Benzo withdrawals? So scared :(

My daughter woke me up after only a few hours of sleep with a nosebleed. I was tired but I got out of bed and helped her out no problem. Then after a few minutes I suddenly began to feel extremely lightheaded like I was about to pass out. I ran to my bedroom and woke up my husband as asked him to bring me water and pretzels and proceeded to have a panic attack. I started to sweat, feel nauseous, shake uncontrollably and continue to feel like I was going to pass out. My bp is normal, and I've eaten and drank plenty but this fear has been going on for over a half hour now.

A couple days ago I lowered my clonazapam dose by around 10-15% as the first step in my taper. I've been slightly more anxious but otherwise fine. During this panic episode I was so scared I chewed up half of one of my regular doses and I am feeling a bit calmer now, but still scared. Passing out is one of my biggest fears. I don't understand why I would feel so bad after such a slight dose reduction. I'm feeling so angry at myself and frustrated that I couldn't even get through 3 days of a mildly reduced dose without taking more. My husband hates my anxiety. He gets visibly frustrated and when I tell him I'm scared he snaps back that he doesn't know what to tell me, that I'm fine, and that I'm being completely irrational. I told him that part of my right thigh felt painful and numb and he acted like I had said the stupidest thing he had ever heard.

Does anyone know if what I felt is a normal part of withdrawl? It's so scary to feel like that, I'm still too scared to try and get more sleep. How can I possibly get off this med when this happens and I have no support?

Thanks for listening

Post Edited (Cianna) : 11/11/2014 4:59:59 AM (GMT-7)

Hi

When tapering of a benzo it must be done really slowly to avoid any withdrawal effects and under close supervision from you doctor i would go and speak with them and tell them about this recent attack.

Hibee

Hi Cianna-

Sorry for your rough morning!

Are you tapering with your doctors knowledge/instructions? If so, you should call his office and tell him of your symptoms & concerns, if they persist. It could have just been a "bad morning" of anxiety. It also could be lowering your dosage.

You will be able to get of of them, might just take you a bit longer if you need to lower the dosage at a smaller %.

With your hubby, plan a time to talk to him when the kids are in bed or not around and when you're not having anxiety so you can communicate with a clear mind. Tell him your feelings- how you too hate this, that you understand his frustration & think of ways to tell him what you need from him- what he could say, not say, etc. I had this exact conversation with my hubby earlier this spring.

Wishing you peace and healing today!
Lisa

Ps: I saw on the user name post that you played world of Warcraft. My husband and I played that for too many years to admit LOL

Cianna I am also tapering my klonopin by about the same rate you are. I too have the shakiness in the middle of the night. I originally cut too fast so I went back up and started over again. I try not to panic when these mini panic attacks now occur and instead try to talk myself out of them. they usually pass in about 10 min. Just take it very slowly. And don't feel bad if you backslide. By the way my husband is a wonderful person but he also loses patience at times. He keeps reminding me that he is not perfect and sometimes even I get sick of myself complaining.
My doctor wanted me to go cold turkey!

Thanks SC. You could definitely be right. I've been thinking about it a bit today and there were a lot of factors that could point to that. My normally low blood pressure (100/60), an overheated bedroom, less than 3 hours sleep, being woken up suddenly by a freaked out 5 year old covered in blood (it was a rough bleed and she managed to get it all over her entire face, shirt, hands, arms before waking me up). It's just weird because I got the bleeding stopped and got her totally cleaned up before the lightheadedness suddenly came on. It was so intense I was almost sure I was going to faint.

I've never fainted before. It's one of my biggest fears. I'm mostly afraid that something sinister would be wrong and that I might not wake up. It terrifies me. So the panic following the faintness episode was purely from my fear of passing out I think, and not just some random episode of panic. Still very scary for me though.

C Needless to say I did not listen to my gp but initially I cut the dose 50% q week for 3 weeks and had severe withdrawal symptoms the 3rd week. Then I went back up to my .5mg 2x a day for 2 days and then decreased my pm dose by 1/4 (.125mg) and felt much better.(.5 in am and .375 in pm) I plan to do this for 2-3 weeks before I decrease it again by .125 on the morning dose and if that's too much I will take a razor and make the dose decrease even smaller. I realize there is no rush to do this.
Take a look at the site benzobuddiescommunity.com. I became less anxious and more motivated after reading this.


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