Hello Friends,
Yesterday I messed up my day meds by forgetting them but not being absolutely sure I forgot them.

25 minutes after I took my night meds last night and a (extra) day med I got parasthesia. I haven't had this for many months and it scared me. Then I got anxiety and chills (from the a/c but I was anxious so everything was big.)

I was worried about my blood pressure going to low. Then I started fretting about being on ANY meds.

I told my husband to wake me up in the morning when he gets up to make sure that I am alive. Imagine doing that to the poor guy.

I'm awake now. And wondering what set off the parasthesia. And wondering if the parasthesia is a big deal or not. I can't call the pdoc about this. 2 years ago we went through and EEG and an MRI and things were normal.

I started two new bottles of meds last night. I wonder if I got a bad batch or two. On other occassions that I have gotten parasthesia I was unable to connect it to a certain med or med time. With pdoc's help I went off Wellbutrin and then Xanax anyway because they were potentially causing it. Now I want to continiue to go off the meds.
Mari

Dera Mari,
that sounds scarey to have the parasthesia...was it in your face arms, legs???
actually where were you experiencing this symptoms...I don't remember where you had them before.
anyway
As you know getting off meds takes time and enrgy...slow as you go....
hang in there.
bizi

Hi Bizi,
Yes, it starts in face and moves to arms and legs and hangs around a few hours or days depending Today I still have some in my face.
mari

this sounds similar to what happened to me with Trileptal - it didn't at first, took it for almost a year,and then... started having this effect. in my case it wore off after a few hours but it was scary. it started in my face (lips) and spread through my face, then arms and sometimes legs. i don't know if this is at all related. Trileptal is actually used to treat trigeminal neuralgia so i guess perhaps i got sensitized ti it and the nerve became understimulated... but the rest of the body thing was weird. Bottom line: the trileptal was discontinued.

paresthesia subsequent to taking an unusually high dose of a benzo does not sound like a far reach to me. i think you will be alright. can you find a way to track your meds? i use a daily dispenser. or you could put a sticky on the fridge or a mirror or the inside of a cabinet or whatever - if hubby protests, tell him waves said so . i dunno.

but do, please, tell your pdoc. he is prescribing these meds, and he needs to be aware of these events.

be safe

~ waves ~

Dear Waves,
I am sorry you went through this. Apparently you thought it was a good enough reason to stop the med.

Now I am more worried. You know much about these meds. I look up the drugs when I first go on them and then I forget everything. My note taking gets trampled each time I move or change a computer.

I take (1) Verapamil and (2) Klonopin and (3) birth control pill.

The PDR lists paresthesia as an adverse effect of both Verapamil and of Klonopin.
Two years ago I tried to reduce the Verapamil but I got anxious and headed toward hyper within a few days. But I was still on a low dose of Wellburtrin at the time. I see the pdoc on Wednesday (2 days from now). Maybe we could try reducing the Verapamil again.

Or maybe time to reduce the Klonopin. I know to do only one at a time usually.
Going off the Xanax was hard....even with the pdoc's help AND even with raising the Klonopin to keep the benzo dose stable. It was weird. I went through shakes and sweats and anxiety and still have stuff going on here and there.

And I don't want to find a substitute for Verapamil. I like it as a mood stabilizer. I can't imagine dealing with the side effects of a new drug. No new drugs. Please.

Last night, after the the effects started, I put my meds in a weekly dispenser. But this morning I didn't use the dispenser. I wanted to test if the problem came from the new bottles -- bottles can be inconsistent.


Report: still have the weird parasthesia tonight -- almost 23 hours after it started. I wonder what triggered it.

Tonight is the second night in a row with some anxiety and slight chest pressure. I need to have a talk with myself and figure out what is going on.

I upped my daily calcium dose from 0 to 1500 mgs. Would that effect the Verapamil? A shot in the dark. It's a calcium channel blocker. What does that mean? I have some questions for the pdoc!


Mari

when did you increase your calcium intake? wonder if that has anything to do with it...
HOw long have you been off the xanax?
Withdrawl side effects can last a LONG time!

bizi
worrying can certainly cause us to worry even more and then you can have heart palpitations and skipped beats and jsut get worked up into a tizzy.
I have done this about 2 years ago.
It is/sounds like anxiety and anxiety can just play haovac on us.
you just take the klonipin at night right?
what is your dose if you don't mind or PM me.

Hi Bizi,
About 4-5 days ago I went back on my multi vit and started taking extra calcium. I hadn't taken extra calcium for a very long time.

I need a chemist.
But no calcium tomorrow/Tuesday so I can see what happens.

I went off the Xanax June 20. The pdoc raised the Klonopin an equal amount so that I would not have any withdrawals.
About 4 mornings later, I woke up in a cold sweat. I did the same a few days later. I had anxiety. The anxiety went away after a couple of weeks but I still have other issues like creaky squirty sounds in my head and twitching (not muscular) throughout the body off and on.

I'm thinking it best not to mess with the Klonopin dose.....still have too much going on with the Xanax leaving my body.
On the other hand, maybe I could at least stand a Klonopin reduction.

Mari

Dear Bizi,
I take 2.0 Klonopin at night and .5 mg Klonopin in the am when I wake up.
I don't need it during the day but I remember hearing that the klonopin should be dosed more often than once a day due to its half-life -- someone here at the old brain talk told me that. The pdoc said ok to breaking up the dose and taking part in the day.

I have anxiety/panic that is specific to sleep. I made an appointment to see the hypno-therapist on Friday. I had taken a break from her since August, but she called to tell me it was time to come back.

Mari

Mari,

I hope you feel better soon. I'm not up on what our meds can do to us to offer any insight. I do know though that I seem to always have trouble with anti-depressants and that is why I do not take any.

befuddled2

I read some one else describe this as a zap.
A side effect from getting off of a benzo of any sort....
I will go have to look up the equilvalents of xanax and klonipin.
I think the doses may be interchangable but their half lifes are different.
I do know that 2mg of klonipin is equal to 40mg of valium in a cross over to do a slow taper.