Weight gain?

Anyone else had significant weight gain from tapering down or going cold turkey on the benzos?  I've seen that people have had weight loss but this is not the case for me.  I've gained almost 30 pounds from when I stopped taking my benzo.  I have extreme fatigue and seems my metabolism has slowed way down.  Anyone else experience weight gain and not weight loss?

I've gained. I'm hoping it's just that with all the sx I've become very inactive. I hope it's not a change in metabolism - or if it is, that will rebalance itself, too, with time.

Think it’s from ourselves being sedated from the effects of medication or lack of medication during post tapers but it’s mainly lack of exercise. If you put more in your body than you burn out than you’ll gain weight. It sucks. I have little man boobs now that I never had before. Embarrassing to say the least.

During my taper I lost weight, gained it back for a short time after stopping, and now I'm steadily losing weight with exercise and diet.  Benzos mostly caused me to gain weight bc of decreased activity and an increase in appetite.

Yes, because I am hungry to the point of panic all day every day.

I am still tapering and it causes so much stress to my body that I keep losing weight.  I am not off it yet, wish I were, even if it meant I'd gain weight.  The sxs are horrible and I can't even bear the thought of being on this for years tapering.  SIGH.

 

 

ASHTONS MANUAL:

 

Considerable loss of weight (8-10lb or more) sometimes occurs in withdrawal. This may be due to a rebound effect on appetite, since benzodiazepines have been shown to increase appetite in animals. On the other hand, some people gain weight in withdrawal. In any case, weight changes are not severe enough to worry about and normal weight is soon regained after withdrawal. A few people have difficulty in swallowing food - the throat seems to tighten up especially if eating in company. This is usually a sign of anxiety and is well-known in anxiety states. Practising relaxation, eating alone, taking small well chewed mouthfuls with sips of liquid and not hurrying make things easier and the symptom settles as anxiety levels decline.

Yeah, I've gained about 20 pounds in the first two months off. I'm on month four now and been able to hold my weight steady but it hasn't been easy. I'd like to lose 10 of it but I can only exercise so much before my symptoms are aggregated.

Yes. 3 months and 40 lbs

My story is a bit different but might ring true for some of you.

I took benzos every night for thirty years. That alone is awful. During those thirty years I slowly gained weight. I always used food as my comfort measure. I did not get love from my family so food became my sole support. And I became obese.

In 2003 I weighed 292 lbs. I am only 5'4", so I was pretty huge! I had good insurance then and found a surgeon to do a weight loss surgery on me. Back then, they still did whats called a RNY. Open surgery. Big incision. the stomach is stapled shut and sewn tightly, giving you only a one ounce stomach. Normal stomachs are about 6 ounces. I had some post op troubles and the first year after I felt just awful. I could NOT eat without throwing up. I lost weight rapidly. I ended up losing over 150 lbs. I got down to 130 lbs and looked damn good.

But because I was on benzos (which often numb your appetite) I still lost more weight. Right before I went CT off benzos and ACs I weighed 85 freaking lbs. A human stick with breast. LOL!  And THEN withdrawal kicked in and I probably lost another couple pounds. In my first year post CT I ate so much candy (all I could handle, due to nausea) I gained a bit of weight back. I was thrilled when I reached 108 lbs. Still WAY too thin. I had to buy jeans in the kids department, for crying out loud! That was humiliating. Back then I needed a walker to walk, thanks to injuries due to benzos. Saleswomen always wanted to mother me - I must have looked like I had a terminal disease.

 

Now - almost 7 years later, I STILL have trouble keeping weight on. I am now up to about 116 lbs. I look good for an older woman. I am benzo and AD free and I feel wonderful!

I have gotten several PMs from people who think people really don't heal from this stuff (benzos). But we sure do.

 

Interesting how our stories differ in some ways and are so similar in others.

Never give up. You will heal.

east

Thx East Coast for sharing your story....inspiring👍🏼💕.

 

BB.

I've gained 22 pounds since I started my taper. I don't feel like to diet (as I'm still have annoying symptoms) and I don't make any exercise as I am really fatigued.

Only one thing comforts me: I am off benzo!!

 

Whenever I feel better I will start a diet...

Some people gain weight in recovery while other people lose weight.

 

After I c/t I lost 7-9 pds literally over night, dropped to 99 pds (I also lost all of my muscles). It took about 2 months for me to be able to gain the weight back as well as my muscles returning. The reason we lose weight or gain weight is due to our HPA Axis not being balanced.

I found that Benzo robbed my appetite. I'll have a glass of wine or two and force myself to eat during the taper process for nutrition, otherwise, forget food. I have stayed about the same, now I'm not sure when I'm completely done but I do notice a change in stomach and more bloating.

Anyone else had significant weight gain from tapering down or going cold turkey on the benzos?  I've seen that people have had weight loss but this is not the case for me.  I've gained almost 30 pounds from when I stopped taking my benzo.  I have extreme fatigue and seems my metabolism has slowed way down.  Anyone else experience weight gain and not weight loss?

 

On or off benzo's anything is weight gain or lose

possible including blaming the benzo's for everything.  In my case I lost 36.lbs in C/T in 2012 I just hated the taste of food but the truth was I hated the toilet more.  In order to go people have to relax.  To me this was like trying to use the rest room of a 747 Jet that had just lost a wing and was on fire.  "My I use the rest room please?, I'll just ignore the fire,screaming and the smell of hot petrol getting ready to explode"  Inevitably I become afraid to eat bcs. of the consequences of eating.  That was in my full blown psychosis era which lasted 4 months.

This bad trip made 100 hits of purple-haze look like a light beer to me and I've used both.

Benzo's are absolutely brutal in C/T!  I will never "muscle" my way through it again. 

The benzo won and it was the only drug that kicked my ass and I did them all and often. Something about killing enough brain cells so I could blend into society. Long story but I have a masters degree and never studied for tests and I got skipped a grade from 8th to 10th.

The only drug that destroyed my life were benzo's and the trouble started only when I quit and I could never get back to that same spot which makes this drug extra bizarre. 

I'll have to be honest here. Looking back I only made 2 mistakes in my life.

 

#1. Starting benzo's for sleep.

#2. Quitting benzo's C/T 

 

Since I am sure most of my problems came from a 6 month C/T I will never know if a slow taper would have brought better results. I will never know now.

What ever you may do just do it slow and never cut during bad times because the calendar says so, wait until your feeling very well again.

 

If I had to do it all over again I'd cut until I could cut no more and then I's hold and I mean for life if necessary.

Sorry but It's just my opinion at this point in time, just how I feel about it honestly.

 

BENZO'S : The most brutal thing that ever happened to my life, my world!

 

MONSTERS do exist. They come in small Rx bottles and the real "RUB" is stopping

is when the trouble really starts. Should I have quit? I have my doubts! Again at least in my case I felt OK taking a steady dose. I feel worse now.  Sorry but

it's a question that's on my mind more and more since I think I have healed as much as

I am ever going to heal.  If this is a slap in the face to some well I am sorry but what ever you do put a lot of thought into it.

MONSTERS do exist. They come in small Rx bottles and the real "RUB" is stopping

is when the trouble really starts. Should I have quit? I have my doubts! Again at least in my case I felt OK taking a steady dose. I feel worse now.  Sorry but

it's a question that's on my mind more and more since I think I have healed as much as

I am ever going to heal.  If this is a slap in the face to some well I am sorry but what ever you do put a lot of thought into it.

 

Have you tried vigorous exercise? It may take a long time to get yourself fit enough to do it but for me, it is like a shot medicine. It perks me right up and is better than anything the benzos did for me and they did wonders. So much so I kept believing they were the only solution for over 12 years. Not so! Vigorous exercise especially brings me fuller life. As my fitness improves the benefit hangs around more between activity. Strive for top performance in your age group/class. When you reach close to there, suggest to reevaluate if you think you might need benzos again.

I lost 25 pounds in the first month after the CT.  I’ve gained back 6 pounds and I’m in month 4.  No appetite.

 

SS 

I lost about 25lbs in withdrawal/taper but because I tried. I also use food for comfort and have since I was 8 years old. I’d surely have gained if I just ate what I wanted which would have included sugar and other nasty refined carbs. I’ve done keto/low carb for the most part of my life since I was 16 and I’m 57 now.

No gain for me....I have lost a pretty good amount.

MONSTERS do exist. They come in small Rx bottles and the real "RUB" is stopping

is when the trouble really starts. Should I have quit? I have my doubts! Again at least in my case I felt OK taking a steady dose. I feel worse now.  Sorry but

it's a question that's on my mind more and more since I think I have healed as much as

I am ever going to heal.  If this is a slap in the face to some well I am sorry but what ever you do put a lot of thought into it.

 

Have you tried vigorous exercise? It may take a long time to get yourself fit enough to do it but for me, it is like a shot medicine. It perks me right up and is better than anything the benzos did for me and they did wonders. So much so I kept believing they were the only solution for over 12 years. Not so! Vigorous exercise especially brings me fuller life. As my fitness improves the benefit hangs around more between activity. Strive for top performance in your age group/class. When you reach close to there, suggest to reevaluate if you think you might need benzos again.

 

Thanks but its hard to do at 60 years old with arthritis setting in.

Hold on and don't lose heart! ☺

Given that when glutamate is injected in to rat’s hypothalamuses the effect is sustained, frenzied eating I am amazed more people in WD don’t have this panic driven compulsion to eat all day every day that I have had since November 2017.

I've gained about 15 lbs. Seem to have plateaued here but can't go down at all. I'm relatively youngish I guess at 31 6'2 and currently 215-220 and used to be able to eat pretty much anything and everything while staying around 195-205. Benzos have destroyed my metabolism. I do 10,000 steps a day averaging 600 cals a day burnt and still cant go below 215 while staying around 2000-2500 cals a day . So yeah benzos are evil in every way including for your waistline.

I have gained about 40 lbs since tapering and withdrawing off all my prescription drugs from 2015-2017. Its awful. The horrible withdrawal symptoms had me stuck in bed mostly and I didn't have that much energy for exercise. I previously exercised quite a bit, so the reduction in activity hit my waistline hard.

 

Also, I went through menopause and that is notorious for affecting women's weight, energy & mood. Double-whammy for me!

 

I have been increasing my exercise and eating healthily. I probably eat too big of portions, though. My stomach feels numb and it is hard to know when to stop. I am 5'3" and do not need to eat that much, but it is hard to tell my eyes that!

 

Hoping that continuing good habits will make a dent soon.

I wish i would gain weight lost 10 k