How is everyone feeling? (31)

[Consolida]

^^ Nanuq, although I don't feel that I'm doing amazingly well, thank you all the same

^ Aw when is your Birthday twosocks? It sounds like your life has changed a lot since your last birthday when I'm guessing you were living with other people. I hope that even if you're on your own for your special day you don't feel lonely and will still be able to chat with loved ones. A quiet evening in with a takeout actually sounds like a great way to spend a birthday


I've been feeling out of sorts anxiety wise today and because of that have started worrying about Christmas when I might have to spend time with people who I've only previously spent time with while on a large dose of Lorazepam. Wish I could spend the whole of Christmas in bed with my cat

[Azalea]

It may not feel like it but you are really doing well Consolida.


I'm tired and in pain after 5 hours walking around a knitting and stitching show yesterday followed by a 3 hour wait for a train due to leaves on the line
It was worth it though, got a few things I wanted and a few I didn't know I wanted

[Percy]

Happy Birthday Twosocks

[mancman71]

@Consolida Sorry to hear how things are at the moment. I hope you can hold on to sticking with your current dose of Lorazepam.
It's not easy, especially with Christmas approaching and all the social expectations. I'm already dreading it and I'm trying to stay at my current dose of diazepam.
I know increasing it won't help.
Best Regards

[KellyUK]

Not feeling positive today. We were told at work last week that our self-service tills are going to be card only from this week, which is going to result in endless customer complaints coming our way. It's not the higher ups who take the minor verbal abuse but us low paid staff.

[limey123]

^ People typically abuse customer service staff, not thinking that they're usually their first line of contact with the company and the only ones at that point who can actually help them. Abuse them and you might just go to the back of the queue.

[limey123]

*Hugs* to Consolida!

[twosocks]

Thanks guys
It's next week and yeah i'll be fine. It's a little relieving in a way that if i do wake up grumpy i won't have to plaster a smile on my face for others and can just do what i want.

[Consolida]

@ Azalea - Thank you
It sounds like you had a great time at the knitting and stitching show and that it was totally worth the tired painful feet at the end


@Mancman - I'm mainly resisting the urge (as strong as it is) to take extra Lorazepam because I know that the GP won't prescribe it indefinitely, plus I don't want to end up with dementia in my old age and be even more scatterbrained than I already am. The GP actually phoned today and seemed quite pleased with how my tapering was going and isn't badgering me too much about it all as she understands that I have a lot of stress in my life at the moment.
You should be very proud of yourself, Mancman, for sticking to the same dose and not increasing as I know how incredibly tough it is, especially during the run up to Christmas. Hopefully in the coming new year we will both succeed in kicking those wretched benzo's (and the anxiety) into touch


@KellyUk - I can well imagine how stressful it is to work in retail at this time of year. Tbh, it sounds like an absolute SA nightmare
I hope you will at least receive a big Christmas bonus for having to deal with all the flak from rude customers!


@Limey - Aw thanks for the hug. Here's one right back at ya!

[anxiouslondoner]

Feeling sick, I'm stressing about having to give a presentation this morning although it's only five minutes and two slides long.
I just hope nobody asks questions.

[mancman71]

@Consolida Thanks for your supporting words. Hopefully in the new year I can make a proper goat reducing.

[Consolida]

^ Roll on 2022

Originally Posted by anxiouslondoner

Feeling sick, I'm stressing about having to give a presentation this morning although it's only five minutes and two slides long.
I just hope nobody asks questions.

How did it go Al?
I hope it went well and wasn't too nerve racking

[anxiouslondoner]

^^^, ^
Thanks, it was unpleasant but I guess I got away with it.
I want to go back to bed now.

[Consolida]

^ I'm glad you survived it


I'm feeling so very low today and can't see things getting any better, only much much worse. Every morning I have to drag myself out of bed, force myself to get dressed, do what needs to be done, come home and go back to bed until the late afternoon/evening chores begin. Only sleep (and chocolate) offer a temporary release from this miserable existence.

I'm now down to 1mg of lorazepam (I was on 2 - 3 mg daily a few months ago) and instead of feeling less tired I feel severe fatigue, 24/7. Each time I cut/taper my life shrinks a little bit more. A lot of folk in the Benzo group regard finally coming off their Benzo as a cause for celebration but what if there's only severe social anxiety waiting for you at the end if it? At my age, I don't want to learn new ways of coping with the anxiety as I've been there, done that, and for me it didn't work hence going on the Benzo's all those years ago. Now I hear that the antidepressant I'm on is one of the very worse to come off and should never be taken with Lorazepam and that the magnesium I take because of a vitamin D deficiency is also very bad. There's no chance of getting any sunlight to increase my vitamin D levels so I'm totally stuffed.

Someone shoot me please

[Percy]

^No i will not shoot you consolida. I'll shoot the rubbish feelings that are making you feel so rubbishy

[Percy]

Anxiety is quite high at the moment.

[SpectralOwls]

Tired, but glad our busiest day of the year is over, though we still have Christmas. My fiance is going to be heading back soon, so my head is swimming with all these things I need to do in December to prepare for me moving in January. I'm really nervous about getting everything sorted out and trying to push away negative thoughts and the anxiety related to it. =_=

I actually FINALLY got contact from a vet that says they can help me with the health certificate for bringing my dog over, so I'm trying so hard to be positive about that. Ugh there's just so many hurdles though.

[Percy]

Good luck spectralowls

[Consolida]

Originally Posted by Percy

^No i will not shoot you consolida. I'll shoot the rubbish feelings that are making you feel so rubbishy

Okay that's a deal, but you'll have to let me shoot the rubbish feelings that make you feel rubbishy too

I hope you are feeling less anxious now Percy


@ SpectralOwls - You've got such a lot going on there right now and preparing for a big move is near the top of everybody's list when it comes to major stressful events so it's not surprising you're feeling nervous

It sounds promising about the vet and the health certificate. I've got everything crossed for you that you'll be able to bring your doggy over here too


I've woken up feeling horrendous
Now that I've stopped taking my tiny slither of Lorazepam at bedtime and have cut my daily pill of Lorazepam in half to spread it out the withdrawal symptoms have stepped up in full force: Burning skin, blurred vision, ringing in the ears....My nervous system obviously isn't at all happy about the situation but it's going to have to get used to this because the road ahead is going to get a lot bumpier

[mancman71]

@Consolida I hear what your saying. It's disconcerting when I read of people's success stories coming off benzos (I'm very happy for them); But what about those of us who have struggled with severe SA? If it was such a struggle before benzos then what about beyond benzos?
I've got to say though you're down to 1mg and holding! That's strength of will. I'm a long way behind you...Don't know how I can make it.
I'm not sure what AD you're on...They neglect to tell people that there's withdrawal coming off a lot of these; or 'discontinuation syndrome' as the psych professionals like to call them.
I wish I'd never started SSRI's all those years ago (they did nothing for my anxiety or depression but what did I know as a kid. I thought they would fix things like an antibiotic...Some of them just made things worse.
Sorry for my ramble.

[Percy]

Originally Posted by Consolida

Okay that's a deal, but you'll have to let me shoot the rubbish feelings that make you feel rubbishy too

I hope you are feeling less anxious now Percy :

Agreed, i'm feeling ok at the moment thanks.

[Professor Willow]

Not feeling remotely festive.
Christmas is so much better when you're a child.

[Consolida]

^ I agree. Christmas is only nice if you're a child or you have a young child (although I better not let crafty elf hear me say that )

Maybe if you put your tree up that will make you feel more Christmassy?


@ Mancman71 - I may be a little ahead of you with this tapering marlarky but remember the fable about the hare and the tortoise? Slow and steady wins the race. You'll get there in the end
I'm struggling terribly with the withdrawal symptoms today and don't know how the heck people manage to go to work and/or bring up children, etc, while they are doing this. I'm just glad that my child is all grown up. I think you mentioned something about looking for work in a previous post? I really hope that this is something that you can put off until you are in a better place so to speak. It's important that you try to keep your stress levels regarding other stuff as low as possible while tapering

I'm on the anti-d, Cymbalta/Duloxetine. There's a support group for people getting off that too but I'm not even going to go there. Although it does nothing for me, I'm not going to attempt to get off that until I'm off the Benzo. At least the GP isn't badgering me to get off that (in fact she was trying to get me to increase the dose) because she said it will help with the anxiety and it isn't addictive. Now when have I heard that before

Btw, what anti depressant are you on Mancman?



I'm feeling minging, so I'm going to drag myself into the shower so at least I don't smell

[SpectralOwls]

Thanks, Consolida. You're so sweet.

I hope you feel better.

[mancman71]

Hi @Consolida Thanks for your reply. I am currently in work two days a week and am struggling with overwhelming social anxiety. It is very hard to interact with colleagues, focus on my job and remember things.
It is job that involves dealing with a lot of people, organizing tasks and sorting out problems. I was off sick for quite some time but decided to try and get back into work because I was becoming isolated at home.
I am on an MAOI, Moclobemide. I have been on every AD through the years though I did refuse to go on Cymbalta.
I'm sorry to hear you're struggling so badly and try to juggle work and homelife.
I too wouldn't try and come off Cymbalta and I definitely wouldn't increase.
Today I will have my first shower in two days. I haven't done anything this weekend. I have no social life outside my family now.
I hope you have a good Sunday.

[firemonkey]

Dreading getting into bed.because however good(yesterday) or bad(today) that left leg is,pain wise, swinging iit onto the bed results in intense pain.Just taken 400 mgs ibuprofen . Will take some codeine in 3-4 houts time. If the pain remains as ii tis the chance of even halfway decent sleep is in single figures.

The pain is now also radiating to my lower left leg…

[Dougella]

^ Have they managed to get you for an x-ray or any other appointments to determine the reason for the pain firemonkey?

[Consolida]

@ Mancman71 - It's incredible that you are managing to go into work twice a week although I can well imagine how difficult this is for you when you are trying to taper off the medication on top of dealing with the dreaded social anxiety. There's no way I could cope with that so you have my upmost admiration. Look after yourself


@ Firemonkey - I'm sorry that your leg is causing you a lot of pain and I hope that the codeine brought you some relief so you are able to get some much needed sleep. As Dougella says, do you have any hospital appointments coming up so they can investigate further and hopefully start you on some treatment?

Here's hoping that your good days will soon outnumber the bad days



Feeling crappy with various physical and mental withdrawal symptoms. The insomnia and chest pain are particularly bad. I'm really feeling this latest cut in my medication and have come the closest, since starting the taper, to going back to my original higher dose. The only thing stopping me is that I don't want the last couple of months to have been a total waste of time and to be back at square one again

[Percy]

Where's my gun?

[Consolida]

^^ I'll shoot those rubbishy feelings of yours but not YOU as you're far too nice Percy
Feel better soon