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Do we ever fully recover beginning to doubt it?

Posted , 6 users are following.

Guest
Guest

Zopiclone has truly ruined my life, forced to stop it in January this year by new GP so unable to taper off much. Symptoms purely mental, anxiety and intrusive thoughts, bit like harm OCD{not self harm} make it very difficult walking past people or doing anything outside my house. Unable to go on holidays and severly limits anything we do. Nearly 10 months off no improvement, tried CBT, therapy, self help books nothing helps beginning to doubt I will ever have normal life again. Reluctantly trying SSRI's which has temporarily made things worse as had to swap meds, and gradually increase the dose on new ones. Has anyone come out the other side as seriously doubting I will ever improve. Have felt I'm loosing my mind at times but it's definitely withdrawal as fine before I stopped them.

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7 Replies

  • carol71680
    carol71680 Guest

    Posted

    I just started a long ish post and accidently deleted it arghhhh . Maybe this is the one situation where the body adnd the body only can heal itself. It could be that everything else interferes with recovery SSRI's even seemingly benign things. I found an interesting piece of information completely contrary to what Daz posted. Its easy to think I will take this or that but it may and I mean may, ( SO PLEASE DONT QUOTE ME ANYONE ITS JUST A THOUGHT! ) it may......be the one time the body has to just do its own thing, may be it doesn't need help or interference,the programming is all there ready to go hopefully. Don't get me wrong it could be hell or wildly inapropriate! /You will go through a whole range of physical and psychological torment. I don't feel too bad its day 40 off diazepam with a couple of relapses to zoplicone at day 18 3/4 pills one day then threw them, and again on day 27. Both times it sent me back to hell in terms of withdrawal severity or even started a new cycle of withdrawal. I can only say it was and has been horrendous. I'm not out of the woods , I darn't jinx it either. But I thought Id offer some light at the end of the tunnel as I know what its like to be stuck in withdrawal and believe me I thought it would never get better. I dabbled with SSRI's and to be honest I took venlafaxine years ago and it totally negated the withdrawal , it was like nothing !! I cant believe the difference this time but I'm 20 something years older. My gp and I discussed this and maybe its a factor. I have alot of other environmental stressors this time as well. I was a heavy user of zoplicone for about 2 years with a few failed attempts at quitting in between Id say may be 3/ 4 weeks usually but I always went back. That was until I tried to go back at like 4 weeks since I hadnt slept at all ( this was about a year ago ) and I found I had kindling type issues. I swapped albeit perilously to diazepam found some relief there but the dose escalated immensely. I just wanted to sleep all day , all night take my pills and to hell with the world around me. Circumstances jolted me out of that bed onto the floor ( meterphorically speaking ), I'm not a rock star, I had bills to pay and they came knocking. Eventually I had to stop . I tapered from diazepam about June 2019 to Oct 2019 via my gp ( somewhat under duress ), but I had no choice , I couldn't afford a private continuous supply anymore and to be honest I just needed more and more. Maybe you need a more calming SSRI or SNI personally I don't react well to any of them ( even 20 years ago venlafaxine caused horrific night sweats that really defeated the purpose but I didn't make the link ... thought it was hormonal ! but they may work well for others. Despite what I've said I'm not advocating anyone with severe mental health issues like panic or suicide don't get treatment I'm just throwing the possibillity out there. I will try find the info about things that may not help in benzo and in my opinion z drugs share the same cautionary profile.

    • Guest
      Guest carol71680

      Posted

      Think zopiclone is worse than some benzos as got short half life. Think symptoms so intense as wasn't allowed to taper off and been on it 12 years on and off. I'm trying sertraline which someone said is a "clean" SSRI and recommended for ocd type symptoms. Just desperate after nearly 10 months with no good days to get some relief!!

      1

    • Guest
      Guest Seashell1984

      Posted

      Had to come off it tried it for 9 weeks just made anxiety worse and worse the longer I took it and made OCD type symptoms worse. Started back on citalopram, as sertraline also affected my hair. Seems bit trial and error finding right med!

    • Seashell1984
      Seashell1984 Guest

      Posted

      Im two weeks in and thinking of coming of the Sertraline. It made my anxiety worse to begin with then less so then now about the same as before. The worst part for me is I don't sleep. Ill go three days without sleep. Im scared to try sleeping tablets or Diazepam or Mirt.

    • Guest
      Guest Seashell1984

      Posted

      Sertraline do take while to kick in I only came off them as they heightened all my symptoms and got worse longer I took them. If it continues go back to your doctor it's awful going nights without sleep, see what they advise. Think mirtrazaine is anti depressant, my friend just had come off them gave her nightmares. It's very trial and error what works for one person doesn't for another unfortunately.

  • anne28866
    anne28866 Guest

    Posted

    Hi, I don't know if this will help but I hope it will assure you that you are not alone in having OCD symptoms while withdrawing from Benzos.

    I was bought off a high dose , some 40mg/day of Diazepam way too quickly some 23 years ago. I became a prisoner to OCD, too scared to move and constantly handwashing. I had those intrusive thoughts about losing control also.

    You will be pleased to know that over the years these symptoms have all but disappeared. I had a course of hypno/psychotherapy and that helped beyond my expectations. I would suggest you return to this new GP and tell them how you are suffering. You have to wean off benzos very very slowly!!! There is no other way and unfortunately most GPs have no idea of the withdrawal symptoms when we are brought off these evil drugs.

    At present I am still taking a maintenance dose of 8mg/day and under the correct supervision I am reducing gradually and hope to be free of these drugs completely one day. I refused all ssri meds offered to me because I could not tolerate them.

    I can only wish you all the best of luck and you will recover given time. Bless you

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