A reassurance post?

I would love to hear some stories of symptoms everyone has experienced as in hope that I and others may find comfort in knowing we are not alone in our suffering. Stories of success would be fantastic too. I know some of us go through this alone without the help of a knowledgeable medical professional so a lot of what we feel is often dismissed as anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue...

Before I started tapering, I started to have more and more symptoms that I couldn’t figure out. My doctors couldn’t really either. I started to realize it was the Xanax and a phycologist I was seeing suggested tapering in 2020. It was 2019 at the time.  my symptoms were:

 

shakiness between doses.

 

Morning rumination, daily worrying about the future.

 

Morning panic attacks followed by depression.

 

Extreme restlessness culminating in a move to another state, buying a fixer upper, taking a three-month trip to Africa to see family, putting up that house for sale, moving back home and feeling like I just had to keep running from everything.

 

Burning skin was very bad at times, restless legs.

 

Since I have started my taper the morning panic attacks have mostly subsided.

 

The rumination is about 75 percent better, the restlessness is better but still an issue.

 

The shakiness comes and goes but is better than it was before I started tapering.

 

After starting my taper:

 

Brain fog/cognition issues

Memory loss

Short- and long-term memory issues

Confusion

Exhaustion

Fatigue

Headaches

Benzo flu

Stomach aches

Tingling

Itching skin

Feeling like bugs are crawling on me

Eye strain

Increased ocd

Increased tinnitus

Increased general anxiety

Increased muscle pain

Increased weight gain

Skin burning (less than before I started tapering)

Tingling around face and mouth

Allergies

Sensitive to light and sound

Increase in tmj pain

Trouble formulating thoughts

Trouble walking

Balance issues

Extreme dizziness

Gerd

Muscle weakness, shakiness

Depression (less than before I started tapering)

 

These symptoms come and go. Tinnitus is ever present, but most others are worse when I cut a dose and vary from day to day and even throughout the day. I can have windows where I feel great and two hours later have a wave where my whole body is a mess. Today I woke up with a cortisol spike and was shaking all over. An hour later I felt fine and did yoga and made fresh juice. Now I'm shaky and feeling a headache and benzo flu. The good news is that overall, these symptoms are slowly getting better as my dose gets lower. 

 

Before I started tapering, I started to have more and more symptoms that I couldn’t figure out. My doctors couldn’t really either. I started to realize it was the Xanax and a phycologist I was seeing suggested tapering in 2020. It was 2019 at the time.  my symptoms were:

 

shakiness between doses.

 

Morning rumination, daily worrying about the future.

 

Morning panic attacks followed by depression.

 

Extreme restlessness culminating in a move to another state, buying a fixer upper, taking a three-month trip to Africa to see family, putting up that house for sale, moving back home and feeling like I just had to keep running from everything.

 

Burning skin was very bad at times, restless legs.

 

Since I have started my taper the morning panic attacks have mostly subsided.

 

The rumination is about 75 percent better, the restlessness is better but still an issue.

 

The shakiness comes and goes but is better than it was before I started tapering.

 

After starting my taper:

 

Brain fog/cognition issues

Memory loss

Short- and long-term memory issues

Confusion

Exhaustion

Fatigue

Headaches

Benzo flu

Stomach aches

Tingling

Itching skin

Feeling like bugs are crawling on me

Eye strain

Increased ocd

Increased tinnitus

Increased general anxiety

Increased muscle pain

Increased weight gain

Skin burning (less than before I started tapering)

Tingling around face and mouth

Allergies

Sensitive to light and sound

Increase in tmj pain

Trouble formulating thoughts

Trouble walking

Balance issues

Extreme dizziness

Gerd

Muscle weakness, shakiness

Depression (less than before I started tapering)

 

These symptoms come and go. Tinnitus is ever present, but most others are worse when I cut a dose and vary from day to day and even throughout the day. I can have windows where I feel great and two hours later have a wave where my whole body is a mess. Today I woke up with a cortisol spike and was shaking all over. An hour later I felt fine and did yoga and made fresh juice. Now I'm shaky and feeling a headache and benzo flu. The good news is that overall, these symptoms are slowly getting better as my dose gets lower.

 

 

Thank you for sharing! Your story doesn't sound too far off from mine as far as symptoms tho I have been spared the tinnitus.

 

I can relate to symptoms morphing in nature and varying in degree from hour to hour.  Lately, I have been having some good windows, with short spurts of tiredness and headaches.  Had 1/2 day feeling pretty good yesterday, but by evening I felt benzo flu coming on.  Yep, awoke this morning to full blown benzo flu and can’t get out of bed.  Uuggggg.....now just have to wait it out.  How are you feeling today.

I have successfully tapered and been benzo free now 1 month.  This took 14 months to complete.  I had an attempted taper previous, and reinstated. That taper was 7 months.  So, I had some kindling which added to the challenges.

 

Symptoms were many and not all the time.  I had some very sick days and some not sick at all days.  I had days where I felt good then awful then good.  I had some reductions that were easy and some that were brutal.  Sometimes I could only taper 2%, other times I could taper 10 or 12%.  2% could leave me feeling horrible, 10% might feel like no problem.  Or vice versa.

 

Symptoms were:

benzo flu

inner and outer trembling of entire body

brain shocks and zaps

electric shocks through out my body

powerful body jerks

hot cold flashes

burning crawling skin

sensory overload to sound and light

auditory hallucinations (loud bangs, an angry voice)

extreme fatigue

itchy skin, tingling feet

loss of hair

tinnitus

panic, anxiety

spontaneous and long nose bleed

high blood pressure

derealization

intense allergies, eyes burn and itch

food sensitivities

weight on chest, breathing difficult

violent nightmares

akathasia (spelling?) , restless need to move

depression, suicidal thoughts, lack of emotion

 

None of these were constant.  Symptoms do not last.  They come and go.  The worst for me was the suicidal thoughts and the panic. 

 

I no longer have any of these symptoms.  My hair grew back.  I can eat what I want now.  I sleep very well.  I have occasional mild intermittent tinnitus.  It is not an issue and it will pass, too.

 

We heal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After starting my taper:

 

Brain fog/cognition issues

Memory loss

Short- and long-term memory issues

Confusion

...

These symptoms come and go. Tinnitus is ever present, but most others are worse when I cut a dose and vary from day to day and even throughout the day. I can have windows where I feel great and two hours later have a wave where my whole body is a mess. Today I woke up with a cortisol spike and was shaking all over. An hour later I felt fine and did yoga and made fresh juice. Now I'm shaky and feeling a headache and benzo flu. The good news is that overall, these symptoms are slowly getting better as my dose gets lower.

 

SRR, I'm glad you said this because memory issues, cognitive issues, brain fog, and confusion have been my biggest and most consistent issues since tapering below .5 mg of lorazepam.  So much so that I have spent a good deal of time being terrified that I am experiencing early dementia.  I don't hear too much about these issues on benzo buddies in general.  I've had basically ONE window of 2.5 days in the past year, and I still have a ways to go in my taper.  Anyway it's encouraging to hear that it's not just me, and that overall your symptoms are slowly getting better as you go lower in your taper. 

 

I guess we all need reassurance.

 

Haimona