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Can You Get New Anxiety Symptoms, Far After Withdrawing?


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#1 Ramona80

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 10:21 AM

Withdrawals for me started 26 months ago, when my dose was lowered abruptly. Then I was overdosed months later (worse symptoms from that), and had to come down off C fairly quickly. Had worse problems again after getting off. Then had a big setback when I was exposed to paint for days last summer, and symptoms worsened.

 

In short, the symptoms I still deal with are: 

- Sleep onset myoclonus (jerking awake just as I'm falling asleep)

- Muscle spasms

- Buzzing/electrical current feelings in hips, legs and feet

- Tinnitus

- Waking around 4:30am, sometimes with heart pounding. I go back to sleep after this.

- Other sleep issues...harder to get sleepy sometimes.

The symptoms get better and worse, and they change around.

 

About 10 days ago I started getting different anxiety symptoms that I haven't had since way back at the beginning, 2 years ago. I've been having intermittent sweating (fingers, toes, under arms), nervous tight feeling in chest, sleeping more lightly, anxious dream before waking up some mornings. 

 

My question is: Is there any possible way this could be related to my protracted withdrawals? Can you get new anxiety symptoms this far out? Or would you expect this is due to something else?


#2 TryinginFL

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 10:25 AM

Ramona, I would say yes, as I still suffer anxiety and a few other things including memory problems and I have been off for 3 1/2 yrs.  I never suffered anxiety until I came off this poison.

 

This is not true for everyone I'm sure, but I really believe that some is related to one's age.

 

Liz


#3 Ramona80

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 10:29 AM

Thanks, Liz, But do you know if you can get new manifestations of anxiety this far out? Like symptoms you're not used to having?


#4 TryinginFL

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 10:35 AM

Yes, I do...I have always loved to be w/people and now I cannot stand crowds and am happiest when I am alone at home where I feel safe with my 2 dogs.

 

I flew to Hawaii for my younger son's wedding in Aug of 2014.  The above symptoms were not part of my life at that time (I had been off this crap for 6 months then.)

 

My current feelings have been coming on gradually just this year - I do see a therapist but cannot say that it is helpful.


#5 Ramona80

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 10:46 AM

Bah. I'm so sorry, Liz. 

 

I have wondered if this is some off-the-wall, bizarre withdrawal wave...hoping that it will fade, as waves do. But I just talked with my psychiatrist, and she thinks this could be breakthrough anxiety, like something triggered my general anxiety to get worse, and she wants me to increase my Lexapro dose. I've been on this current dose for almost a year. I never expected to up my dose this soon. Now I'm not sure what to do. She said I could wait another week and see how my symptoms go, but she said if I wait too long they could get worse. 


#6 TryinginFL

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 10:52 AM

If you can, I would wait the week and see how things go.

 

We have a much-loved member who is currently on hiatus and he always said "It is the quality of your life that matters, not whether you are med-free".  I firmly believe this as I do take Bupropion and Alprazalam and this definitely helps my quality of life.

 

Prayers for you


#7 fishinghat

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 12:18 PM

Hi Ramona

 

From what I have read on case studies these protracted withdrawal symptoms do waver on and off. Because the symptoms endure the amygdala on the brain (one of the anxiety centers in the brain) will begin to revert back in the memory (also located in the Amygdala) to the original traumatic withdrawal and this causes more anxiety. Sort of like a soldier with PTSD who relives his/her military combat and has flash backs and bouts of severe anxiety. The key thing here is to remember that this is caused by your bad experience not any new trauma. As these long term symptoms fade then so will the anxiety. Is it possible you will be left with some of these long term symptoms? Yes, and if that is the case you might need additional Lexapro. Only time can tell and I am afraid you are the only one to make that decision. Remember that if you are over 60 you should not exceed 20 mg on Lexapro as it may cause irregular heartbeats.


#8 Ramona80

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 02:37 PM

Thanks, Fishinghat. This is exactly that...my therapist told me I have PTSD of what withdrawal did to me. 

 

I can't believe you can be left with symptoms.  :mellow: That is my worst fear, that these things will never go away. Everyone tells me, "Oh, it'll go away" but I remember reading that thismoment still had 5 or so symptoms still when he reached the 3 year mark. Does it just take longer to go away, or might they never go away? 

 

My PTSD is about when the myoclonic jerks were all night long, and every instant I began to fall asleep I'd jerk awake again. I simply could not sleep. It led to a nervous breakdown and a hospital stay. I am terrified of re-living that. As it is, sometimes I don't have them at all, other times I have one or a few at the beginning of the night, sometimes I have them after I wake up in the morning, and I doze off again. They come and go. Is that a good sign that they come and go? The tinnitus varies, too. Sometimes I go through periods where there's so much tinnitus activity, and other times, I go through periods that are relatively quiet.

 

So you are saying that these things might be with me forever? How can that be? Here I was, hoping that things would gradually get better and go back to normal. Now there's a chance they won't? 


#9 fishinghat

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Posted 20 May 2017 - 03:56 PM

OK, let me explain.
 
First of all the fact that these symptoms come and go is a very good sign. That means your body is still trying to adjust to being without the medicine. One thing you can do to help decide on the permanency of your condition is to keep a journal. Lets take for example the tinnitus. Lets say that your journal says you have it for 5 days,  a little for 3 days and none for 4 days. Then you have it again for 4 days a little for 2 days and none for 4 days. You can see from this example that the symptoms overall are slowly getting better. You may need to keep this journal for a couple months to establish a clear picture but when occurrence of the symptoms level off for a couple months then you are probably at the end of your withdrawal. Whatever you are left with is what you are left with.  This journal will make things a lot clearer than your paranoid memory can. This eliminates guess work and uncertainty.
 
In thismoments case yes he was left with symptoms even a couple 3 years after stopping BUT you have to remember that these symptoms, while still present, were greatly less than during withdrawal and he was able to adjust to them. Also that is one of the few cases of long lasting symptoms. There have been a couple others but when you consider how many members have went through this forum that is not too bad.
 
Now let me explain why there are bad withdrawals and slow recovery with long lasting symptoms.
 
Your body naturally produces serotonin, noradrenaline, adrenaline, histamine, dopamine and other compounds that react with nerve endings called synapses. These compounds, called neurotransmitters, bond with these synapses and send a signal to our brain to be happy, sad, mellow, depressed, etc. Normally the two areas of the brain that have the greatest control of these emotions are the amygdala and the hippocampus. Once we are exposed to severe stress the body overreacts and looses control of these neurotransmitters. We can start producing to much or to little serotonin, adrenaline, dopamine, etc. These imbalances cause use to become depressed, anxious, etc.
 
The medications we take such as antidepressants and benzos help regulate these compounds for our brain causing our emotions to stabilize (assuming you are on the right medicine, lol). Here is where we have problems. These compounds do not fit exactly right with the synapses. With time the synapses will change shape so that the medicine fits better. That is why it takes so many medicines weeks to fully kick in.

 

Once we decide to get off the medicine our body has a hard time controlling the neurotransmitters because they no longer fit the synapses on the brain. With time the synapses will return to their normal shape and our neurotransmitters will begin to react normally. This takes time. Studies on benzos, heroin, meth, etc. show that these synapses typically take 2 years to recover and sometimes longer. That is why a very slow wean is so necessary. As we have less control from our medicine we have to give the nerves a chance to recover. In benzo therapy they say once you come completely off a benzo you need to wait at least two years to go back on a benzo. Any sooner and it will have considerably less effect, rapidly become addictive and harder to withdraw from.

 

That is one of the reasons I strongly recommend the use of clonidine, hydroxyzine and diphenhydramine (Benadryl). They do NOT change the shape of the synapses. They just block the synapse in order to control the emotions. That is why they do NOT have a withdrawal.

 

I hope this clears things up for you. If there is anything that you need clarification on just let me know.





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