Could it be the Ativan?

I took Ativan for only about six weeks back around June of this year. Quite a while ago really. About a week or so after I stopped I started getting pretty severe muscle twitches in my calves and very uncomfortable legs. After even moderate workouts it felt as if I'd ran an entire marathon. The fasciculations in my calves were truly spectacular to behold! Exhausted and always the twitching muscles, achy legs. The twitching is definitely better now - less frequent, but the aching legs persist. I also feel dizzy and have this weird tingling sensation all over, especially in my scalp it seems.

To complicate things, I started taking venlafaxine which did wonders for my mood for a while, but obviously nothing for my legs. I'm now trying to come off of the venlafaxine which is in itself a challenge.

I know it might seem a little far fetched to blame my persistent condition on the Ativan, and I did seem to withdraw from the drug quite successfully. However the weird thing is that I found the remnants of my Ativan prescription and I've recently popped a few half tablets (0.5mg) to help my insomnia. Miraculously my legs and the rest of me feel so much better. This is mostly why I'm suspicious. I was feeling good at the beginning of the summer (apart from my back pain and some alarming panic attacks). Then felt like crap after stopping the Ativan (maybe coincidentally?), then feeling better after some Ativan. I have recently read of prolonged withdrawal effects from this class of drugs, and I'm just so desperate to figure out what the hell is wrong with me. Your comments would be truly welcome.

 

Ian.

Don't know, maybe it could be some sort of protracted withdrawal perhaps? but there is a solution for you worth trying....try getting some Magnesium Glycinate from Metagenics to see if all the twiching or restlessness disappears. Sometimes, ativan can induce a magnesium deficiency (drug induced deficiency), and the food industry is very good at stripping out magnesium out of the diet (many, people are deficient in magnesium), so take Magnesium and see if it works for you. The Magnesium Glycinate form is best (least effect on stomach/GI tract) and Metagenics is a good company, if you want a cheaper option called Magnesium Citrate and see http://www.naturalcalm.ca and see the information on magnesium, (yes, it also makes you sleepy, naturally), good thing too, it is a powder format and it fizzes and after the fizz stops, just drink the flavored powder, you will feel the effects of calmness, less twiching etc (very common symptoms of magnesium deficiency, but very correctable)... The most comprehensive book written on Magnesium deficiency is called "The Mg Factor" by Mildred Seeling MD, MPH (she spent 35 years on specifically Magnesium research, deficiency symptoms, and cures), very interesting book to get and read if you see in a library.

Try seeing into getting a very high pharmaceutical grade brand of EPA-DHA fish oil for getting off venlafaxine.

Hope this helps!

i think its quite obvious, after popping some ativan again your legs and the rest felt much better.

thats how benzos work, first like magic and in the end the biggest disaster you can

think of.

 

it takes a long time, many months for your gabaas to upregulate again and if

you don't accept this healing process you will never give them a chance.

so in my point of view, there is nothing wrong with you ,except you must do

more reading on the way benzos work.

there are 2 links at my signature which will give you the explaination.

 

take care and be smart and stay off the Ativan.

 

Thank you both so much for your quick replies.

I know it seems like my problems are quite trivial compared with the nightmares some here are going through, but to me this whole episode has been a terrible experience. At the beginning of the summer I was relatively healthy and doing a lot of cycling. Now I feel like I'm a real old man. It's a real effort to work out and my legs are a constant torment.

I did get my blood tested for magnesium deficiency and all was well. I've also seen a neuro who did an EMG to rule out ALS, MS etc. I'm convinced there's nothing that sinister going on, but I just want to feel well again. It definitely all began around the time I was taking, or stopped taking these drugs. My plan right now is to try to detox from everything, and see how I'm doing in a few weeks.

No Ativan last night, and I feel like hell again today. And on it goes...

 

Listen to me my friend and listen carefully. Stay away from the Ativan and do not let it suck you in!  You had a very easy withdrawal last time around and having a few twitches in your legs will eventually resolve with time if it is due to the Ativan.  The twitches will seem like nothing to you if you get truly stuck on Ativan develop a dependency and half to wean off again.

 

I am speaking from experience.  I actually took Ativan for 6 months in 2011 and quit it cold turkey with hardly any withdrawal symptoms.  Started taking it again a couple of months ago and it has truly ruined my life.  Don't let it ruin yours.  Stop taking it and do it now!

 

Yes, don't mess around popping ativan here and there. You're lucky to be at this point with "only" muscle problems. Next time around could be a real horror show.

 

I've also had lots and lots of trouble with leg muscle pain, in particular my calves. Before I stopped taking klonopin I was running several miles a day 5 or 6 days a week. Once I stopped I could barely walk 1 mile. Now after 9 months off I have finally been able to jog 1 mile some days and walk 2 or 3 miles many days. My calf muscles still feel like they are going to pull off the bone. I lie down for 15 or 30 minutes after jogging kind of writhing around in pain as my calf muscles tigthen up into a ball after the run, then slowly relax again.

 

You are not alone. Don't put one more drop of ativan into your body and let your muscles regain their proper function over time. It will happen for all of us, just slower than we would like. 

Keep up the cycling! Even through the worst wd sxs, I kept cycling, albeit at slower rates, shorter distances. At times, I was even doing half centuries through wd. It really helped me cope with the misery and suffering of benzo wd.

 

Yes, your description sounds exactly like the culprit was/is the ativan. a demon drug I know all too well 

I am on ativan and I get this symptom. I have had to quit all form of exercise even walking, my legs get sore and also I get the tingling all over whenever I feel the withdrawal effects. I have had it every day for at least a week now. It is the ativan.

I developed severe foot and leg cramping while I was ON the Ativan, and have finally got it under control. As another Buddie stated above, try Magnesium Glycinate, preferably in combination with Calcium. Try taking up ti 600-800 mg a day of the Magnesium, and you will probably find that your cramps lessen. Make sure your feet stay worm, too.  Cold feet gets me cramping like nothing else.

 

Take the rest of your Ativan and flush it, right now.  That way lies madness.