Paradoxical or Tolerance

I see many posts on tolerance withdrawal and wanted to suggest that some may be paradoxical to benzos . I was severely.

This is a genetic response to certain chemicals where the body produces the exact opposite effect than expected. My anxiety got worse, major agitation and many withdrawal symptoms but I was not in tolerance. No amount of dosage increase made me better and in most cased made me worse.

In the case of paradoxical response the drug is toxic to the nervous system. My doctors kept me on a hideous slow taper that I learned later you need to get off much more rapidly if you are paradoxical.

Sit

Hi Sit2know,

Yes, it can be confusing, since the symptoms can be so similar. Paradoxical effects are probably rare, or certainly more unusual than tolerance effects (which are identical to withdrawal effects). If someone suspects that they are suffering from paradoxical effects, it is pretty straightforward to determin if it is indeed paradoxical effects or tolerance effects. If you have become tolerant of benzodiazepines, then you should experience some relief from the withdrawal-type effects a short while after taking a dose or if you increase your dose. Conversely, if you feel worse a short while after taking a dose, or if you experience less symptoms upon cutting your dose, this is associated with paradoxical effects.

Generally speaking, if suffering from paradoxical effects, you will probably follow an accelerated withdrawal from your benzodiazepines. It all depends upon the severity of the paradoxical effects. Fortunately, paradoxical effects are not reported very often.