aching feet....anyone have this symptom?

Hello Buddies,

 

At almost 7 months off, I am having a resurgence of the symptom that put me on painkillers back while I was still taking klonopin. After my withdrawal, the foot pain was the first symptom that I could tell had gone away.  It is terribly distressing to me to have it come back this week.  It makes me wonder if this was ever a symptom of klonopin tolerance and withdrawal...is it something else?

 

The feeling that I am having is like the circulation is being cut off in my feet and toes.  It isn't just uncomfortable...it hurts like crazy.  It is worse in my left foot.  I also have this feeling of constant "vibration" inside my left foot.

 

I DID have shingles over a year ago in my left leg.  What if all of this feeling in my leg/foot is post herpetic neuralgia?

 

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has had a symptom like this that they know was from benzo withdrawal.

 

Thank you so much!

                              ~Leena

Hi Leena, both my feet buzz day in day out and have since the first few days of my c/t. I also get very bad foot pain over the top part of both feet, right beneath my ankle on the front. The bottoms of my feet burn! and my toes can feel like someone just poured hot oil on them! :'(

 

This has been going on for about two years. It comes and goes in severity.

Hello WW,

 

Thanks for responding to my question.  I feel like I really need to spend a day reading your blog.

 

In a post to someone else, you talked about the importance of remembering your "precursor".  Can you explain what you mean?

 

Do you feel your foot pain is from benzo withdrawal or something else?

 

~Leena

Hi Leena,

 

Since my c/t, my feet get ice cold.  There is nothing I can do to heat them up.  I usually have them wrapped in a blanket when I'm resting or have a heating pad around them.  Lately though, they haven't been quite as cold but I have the feeling that they're ice cold and they are now starting to hurt a bit.  It's almost like being out in the snow for a long time and then putting your feet in lukewarm water...the water feels really hot and your feet start to burn a little?

 

Like another poster  mentioned, I'm also started to have pain on the tops of my feet, too. 

Count me in on all of that.  I too had that never put it together with withdrawal.

I don't have this issue, but whatever issue I have ( like the thread that was created about right or left) IS ON MY LEFT SIDE. During my taper I had a terrible pain in my lower left butt cheek. This persisted for about 4 weeks. I took Tylenol for the pain.  All other pain meds have " Tinnitus" as a side effect and wanted to avoid making my tinnitus worse.

Hi Leena

 

I put my hand up for feet pain.  I have had all kinds of feet pain during the past 10 months.  It started as pins & needles in my feet during hot showers.  It progressed and got worse and started to experience sharp, stabbing pains in my toes.  They became more and more heat sensative and showers were hard to do, baths were absolute no-no's.  This has let up a bit but now my feet sting because they get so cold.  I contribute this to the muscle rigidity I experience now in both feet.  Sometimes it feels like my toes are being pulled up.  Sometimes my arches are stiff for days.  I am having horrible muscle cramps / tension / rigidity from the waist down and this has really taken a toll on my drive to heal from this crap.  I am in severe pain some days but only take advil every couple of days because it grenades my stomach if I take it for too long in a row.  Physical pain is really my only issue now but it is the worst it has ever been.  At over 9 month out and pain getting worse, I fear that this is what I will have to live with for the remaining years of my life.  I know I have to stay positive but I am having a "down" day today.  Hope you find some relief soon.

 

Since

Thanks to all of you for your responses to my question about foot pain.

 

Obviously, I am not alone (which makes me feel better for me...but sad for all of you).  I have pain in my legs, as well, but I thought I had "conquered" the foot pain and so was feeling quite discouraged.

 

L123, I have times where I can't tell if my feet feel cold or hot.  I have described it before as what it feels like to have been in ski boots with bad socks, so that your feet start feeling frozen...but then they feel even worse when they start to "thaw".  And it doesn't go away.  Although, it seems to not bother me so much in late morning to early evening.  Around supper time, it starts getting worse.  And then by bed time, it is REALLY bad.

 

Jill...has your foot pain gone away?

 

Since...what you describe (the pain from the waist down) is also my experience.  Though I also have burning pain in my back and torso.  I am struggling with that same fear that you are having...that this is what I am going to have to live with from now on.

 

And Gman...I had that pain in my lower left "cheek" too...I think it was my piriformis muscle, and sometimes it felt like sciatica. 

 

 

This is all so hard.  I hope that all of you beat each and every one of these symptoms.  Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Leena

 

Leena,

 

Yes, that is exactly what it feels like...taking your ski boots off and then the hot tingly feeling when your feet "come back to life".  I'll think my feet are cold and then I take off my socks and they feel warm. 

 

I don't know if it's a circulation thing or what.  I have always had cold feet/hands but not like this until benzo w/d.  I hope it's nothing that could cause serious problems.

 

By the way, I don't seem to notice it when I'm standing.

 

Leslie

Hi Leena:

 

Had heavy aching  feet off and on ever since my taper.  It has very sloooowly improved and I would now class it as a minor discomfort. 

 

ntw

Leena mine first felt like I had the ski boots on and ice was coming through the boot.  Then it stopped and turned to ankle pain like I sprained my ankle. Then added to the ankle pain was pain at the bottom of my feet like I walked too long and it went up to my calves.  Out of no where it stopped and my heart palpitaitons started with chest pain.  I would take the feet issues ANYTIME over the heart ones.

Hello Jill,

 

I am sure that heart symptoms must be terribly frightening.  So far, that is one symptom that has not hit me.  I think it is incredibly strange that all these symptoms hit and disappear like they do.  I think I must have been having symptoms of tolerance withdrawal when I had some major foot issues a couple of years ago.  I had terrible pain on the top of one foot...that then moved to the ball of my foot.  Then, I also developed pain in my chest (not heart) that was like costochondritis. 

 

It is only in looking back that I can see that I think it was from tolerance.

 

Since withdrawing, I have had the same kind of sudden "come and go" type symptoms....a pulled groin muscle (without having done anything...that disappeared as quickly as it came)...sciatica, etc.

 

I am just hoping that the things I still have bothering me will also go away.

 

I hope that your heart symptoms pass very quickly!  Thank you so much for your response!  ~Leena

Thank you Leena, I hope yours goes just as fast.  For some reason I have a hard time grasping it's just withdrawals. I have seen 3 ER Doctors, 2 Cardiologists, 2 Physician Assistants, my Internist, my Gynecologist.  You would think that was enough convincing  but sadly it's not.

I am right there with you, Jill.  I have had the same difficulty ever since I withdrew (of believing all of this could "just" be withdrawals).  I am SO hoping that it is "just" that...waiting to find out is so hard.  It sounds like you have done due diligence.  It sounds to me like yours IS, indeed, from the medication withdrawals.

 

~Leena

 

 

I am sure yours is w/d.  I am going on a cruise this week so I am hoping the relaxation will help.

Count me in on aching feet. The arches of my feet burn and tingle, and this sometimes is accompanied by pain on the upper side also. I also have stinging pain in my hands and arms, with pain in my finger joints/knuckles. (should i get tested for rheumatism?)

 

This burning stinging symptom appeared about 2 months post benzo. It has improved since the early days, but when i get waves it can be quite bad.

 

I guess this is called painful paresthesia - as wonderwoman says -  which includes burning, numbness, stingling, tingling, crawling-insects sensations, as well as internal vibrations. I read that this symptom can also affect persons suffering from diabetes, chemotherapy, and alcoholism.

 

Should i accept this symptom as permanent residual damage from benzos, and prepare myself to live with it forever? i am sometimes so depressed about it that i would say yeah.

 

Yet 7 months off, i am so much better than when i started... i think i should logically wait another year (or 2?) before i give my self the life sentence on this... only time can tell.

 

Kev

Sometimes my feet burn.  With the cut before the last my muscles were achy and burning.  uuugghhhh!!!

Thanks, all, for your comments.  My feet are worse tonight than they have ever been...my toes, especially.  I wish I knew if there is something that I do that makes them hurt like this.  I honestly do not know if I can stand it much longer...but I honestly do not know, either, what I could possibly do to make them feel any better.  I just feel stuck.

 

I am SO hoping this is a wave...and not a permanent condition :'(

 

~Leena

I have hypothyroidism and cold/freezing feet is something I suffer with badly because of this - like a burning and stings - also very sensitive on souls of feet and get sharp pain there.  With hypothyroidism this is one of the main symptoms - caused by the hypothalamus which balances body temp. not being listened to by the brain/transmitters and nerves etc.  Perhaps this is the sort of thing that is happening with those in w/d experiencing this?  just a different trigger.

An explanation of sorts anyway - my feelings are if its gone away before, it will go away again

Spring