Physical Symptoms from Protracted Benzo Withdrawal in Detail

The physical symptoms from klonopin withdrawal are just misery.  They make it so it is impossible to relax or be comfortable.  Many have lessened thankfully, but many are still relentlessly making me suffer.

TIGHT PRESSURE IN HEAD:

There has been a tight band of pressure around my forehead and between my eyes since the beginning.  This symptom fluctuates often.  Sometimes it feels like there is a block of concrete inside my head and it hurts terribly, other times it is simply tight.  The front of my head feels very heavy, and my head feels larger than it is.  Heat seems to help it a little.  When it gets bad I sit in a hot shower and let the water hit my skull, or sometimes I will sit next to the fireplace and allow it to heat up my forehead.  From what I’ve read, this is a common symptom.  Some people claim it flares up after eating.

PRESSURE, PAIN, BURNING, AND, POPPING IN EARS:

Muscles deep in my ears, muscles one cannot usually feel or ever be aware of, are constantly being tugged and pulled.  The pressure can get so bad that it hurts.  There used to be a burning sensation in my ears as well as if my ears were on fire.   Additionally, my ears pop and crackle when I swallow or open my mouth wide.  There is something strange happening to these muscles.  This became more tolerable in my fifth month.

RESTLESSNESS AND PACING (AKATHISIA):

Akathisia is a severe restlessness caused by the withdrawal in which you constantly have to move.  This is pure torture.  You cannot relax.  In the first few months it was terrible.  I had to go on hours long walks.  I was constantly moving my legs and pacing.  I used to wake up in the middle of night and start walking around, or I would go outside.  All of the nerves throughout my body could not be mad comfortable.  Sitting down, lying down was out of the question.  Standing still or walking slowly was also impossible.  It was as if ants were crawling all over my nerves and muscles.  Fortunately, this symptom constantly improves albeit very slowly over many months.  I still can’t stay still for very long, but it is so much more tolerable now.

VIBRATION, BUZZING, TINGLING IN NERVES:

It is like there are bees or power lines in my head and limbs.  There is this rapid internal movement inside my body which buzzes and vibrates.  This is another torturous physical symptom which prevents you from being comfortable.  It was constant in the beginning and now it comes and goes as I fluctuate.

TINNITUS:

This is very distressing also.  I had some tinnitus in my left ear from zoloft, but both ears flared up during klonopin withdrawal.  It is still twice as bad in my left ear than in my right.  It is a loud high pitched hiss, or perpetually sustained cricket chirp deep inside my brain.  In complete silence or in very small rooms it is terrorizing and gives me terrible anxiety.  Going to sleep is very difficult too.  The simple act of staying still and not focusing on anything reduces the ambient noise going into your ear and makes you hear it even more.  Moreover, it is amplified by pressing my ear into the pillow.  Nothing seems to be able to mask it.  I have white noise playing and the television on and still it terrorizes me.  It doesn’t seem to have gotten better, or if it has, it’s been only minor improvement.

VISUAL DISTURBANCES:

There are so many problems with my vision right now.  My vision gets grainy like television static, especially in low light.  I can’t see in the dark or look up at the night sky.  It’s very noticeable against super dark and super bight colors.  My vision oscillates ever so slightly as if it were vibrating or I was underwater.  It’s not as though the objects in my vision are moving, but rather as if something transparent was moving in front of the image.  I think this is an eye muscle problem.  As I move my eyes it doesn’t seem fluid and the image seems to take a half a second longer to come into focus.  I can’t track moving objects or identify objects from their background very well.  I did have an optometrist tell me my eye muscles are very sluggish.  Reading is very strenuous.  I also occasionally get pressure behind my eyes and will feel little stabbing pricks against the back of my left eye.

VITREOUS FLOATERS:

In my second month my eyes exploded with floaters overnight preceded by some eye pain in the week prior.  There are at least 20 of them floating around and make being outside in the daylight very disturbing.  One day, when this is all over, I plan to check out laser surgery procedure that gets rid of them.

WOOZY, DRUNK FEELING:

I constantly feel off balance and woozy as if I am very drunk.  I guess you can call it dizziness, but I don’t get vertigo.

COLD, CLAMMY FACE AND HEAD:

This can be particularly strong in my forehead.  Behind it my brain feels like a block of ice.  My face can be cold to the touch and I will sweat.

GRINDING AND CLENCHING TEETH (BRUXISM):

In the first few months there was a great deal of tension in my jaw.  It felt uncomfortable and I didn’t know what to do with my jaw while I tried to go to sleep.  I would clench and grind them all night too.

PRESSURED BREATHING:

This was very scary in the first couple months and returns only occasionally now.  I felt like I could never get enough air, even though this wasn’t the case.  It was just a feeling.  And there was something strangely voluntary about my breathing as if I had to physically force myself to breath which also wasn’t reality, but I felt that way nonetheless.

BURNING SKIN:

In the first three months this symptom would come and go.  It was as if I had a very bad sunburn all over my body.  It hurt when I touched my skin or had hot water touch it just like a sunburn.

HAIR THINNING AND HAIR LOSS:

I started to notice my hair got thinner very quickly while on klonopin.  When I jumped off of the drug it started falling out and I could see my scalp.  When I wash my hair in the shower there will be a bunch of hair would come off in my hands.

DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS AND FREQUENT URINATION:

For the first for months I had diarrhea every day.  I also had urinate constantly.  I would wake up several times a night to go to the bathroom.  It seemed like every twenty minutes to a half an hour I would have to go.

DEHYDRATION:

I am always thirsty.  It’s probably related to the frequent urination.  I can drink four or five tall glasses of water in succession without getting sick of it.  I have been drinking a gallon and a half of water per day on average.

SENSORY SENSITIVITIES:

I’m sensitive to light. Sounds seem too loud and create vibrations in my ear.  And scents, particularly perfume, make me sick to my stomach.

RAPID HEART RATE:

Occasionally, my heart starts to pound for no reason.  It gets worse when I’m active.

WEAKNESS AND FATIGUE:

I’m incredibly weak.  I can’t lift as much as I used to.  I get tired so easily, and I mean exhausted.  Getting up and walking around the house can sometimes make me breathe hard and my heart race.

CLUMSY AND UNCOORDINATED:

I constantly bump into things and often I’ll reach for an object but knock it over instead.  I also drop stuff often.

JUMPY NERVES:

My nerves are very jittery.  Small, precise movements were very hard for me in the beginning.  This had improved a lot.

SLEEP ISSUES:

Through all of this I haven’t had anything I’d call insomnia, but I am easily awoken.  The slightest sound can wake me up, and my cortisol levels skyrocket and I can’t get back to sleep.

Click here for a list of my psychological symptoms.

Click here for a description of my cognitive dysfunction.