cold turkey, suffering for a (very) long time. some questions

Hey,

i quit benzo's cold turkey around three years ago and ssri's around two and a half years ago, also cold turkey.  alot of my symptoms diminished or eased a bit but i am  still suffering from withdrawal, windows and wave's.. and can not work....

the main symptoms i suffer from :

*head pressure

* memory / cognition problems

* anhedonia

* hangover feeling in the morning

* morning depression

* nightmares

* cortisol mornings

* tinnitus

* sometimes - fatigue

i would like to ask about a particular symptom i'm having ,if anybody felt something similar and what can i do to help it. i work as dj, and after every night that i'm djing in , my  symptoms get alot worse,  i'm 100% sure about the correlation. i get these intense pressure headaches , i feel a bit sick like an intense hangover and  can't sleep more than 3-4 hours. does it make sense that all of this happens from exposure to noise ? did it happen to anybody here ? is there something to do , apart from using earplugs? why does it happen ? and most importantly , can it cause a setback in my healingg ? do i injure my braing with the loud noise each time and undo the healing i have made ? is that an option ?

it is very frustrating because the djing is my main income and i just can't stop.

other than that, i would just like to know, are there other people who  suffer this long after cold turkey ? (almost three years) does it really  end ? it's already hard to  believe after all these years...

on  the good side, alot of the mental symptoms have diminished, anxiety etc and i do get alot more windows. but life is still very hard...

also it's important to note that i'm not sure what caused my state... is it the ssri withdrawal (paxil) or the benzo's.? but , does it really matter ? the symptoms are the same...

love and healing to everybody

Hello aii,

Welcome to Benzo Buddies!  Sometimes healing from benzo withdrawal can take a while, especially if your central nervous system is also trying to recover from a cold turkey.  You also stopped an SSRI as well which can contribute to how you feel.

What benzo were you taking and at what dose?

What you describe is pretty common for withdrawal.  After stopping benzos, the cns is very fragile and extremely sensitive to stimulation. I think your system is reacting to the loud music and other effects.  I hope others will weigh in with ideas for you.  The only thing I can think of outside of using ear plugs is to try to find time to do some deep belly breathing.  Additionally, if possible I would try to find a 'quiet' place during breaks.

I'll give you a link to the Post Withdrawal Recovery Board. You can post questions there and receive feedback from members.

I'll also give you a link to the Ashton Manual. Although it discusses tapering in detail, it also give good information about the withdrawal process in general. The manual was written by Dr. Heather Ashton, an expert in the field.

I'm glad you've joined the forum. There is a lot of good information and support here as you continue to recover.

Post-withdrawal Recovery Support 

The Ashton Manual

pianogirl 

hey, thanks for  the reply.

i took xanax daily for 4 months, got addicted  pretty fast and then stopped cold  turkey, listening to the (very bad) advice of my psychiatrist. truth is i don't even know or remember the dosage... i just did what my psychiatrist  told  me  to do.. i just remember that near the end i used to take a pill every six hours to stop the intense withdrawal symptoms, which were crazy electric like feelings in my head and 24/7 panic/ terror, no appetite etc' . the crazy hellish acute phase ended after about a week and i have been on this journey ever since...

i  have been more active in the ssri forums till recently , when i noticed that my symptoms are alot more common and discussed here (especially the head pressure, memory problems etc)

i've been having pretty good waves the past 6 months. but i'm a bit pessimistic right now as i'm in an intense wave...

how common is this 3 years after cold turkey ? how come other people heal after a year ? is there something i can do ?

i've been eating really healthy, no gluten ,no sugar and processed foods (no alcohol goes without saying) and also my sleep got alot better ! i sleep around 8 straight hours every day. the mornings on the other hand are like a russian roulette. sometimes i'm kinda fine and most of the times i feel like i got hit by a truck and it takes me around 4-5 hours to feel better.

i stopped taking most of the supplements that i took... it doesn't really matter that much , good and bad waves come notwithstanding.

i wish i knew that there is an end to this... i've been through so much pain, and i just want to know that if i sit it out eventually i would be able to function normally. the lack of feelings and cognitive problems are the worse.

ah , and also a lot of my food sensitivities got a lot better , so that's less of an issue.

well, i've rambled enough, if anybody has some encouraging thoughts or tips, it would be great to hear. 

(especially about the loud noise stuff...)

love and healing to all

Hey,

i quit benzo's cold turkey around three years ago and ssri's around two and a half years ago, also cold turkey.  alot of my symptoms diminished or eased a bit but i am  still suffering from withdrawal, windows and wave's.. and can not work....

 

the main symptoms i suffer from :

*head pressure

* memory / cognition problems

* anhedonia

* hangover feeling in the morning

* morning depression

* nightmares

* cortisol mornings

* tinnitus

* sometimes - fatigue

 

i would like to ask about a particular symptom i'm having ,if anybody felt something similar and what can i do to help it. i work as dj, and after every night that i'm djing in , my  symptoms get alot worse,  i'm 100% sure about the correlation. i get these intense pressure headaches , i feel a bit sick like an intense hangover and  can't sleep more than 3-4 hours. does it make sense that all of this happens from exposure to noise ? did it happen to anybody here ? is there something to do , apart from using earplugs? why does it happen ? and most importantly , can it cause a setback in my healingg ? do i injure my braing with the loud noise each time and undo the healing i have made ? is that an option ?

it is very frustrating because the djing is my main income and i just can't stop.

 

other than that, i would just like to know, are there other people who  suffer this long after cold turkey ? (almost three years) does it really  end ? it's already hard to  believe after all these years...

 

on  the good side, alot of the mental symptoms have diminished, anxiety etc and i do get alot more windows. but life is still very hard...

 

also it's important to note that i'm not sure what caused my state... is it the ssri withdrawal (paxil) or the benzo's.? but , does it really matter ? the symptoms are the same...

 

love and healing to everybody

I pretty much have the exact same symptoms... 34months out. And I tapered in a 2 month period very rapidly. Unfortunately my fatigue and depression carry through the day.

I was also polydrugged during the 2 years I was on Benzos so I'm not sure whether it's the AD's or the Benzo's that caused the most damage. Probably both.

And I wish I could say that it ends... but I'm not quite so sure anymore. It looks like most people heal if that gives you any peace of mind.