxiety and stress and you feel mentally unsure about it, you can updose. Sometimes peace of mind is just as important. If you're going to keep stressing about the cut, it's not worth it in my opinion.

 

Withdrawal symptoms "doesn't go away" completely. When you make a cut it intensifies and then it becomes less intense. We talk about symptoms waxing and waning or windows and waves. So that's why I said I felt "normal" in inverted commas. In comparison to the severe symptoms I felt, I was back to a state where I could much easier manage my symptoms.

 

I would hold for 6 weeks just to be sure, especially with your LC. This is either starting from your cut or starting from the date of the updose. Your body has taken a big knock. I hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the advice. You’re absolutely right. When it comes to stressing over whether or not I should reinstate and updose and that I should just do it, it’s not worth the stress especially when LC is in play.

 

That waxing and waning, windows and waves analogy makes perfect sense. It’s all about management of symptoms and being able to function. We all learn from our mistakes and that’s what makes us a better person for tomorrow. Also, thank you for sharing your experience with me, let’s me know that I’m not alone in this and as humans we do make mistakes but we ultimately have control and power to correct those mistakes and come back next time into much well informed and stronger.

 

I’m still 4 days out to seeing if this cut truly worked, 10 days in now, feeling good, a little nauseous, woke up with a small craving too but it moved to a different area of the lungs, the sides whereas it mostly stayed in my chest in the beginning. It’s like it’s fading by moving downward as my breathing opens up and gets better.

 

But like you said, and it’s true, my WD  symptoms are becoming less and less intense as days go on, I’m now breathing much better as of last night. I think that’s where I turned a corner right before day 10, but I’m trying to remain as positive and optimistic as possible, rebound WD symptoms are still a risk. I’m not out of the woods yet, but I turned that corner last night and can see the finish line finally. Just got to put in the work in order to get there and stabilize for 6 weeks at least.

 

But it might be longer than 6 weeks, and I’m ok with that, at this point in my LC journey I needed a win. I felt so defeated by taking a full pill, now that I’ve halved it, I can work towards another goal in the future by slowly tapering 0.25mg. Who knows when that’ll be but like I said, I’m okay with 0.25mg for a bit.

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Hello,

Thank you again for your advice. I did reinstate my mid dose, unfortunately I had to have 3 steroid shots into my pelvic muscles and it has really thrown me off.

What do you suggest for my next cut and continued reduction?

Thanks again.

Best from Hope

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Hello,

Thank you again for your advice. I did reinstate my mid dose, unfortunately I had to have 3 steroid shots into my pelvic muscles and it has really thrown me off.

What do you suggest for my next cut and continued reduction?

Thanks again.

Best from Hope

 

I'm sorry to hear you've had another setback. Steroids are generally contra-indicated with benzo's and many of us have bad reactions to it. I hope you're not planning on making a cut just yet?

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Hello,

No I’m not planning another cut, but the weird things is when I take the medicine the K it makes me feel worse!!! It’s like my nerves don’t like it!!

I can’t take the regular pills I have to take the one I put on my tongue. The ODT version.

 

So my current dose is this

9 am 0.0625 mg

3 pm 0.0625 mg

9 pm 0.125 mg

 

My pain doctor is suggesting a low dose of Naltrexone? Are you familiar with it?

I took it last year but at a much higher dose and after abrupt cessation of Ativan.

I just want to do it right this time.

 

Thank you again for your support.

Best - Hope

 

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Is it the only the one brand of K that is making you feel sick or do you feel sick regardless of which one you take?

 

I am only familiar with LDN in Long Covid and have not used it myself. I haven't read much about it on here. I personally would be hesitant to introduce new meds during a taper. I'm not anti-medication just weary that our CNS is very sensitive and anything could destabilise us. You could try and ask on

Other Medications to see if others have experience with it.

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The only brand I seem to tolerate is made by Sun Pharmacy, but even that is not great. I don’t tolerate any medication which is why this is so hard. Not even Tylenol or Motrin and I have paradoxical reactions.

I’m being strong, but this is by far the toughest thing I’ve ever gone through.

 

 

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Oh gosh, that's really tough. There are lots of members who are sensitive to different brands. I'm really sorry this is such a nightmare. Hopefully once you're off things will settle down. We just need to taper you down in a sensible way. Hang in there, you're doing great!  :smitten:
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Hi,

I really think the steroid shots messed me up in a really bad way. I feel like I am on fire, and I am so sensitive, I’m wondering if I should go back up to the 0.125 dose x 3, and start over. Perhaps it would be better to be on the same dose each time and then taper off a little bit on each dose, but they would all be the same. What are your thoughts?

 

Thank you for your support

🤗 Hope

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Hi Hope,

 

I don't know about going back up, I cannot give any advice in that regard. Just wanted to say I know how awful steroids can be, they in combination with deceipt from my GP is how I ended up here on benzos. So I'm also dealing with symptoms from both, hang in there!

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I know you are suffering and hurting. And I am so sorry about your situation. Steroids can be really bad during withdrawal and many people get setbacks from it. Unfortunately when you get a setback from something external unrelated to your taper an updose seldom works. The best is to hold your dose and let your body fight it out. I know it's hard because when we're in pain we want to do something about it. Doing nothing feels wrong. Just know while you're waiting it out, your body is recovering. You'll get through this!
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