Weakness, Muscle Loss

Hello Everyone. I used to be athletic and exercised alot before the klonopin problems. Last year when I could still function I was forcing myself to workout everyday. I noticed that nomatter how hard I tried that I could not gain any strength or build any muscle like I did in the past. I actually noticed I was getting weaker even though I was working out daily. I've heard benzos have something to do with muscle loss or muscle tone. Does anyone know if this is true or something I just read somewhere? I forget where I read it.

Following.  I would like to know too.

When you work out, you stress the muscles.  Muscle stress induces a process of degeneration, inflammation, regeneration, remodeling, and maturation/functional repair.  There are many complicated interrelated mechanisms at play in muscle regeneration.  What might be of interest here is the affect of benzodiazepines on the peripheral nervous system and in particular, glial cells. Peripheral benzodiazepine receptors are present in peripheral nervous system tissues, glial cells, and to a lesser extent the central nervous system. They modulate the immune system and are involved in the way the body responds to injury. Terminal Schwann cells (TSCs) are glial cells that sit above the neuromuscular junction and cover the nerve terminal branches with their processes. These glial cells promote interrelated development of innervated endplates between synaptic sites.  These 'bridges' in turn guide the development of new nerve terminals in the reinnervation of muscle fibers.  If the TSC's aren't able to properly interact with the other elements of the system of muscle regeneration, than you may not be able to regenerate muscle effectively.  Therefore, as you are stressing your muscles by working out, the muscle begins to degenerate. The body responds by entering the inflammation and regeneration phase.  Your problem may be related to this phase in the process since the benzodiazepines affect the glial cells and may inhibit the regeneration of nerve fibers at the degraded areas within the muscle.  This lack of regeneration may itself then restrict further processes of muscle regeneration, remodeling and maturation.  Therefore, it is possible that the klonopin you are taking is playing a role where, paradoxically, working out results in muscle loss rather than gain.

Thanks for the explanation. I knew I was causing more damage. This is really tough.

I feel the same way Freewilly. Working out became impossible for me. Alot of people will try to encourage you to do it. My doctors did but it made me feel aweful.

Thanks for the reply Matty. It helps knowing this is a symptom. I see you are doing the liquid taper. How's that going? I'm going to give it a try.

Same here, I've lost 77lbs and all my muscle is gone, my legs are pure bone and really weak, they shake when I walk to the bathroom and my arms are really weak too, so getting off is the only way to gain some muscle back?

Thanks BeeFree. Sorry to hear. I've lost about 40lbs since january. And I was already thin. I look very bad. Scary.

Hey all,

 

I was on clonazepam for about 8 years, had a terrible 7 month taper, and have now been off of benzos for almost 13 months.  I too, have always been an athletic person, grew up playing 3 sports in HS, and later captained my college lacrosse team.  After college I stayed in pretty good shape most of the time, but like you're saying, after I got on benzos, I just didn't seem able to get stronger, lose weight, etc..

 

During my taper, I got completely out of shape as my heart was beating really strangely, and all of the other symptoms prevented me from working out.

 

About 3 months after I jumped, I decided "enough was enough" and I began to exercise regularly.  I've been exercising about 6x / week for 9 months now, and my body has completely changed.  I am now in pretty good shape, and my muscles are able to grow now and respond correctly to exercise.

 

It's been a hard process though, and although I don't pretend to understand the "science" explained in an above response, what I can say, is that I believe my muscles (and body) have undergone some weird type of chemical metamorphosis.  I've never been one to sweat excessively while exercising, but over the past 9 months, I am pretty much the sweatiest guy in my gym.  Until recently, the sweat would smell like putrid chemicals and not something that would come out of a human being.  Kind of like rotten amonia?  but I'm not sure..

 

Anyway, (a lot of people might disagree with me), but I had awful "jelly legs" and I consistently ride the "spin bike" for 20 minutes, and after that, I can "feel" my legs again.  As long as I do that, my legs feel good.  However, if I skip a day of working out, my legs usually feel weaker the next day.  Maybe this stuff is obvious, but a lot of people refuse to try it.

 

I started with lots of stretching, got up to cardio and now I've added weights.  I believe exercise is the absolute best thing we can do for ourselves while we are in this process of healing from long term benzo use. 

 

Like you guys said, while I was on benzos, any exercise I did, didn't seem to have much of a positive effect.  Good news is that, our bodies want to be in a healthy state, and once we get rid of the drugs, our bodies eventually recover the ability to get better.  Bad news is that I firmly believe, we have to do the hard work.  However, with all of the emotional problems we have in getting off of benzos, the a strenuous workout really helps our brains heal - and I always feel a lot better after a workout!  (no matter how poorly I felt before I got to the gym)

 

I hope this helps - and good luck!

 

Eric

 

PS:  if you start working out again, go slow and ramp up over time.  you definitely don't want to get a sports injury on top of everything else.

Thanks Eric. I'm glad to hear you are recovering. That's great. I'm still tapering and feel terrible if I try to do any exercise. I actually throwup and all kinds of other symptoms popup when I do. I just can't do it right now. I've been told to force it but I really feel like it's not going to help untill I getoff. Did you ever force exercise during your taper?. Thanks

Thanks Eric. I'm glad to hear you are recovering. That's great. I'm still tapering and feel terrible if I try to do any exercise. I actually throwup and all kinds of other symptoms popup when I do. I just can't do it right now. I've been told to force it but I really feel like it's not going to help untill I getoff. Did you ever force exercise during your taper?. Thanks

 

I tried some exercise in the beginning of my taper, but my heart was beating so hard and strangely, that I opted not to put additional strain on it.  In the middle of my taper I tried a few more times, but was too weak and dizzy, and still worried about my heart.

 

Three months after my jump I felt well enough to do it, and have pushed through it since then.  Exercising was really helpful for me to get through my risperdal taper last September.

 

I believe if there's any way you can exercise during your taper, it will help more than you can possibly conceive.  If our bodies are stronger, I think it follows we are apt to handle withdrawal better.  If you just feel crappy, but heart is ok, I'd go for it and see how it works for you after a few weeks..?