Trouble sleeping due to strong stomach pain...

Last night was some of the worst, I literally didn't sleep at all... and I never had insomnia issues before benzo w/d 

First, here's my taper schedule...

4/4 - Down to .70mg (from .75)

4/19 - Down to .675mg

4/30 - Down to .65mg

5/15 - Down to .625mg

Symptom-wise, it's been manageable, outside of these strong stomach pains that I've never had before. They started around 4/22.

It feels like stabbing, intermittent pains in my upper abdomen. It doesn't feel like any gut issues I've had in the past. It comes on with stress, physical exercise of all sorts, and most commonly and strongly, in the middle of the night while sleeping. My functional medicine doctor, to be cautious, had me rule out stones (ultrasound), ulcers (bloodwork), and H. Pylori (breath test).

My diet has been constant this whole time, so I believe it's neurological, related to benzodiazepine withdrawal.

Ginger, simethicone, Advil, and prescription Bentyl don't help. It's manageable during the day, but when it wakes me up at 2-3am and keeps me up for over an hour, I'm not sure what to do besides wait it out and at least manage my nighttime routines well without getting discouraged. If I hardly sleep at all, I try not to fall into the trap of "I'm not sleeping and the sleep deprivation will stunt the recovery process and it will be a vicious cycle!" ... I just try to go on with my day. The gut thing is also triggering some hypochrondia, like "Wait, I know it's just benzo wd, but... SHOULD I get an endoscopy?" Haha, maddening.

Does anyone have any tips for how to at least treat the symptoms while my body regulates? I heard of "benzo belly..." Is it really that common to get such strong gut symptoms? Did anyone else get similar symptoms, especially so early on?

Thank you so much for any help!!

When i was first going thru withdrawal stomach pains were one of the worst problems. I would wake up at night with stabbing pain in my stomach. I would be curled up in a fetal postition in bed with my stomach hurting. There were times when i thought I had a horrible ulcer or something else really wrong but it just kinda went away.

I think this will go away for you given some time.

I’m glad your doc is informed and checking for any other conditions that could cause the symptoms. We generally say that if everything else is ruled out it’s probably benzodiazepine related.

Have you tried a heating pad when this happens at night? If these are muscle related pains, heat may do wonders. Benzodiazepines are strong muscle relaxers so muscle issues are huge for most people coming off benzodiazepines.

Another thing you might try is eating something like soda crackers when this happens.  You might also try chamomile tea right before bed. I used to double bag chamomile in a small amount of hot water before bed.

Ah, thank you. Perhaps I can use a heating pad on my stomach the hour before bed?

I have been double-bagging chamomile at night, actually Sadly, it's hardly enough.

Bentyl is an anti-cholinergic muscle relaxer for the gut, but it didn't work for me... kind of made me feel worse.

The benzo wd wouldn't ~cause~ any long-term gut issues, yeah? Is this most likely muscular-skeletal spasms, or something more neurological?