Antibiotics messed up my taper. Need Advice!

Hey Everyone,

 

I was just curious if anyone has had issues with Antibiotics messing up their taper. I was doing really well, got all the way down to .125 Mg per day of Klonopin without any out of the ordinary problems. Then, I went to the Doctor and he gave me the antibiotic Bactrim about two weeks ago for what he believed to be prostatitis because I was experiencing frequent urination and nagging pelvic area pain along with chronic constipation. I was given 14 days worth at twice a day.

 

After the second day on Bactrim, I experienced terrifying reactions, which were quickly relieved by taking another .125 mg of Klonopin. Now, I have always been aware that Cipro and other antibiotics in its class can cause rapid benzo loss and accellerated withdrawal symptoms but I figured Bactrim would be ok. Now I know better.

 

To make a long story short, in order to tolerate my course of antibiotics I was forced to add .125 mg per day, bringing me back up to .25 mg per day, and then as I took more Bactrim, even more was needed, so i had to add another .125 mg per day bringing me all the way back to .375 mg per day. I have been on this for 2 days.   

 

Yesterday I completely stopped the antibiotics after 10 days of the 14 day course because, to be frank, I just couldn't justify putting my body through these reactions anymore. They were withdrawal x 1,000. Today I took .375 mg just to feel stable. Prior to the Bactrim, .125 stabalized me. I am still having pelvic pain and constipation, but I am thinking that I never even had relapsing bacterial prostatitis but maybe just pelvic muscle tightness or possibly it is just this chronic constipation from the withdrawal that is causing me pain. In other words, maybe this is just another withdrawal symptom. Either way, I am just going to deal with it and continue getting off the benzos.

 

Anyway, yeah, this isn't cool. I am off the Bactrim, for better or worse, and want to get back on track. Has anyone had their taper messed up by antibiotics? I dont have many pills left, how should I continue the taper? I want to cut down to .25 again tomorrow. Is it too soon?

 

Also, after I am finished with this clonazapam garbage, will I be able to take antibiotics again should I need them? 

 

I would be interested in your experiences. Thanks!

If you read my blog I have recently spoken to a pharmacist who did say no bactrim, macrolide antibiotics or quinolone antibiotics - to do with benzo enzyme metabolising - basically speeds up metabolisim of benzo and hence get more w/d sxs.  Amoxil okay and augmentin okay.  So choose these in future.  Maybe your problems were w/d anyway - I have urinary frequency, oelvic pain and constipation off and on.

Hope it settles over next few days

spring xx

Hi Spring,

 

Thank you for the reply. Are you familiar with anyone elses experiences with Bactrim? I have been off for 2 weeks now after horrible reactions and my symptoms are not improving. Still a very profound malaise. Extremely fatigued. Any input would be appreciated. thank you.

 

Hi Leben,

 

I took amoxycillin when I had a sinus infection without problems.  Bactrim could have revved up your symptoms......plus the updosing probably didn't help with w/d's either.  The only way through this is to stabilize and continue with your taper.  Eventually everything will even out.  So sorry you weren't informed prior to taking the Bactrim.  Continue to read the Ashton Manual so you are aware of the possible w/d symptoms yu may encounter.  Hang in there, fella.  I know it is a tough road and I am wishing you the very best.

 

Patty  xo

Oh brother I can't give you any advice cause I was put on  levaquin      for a kidneys stone I passed tues night. Told the dr's my concerns. But they swore it was the best medicine and  said I only needed 3-4 tablets and I was in the middle of a glorious stable on 10mbg of valium after 2 weeks of hell. So now I am worried cause i don't want to mess up this stabilization with w/d. I am praying 4 tab will not interfer. Dr did not like the idea of amox or tetracyclin for this problem. I have to worry about the kidney/bladder so I am taking a chance.

Can't help with the antbotic question but I have lots of constipation and bladder problems too. I know what I eat and drink afafects my bladder and general pelvic pain. I take lots of hot baths and stay away from affending foos. You could try that.

Plus I take over the counter pyridum for the bladder apin which does not affect my w/d sxs

Good uck

I better end before I get shut out of this chatter

a new friend

Pennyblue2

Hey guys,

 

Thanks for the replies. I can't believe what these antibiotics have done. I was so on my way and now I can barely leave the house. I was in the same spot as you Penny, was stabalized after a hard road to get down to .125 mg and the Bactrim just destroyed me. Be careful on that Levaquin. 

 

I am done with antibiotics. I grew up in a Lyme Disease endemic area and I had it twice. I have taken too many antibiotics and though they cured my Lyme I have always been susceptable to awful side effects. I am absolutely with them done unless I absolutely need them again. the funny thing is, I don't even thing I needed them this time, I think the alleged "prostatitis" was actually a pelvic muscle thing because a magnesium supplement is what finally drove away the symptoms, not the Bactrim.

 

Stoney, curious, I have heard alot of people talk about this updosing thing. What exactly are the issues with updosing during a taper? Nobody warned me about that. I updosed like half a milligram and am now trying to get back down but I just feel awful.

 

Thanks for the replies. Noone was replying to this post really and I was getting frustrated. Hope you guys are having a really positive day.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Leben,

 

I can only speak from my point of view.  When I was making small cuts off the Xanax some of the cuts were unequal so I am sure I was getting different milligrams throughout the days/weeks and I could feel that it was revving up my symptoms.  I see you were down to .125 mg daily or twice a day?  Then you updosed to .375 mg?  Where are you at right now?  It doesn't take much for our symptoms to gain strength either through illness, flu shots, fluoroquinones, etc.  I have read that some members who updosed felt a little disruptive in their taper.  You will get through this.  Wondering if you just maybe got hit with a 'big wave'.  Sometimes the lower in milligrams, the harder the symptoms.  Hopefully others will come by with more info for you.

 

Patty  xo

It's usually best, if possible, not to updose during wd. Sometimes it can't be helped though. Just for reference, it's better to just stop a taper and hold your current dose temporarily, rather than updose. But in your case I guess that wouldn't have solved the problem.

Why don't you hold for a bit longer until you feel more stable following the AB problems. Then when you start tapering again, maybe you can make smaller cuts for a while.

Hey Leben sorry you've had such a tough time with the antibiotics,

 

I had an infection during the start of my taper and was prescribed an antibiotic and tbh felt dodgy about taking it because i was worried about symptoms flaring up. I was in some state anyhow so it was hard to tell whether the A/B had had an effect.

 

As Stoney has said, you could have just hit a 'wave' of symptoms.

 

Try not to worry about the updosing too much as it can happen to any of us and is a common pitfall in tapering and as Eljay pointed out, it's sometimes unavoidable as you have to look after your general health too.

 

I know the symptoms can feel overwhelming at times but the best thing I can advise is to revise your taper plan and start form where you are at now. Just follow the usual advice of 10-14 days between your cuts and continue with the taper.

 

If you need help making a new taper plan just post a request here-

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=56.0

 

Hang in there, things will get better again with time,

 

Mr B

 

Hey guys,

 

Thank you again for all your responses. Here is what I know, and I am going to update my profile sorry about the lack of information, I was on .125 for like 8 or 9 days before i went on the antibiotics and I was amazed about how easy that last cut was. Then everything just went crazy after the Bactrim. I went all the way up to .375 and after stopping the AB I went down to .25 for 12 days and then I went down to .125  5 days ago because I absolutely had to. I had enough pills before the AB, now I don't. I went fishing at numerous doctors offices and even the ER for more and the elitist New York City doctors won't give me any.

 

So this is the reality, I have three days left on .125, a total of 9 days. I will have to make do.

 

I read one member say that updosing causes a "malaise." Put "extreme" in front of this and that seems like what I am feeling now. I feel like the Klonopin is not helping anyway at this point and I am ready to get off. The antibiotics have put me in a tough situation but I am 26 and should be able to handle it. I tapered for a while.

 

So here I go into the breech. I can tell that the way I feel now I will not be healing for quite some time.

 

Thanks for the support. 

So this is the reality, I have three days left on .125, a total of 9 days. I will have to make do.

 

Hi Leben,

 

Hope things go easy for you! My fingers are crossed! 

 

T2

Wishing you the best of luck Leben. Hang in there you can do this. You've gotten this far and to me it seems you're ready to be done and take the rest of what's to come at ya. I know what it's like and it's rough rough rough. But we're all rootin for ya and will be here for anything you need help with to get thru. 

Hi leben,

 

OK, understand your tapering schedule.  You should be OK....no risks of seizures.  I did a fast taper off Xanax and it was pretty rough and for about 3 months thereafter.  There were some windows along the way.  Keep us posted on your progress, OK?  Wishing you many windows.

 

Patty  xo

Hey guys,

 

Thank you again for all your responses. Here is what I know, and I am going to update my profile sorry about the lack of information, I was on .125 for like 8 or 9 days before i went on the antibiotics and I was amazed about how easy that last cut was. Then everything just went crazy after the Bactrim. I went all the way up to .375 and after stopping the AB I went down to .25 for 12 days and then I went down to .125  5 days ago because I absolutely had to. I had enough pills before the AB, now I don't. I went fishing at numerous doctors offices and even the ER for more and the elitist New York City doctors won't give me any.

 

So this is the reality, I have three days left on .125, a total of 9 days. I will have to make do.

 

I read one member say that updosing causes a "malaise." Put "extreme" in front of this and that seems like what I am feeling now. I feel like the Klonopin is not helping anyway at this point and I am ready to get off. The antibiotics have put me in a tough situation but I am 26 and should be able to handle it. I tapered for a while.

 

So here I go into the breech. I can tell that the way I feel now I will not be healing for quite some time.

 

Thanks for the support. 

 

Ah, Thanks for clearing that up! 

I did a fairly fast taper off klon, similar potency to xanax, and I jumped off 0.125mg. I did ok, and I think you will too.

Hi Leben,

 

it was great chatting with you yesterday, my main problems were caused by levaquin and it takes a while for the cns to get good again. Good luck on finishing your taper and getting off the benzos.

Hey Guys,

 

So I woke up today and took my last .125 mg of Clonazapam. It was a strange feeling. I have been taking this stuff everyday for almost 15 months now. It was the very first thing I did when I got up. It became like brushing my teeth or putting on pants. I guess a small part of me actually enjoyed that moment in the morning, at least before tolerance developed, because I knew that within an hour or so of swallowing the pill everything would be "easier." As of this moment, I am a bit disgusted at myself for ever feeling that way, for allowing myself to so ignorantly get to this point. 

 

Anyway, I have told you all my story. It is a bit unsettling for me that I am essentially being forced to jump off at this point because a course of antibiotics has left me with no more pills and a year of crap has left me with no more visible sources. I will say that during these last nine days on .125 mg, I have come near close to stabalizing. I am still heavily fatigued and have intermittent pain, weakness and numbness throughout my body. However, I can also say that the excessive levels of anxiety ( AH! that horrible "UP" feeling we all experience each time we cut) has generally decreased in these last nine days. Since Saturday I can make it to my next dose without suffering too bad. So maybe I have stabalized for the most part and the rest is just long term healing.

 

It would possibly help me to be able to stretch out this .125 for another five days or so and then maybe go down to .625 mg. But then again, it seems to me that the Bactrim screwed things up to such a great extent, I can't tell at this point if this little bit of Klonopin is really helping me or just exacerbating the withdrawal. I read some posts by an old member named Jana who also took Bactrim during a taper and went through hell. She did some research and found that Bactrim induces an enzyme called the CYP 3A4 enzyme (Bactrim is listed on something called the CYP 450 Charts), which causes rapid loss of Clonazapam and other benzos. Other antibiotics listed on the chart include Doxycycline. So, it makes me wonder if Bactrim has actually caused me such a rapid withdrawal that this .125 mg is actually somewhat of an updose for me, causing a lingering malaise. I don't know, just a theory. Maybe I am just looking for an academic justification for my jumping off tomorrow.

 

Nevertheless, what happened in the past doesn't matter anymore. I am getting off.

 

Any support would be much appreciated. If any of you guys jumped off at .125 mg of Klonopin I would be interested in your experiences.

 

Thanks to all for the help and info. Rock and Roll.

Hi Leben,

 

There are a few here that jumped off at .125mg. Some did fine and others had some problems. As you know, it is so different for everyone.

 

Wishing you speedy healing!! It is time for your benzo free celebration.... http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=12611.0

 

T2

Hey Guys,

 

So I woke up today and took my last .125 mg of Clonazapam. It was a strange feeling. I have been taking this stuff everyday for almost 15 months now. It was the very first thing I did when I got up. It became like brushing my teeth or putting on pants. I guess a small part of me actually enjoyed that moment in the morning, at least before tolerance developed, because I knew that within an hour or so of swallowing the pill everything would be "easier." As of this moment, I am a bit disgusted at myself for ever feeling that way, for allowing myself to so ignorantly get to this point. 

 

Anyway, I have told you all my story. It is a bit unsettling for me that I am essentially being forced to jump off at this point because a course of antibiotics has left me with no more pills and a year of crap has left me with no more visible sources. I will say that during these last nine days on .125 mg, I have come near close to stabalizing. I am still heavily fatigued and have intermittent pain, weakness and numbness throughout my body. However, I can also say that the excessive levels of anxiety ( AH! that horrible "UP" feeling we all experience each time we cut) has generally decreased in these last nine days. Since Saturday I can make it to my next dose without suffering too bad. So maybe I have stabalized for the most part and the rest is just long term healing.

 

It would possibly help me to be able to stretch out this .125 for another five days or so and then maybe go down to .625 mg. But then again, it seems to me that the Bactrim screwed things up to such a great extent, I can't tell at this point if this little bit of Klonopin is really helping me or just exacerbating the withdrawal. I read some posts by an old member named Jana who also took Bactrim during a taper and went through hell. She did some research and found that Bactrim induces an enzyme called the CYP 3A4 enzyme (Bactrim is listed on something called the CYP 450 Charts), which causes rapid loss of Clonazapam and other benzos. Other antibiotics listed on the chart include Doxycycline. So, it makes me wonder if Bactrim has actually caused me such a rapid withdrawal that this .125 mg is actually somewhat of an updose for me, causing a lingering malaise. I don't know, just a theory. Maybe I am just looking for an academic justification for my jumping off tomorrow.

 

Nevertheless, what happened in the past doesn't matter anymore. I am getting off.

 

Any support would be much appreciated. If any of you guys jumped off at .125 mg of Klonopin I would be interested in your experiences.

 

Thanks to all for the help and info. Rock and Roll.

 

Hi Leben,

 

As you already know my issues stemmed from levaquin which tore me apart and i took that nasty antibiotic 2 times and I did jump off at .125 of ativan. My experience was pleasant when jumping off, harsh antibiotics can really cause tons of problems. Even till this day I believe that the levaquin is what messed me up the most, at one point i had taken levaquin and 8 months later it had caused lots of havoc, take care and good luck on your post benzo era.