Medication Induced Setback Support

Great Post. Thank you for the update.

 

We are all unique in our physiology and healing form psych drugs, and will heal at different rates, in different ways. I am in the "wave," post Ab 3 months. A decent day, a bad day or 3 , and so on. An oscillation of being in agony still happens, but i am getting better moments, even a helpful xanax dose here and there.

 

The healing from med induced setback is not the same as the healing from CNS damage from our benzo/other psych poisons.  It does not go on for 20 years. As our digestive system recovers, we start to recover in small bouts as par for the course.

 

A few sxs are gone. Able to resume exercise on a limited basis (about once a week) I still have horrible days and nights, but they do tone down.

I’m sure I have akathesia my feet are moving all the time. I can stop them I feel the need to move them. This happened  after setback.  HAs anyone had these symptoms after a set back.  Moving feet

Tulip 🌷

Following, currently in a covid setback, Im in need of a sinus surgery, but Im postponeing it for a year or 2 or forever as it is not critical and I have no ide how I would react on a surgery now - anybody that knows anything about setbacks from surgery?

Wish u all the best

Ctone.

 

We can't know how your CNS and body will react. Their are so many variables.  We all have our own unique physiology and state of illness.

 

I cut off the tip of my finger, got sick with a weird crud, then had a surgery in a short span of time. Then had to go on an antibiotic. It was one thing after another.

 

I had surgery last September, then opiods. It took a very long time to return to baseline per tapering. Once it did, I was overjoyed. It was about 4-5 months, and things had calmed down. I was able to resume tapering without an issue, and was stunned. I forgot how that felt.

 

Unfortunately, I had to go on an antibiotic as soon as I reached a new low in my taper. It destabilised me as much as, if not more intensely than the surgery. That was early February.  I am just now seeing  some stability.

 

I think the compound of several major physical events as ell as external stress  made me very ill.

 

In the last week, I have returned to my exercise, exposure therapy, and other tool box items. Mostly because I was fed up and tired of being sick. I am getting progress. I am not quite stable, but closer. I even made a small cut on my birthday (April 28)

 

Hence, that is my experience from having a surgery. Then opiods (Ughhhh, that was bad) Took about 6 months to get to the stability that allows me to taper.

 

The antibiotic threw me back  even further into  a setback than the surgery. As I said, I think it was a compound reaction. At 2 months from the AB, I am seeing improvement. Not stable yet, but things are better.

 

All I can advice is to prepare yourself with the potential for a setback, and plan and accept what may happen accordingly. Anything you may go through is not your fault, it is the trauma and the CNS. Use your tool box, whatever you can access, to distract through it, if a setback occurs. Be patient. It is chemical. The only cure is time.

 

I chose not to neglect my health through  these procedures, even though I knew I would  most likely be thrown into a set back. Our health is very important.

 

At this point, I am not doing anything that involves an invasive procedure, nor medication unless it is absolutely necessary. My body need time to continue getting stable without disruptions. I will not do any surgery indefinitely unless it is absolutely necessary.  On one hand, once I was in a setback from surgery, I decided to go ahead and deal with all my other medical issues and get through them in a 6 month time period, then stop.

 

That is my experience.

 

You may have a very different outcome. I would suggest you don't undergo a non essential surgery if you are afraid. If it becomes necessary, prepare, and know that whatever the fallout's, you will heal. Stay hopefull. It is a setback, not a failure, and not permanent.

 

Dove

 

Update. I hit a wave of difficult wd, and a big uptick in histamine. Really miserable. Time. That's all I have, is time.

I received an email from benzo buddies just a minute ago and it made me think of you guys. I wanted to drop by and tell you all that I am better. It took the better part of a year and a half for me to really get back on my feet, but I am back to working as a stylist, raising my girls, and enjoying my life. I was going through an immense amount of stress when I had my setback and I truly believe that contributed to the length of time it took me to really start healing again. Stress is so detrimental to our already sensitive nervous system.

 

I still have symptoms, but they are tolerable, and can typically be curtailed with a nap. Lol. I hope you all are doing well. Hang in there, regardless and run towards any glimpse of freedom from this you my find.  <3

 

I always think of the person (Muddlefoot) who started this very thread about med setbacks. Muddlefoot came back to say she DID RECOVER from her antibiotic set back, and she was back at work, enjoying her kids and living a full life, and that it took her "the better part of a year and a half to get there" , and she truly believes that stress contributed to how long it took.

 

Now I know it's not good to compare timelines. The point is though that she recovered from the setback and moved on.

 

I don't want to alarm anyone in pointing out her time frame because if you're in a setback from a med it can be over in a week, a month, a few months. It is all over this forum the different ranges of time that it takes people to recover from being sensitive to a certain med.  My flu shot setback was 4 months. A year and a half is rare, but she made it and recovered. That is the point.

 

Please hang on. You will get there. Be gentle with yourself.

 

- Fortitude

 

Fortitude,

 

Thanks for pointing this out to everyone, I think of muddlefoot often too and read her stories when I was earlier on in my setback.

I also want to add to those who have massive fear of needing an AB in the future that I've been told by a buddy who is friends with her on Facebook/one of the Facebook groups that she even went on to  have to take another Antibiotic after she came out of her setback and she did fine with it. Our bodies will not react the same way to things over and over again as more time passes and we get more healing under our belts. But the future is scary when you're in the thick of it (I remember that feeling all too well myself) and I just wanted to add to all the great points that you made! 

I received an email from benzo buddies just a minute ago and it made me think of you guys. I wanted to drop by and tell you all that I am better. It took the better part of a year and a half for me to really get back on my feet, but I am back to working as a stylist, raising my girls, and enjoying my life. I was going through an immense amount of stress when I had my setback and I truly believe that contributed to the length of time it took me to really start healing again. Stress is so detrimental to our already sensitive nervous system.

 

I still have symptoms, but they are tolerable, and can typically be curtailed with a nap. Lol. I hope you all are doing well. Hang in there, regardless and run towards any glimpse of freedom from this you my find.  <3

 

I always think of the person (Muddlefoot) who started this very thread about med setbacks. Muddlefoot came back to say she DID RECOVER from her antibiotic set back, and she was back at work, enjoying her kids and living a full life, and that it took her "the better part of a year and a half to get there" , and she truly believes that stress contributed to how long it took.

 

Now I know it's not good to compare timelines. The point is though that she recovered from the setback and moved on.

 

I don't want to alarm anyone in pointing out her time frame because if you're in a setback from a med it can be over in a week, a month, a few months. It is all over this forum the different ranges of time that it takes people to recover from being sensitive to a certain med.  My flu shot setback was 4 months. A year and a half is rare, but she made it and recovered. That is the point.

 

Please hang on. You will get there. Be gentle with yourself.

 

- Fortitude

 

Fortitude,

 

Thanks for pointing this out to everyone, I think of muddlefoot often too and read her stories when I was earlier on in my setback.

I also want to add to those who have massive fear of needing an AB in the future that I've been told by a buddy who is friends with her on Facebook/one of the Facebook groups that she even went on to  have to take another Antibiotic after she came out of her setback and she did fine with it. Our bodies will not react the same way to things over and over again as more time passes and we get more healing under our belts. But the future is scary when you're in the thick of it (I remember that feeling all too well myself) and I just wanted to add to all the great points that you made! 

 

Thanks "its my time" for telling us this very important and encouraging information!

Question for those of you into the science of withdrawals...

 

I'm 9 months off and feeling a little more free to try some things that could help with withdrawal symptoms (for me--its horrible benzo belly...still...)

 

I got a script for 10mg Memantine--wondering if excess glutamate is my issue. It is an NMDA receptor antagonist. To my surprise--it did the opposite! Sent my system racing. Heartrate through the roof...sleep was hard to come by...breathing was shallow....for days!

 

Curious--If Memantine is essentially a glutamate blocker...why would that result have happened?

Question for those of you into the science of withdrawals...

 

I'm 9 months off and feeling a little more free to try some things that could help with withdrawal symptoms (for me--its horrible benzo belly...still...)

 

I got a script for 10mg Memantine--wondering if excess glutamate is my issue. It is an NMDA receptor antagonist. To my surprise--it did the opposite! Sent my system racing. Heartrate through the roof...sleep was hard to come by...breathing was shallow....for days!

 

Curious--If Memantine is essentially a glutamate blocker...why would that result have happened?

Im sorry I don't know the answer to this question but any med can set us off. We ever we are handed a new med, it should be written on the bottle "May the odds be ever in your favor"

-LOL-

 

I'm going to go with you there. And of course...I look up Memantine...and it stays in your system for *160 hours!!* Most other drugs are like...8. Or 12. 160!!

 

It's frustrating because at the worst of my acute...I would be woken up from dead sleep with intense adrenaline surges and sweating at 5A on the dot. That disappeared months ago and now....it's baaaaccccck (said like a creepy little girl in a horror film). I'm sorry...I have to just take a minute to laugh. This is all so absurd. No one else on Earth has to worry about this shit.

So true. The little creepy girl came back during my setback. Totally true. Thanks for the laugh. It is so insane it almost funny. But not because of the pain.

 

160 hours is crazy. I hope it gets out of your system soon so it can start to settle down.

Hello.

 

I was 18 months off and doing fantastic. Considered myself 95% healed with just a couple lingering symptoms (fatigue and food sensitivity) that were more just an annoyance than anything.

 

I came down with a uti and took 7 doses of macrobid which threw me back into acute hell. And here I still am 21 days later. 

 

Occasionally I get brief breaks in my symptoms, but the mental stuff is raging pretty non stop for the most part.

 

My most concerning symptoms are

 

Dr/dp

Emotional numbness

Dark depression

Fear

Anxiety

Pins and needles

Temperature issues

Intrusive thoughts

Toxic mornings

Head pressure

Cog fog

Irritability

Sensory issues

 

These cycle daily, but typically settle down at bedtime.

 

I know there are some others here who are in the midst of a similar experience and thought maybe a support forum might be helpful.

 

It actually makes sense that this would happen.

 

Think about this, Antibiotics typically work on your intestinal track, now currently we don't understand how Antidepressants drugs target sites in the body to attack such as a UTI being infected, but we understand that most antibiotic are absorbed and broken down in the intestinal track. The intestinal track house the most neurotransmitters besides the brain in the entire body, hell 90% of serotonin is created there, 79% of GABA is focused and runs through the intestinal track while Dopamine last I checked is theorized to house 93% but that studies was a 1997. I've yet to see any new data coming out of there as of yet.

 

Now I haven't seen any reports showing any reports showing that the antibiotic you were on interacts with GABA, but it does rid both good and bad bacteria... Most people believe that antibiotics only go after the bad, it actually goes after both throughingnthe Nervous system off balance which is already screwed up. It makes sense that a antibiotic would serious mess the nanervous system up enough cause a set back.

 

I hope you're okay. Do you feel like you're doing better?

 

It actually makes sense that this would happen.

 

Think about this, Antibiotics typically work on your intestinal track, now currently we don't understand how Antidepressants drugs target sites in the body to attack such as a UTI being infected, but we understand that most antibiotic are absorbed and broken down in the intestinal track. The intestinal track house the most neurotransmitters besides the brain in the entire body, hell 90% of serotonin is created there, 79% of GABA is focused and runs through the intestinal track while Dopamine last I checked is theorized to house 93% but that studies was a 1997. I've yet to see any new data coming out of there as of yet.

 

Now I haven't seen any reports showing any reports showing that the antibiotic you were on interacts with GABA, but it does rid both good and bad bacteria... Most people believe that antibiotics only go after the bad, it actually goes after both throughingnthe Nervous system off balance which is already screwed up. It makes sense that a antibiotic would serious mess the nanervous system up enough cause a set back.

 

I hope you're okay. Do you feel like you're doing better?

 

Thanks for breaking this down, it makes sense to me and I've certainly watched enough members suffer after taking antibiotics to lend credence to what you're saying.

Antibiotics are what put me in this current situation.

 

It started a wd I didn’t Know I had.

 

They gave me these drugs 17 years ago in the hospital for 6 weeks while on bed rest with my youngest!

Still can’t believe they did that. Give me 1mg Ativan while pregnant

 

I walked off no problem.

 

Then taking antibiotics for COVID pneumonia put me here.

 

Crazy how life can change in an instant.

 

A lot of people are here from antibiotics!

 

I always knew and believed in the gut/brain axis.

Now we all know it’s true

 

Crazy how much I distrust drs now.

 

Winnie

After doing well for 17 months off benzos, I had to have some necessary surgery.  The anesthesia and surgery itself have put me into a bad, bad wave/setback.

 

Crushing depression, anxiety and the horrible hopelessness of benzo withdrawal. Also have skin burning, sweating, nausea and lots of uncontrollable crying.

 

Its been about a month and while I have had a handful of days where I felt decent, the rest of the time has been brutally hard. I worry that I will never heal again and after experiencing wellness, its been heartbreaking.

 

Any encouragement would be greatly appreciated especially by those who have recovered.  I need to find some hope again.

 

Final Healing

After doing well for 17 months off benzos, I had to have some necessary surgery.  The anesthesia and surgery itself have put me into a bad, bad wave/setback.

 

Crushing depression, anxiety and the horrible hopelessness of benzo withdrawal. Also have skin burning, sweating, nausea and lots of uncontrollable crying.

 

Its been about a month and while I have had a handful of days where I felt decent, the rest of the time has been brutally hard. I worry that I will never heal again and after experiencing wellness, its been heartbreaking.

 

Any encouragement would be greatly appreciated especially by those who have recovered.  I need to find some hope again.

 

Final Healing

 

Hi Final Healing,

 

Do you know exactly what medications were given to you during this surgery? Did you request no benzo's? Was there the possibility you were given a Fluoroquinolone AB or a steriod?

 

You will absolutely heal, setbacks are more common then we think but it does not mean that you are permanently damaged! Your body just needs a bit more time to return to baseline but it absolutely will!

 

At one month out from my AB setback I was still really struggling. It got better and better as time went on! You will heal! Believe it!

 

After doing well for 17 months off benzos, I had to have some necessary surgery.  The anesthesia and surgery itself have put me into a bad, bad wave/setback.

 

Crushing depression, anxiety and the horrible hopelessness of benzo withdrawal. Also have skin burning, sweating, nausea and lots of uncontrollable crying.

 

Its been about a month and while I have had a handful of days where I felt decent, the rest of the time has been brutally hard. I worry that I will never heal again and after experiencing wellness, its been heartbreaking.

 

Any encouragement would be greatly appreciated especially by those who have recovered.  I need to find some hope again.

 

Final Healing

 

Hi Final Healing,

 

Do you know exactly what medications were given to you during this surgery? Did you request no benzo's? Was there the possibility you were given a Fluoroquinolone AB or a steriod?

 

You will absolutely heal, setbacks are more common then we think but it does not mean that you are permanently damaged! Your body just needs a bit more time to return to baseline but it absolutely will!

 

At one month out from my AB setback I was still really struggling. It got better and better as time went on! You will heal! Believe it!

 

Hi,

 

Thank you so much for responding. I was given Profonol and then was woken up with something called Fluzamel?.  I will have to look at the antibiotic. I requested no benzos, opiods or Fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Have to look it up again.

 

Your encouragement makes me tearful and I so appreciate it. The surgery was on July 19th, so about a month.

I'm trying to believe I will heal but with the mental symtoms, its been hard. 

 

If there is anything else that helped you? I eat well when I can, and don't have alcohol, sugar or caffeine.

 

FH

Hello, Final healing.  Was the medication you were given Flumazenil (also known as flumazepil) perchance?  If so, it’s a selective GABAA receptor antagonist.

Hello, Final healing.  Was the medication you were given Flumazenil (also known as flumazepil) perchance?  If so, it’s a selective GABAA receptor antagonist.

 

I can't find the results now. After being well for a good period, I just need hope that I can heal.

FH,

 

You will absolutely heal! Even if you read back through this thread alone you'll come across a dozen stories of people who have had major setbacks and have overcome them! You will heal from this, just give it time!

FH,

 

You will absolutely heal! Even if you read back through this thread alone you'll come across a dozen stories of people who have had major setbacks and have overcome them! You will heal from this, just give it time!

 

Thank you. I can't hear that enough! 🙏

I'm going to loosely track my healing from this setback.

 

Today I'm having a dirty window. I'm not in the mental agony I was but I'm certainly not where I was a month ago. Unfair, I know to compare but I do feel great sadness about losing my previous foundation of wellness.

 

But a a dirty window is better than no window. So I want to make sure I note it.

FH,

 

I did the same and I found it to be very helpful, that way you can at least go back and see that there HAS been progress because sometimes it sure doesn't feel like it.

 

I completely understand the disheartened/disappointment/frustration you are feeling about being in this setback. Its so unfair that for whatever reason only some of us suffer from setbacks and due to things like being given or taking medication that we HAD to take.

 

I can promise you that you will get better from this. I have been digging into setbacks for just shy a year now and I can promise you that I have yet to come across anyone who hasn't overcome their setback. What I have come across is MANY stories of people who had severe setbacks and then went on to heal and take the exact same down the road and do totally fine with it. Right now your system was just still sensitive. It wont be sensitive forever. You will overcome this.

FH,

 

I did the same and I found it to be very helpful, that way you can at least go back and see that there HAS been progress because sometimes it sure doesn't feel like it.

 

I completely understand the disheartened/disappointment/frustration you are feeling about being in this setback. Its so unfair that for whatever reason only some of us suffer from setbacks and due to things like being given or taking medication that we HAD to take.

 

I can promise you that you will get better from this. I have been digging into setbacks for just shy a year now and I can promise you that I have yet to come across anyone who hasn't overcome their setback. What I have come across is MANY stories of people who had severe setbacks and then went on to heal and take the exact same down the road and do totally fine with it. Right now your system was just still sensitive. It wont be sensitive forever. You will overcome this.

 

Thanks so much. Anytime I hear about successful healing from a setback, it encourages me.

A very tough night and I'm pretty sick today. Lots of sweating and terrible mental symptoms.

 

I'm so discouraged and scared by this. Can't assess any hope that this will pass.