I took a second rescue dose and now I feel terrible

Hi!

-I was done tapering in November

-I had a 10mg V rescue dose at the start of April

-About 7-14 days after that I got a really bad stomach

-2 days ago I got an endoscopy and I took 3mg V to calm me down

-Yesterday I felt my stomach problem went almost away

-Today I feel like crap and stomach is bad

 

So what happened? When does it peak? How long will this continue?

This is not what a rescue dose is. This is important to clear up. A rescue dose is something you do in withdrawal, while actually tapering, if you've gone too fast etc... Once you're off, it's called "reinstating" and it's not done. I've notices a couple of people have misunderstood the term. Anyway, it's not good for you. It turns back time, not by a lot necessarily, I don't really know. The thing is to stop equating coping with taking a pill because if you keep doing this you will not heal. You won't. I don't know how long it will take. No one does. Probably not long (like a few days, maybe a week), but your body has told you loud and clear now that it doesn't like this. I'm sorry, but thinking that taking a pill post continuing and calling it a rescue dose as if it's a withdrawal aid is false. I don't know how this got started.

This is not what a rescue dose is. This is important to clear up. A rescue dose is something you do in withdrawal, while actually tapering, if you've gone too fast etc... Once you're off, it's called "reinstating" and it's not done. I've notices a couple of people have misunderstood the term. Anyway, it's not good for you. It turns back time, not by a lot necessarily, I don't really know. The thing is to stop equating coping with taking a pill because if you keep doing this you will not heal. You won't. I don't know how long it will take. No one does. Probably not long (like a few days, maybe a week), but your body has told you loud and clear now that it doesn't like this. I'm sorry, but thinking that taking a pill post continuing and calling it a rescue dose as if it's a withdrawal aid is false. I don't know how this got started.

 

Thanks for the reply. I agree, but reinstating sounds like you are going back on your regular dose on a steady diet, not just one dose.

I agree candysmandy. 

 

Dee

But I'd avoid going in for second helpings. 

 

Dee

This is not what a rescue dose is. This is important to clear up. A rescue dose is something you do in withdrawal, while actually tapering, if you've gone too fast etc... Once you're off, it's called "reinstating" and it's not done. I've notices a couple of people have misunderstood the term. Anyway, it's not good for you. It turns back time, not by a lot necessarily, I don't really know. The thing is to stop equating coping with taking a pill because if you keep doing this you will not heal. You won't. I don't know how long it will take. No one does. Probably not long (like a few days, maybe a week), but your body has told you loud and clear now that it doesn't like this. I'm sorry, but thinking that taking a pill post continuing and calling it a rescue dose as if it's a withdrawal aid is false. I don't know how this got started.

 

Marina,

 

I have never heard your take on rescue dose versus reinstating (my ignorance doesn’t mean anything), but here’s how I look at it.

 

It doesn’t matter if you’re tapering or you are post withdrawal; what matters is how much and how long you take the benzo that defines whether it’s a rescue dose or a reinstatement.  At least that’s how I’ve understood the difference.

 

A rescue dose, from what I’ve read is a “one or two off” event; a reinstatement is continuing to take the drug for a couple weeks or more.  I don’t believe that taking a rescue dose constitutes “going back to square one.”  Reinstating, however, does set back the clock.

 

Before I knew I had even taken a benzo, I was on another forum.  I thought my withdrawal was from Gabapentin.  I had only taken Ativan sporadically for two months, very low dose and inconsistent, not daily.  During acute (four months into WD) I took .5 mg Ativan when my akathesia was off the charts.  Are you saying I reinstated and started the process all over again, as if I hadn’t put in four months of healing?  I really don’t think that’s the case.

 

If someone takes a rescue dose, I thinks it’s important to downplay that event and encourage people to STOP RIGHT THERE so a rescue dose doesn’t turn into reinstatement.

 

Do you have any links you can provide where others have come to the same conclusion you have?  I have no links, just my observations and personal experience with a one-off rescue dose, which didn’t wipe out four months of recovery with one .5mg Ativan.

 

Sofa

Candys,

 

I feel very strongly that you did not reinstate and wipe out your recovery to this point.  Just stay off the benzos from here on out and you’ll be fine.

 

Sofa

Agree with sofa, Marina. 

 

I don't see candys as reinstating either.

 

Hi, candys. 

 

To "reinstate" means to return to a continued dose over time imho. 

 

Dee

I CT’d from 4 mg of xanax Sept 1, 2018. By Oct 22, 2018, my panic attacks had become so unbearable, that I took the .5 mg of Ativan that was offered to me in the ER. It actually helped & I made it a few more weeks until my panic got the best of me again Nov 8, 2018. So while in the ER, I decided to take the 5 mg of Valium the doctor had offered me. This was the last benzo I consumed & now I’m about 99% recovered. I would only consider both of these to be rescue doses bc I did not continue taking them after the panic part of acute was over. I don’t believe this delayed my recovery in anyway. The doses seemed to b too small to have any negative affects, but still large enough to be helpful. I had also unknowingly been in tolerance withdrawal for over 2 years, severely kindled, drank on the weekends, took opioids daily, & used other medications & drugs during this process. What about those that didn’t taper? One or two doses while in acute is definitely not a reinstatement. I’ll gladly never take another benzo. And after I learned what triggered my panic & how I could control it, I didn’t see any need for another dose. Here I am, 7 month’s down the road, running 3-10 miles a day, about to start a new career, able to eat, drink, & take just about anything I want & feel the best I have felt in well over 3 year’s. So just bc you took a dose to help with your stomach pain, doesn’t mean that it will delay your healing. Hope these issues ease up for u soon, take care, & all the best in healing

Can I ask how you are feeling now a few months later?  Is the stomach pain better?  I ask because I am going through something similar now.