Feel stuck!

I feel like I'm in a perpetual hell! I had a inguinal hernia surgery in October. And every since then I have not felt the same. I started having breakthrough anxiety attacks. That just got worse with time. By the end of October I took myself to the hospital. Because I thought I was having a heart attack! They ran a bunch of test and nothing showed up. So they sent me home with a Valium and told me to go see my PCP. which I did ASAP. He just said it was probably because of the surgery and that I should start feeling better in a couple of weeks. He put me on 2 mg's of Klonopin a day. That seemed to help for a few weeks. But then my anxiety came back with a vengeance! So he upped my meds and said just give it some more time. I never took more than I was supposed to. If anything I  took less than I was prescribed. But I would literally wake up out of a dead sleep having horrible anxiety! So once again the doctor put me on a 2nd benzo to see if a change in meds would maybe make a difference. Which it did. For about 4 weeks. And yet again I was having rebound anxiety that would keep me awake for days at a time. I also couldn't eat at all. I went and seen him like a month later and I had lost almost 15 lbs. I am now on 1.5 mg's of Klonopin x3 a day and I feel like this is never going to end! I took a GENSITE test to see if any other med like a SSRI could help me. They tested 64 different meds and all but 2 meds were compatible with my DNA. I am super sensitive to meds. They either work for me or they make me worse. The 2 meds that were compatible with me one was Wellbutrin and the other is a newer med that has no generic on the market yet. And ever though I have private insurance it's way out of my price range.........I am at a loss? I feel at the end of my rope and am feeling hopeless now. Has anyone else had this kind of a predicament? If so I would love any feedback or pointers. Thank you. Sincerely,Darkside

It sounds like you may be experiencing tolerance withdrawal: https://www.benzoinfo.com/2016/09/08/benzodiazepine-tolerance-why-are-my-symptoms-getting-worse-on-my-medication/. Essentially what happens is your body becomes so accustomed to a dose that it loses its therapeutic effect.  This is a tough situation because the choices are so limited.  One choice is to updose which may or may not offer some relief and you're likely to reach tolerance again before long; this is why people may start at a relatively low dose and end up on very high doses.  The other choice is to taper off slowly and learn ways to cope with your anxiety. 

 

If you choose to taper off we can help you with a plan to taper off benzos completely - a sensible, careful taper is the best way we know of to keep withdrawal symptoms to a minimum.  You'll also find a lot of information here about ways to cope with symptoms like anxiety.  It might be helpful for you to read Success Stories to learn about how others have gotten to the other side of this. 

 

Please keep asking questions here and let us know how we can help you.

I literally just got my dose upped by 1 mg on the 6th and still feel like 💩 I take 1.5 mg's x3 day.