Anxiety Not Abating - Lexapro and Klonopin - What are people's experiences?

Hey all, I'll try and keep it quick, because I'm just trying to guage people's experiences in the past.

 

I'm currently on 20mg of Lexapro, and .75mg of Klonopin daily for General Anxiety Disorder and Insomnia. I've noticed recently that my muscle pain, twitching, and spasms in my glutes and lower back are really spiraling me into anxiety loops during the day and at night (muscle tremors, weak legs, not terrible, but enough to make me focus on calming those thoughts down for a good 15min to control them).

 

The thought of tapering anything at this point with these kind of symptoms is kind of scary (and my Dr. is not really a "pro-taper" or "anti-benzo") physician. How does one know if you're symptoms are GAD related or the drugs at this point? I can get through the day and even the nights ok, but its getting to be a struggle even just holding on this current medication... having a hard time summoning enough courage to even contemplate a taper with all these muscle spasm and general anxiety issues. What are peoples thoughts on this? How long did you medicate before you felt ready to taper, or how did you know you could tolerate it?

In your introductory post you mentioned "severe anxiety turned into muscle spasms/tremors, and insomnia which led to Klonopin use".  Was your diagnosis that your anxiety was causing all of this and Klonopin was then prescribed?

Yes, that's correct. I went through a period of about 3 months (from July-September) struggling with insomnia, back pain/tension, nausea, and eventually, towards the end, muscle tremors/spasms in my back. I was given ambien for a month before we all realized that wasn't the answer it was really an anxiety issue, that's when I was finally prescribed Klonopin and Lexapro at the same time for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The Lexapro was supposed to be the "long term" solution to help with the anxiety, and the Klonopin was just so that I could finally calm down and get some sleep. The Klonopin definitely stopped the muscle tremors at first and helped me relax and sleep and get back to "normal", but now now I'm a few months in and can't tell what symptoms are what anymore. And clearly, I've developed a dependence on the klonopin, cuz i failed a taper attempt on my own fairly recently... trying to sort things through as it seems symptoms are starting to creep back even with drugs at a contsant...

I can see you have a dilemma, tolerance to, dependence on and withdrawal symptoms will all mimic your original condition and I can see your rapid taper did you no favors.  I wonder if you would be better off updosing to an even higher dose than the one you've just arrived at?  Hopefully you could then stabilize and begin a slow and I mean slow taper in an effort to get off of the Klonopin. 

 

What do you think?  It sounds like your Dr isn't in a hurry for you to come off of the Klonopin so getting enough of a supply to do a slow taper wouldn't be a problem. 

Hi, do you work with a therapist at the same time or try to work on your GAD with other way than medication ?

Would be helpful

 

Xx

I wonder if you would be better off updosing to an even higher dose than the one you've just arrived at?  Hopefully you could then stabilize and begin a slow and I mean slow taper in an effort to get off of the Klonopin. What do you think?  It sounds like your Dr isn't in a hurry for you to come off of the Klonopin so getting enough of a supply to do a slow taper wouldn't be a problem.

 

@Pamster you are right, I've got a prescription for up to 2mg of Klonopin per day so I could easily updose... but... having just read two books about dependence on benzos and similar symptoms caused by benzo use, you can see my concern. It's actually causing my anxiety to take the klonopin at this point (dumb I know, but around and around we go on this vicious circle).

 

I guess my question would be to you and others who have gone through it, how would you define "stabilize". I feel like the muscle pains/aches/and especially tremors, cause me anxiety, but those in themselves may be caused by the lexapro/and or klonopin use too. Would you have any reccomendations to past forum posts or others dealing with that issue (muscle pain, tremors, etc). I'm reticent to "up" the Klonopin in case it makes it harder to come off...

Hi, do you work with a therapist at the same time or try to work on your GAD with other way than medication ?

 

Yeah @CarlaCarla, I'm definitely working with my therapist on the GAD for sure (going on 5 months now). We've done a lot of "digging" but we keep coming back to "the symptoms" themselves as causing me the majority of my anxiety.  Those symptoms being:

 

1) Muscle Pain and Reinjury

2) Muscle Tightness

3) Muscle Tremors (the worst)

4) Insomnia (aggravated by the muscle tremors and pain)

 

Trying to do breathing/meditation and even EFT excerices to get through the muscle/body issues during the day and in the middle of the night, and its helped a bit... just wondering if my meds are antagonizing these muscle issues, thereby keeping me in the loop.

 

Wondering what other people have done to try and break this or cope...

What about seeing a Physical Therapist, agent? I had such tight muscles (probably from anxiety) during my taper I didn't know what to do. A PT really helped me. As did starting an exercise program. In my case (I don't  like gyms) I started swimming. That really helped also. AND I faithfully did the exercises at home that my PT gave me.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Katz

How I describe stable is functional so what is functional, here is a thread that has some very good interpretations.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=253367.0

 

I absolutely understand your resistance to going up in dose and believe me I don't recommend this lightly but your symptoms started before you started taking benzo's and it's apparent they aren't helping.  I can understand the anxiety you're feeling by having to ingest what may be causing you more problems but this is the nature of a taper.  The trick is to do it without compounding your already unpleasant symptoms and that means a slow taper.  If you aren't comfortable going up in dose then holding for awhile longer might help, have you been at this dose for about a month?

 

As for muscle issues, its a common complain on the forum and the search function will yield many posts but not many solutions. 

What about seeing a Physical Therapist, agent?

 

Thanks Katz, yes been seeing one for a year! hehe. They've all given up on "solving" any of the issues with me. But yes in answer to your question, I've got a battery of stretches and excercises that I do daily to cope with it. Do you have favorites that helped you more than others?

Did you had those symptoms before the benzo ? When did then arrived ?

How I describe stable is functional so what is functional, here is a thread that has some very good interpretations.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=253367.0

 

pamsters, thanks for that, this is quite helpful and I've bookmarked this thread. Appreciate that. Yes I'd like to be able to still go to work, and I can currently. So I'd say I'm at a 6, maybe 7 on a good day, so that's not bad. Dropping to a 4/5 on the scale though would mean work would be out of the question, and that would be tough for my family situation, probably compounding anxiety... Anyway this is helpful, would give me a mental baseline to keep track of as I contemplate WHEN to start tapering... SLOWLY this time.

Did you had those symptoms before the benzo ? When did then arrived ?

 

Carla, yes I had these symptoms before I started benzos in September 2020. They came on fast though. Back pain and sleep issues were intermittent on and off for years but never chronic, they always resolved. However, I think a myriad of factors came together in July and August of 2020 that led to all these symptoms developing in the following order:

1) started with chronic back pain getting worse, lots of pulled muscles, knotting, etc

2) daily headaches in the evening

3) sleep issues eventually turned into full blown insomnia during August of 2020 at one point going 4 nights in a row without sleep and sending me to the ER in wiht a panic attack on night 4

4) muscle tremors started during the insomnia worsening faze in August, and were present for a month before starting benzos

 

So yes, had these symptoms before the benzos started in September. First time in my life they've become a "disorder"...

And don’t you find any relief about your worries and anxiety with the lexapro ? Before trying to taper too fast ?

And don’t you find any relief about your worries and anxiety with the lexapro ?

 

You know Carla, that's an interesting subject. I gotta be honest. The lexapro has helped with sleep somewhat (at least I think its the lexapro, but I've been doing klonopin too so who knows), but I'm not entirely sure that's its REALLY helped with anxiety symptoms. I don't get anxiety from things like work, or kids, or any of those issues anymore, so that's a change, but I do get anxiety from physical symptoms now... mainly muscle pain and aching... along with headaches, and if I should happen to wake up in the middle of the night, I worry about going back to sleep, but usually do after some meditation. I guess its complicated...

And why do you fear so much those physical symptoms ?

 

Are you sure it is really anxiety related in th first place? ...

And why do you fear so much those physical symptoms ? Are you sure it is really anxiety related in th first place? ...

 

Well thats the crux of it isn't it? The muscle spasms and tremors were SO bad when my insomnia was at its peak that I couldn't sleep because my whole back and neck were shaking and "spasming" uncontrollably. Was it as bad as a seizure? no, absolutely not. Was it bad enough that I couldn't sleep and couldn't calm them down no matter what I did? yes. So the muscle pain, spasms, and tightness are a constant reminder of those symptoms and that experience. The vicious circle of anxiety goes something like this: 1) get a muscle twinge, 2) think to myself "uh-oh was that a muscle spasm?" 3) start getting anxious about it turning into a full blown muscle tremor incident and not being able to sleep... and so on and so forth. Same thing with muscle pain. That cycle goes: 1) experience back, shoulder, and/or neck pain 2) think to myself, "man this isn't going away, I've done all my exercises and stretching! What the heck is wrong still?" 3) worry that I'm just making it worse with meds and the cycle will never end.

 

So there ya go. Of course, meditation and therapy helps you work through these issues... but it doesn't mean they go away...

Thank you for describing so well how this happens, I had no idea how interconnected the mind and body are when dealing with this kind of anxiety.  What a terrible cycle to be caught in, you're faced with some horrible choices, I'm sorry.