Short Term User Long Term Survivor

August 4th, 2015 was the worst day of my life. I havent been on here in a long time but I wanted to come back and give you hope.

 

I had only ever had Panic attacks after my thyroid cancer in relation to heights and one very long bridge before the day I woke up having rolling panic attacks that caused me to rush to see my doctor who prescribed me Ativan to be taken once a day. In the first week I only took it a few times but by the end of the Second week I was needing it every day. Then twice a day. By day 24 I had to taken a total of 10(1mg) pills in 3 days and it still wasnt helping. What resulted was the most fearful and terrifying 6 months of my life. Horrible fear with windows and waves that very slowly got better. It was almost a year before I felt mostly normal again. I worked the whole time but it was extremely difficult to function. I was very agoraphobic and my job required a lot of driving.

 

Since then my wife and I have adopted a baby who just turned 3 and I'm now working my dream job but it hasnt been all peaches and cream. At 18 months I started having severe dizziness issues, it got worse and worse then the brain fog and tension headaches came back. Next came the anxiety and I was scared and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. I begged God to show me what was causing the issues and with the TV on in the next room I over heard a commercial about a class action lawsuit against Prilosec. I was taking Prilosec and thought let me look into the side effects of this drug that I have taken off and on for years. That was what when I found out that long term Prilosec use, more than 2 weeks, can cause all of the many side effects that I was having. I also learned that it absolutely shouldn't be taken with Benzos as it can highly increase the potency of the drug. I realized at that point that every period of anxiety that I have had could be related back to long term Prilosec use including while I was taking Ativan and during withdrawal.

 

After quitting prilosec I was back to normal within 2 months and can officially say that I am way better than I have been in years. I guess I came back here to let you all know that if you are experiencing anxiety or severe withdrawals make sure to look at everything you are putting in your body even if you have taken it for years. Because even over the counter meds can have nasty side effects. And also to let those of you who are struggling with seemingly endless withdrawal know that it does get better. God Bless you all.

Glad you are doing better! Thanks for coming back and sharing. You are so right that many drugs can have drastic side effects that can lead to major problems, especially when combined with other drugs. Doctors should be more proactive in cross checking patients drugs and explaining all possible outcomes. I was on Nexium for many years and also got off of it in addition to benzos because of absorption differences it can cause on other drugs. I had to wean off of it also, but have had less gastro issues since getting off of it than I have in years.

Happy for your success 

 

B strong

Thanks for sharing!  I took prilosec off and on while I was on benzos too and my doctors knew.  I had no idea it interacted with them and they didn't mention anything.  Interestingly, there's not much discussion about it on this forum.  At least not like some other drugs like antibiotics.  Perhaps it's because the proton pump inhibitors reduce the clearance and cause them to stay in your system longer whereas the issues discussed here are mostly related to w/d or perhaps.  Could be that not many people take a PPI too.  Glad you are feeling better!

I too find it rather odd that the interactions between PPIs and Benzos arent mentioned here. It definitely seems that Prilosec was causing many of my symptoms to be exacerbated. And upon looking into it, Prilosec causes many of those symptoms as well as it shouldn't be taken with Benzos.