Benzos Withdrawl Leg spasms and tingling, any cure?

[Vlouriablack]

I am currently tappering off of perscription kolonopin and am dealing with severe leg cramps, spasms and discomfort. Luckily I found some lidocaine creme to put on my knees to hopefully help some. I read in another article that tiger balm may help. I have some here but can't seem to find it right now (of course, right when I need it most). I am wondering what else could possibly cure this? Naturally I had to take just a tad more kolonopin to help ease the pain. I can't drink alcohol with this medicine so I can't use that as a relief. I do, however have a perscription of ibprofen 800, wondering if one of these would possibly help as well? Looking for any suggestions at all, greatly appreciated. The spasms seem worse at night, however when I woke up this morning they started to kick in pretty hard. Any suggestions? This is about day four or five for me. Gradually decreasing slowly.

 

[Gorillaboy21]

I’m in the same boat, just tapered down to .5 mgs successfully, slowly from 2 mgs.
Right now my legs are twitching as well and my arms, hot showers help and take 400 mgs ibuprofen every 4-6 hours if you’re in pain, but generally don’t wanna take a lot it’ll cause stomach aches and such.
Valerian root extract would help or if you aren’t an opiate addict (like I am) take a small dose of something to help you get through the pain, although that’s probably not a good suggestion in terms of HR probably don’t want to take more addictive drugs.

I think if I remember correctly I had a friend go to rehab for Xanax and they gave him buprenorphine to ease the withdrawals, since he wasn’t an opiate addict it helped a lot and he wasn’t risking much addiction in that controlled state.

Anyways, what dose are you at right now ?
And yes tiger balm helps but like meh

 

[SheWasLvL18]

Hey good luck on your tapers and I hoping you both get of out of this ASAP.

However, it might be that you are tapering too quickly and your body is not ready to handle the lack of benzos. I know this is definitely not what you want to hear and I understand you will probably be wanting to get out of this sooner than later, but tapering is best done with time, especially if you have been prescribed/used benzos long-term (more than 3 months)

For your on safety I would consider not rushing the taper. It can be life-threatening and when you taper slowly, the unpleasant effects should be mitigated as well.

I'm not an expert on tapering, hopefully someone else has more input. I just wanted to wish you both luck!

 

[Vlouriablack]

I’m in the same boat, just tapered down to .5 mgs successfully, slowly from 2 mgs.
Right now my legs are twitching as well and my arms, hot showers help and take 400 mgs ibuprofen every 4-6 hours if you’re in pain, but generally don’t wanna take a lot it’ll cause stomach aches and such.
Valerian root extract would help or if you aren’t an opiate addict (like I am) take a small dose of something to help you get through the pain, although that’s probably not a good suggestion in terms of HR probably don’t want to take more addictive drugs.

I think if I remember correctly I had a friend go to rehab for Xanax and they gave him buprenorphine to ease the withdrawals, since he wasn’t an opiate addict it helped a lot and he wasn’t risking much addiction in that controlled state.

Anyways, what dose are you at right now ?
And yes tiger balm helps but like meh

Right now i am on 0.5 mg , perscribed three half a pills a day. However I only take one half usually. When I first started to taper down I started breaking a half in half. For three days I did that. I agree, I think I tapered down a little to quickly. Today I took a half and then put a tiny half of a half under my tongue and it seemed to almost instantly help...with combination of lidocaine creme and muscle rub for my legs. I'm starting to think maybe I should take a half a pill for a few days .. the small segments seemed to almost make it worse and maybe that is what threw me into withdrawal so quickly. I am still not sure.

 

[Vlouriablack]

Hey good luck on your tapers and I hoping you both get of out of this ASAP.

However, it might be that you are tapering too quickly and your body is not ready to handle the lack of benzos. I know this is definitely not what you want to hear and I understand you will probably be wanting to get out of this sooner than later, but tapering is best done with time, especially if you have been prescribed/used benzos long-term (more than 3 months)

For your on safety I would consider not rushing the taper. It can be life-threatening and when you taper slowly, the unpleasant effects should be mitigated as well.

I'm not an expert on tapering, hopefully someone else has more input. I just wanted to wish you both luck!

She, yes I agree. I think I freaked out a little bit thinking "I need to get this out of my system so I'm not dependant on it" but I must realize...after ten years I am dependant on it and I think my body freaked out a little bit. I have plenty of medicine left and another refill. There's no cause to freak out. After doing the math if I do one half a day then taper. I think I will make it. It may take a few months though. I know I never want to feel like I did for the past three days. My legs have never felt that way. Very scary. I thought that only happened with opiate withdrawal

 

[Vlouriablack]

Also : sidenote. Gorilla, if u need someone to talk to. Maybe us both talking together for moral support will help! I sent u a friend request

 

[xavstafunkadelic]

i am in the slightly same boat, i just tapered off of methadone on nov 20 and after about 2 weeks of breaking iwent to get some xanax for relief, i have been taking a 2mg every 2 days, at night, and am starting to fear addiction or dependence, not only have i heard horror stories about xanax withdrawal but i am also afraid of the well known vicious circle of heroin to methadone to some kinda pill then right back to heroin, over and over, i don’t want to fall into this cycle and am worried any advice would be greatly appreciated, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

 

[GingerKitty]

Benzo’s have a muscle relaxant effect and aren’t just prescribed for anxiety. Dr’s prescribe them a lot to people with chronic pain who suffer from muscle spasms, muscle jerks, and muscle clenching. When you have been on benzos for a really long time and start experiencing all that muscle spasming, tension, and clenching while tapering off it’s because your muscles have been kept medically relaxed for so long that your muscles are experiencing a rebound effect. Your muscles and your nerves are becoming more hyper excitable after being medically subdued for so long. Taking benzos for a long period of time makes your body forget how to spontaneously tone your muscles also.


Im not sure what you were prescribed benzo’s for but my husband was prescribed valium for his chronic pain disease for 7 years for his muscle spasms and clenching. He decided he wanted to come off the valium because he had built a tolerance and the medication really wasn’t helping him anymore.

While his dr was tapering him off the valium his spasms and clenching got ridiculously worse and he put my husband on a magnesium supplement. It helped tremendously. It didn’t completely get rid of the symptoms but it calmed them down to where they were tolerable. He takes 250mg in the morning and 250mg before bed.

Other things to help: DRINK WATER!!!! It’s highly likely these spasms aren’t just from tapering off the medication. Chances are you aren’t drinking enough water and it’s exacerbating the symptoms. You need to keep hydrated.

Light stretching a couple times a day can help a lot. Hot baths with epsom salt, massages, even just getting up and walking around a little bit or up and down a flight of stairs a couple times in a row. These remedies won’t be long term fixes in the beginning but if you do one or 2 of these a few times a day, everyday, you will help speed the recovery of your body spontaneously forming your muscle tone, which in turn will lead to less pain, tension, spasms and twitching.

 

[Vlouriablack]

Benzo’s have a muscle relaxant effect and aren’t just prescribed for anxiety. Dr’s prescribe them a lot to people with chronic pain who suffer from muscle spasms, muscle jerks, and muscle clenching. When you have been on benzos for a really long time and start experiencing all that muscle spasming, tension, and clenching while tapering off it’s because your muscles have been kept medically relaxed for so long that your muscles are experiencing a rebound effect. Your muscles and your nerves are becoming more hyper excitable after being medically subdued for so long. Taking benzos for a long period of time makes your body forget how to spontaneously tone your muscles also.


Im not sure what you were prescribed benzo’s for but my husband was prescribed valium for his chronic pain disease for 7 years for his muscle spasms and clenching. He decided he wanted to come off the valium because he had built a tolerance and the medication really wasn’t helping him anymore.

While his dr was tapering him off the valium his spasms and clenching got ridiculously worse and he put my husband on a magnesium supplement. It helped tremendously. It didn’t completely get rid of the symptoms but it calmed them down to where they were tolerable. He takes 250mg in the morning and 250mg before bed.

Other things to help: DRINK WATER!!!! It’s highly likely these spasms aren’t just from tapering off the medication. Chances are you aren’t drinking enough water and it’s exacerbating the symptoms. You need to keep hydrated.

Light stretching a couple times a day can help a lot. Hot baths with epsom salt, massages, even just getting up and walking around a little bit or up and down a flight of stairs a couple times in a row. These remedies won’t be long term fixes in the beginning but if you do one or 2 of these a few times a day, everyday, you will help speed the recovery of your body spontaneously forming your muscle tone, which in turn will lead to less pain, tension, spasms and twitching.

Ginger kitty thank u SO much for the info, that makes a little more sense. I have been perscribed kolonopin for my anxiety. It's suggested three halves a day, 0.5 each pill..so basically not even 1mg daily. I have now tapered down to 0.25 a day, roughly. Working towards getting it to a half, EVERY OTHER DAY. I'm pretty impressed with how I have been doing. I can't believe I have so much medicine left. I guess somehow this may be a little blessing in disguise. When I took my medicine everyday as directed, I felt depressed and not motivated. Also, I like to drink beer, not excessively but these two don't mix at all. So maybe it's better I decrease.

I have noticed over the past month a LOT more back pain. I have a few stash emergency options if I need. A 2mg dalidud, some Flexeril, excedrin migraine, herb, ibprofen 800, plenty of beer, some codeine cough syrup and a green football Xanax. Basically just a few pills or medicine that got left behind from prior visits to the doctor or ER. So, I know that if I start feeling super bad. I could take one of those, depending on my type of pain. Also, I found out tiger balm really helps relax my muscles as well.

Basically, I'm trying to tackle this with tons of yoga, optimistism, water, fruit, health food, vitamin and wellness water, face masks for healthy skin and general relaxing, neuro stress water, Bai sorrocho tea for a little bit of caffeine. Depending on my mood or discomfort level, I can use either one of those versus using more medicine. I actually feel a little more relief from just getting up and getting stuff done. I feel more motivated after decreasing my medicine and hope that soon over the next few months I can get off it.

Right now I currently have 30 pills of kolonopin and still have two refills . I think I will be able to do it! I am staying positive!