hi y'all.
My neuro is being a pain in the but and taking her sweet time diagnosing me with dystonia. I think she's trying to convince me that it's all in my head. FYI: dystonia is a rare neurological condition where the basal ganglia portion of the brain sends out instructions to certain muscles that are not intended. for me, my neck moves down, back, side to side, my jaw clenches, strains forwards or down, and nearly dislocates itself side to side. I haven't been able to completely open my left hand for longer than hour in about two weeks. My right foot curls in and I end up walking on the outside of my foot.
My neuro finally prescribed me an rx of xanex today. As I have a history of bad and weird side effects to medications, I have gotten in the habit of looking up side effects to any med before I take it. (I once massively hallucinated to zithromax, z-pac, the antibiotic. Hallucinations are not even on the side effect possibility list). Anyway, lo and behold, xanex is listed as a medication THAT CAN CAUSE OR MAKE DYSTONIA SYMPTOMS WORSE! She must only be giving it to me as an anitanxiety drug. This is really hacking me off. All my physical histories do not meet the typical symp.toms. My gallbladder disease went undiagnosed for a long time because my pain was referred.
My hubby thinks i should track down another neuro and get a second opinion. opinions? I'm really getting tired of being treated like a head case all the time. That's not the issue. although i may get there if they keep blowing me off.

Hi ionaskye,

I do not have Dystonia but I know a little about Benzodiazepines such as Xanax.

Although Xanax is used to treat anxiety it is prescribed for different conditions. These medications are muscle relaxants which is why I would assume your Doctor prescribed it.

I understand your concern. I use a Benzodiazepine (Klonopin) and one of the things I use it for is Tremors. A side effect of Klonopin? Tremors However I find it calms Tremors rather than makes them worse.

You may want to give Xanax a try. You might be pleasantly surprised...or not

Best wishes!

Xanax might work, but I would be very careful, as not only is it addictive but it's a BEAR to come off of. I became addicted to it and naturally I had to come off of it, and it was a horrible experience. I did wean slowly, but I still had lingering side effects and withdrawal symptoms long after I SHOULD have.

Just a word of warning. Best of luck and God bless Hugs, Lee

Xanax has a very short half life in the body...so if a benzo works for you, having a longer acting type like Klonopin would be a better choice.

Benzos work on GABA receptors which are involved in inhibitory neurons to dampen activity. This is why they are used post seizure...during the postictal phase of seizures. They may help the dystonia in a similar fashion. The side effects of benzos happen when they WEAR OFF in the body. I've seen some psychiatric patients tremor severely when they run out of their Klonopin...once that drug is used, there will be rebounds like this. That is why the longer acting benzos are better. In patients using long term high dose, they can even have a seizure, when previously they were not seizure prone.

But be advised...they are double edged sword, and very habituating.