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Hi. New here. Have had severe trouble with anxiety and sleep since menopause and recently diagnosed with obstructive seep apnea and restless leg syndrome. Took gabapentin in the past for small fiber neuropathy (pre-menopause) but it made me so zoned out I tapered off of it fairly quickly. Really struggling with the combination of facial nerve pain and sleep apnea and RLS. Haven't been able to adjust to the CPAP mask. Taking a break from the CPAP now because the mask was making my sleep so bad I could not function in the daytime. Learned that if CPAP causes insomnia a person may need a short course of sleep meds to adjust to the CPAP. My GP was not keen on prescribing sleep meds. Sent me to psych. Saw psych pill pusher who wanted to put me on psych meds for anxiety. I don't even remember what, just that she dismissed the CPAP problems and really pushed the anxiety meds. Went to one appointment and never went back. Meanwhile, my RLS syndrome flared up again. Prescribed gabapentin for RLS by GP. Then I read that it can worsen obstructive sleep apnea, so I don't want to take it. I do not perceive that it worsens the apnea, but then I do not perceive that I have obstructive sleep apnea at all. Only the sleep study told me so. I have been taking the gabapentin 100 mg for only 1 week and can taper up if it doesn't help. I'm torn. When the RLS flares up, it is really awful. But I am afraid of becoming dependent on a drug that could worsen my OSA. If I have taken the gabapentin for only 1 week, can I already be dependent on it and need to taper? How long until a person does become dependent? Thanks.

Hello, thank you for reaching out. I’ve crashed in my tapering of Effexor and I am now in a extreme situation with daily anxiety, panic and severe gastrointestinal issues. I desperately need advice. Background: over the last year (since March 8 2021) I’ve been tapering brand name Pfizer Effexor XR by using the bead method under the guidance of a Facebook group. I’ve reduced from 75mg to 25mg using 10% reductions every 4-8 weeks. I weighed the beads while reducing all the way from 75mg to 25mg. Unfortunately, on Jan 13 2022 - just a week out from a 10% taper - I switch and reacted badly to a generic formulation (Sandoz venlafaxine XR 25mg) which I only took for 1 day and switched back to brand name with beads. From then on I decided to count instead of weigh. I settled on 91 beads. Things seem to go fine until Feb 16 I noticed I had unusual symptoms and I began to suspect I my dose was too high (nausea, vertigo, restlessness, anxiety/dysphoria); so I decided to check and see if 91 beads was a good average number for my previous pill weight of 83mg I had switched from. I weighted out 5 of my previous doses, counted the beads in each, and the average was actually 86 beads. So Feb 20 I began to take 86 beads. Things seemed go fine with the usual withdrawal symptoms I am used to. But on March 2nd and 3rd I experienced hypomania and anxiety which was unusual. On March 4 all hell broke loose and from the moment I wake up I start experiencing extreme anxiety, diarrhea, nausea, dry heaving, RLS in the morning On March 5th I decided to stop all supplements because I was afraid I was destabilized. My gastrointestinal symptoms became so severe (anorexia, abdominal cramping, nausea, dry heaving, anxiety and panic) that on March 6th I admitted myself to the emergency room. They did nothing for me but refer my to a gastroenterologist (I have yet to see). Since then I have been trying to hold it together but each day I wake up an anxious wreck with my stomach in knots and it doesn’t even began to ease even a little until the late afternoon. I’m terrified that I may have akathesia. On March 8th I saw my GP who prescribed Ativan 1mg just in case of panic attacks. I am so afraid I destabilized myself and scared to updose or decrease my dose or take the Ativan. I am getting desperate but I don’t want to see a doctor or psychiatrist because I’m afraid they will advise to go back to 37.5mg of Effexor or higher; CT me, bridge me or add more drugs. I don’t want to suffer an adverse reaction from going back up or on something else and ending up polydrugged. So I’ve been just holding but each day is a battle and I’m very scared. Please help me know what I should do! 🙏

Hi. My story is a bit complicated, sorry. Much of it is about Klonopin, but my main problems currently seem to be a result of Remeron (Mirtzapine) and a drastic forced reduction of the Klonopin 4 months ago. I apologize if this is the wrong place to discuss Klonopin (chlonazepam). I'm 62. My overall diagnosis for the past 7 yrs is Fibromyalgia. I took 1.0 g Klonopin every night for several years for RLS, and it didn't seem to hurt me in any way. Occasionally my dr increased that dosage, as it is addictive - but I kept insisting on tapering down again. Sometimes I went down to .5 per night. I was very consistent until the past year when many stresses caused huge anxiety and during those times my dr allowed me to take Klonopin as needed. Anyway, I moved to a new area to be near my grandchildren 5 months ago. It triggered extreme anxiety and depression. I went to a new doctor who started me (4 months ago) wham-bam on Cymbalta and Remeron and Tizanadine (a muscle relaxant) (despite my telling him that my old dr had prescribed it for only occasional use for muscle cramps). At the time I was taking Klonopin (1.0) several times per day (6-8 per day) for the anxiety, as approved by my previous doctor. New dr insisted I immediately reduce to 3.0 mg per day. I suffered terribly from the quick reduction of the Klonopin. Jittery, shaky, anxious. That was 4 months ago... still haven't recovered. He started me on 15 mg Remeron, then after one week up to 30mg. Although I liked the emotional effect Remeron gave me, I struggled terribly with crazy restless legs. I hear a certain number of patients get this side effect. It was bad, lasted sometimes a couple of hours. But then some nights I did not have it at all. I began to call it Russian Roullette RLS. To combat this RLS side effect, new dr approved of taking all of my 3 allotted Klonopin at night. I then slept great. BTW, I begged the dr to take me off of the Tizanadine, as it seemed to be causing extra anxiety, so he finally did. I'm back to using that only occasionally. I've been on Cymbalta in the past and feel it is a good medicine for me. However, I suspect that the Klonopin mixed with Remeron caused problems. Or it's just the Remeron, I don't know. But the scariest thing going on for me is an "action tremor." When I am still, you can't see any shaking. But when I use my muscles in any way, I can feel the tremor, and there are certain moves I can do to show others the tremors. Also my heart rate tends to be quite fast - up to 100/minute. I never had that before. But today I meditated and it went down to 72. And my overall shakiness makes me scared and confused... I'm at that age when it could be something serious, but I'm trying to wait it out. My new dr kept saying it must be caused by the Remeron. I've been off of it for a week, and I'm hoping he's right. I'm seeing a psychiatrist now, since my new dr did not want to prescribe the mood medications. A week ago he prescribed my 1.0 Klonopin to be taken - a total of 1.0 - at a steady pace, .25 morning, .25 afternoon, .25 bedtime, .25 middle of night. He thought that perhaps I'm experiencing "withdrawal" during the day by only taking the Klonopin at night, which was a pretty good idea, but it is not making a difference. To further complicate my life, 2 months ago I was diagnosed as prediabetic, so my diet has also changed drastically. I'm not overweight and diabetes does not run in my family... I think I just had a bad year and ate/drank too much sugar. My mom was sick for that year and then died, I had a 4-month anxiety reaction to a normal dose of prednisone, and I moved. Some pretty big stuff. This was really long. Anybody who reads through it - thank you for listening.