How LORAZEPAM destroyed my health and sanity for 4 1/2 weeks

[Ema]

@Ema i have read that supplementing glutamine can increase glutamate levels which is excitory but using okg that creates glutamine, the rate is controlled to a certain degree, so less chance of increasing glutamate levels??

I think so. I took it this afternoon for the first time and didn't notice any increased anxiety. So that is good! I'll try a full dose tomorrow.

It tastes horrible though! Very sour!

 

[Ema]

@Ema How much melatonin do you take?

I have the Source Naturals sublingual tabs, which are 1 mg each. My naturopath said to take 3 mg, but I am sticking to 2 for now. My sleep mostly (as usual) sucks.

I am taking a product called Metarest. It has 3 mg of melatonin.

The studies showing benefit of melatonin for benzo withdrawal used 2 mg I think though.

I'm not a fan at all of mega dosing melatonin so this will be a short term thing for me. And I still plan to take a week off each month if possible.

I'm on 4 mg of Valium still so I've got at least another month to six weeks of tapering to go. It seems like I'll never get there but at least I feel a bit better than I did at 10-15 mg.

I don't understand the idea of antibodies to lorazepam causing anxiety though. Is love to hear more about this.

 

[Ema]

AND P.S. Gaba, strangely, has given me severe anxiety attacks in the past. (go figure!?) so I would not dream of touching it now.

Not strange. High GABA can promote anxiety as well.

It made me feel really weird. I was too tired to open my eyes but couldn't fall asleep either.

 

[Dreambirdie]

I don't understand the idea of antibodies to lorazepam causing anxiety though. Is love to hear more about this.

I don't understand it either, but it makes sense considering what happened to me. My TCM practitioner said he has seen this happen a lot. His herbs worked to turn things around for me, so I am not going to argue with results.

 

[heapsreal]

I think so. I took it this afternoon for the first time and didn't notice any increased anxiety. So that is good! I'll try a full dose tomorrow.

It tastes horrible though! Very sour!

It tastes foul which is why i cap them?

 

[Dreambirdie]

@heapsreal Just thought I'd let you know that I did FINALLY go get an EKG; it was normal and it showed that there was no damage to the heart. The doctor told me the kind of palpitations I was having were sinus tachycardia and not dangerous, though when they happen in the middle of the night they certainly can scare the sh-t out of you.

DAMN the benzos. They are EVIL!

 

[GracieJ]

I strongly suspect I had about ten years of residual symptoms from using a combination of lorazepam, Zoloft, and one other tranquilizer here and there. (Clonazepam when the lorazepam was deemed ineffective. Ha.) Occasional weird things would hit, including unexplained tachycardia and the floppy heart feeling of mitral valve prolapse. I don't know if it's all related, but after one especially bad evening during my massage classes in 1999, a student remarked that it takes years for the body to stop reacting to the changes both anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds/tranquilizers cause in the body and brain. The worst panic attacks of my life came while using drugs that supposedly treat panic attacks.

All heart tests came back normal. No explanations.

There was an article very briefly circulated then abruptly shut down reporting a study that SSRIs work by destroying serotonin receptor sites throughout the body. I've never been able to find the reference again. If this is true, it really makes me wonder what permanent changes the benzos contributed alongside it.

@Dreambirdie What an expensive way to get through, but very glad you found some answers. I know I muddled through it all coming out of it. I didn't have the acute and extreme experience you describe, but I remember calling each episode a bad trip. It really was. Although I did not have the nutritional and social support I would have liked, along the way I found Ann Tracey's work along with several validating related articles, by her and others. I met her at a class she gave, and still follow her research and articles.

 

[geraldt52]

The saddest part of this story is that it seems no matter how many times this story is told, and how many people have had to go through it, the doctors just continue to hand them out, never telling patients the potential harm that benzos are capable of causing, or how difficult it can be to free yourself from them. It's been known for decades, and nothing has changed.

 

[Dreambirdie]

The saddest part of this story is that it seems no matter how many times this story is told, and how many people have had to go through it, the doctors just continue to hand them out, never telling patients the potential harm that benzos are capable of causing, or how difficult it can be to free yourself from them. It's been known for decades, and nothing has changed.

Which is exactly why people should sign these petitions and pass them along.

FDA: Stop Prescription Addiction and Harm; Ban Long-Term Prescriptions of Benzodiazepines
http://www.change.org/petitions/fda...an-long-term-prescriptions-of-benzodiazepines

Victims of Benzo Addiction and Illness
http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/benzo/signatures?page=2

 

[Soundthealarm21]

I'm so sorry for all of those incredibly horrible symptoms. I went through a very long period like that (2-3 months), but the only thing that helped at the time were benzos, and I still take them daily for sleep with no obvious side effects. Everyone is different and will go through different reactions with medications.

I'm glad your hell of benzos is done!

 

[Thomas]

Not sure you're gonna have any luck getting the government to ban benzos. Most of them are on the WHO's list of global staple medications, lorazepam just being one of many. They can be life savers for many folks and they're needed as anesthetics as well. Us with ME just need to be a bit more careful with them...

 

[dannybex]

I wish I could stop clonazepam, but I can't. In fact I need more now, but doc won't increase it, so I'm probably in withdrawal. My BP is elevated due to all the stress, etc., but still -- no increase. Maybe a good thing in the long run if I can get past this high anxiety state (which I think again, is due to salicylate/phenol issues which are so complicated and thus have never been adequately addressed.

 

[dannybex]

I am taking a product called Metarest. It has 3 mg of melatonin.

The studies showing benefit of melatonin for benzo withdrawal used 2 mg I think though.

I'm not a fan at all of mega dosing melatonin so this will be a short term thing for me. And I still plan to take a week off each month if possible.

I'm on 4 mg of Valium still so I've got at least another month to six weeks of tapering to go. It seems like I'll never get there but at least I feel a bit better than I did at 10-15 mg.

I don't understand the idea of antibodies to lorazepam causing anxiety though. Is love to hear more about this.

I started a valium taper 4 -5 years ago or so. Was going okay…getting down to half the equivalent dose of clonazepam, but my medicaid doc got impatient, (after a year and a half), and switched me BACK to clonazepam! I think she was afraid the govt was watching, but could never understand why clonazepam was 'okay' to prescribe, but not valium.

 

[heapsreal]

Those cfsme people that do come off benzo's, does your sleep ever get better though?
I wonder if he have some type of reduced gaba sensitivity to start off with??

 

[dannybex]

I'm so sorry for all of those incredibly horrible symptoms. I went through a very long period like that (2-3 months), but the only thing that helped at the time were benzos, and I still take them daily for sleep with no obvious side effects. Everyone is different and will go through different reactions with medications.

I'm glad your hell of benzos is done!

I'm glad too that you're doing better DB. I wish more than anything that I didn't have to take 'c', but once started, then it's very difficult to taper, and must be done very, very slowly. So banning them, wouldn't work -- unless of course they came up with one that isn't habituating/addicting -- that would be a miracle.

 

[heapsreal]

I started a valium taper 4 -5 years ago or so. Was going okay…getting down to half the equivalent dose of clonazepam, but my medicaid doc got impatient, (after a year and a half), and switched me BACK to clonazepam! I think she was afraid the govt was watching, but could never understand why clonazepam was 'okay' to prescribe, but not valium.

Its the other way around here in australia, docs are not that willing to prescribe clonaz or xanax but it seems popular in the USA but then docs here dont mind prescribing valium , temazapam etc my doc has told me valium is one of the safest benzo's. but thats just the differing opinions between the countries i guess.

 

[Dreambirdie]

I wish I could stop clonazepam, but I can't. In fact I need more now, but doc won't increase it, so I'm probably in withdrawal. My BP is elevated due to all the stress, etc., but still -- no increase. Maybe a good thing in the long run if I can get past this high anxiety state (which I think again, is due to salicylate/phenol issues which are so complicated and thus have never been adequately addressed.

If you feel you need more, that could indicate a dependency. I think you should read up on this, and find a doctor to help you address the issue.

 

[dannybex]

Those cfsme people that do come off benzo's, does your sleep ever get better though?
I wonder if he have some type of reduced gaba sensitivity to start off with??

I talked with Kurt the other day -- he suggested that we don't have enough of the substrate to begin with -- the actual 'gaba'. This might be due to not enough b6/magnesium (or manganese) which help convert glutamine/glutamate to gaba, or completely separate issues -- bacterial infections like strep causing high anxiety.

 

[dannybex]

If you feel you need more, that could indicate a dependency. I think you should read up on this, and find a doctor to help you address the issue.

I'm totally familiar with it -- that's why I wish I could just stop it instantly -- but it doesn't work that way, especially after 9 years of taking it.

 

[Thomas]

@dannybex what dose of clonazepam were you / are you on? I take between 1/4 - 3/4 of a .5 mg tab most days of the week. On occassion I'll take a whole .5 mg if I have to be somewhere. My anxiety has gotten worse over the 6 month time frame I've been on clonazepam but I think it would have on it's own anyways. Not sure.