Help!! Can't breathe!!!

For some reason I just can't get a good breath. This started about an hour ago. I've had difficulty since gastro problems got bad and pain on right side but NEVER like this.

 

I know I have made big and rapid cuts in the last week and have not any unmanageable sx yet but I can't live without air. Is this a benzo WD symptom or do I need to go to an ER? I'm only 79 pounds and the blood draws and tests in ER might end my life as I've given a hundred or more vials of blood in the last 6 months. I'm too depleted for more hospital "care" and then being dismissed in even worse shape. I can't sustain life anymore in any worse shape.

 

Is extreme shortness of breath a benzo wd sx? I can live through this if someone tells me its par for the course with tapering.

 

Please help. I really need an answer to this.

 

 

Most would say go to the doctor. I am not advising anything. All I can say is I've been off benzos for 3 1/2 months and had this problem for about 2 months now. Don't know what to do to make it go away. It has been more and less intense but is very intense for me now. If it doesn't go away soon I might have to go to the doctor just to make sure nothing else is going on. It is somewhat common w/d symptom though. Take care!

I'm sorry you are having this symptom, but I would have to say that you should go to the doctor.  With your weight being so low you really need to take care of your entire system right now.  I would hope they would have a record of your latest blood tests so perhaps no more would be required.

 

Can you drink something like Ensure to get some calories?

 

pianogirl

Most would say go to the doctor. I am not advising anything. All I can say is I've been off benzos for 3 1/2 months and had this problem for about 2 months now. Don't know what to do to make it go away. It has been more and less intense but is very intense for me now. If it doesn't go away soon I might have to go to the doctor just to make sure nothing else is going on. It is somewhat common w/d symptom though. Take care!

Thanks for your answer. I do remember being told that shortness of breath is a common side effect of anxiety but I've not been "aware" of anxiety in and of itself. That is one reason I've been so concerned. But with my fast cuts, maybe I'm more anxious than I realize? Thanks for telling me it is a common symptom.

One Love -

 

Why are you cutting so fast?

 

 

River

I'm sorry you are having this symptom, but I would have to say that you should go to the doctor.  With your weight being so low you really need to take care of your entire system right now.  I would hope they would have a record of your latest blood tests so perhaps no more would be required.

 

Can you drink something like Ensure to get some calories?

 

pianogirl

 

Oh pianogirl, how I wish you were right! And what you say SHOULD be right. But the doctors and hospitals will NEVER take the last blood tests. Liability determines everything in medicine these days. I got out of a 4 day hospital stay in late May and returned to my home state. The doctor here would not accept ANY of the blood tests that had just been done 2-3 weeks before. And that was a private practice, not a hospital. One hospital did not even want to accept a cat scan I had done earlier that morning at a different clinic! This new doctor now wants another 13 vials of blood and I seriously just do not have it to give after 100+ in the last 6 months. I'm 79 pounds, dehydrated, and undernourished. And if you won't do what they say in the ER test wise, they send you packing. I am ready to die at home if that is what it must be. Sad.

    And on the Ensures, there was a time about a month ago I force fed myself Ensures to gain just 3 pounds before my surgery so the surgeon wouldn't cancel it. Because I'm allergic to corn oil, soy oil, soy protein isolate, because milk protein concentrate, corn syrup and carrageenan gum are very irritant in my gut, it tore me up so badly I had 10 days of raging inflammation afterwards. I thought I would die and did get down to 77 pounds then. So I've been making my own version of a higher calorie nutritional drink. Except yesterday a nutritionist told me not to do any dairy for 3 weeks. So I am now brewing homemade almond milk yogurt and I guess will have to make drinks out of almond milk as a base for my nutritional drinks. But there goes lots of calories! I WAS eating Hagen Daz ice cream too for the calories but I just kissed that goodbye too. If I keep eating things that inflame my gut, I have NO chance of getting well.  :'(

One Love -

 

Why are you cutting so fast?

 

 

River

 

When I switched over from Ativan to Valium, the Valium has not worked nearly as well to quell that's gastro issues and tension. I can't really go back to Ativan now and the Valium is harder on my liver. The harder my liver has to work to clear the Valium, the worse it is on my gastro issues. I also figure the longer I am on ANY drug that messes with my GABA receptors, the more damage is done and the longer to recover normal function. So part of my rapid taper has been a Catch-22 situation of no solution being a good solution.  And I figure if my gastro problems are only getting worse on benzos, my only other realistic option is seeing if it gets better OFF benzos.

    I sure would love to hear from other people here who have had bad gastro sx with benzo use and withdrawal.

on one of the benzo.org websites they list "unable to take in a satisfying breath" as a benzo withdrawal symptom. i had this acutely about 10 times. i get it now and then but it's mostly gone. it seems to be coupled with the derealisation symptom. it's just a weird thing to be still alive during at time when you could have over 100 symptoms at once. it's all so surreal.

What foods can you have? Have you tried rice, potato or hemp milk? Have you seen a naturopathic doctor? You really need to get your weight up. Can you handle fats such as olive oil? Adding oil to your drinks can really help to boost the caloric content. Although breathing difficulties can be a symptoms of benzo withdrawal I think you are starving.

When I first went off Valium,  I had this really bad and it sent me into full blown panic attacks. I still get it,  but not as bad as I use to. I went to the ER several times for this. Your weight is so low and that be causing this to be worse. You should at least see a Dr.The oxygen they put me on helped calm me down and I could archive my breathe. Cutting faster is not the key, the faster you cut the worse symptoms could be is what I have been told. I did the same as you, I cut fast but had no choice because Valium was causing my bp to crash really low. I had to do something 

What foods can you have? Have you tried rice, potato or hemp milk? Have you seen a naturopathic doctor? You really need to get your weight up. Can you handle fats such as olive oil? Adding oil to your drinks can really help to boost the caloric content. Although breathing difficulties can be a symptoms of benzo withdrawal I think you are starving.

 

Been to 6 hospitals and 5 different clinics, 4 naturopaths, 3 medical nutritionists, and more 'alternative' health practitioners than I can count. No diagnosis or cause for this has been determined. And I do agree with you; I am starving, even though I eat every 2-2&1/2 hours. Good nutritious food. I had been doing lots of coconut oil and olive oil but my liver started hurting worse after my switch from ativan to diazepam so I've cut back on coconut oil a lot. For a short time,I was making custards of milk, egg yolk, honey or maple syrup, and spices as between meal snacks to "mimic" the ice cream and Ensures that many ppl tried pushing on me. But my gut hurt worse and I think maybe the milk casein might be an issue. Also one naturopath told me to cook up pots of very well cooked liquidy rice 'porridge' and eat it often. Two days of that put me in bed in howling gut pain. Been reading. "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" that says eat only simple monosaccharide carbs that are very easily assimilated by the small intestines and that potatoe and rice are too hard to digest when your gut is this messed up. So I am trying this out today and tomorrow. Hope it brings relief. - Thanks for our suggestions. I'm open to any others also.

When I first went off Valium,  I had this really bad and it sent me into full blown panic attacks. I still get it,  but not as bad as I use to. I went to the ER several times for this. Your weight is so low and that be causing this to be worse. You should at least see a Dr.The oxygen they put me on helped calm me down and I could archive my breathe. Cutting faster is not the key, the faster you cut the worse symptoms could be is what I have been told. I did the same as you, I cut fast but had no choice because Valium was causing my bp to crash really low. I had to do something

 

I'm glad you mentioned the low blood pressure. Mine has at times been as low as 90/48 but once was even 78/45. It was NEVER that low before benzo but I have never put that correspondence together. Is low blood pressure a common side effect?  How fast did you taper? My first few cuts were not problem but now I have hit despair and this weight loss has GOT to stop. If I were a teenager, they would have hospitalized me for anorexia and put me on tube or parenteral vein feeding long before this!

Can you eat sweet potatoes?  just a thought

Can you eat sweet potatoes?  just a thought

Yes, thanks! I've eaten a mountain of sweet potatoes in the past few months. They have probably figured highly in keeping me alive, hahah. This 'new' book I just read says I should switch to butternut squash instead as the sugars in the squash are absorbed by the intestines much easier and don't contribute to overgrowth of pathogens (or just generally cause digestive upset). We shall see how that goes but I can't afford to lose more weight due to less calories, that's for sure.

i was in tolerance wd for 9 years and of course always seeing so many doctor's since i was diagnosed with MS (which i'm still not sure i have--anyway, when they took my blood pressure they would always have to do it a few times because it was always so low they couldn't get a reading.

 

i really think that is a benzo wd or benzo tolerance symptom. i guess people would think that my weight is too low at 86.5lbs. but i still don't really have an appetite. i am hoping i will gain once i start eating more. but if you are eating every 2 2/12 hours and good nutritious food--i guess that would be a concern. i hope you can find a solution. do you think your weight issue is soley from the benzo withdrawal or do you think you have some kind of absorption issue?

Sugar can cause many problems with digestion.

Your weight is way too low and your body needs protein to keep you from canabolizing.

If you are anemic, this can cause shortness of breath and so can malnutrition.

If you try protein shakes, make sure you get enuf magnesium or eat prunes to keep from constipation.

My mom had low albumin due to not eating enuf protein and she had to drink 75 gms of protein shakes per day to get rid of the swollen feet from low albumin.

If you can get a dr to rx oxygen, this has helped my mom because it acts like a placebo effect.

My mom overbreaths all the time and she doesn't feel panicky.

If I have her hold her breath between breaths, her oxygen goes up and her breathing normalizes.

This is the buteyko method which is helpful for her.

 

Benzo's effect everyone differently which explains the huge array of symptoms.

I hope you can get checked out and find a solution soon!

 

 

i was in tolerance wd for 9 years and of course always seeing so many doctor's since i was diagnosed with MS (which i'm still not sure i have--anyway, when they took my blood pressure they would always have to do it a few times because it was always so low they couldn't get a reading.

 

i really think that is a benzo wd or benzo tolerance symptom. i guess people would think that my weight is too low at 86.5lbs. but i still don't really have an appetite. i am hoping i will gain once i start eating more. but if you are eating every 2 2/12 hours and good nutritious food--i guess that would be a concern. i hope you can find a solution. do you think your weight issue is soley from the benzo withdrawal or do you think you have some kind of absorption issue?

 

Wow! Do you have normal blood pressure readings now?  And at 86.5 pounds, do you know what your BMI is? (Body mass index). If you are taller than I am, I am going to start really worrying about YOU and maybe that will take my mind off of myself. 

 

On my "good nutritious food", yeah it is that, but since I've had to give up gluten and all grains, milk,  and lower my fats (even coconut oil) it's hard to get the calories up, even eating every 2 or 2&1/2 hours. I'm open to suggestions. And, yeah, I figured MUST have some kind of absorption problem, but the doctors have never identified that so they don't want to talk about it. 

Sugar can cause many problems with digestion.

Your weight is way too low and your body needs protein to keep you from canabolizing.

If you are anemic, this can cause shortness of breath and so can malnutrition.

If you try protein shakes, make sure you get enuf magnesium or eat prunes to keep from constipation.

My mom had low albumin due to not eating enuf protein and she had to drink 75 gms of protein shakes per day to get rid of the swollen feet from low albumin.

If you can get a dr to rx oxygen, this has helped my mom because it acts like a placebo effect.

My mom overbreaths all the time and she doesn't feel panicky.

If I have her hold her breath between breaths, her oxygen goes up and her breathing normalizes.

This is the buteyko method which is helpful for her.

 

Benzo's effect everyone differently which explains the huge array of symptoms.

I hope you can get checked out and find a solution soon!

 

Thanks. I'll have to read up on the buteyko method for breath work. I'm so glad it has helped your mom. There was a time I was doing whey protein shakes and had trouble with the milk proteins. A nutritionist gave me pea protein isolate powder and THAT tore me up seriously and caused more weight loss. There is a program called SCD (specific carbohydrate diet) that has recipes for protein shakes but they call for home made yogurt only and there's that milk protein problem again. So I make sure to get plenty of protein in my 5 meals a day. I just ate pasture raised lamb liver. 

I'm eating plenty of vegetables too for minerals and vitamins, leafy greens for good blood building and oxygenation, and have started taking magnesium glycinate again. I feel the relaxing effect within 20-30 minutes of taking it but it has not had any laxative effect at all.

    I'm tempted by the prunes, but wouldn't they be considered high sugar and thus contribute to digestive problems? Ihave a very few times drunk hot very salty water first thing in the morning and it def had a laxative effect but does that hurt your electrolyte balance?

  What kind of protein shakes did your mom drink?  And thanks again.

 

 

I just ate pasture raised lamb liver. 

I'm eating plenty of vegetables too for minerals and vitamins, leafy greens for good blood building and oxygenation, and have started taking magnesium glycinate again. I feel the relaxing effect within 20-30 minutes of taking it but it has not had any laxative effect at all.

    I'm tempted by the prunes, but wouldn't they be considered high sugar and thus contribute to digestive problems? Ihave a very few times drunk hot very salty water first thing in the morning and it def had a laxative effect but does that hurt your electrolyte balance?

  What kind of protein shakes did your mom drink?  And thanks again.

 

Prunes are a whole food which contains fiber,  so it metabolizes the sugars slowly.

I use epsom salts in my drinks (a pinch) for a laxative effect, but it might be a little harsh for others.

You could try milk of magnesia.

 

My mom drinks Orgain, organic whey protein shakes or Swanson grass-fed whey

https://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-ultra-grass-fed-certified-rbgh-free-vanilla-whey-protein-powder-420-grams-14-8-oz-pwdr

 

Have you tried using Kefir?

kefir tastes like yogurt but has many more good bacteria to recolonize your gut.

Nuts are high in protein and mixed with coconut milk or kefir make a good tasty shake.

I made a Young baby coconut milk, cocoa powder and cashews smoothie for my mom that was quite yummy and healthy.

Staying away from genetically engineered foods and grains can make a big difference.

GMO foods are

Soy

Corn

Cotton

Canola

Crookneck squash

Hawaiian papaya

Zuccini

Sugar beets

Some rice

Wheat, barley and rye (hybridized in a ge fashion) Gluten 17 times that of Einkorn wheat.

So anything made from these are gmo including vitamins and supplements.

 

Hope this helps!

Can you eat any nut/seed butters?

 

When I was experiencing a lot of weight loss I started to eat sunflower seed butter every day.  I have now gained back 15 lbs. 

 

Also slowing down your taper should help.

 

Hope you are able to turn this around soon.

 

Archer blue

 

 

What foods can you have? Have you tried rice, potato or hemp milk? Have you seen a naturopathic doctor? You really need to get your weight up. Can you handle fats such as olive oil? Adding oil to your drinks can really help to boost the caloric content. Although breathing difficulties can be a symptoms of benzo withdrawal I think you are starving.

 

Been to 6 hospitals and 5 different clinics, 4 naturopaths, 3 medical nutritionists, and more 'alternative' health practitioners than I can count. No diagnosis or cause for this has been determined. And I do agree with you; I am starving, even though I eat every 2-2&1/2 hours. Good nutritious food. I had been doing lots of coconut oil and olive oil but my liver started hurting worse after my switch from ativan to diazepam so I've cut back on coconut oil a lot. For a short time,I was making custards of milk, egg yolk, honey or maple syrup, and spices as between meal snacks to "mimic" the ice cream and Ensures that many ppl tried pushing on me. But my gut hurt worse and I think maybe the milk casein might be an issue. Also one naturopath told me to cook up pots of very well cooked liquidy rice 'porridge' and eat it often. Two days of that put me in bed in howling gut pain. Been reading. "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" that says eat only simple monosaccharide carbs that are very easily assimilated by the small intestines and that potatoe and rice are too hard to digest when your gut is this messed up. So I am trying this out today and tomorrow. Hope it brings relief. - Thanks for our suggestions. I'm open to any others also.

 

Well you certainly have tried. I'm surprised that no naturopath suggested digestive enzymes or probiotics nor did they test you for food allergies. I agree that you should be in the hospital being treated for your low weight.

i was in tolerance wd for 9 years and of course always seeing so many doctor's since i was diagnosed with MS (which i'm still not sure i have--anyway, when they took my blood pressure they would always have to do it a few times because it was always so low they couldn't get a reading.

 

i really think that is a benzo wd or benzo tolerance symptom. i guess people would think that my weight is too low at 86.5lbs. but i still don't really have an appetite. i am hoping i will gain once i start eating more. but if you are eating every 2 2/12 hours and good nutritious food--i guess that would be a concern. i hope you can find a solution. do you think your weight issue is soley from the benzo withdrawal or do you think you have some kind of absorption issue?

 

Wow! Do you have normal blood pressure readings now?  And at 86.5 pounds, do you know what your BMI is? (Body mass index). If you are taller than I am, I am going to start really worrying about YOU and maybe that will take my mind off of myself. 

 

On my "good nutritious food", yeah it is that, but since I've had to give up gluten and all grains, milk,  and lower my fats (even coconut oil) it's hard to get the calories up, even eating every 2 or 2&1/2 hours. I'm open to suggestions. And, yeah, I figured MUST have some kind of absorption problem, but the doctors have never identified that so they don't want to talk about it. 

 

i know, and i guess i was a little worried about my weight after i saw my face tonight. but sometimes i look totally different. i really think it's because of all the brain symptoms i still have that i am so thin and see myself differently all the time. still doing in and out of that derealisation symptom. i am just now starting to have a little bit of an appetite. it's literally been 15 months since i have had NO appetite so i may start seeing some changes--i will let you know. and that would be great because 86.5lbs is just too low and for so long.

 

i don't know how to measure my BMI? and i haven't been able to get out to go see a doctor so i don't know what my BP is? i have a feeling that it would come up better. i have also been on lots of opiates as well as benzo's. that could have been why my BP was non existent and so many blood tests came back strange.

 

i think that most of this could very well be all benzo withdrawal and you just have to get through it. but other's seems to be so worried. i guess i am not as worried because of how low my weight is and alive i feel even though i still have so many benzo withdrawal symptoms. it's weird--a part of me feels healthier than ever and a part of me feels like i could die.

 

it's weird. i am just grateful to be out of tolerance wd is what it is-- and i know this thing takes a long time. longer than most members care to hear or talk about.

 

i do think that Mrtmeo has some good idea's of what you should and shouldn't eat. and i told you about the Garden of Life and Jordan Rubin's story. maybe it is just time and being on all those good, nutrient dense foods.

 

i do eat this one snack that is of peanut butter on sourdough bread with cream cheese and a little honey. it's the only thing i eat that is not on The GAPS diet i am doing but not full GAPS yet.  i would also like to incorporate Garden of Life type foods to fatten me up so i think i will look into that as well.