Need Help Surely this is diazepam withdrawal?

[MrManners]

Sorry for repeated posts but I’m really struggling now. I’ve been a codeine addict for 3 years. I’m 5 weeks clean today apart from a small relapse 2 weeks ago. I did just one CWE on a 32 pack of 8/500 cocodamols. 3 months ago I took Diaz for a month. I took 30mg at night every 3 days. After that month I experienced a week of mildish withdrawal symptoms. Just foggy brain and nausea that wore off during the day ( maybe my codeine habit masked it a little). My benzo use previously before the month of Diaz has been very limited. A couple of times I’ve taken it for 2 or 3 days at a time but that was maybe 8 and 12 months ago. I’ve also taken zopiclone as prescribed for a week at a time maybe 4 times since October last year. The last time was just before the 4 weeks of Diaz so I did a week of 7.5mg zops then straight into the month of 30mg Diaz every 3 days. So after quitting codeine 5 weeks ago I had a brutal 2 week withdrawal. Worse I’ve experienced. Then the following 2 weeks were great. I felt almost 100% again. Now this last week I’m back to square one. I have all the physical symptoms of anxiety but without any worries in my head. Tingling of the arms and back of hands. I’m jaw clenching a lot, bad ringing in my ears, nausea, pressure headaches and sleep troubles. I thought maybe the small relapse had triggered another withdrawal but that was 2 weeks ago now and these symptoms didn’t appear until around 5 days after the relapse although I did feel crap the morning after the relapse. I’ve read that benzo withdrawal comes in waves. Surely this has to be due to the diazepam. I can function but it’s very unpleasant. I do a very manual job and this helps the symptoms subside and at the end of the day I feel ok, not 100% but ok. These symptoms are most intense as soon as I wake up. It’s driving me insane not knowing what this is. It’s 3 months since I took Diaz. Is it possible it’s still effecting me now? People on benzo buddies group seem to think it’s very possible. Or could it be rebound anxiety from stopping a long codeine addiction. What should I do. People on benzo buddies suggest going back on Diaz and doing a taper. I don’t want to touch a benzo again. I don’t understand why I have had periods of 1 -2 weeks of feeling completely fine since that Diaz use 3 months ago and then get back to square one. I’ve had full check ups and bloods done by my GP that all came back clear. Could that relapse codeine dose cause this rebound anxiety? I mean I’m assuming it’s anxiety but don’t know. Like I said I don’t have an anxious brain but looking at physical anxiety symptoms I tick a lot of the boxes. I’ve never suffered from mental health concerns before in my life so it’s not like I’m returning to a pre drug state of mind. I just don’t know what’s causing this and therefore don’t know what to do about it.

 

[jhjhsdi]

Could be either of them I guess.
What makes you not want to taper the benzo? Or even just take a tiny dose of diaz say 2mg and see if it helps?
I did benzos for over ten years and daily/heavily for about 3...took me a good 6 months to taper off completely, going from the equilavet of 400mg diazepam a day down to 0.5mg (quarter of a 2mg tablet) a day... And then I still had PAWS for iirc another 3-6 months.
So did you taper the codeine down? How much were you doing?

 

[dopamimetic]

I'd say it is both. Glutamate overactivity, this leads to all sort of tension and anxiety. Opioids cause an increase in NMDA receptor density and benzos cause less GABA release which are the opposite ends of one mechanism and both leads to increased excitation. Opioids mask it, benzos mask it but they worsen the underlying cause. NMDA antagonists would help but they also prevent the complete recovery. It's tricky, I have the same symptoms from dissociative + opioid use. As long as I used dissos, I didn't develop benzo tolerance. As long as I use either of them I don't feel things but after ceasing they come back with full force. Origin is a benzo turkey which was half my life ago but I never fully recovered - probably because of disso use, but I can tell you benzos are among the worst you can use for more than a few weeks, unfortunately. Might be the reason why opioid + benzo co-use is prevalent as well as hard to treat. Tapering benzos might work better than to use opioids in your case because they don't touch NMDA.

Ask for pregabalin? This might help.