| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
easyfrantic
2 Posts |
 Posted - 01/09/2012 : 19:26:51
|
Let me start off with a few things. First, I'm a recovering addict. I was strung out on opiates for a few years (not because of pain, but because I'm an addict). The last year and a half I was on a drug called Suboxone (which is kind of like a new-school Methadone) for opiate-replacement therapy. Long story short I found the recovery community and started attending 12-step meetings and went to rehab to get off the stuff.
I'm no stranger to TMS. It started (really) hitting me hard when I was 17 and I suffered greatly for a few years until I discovered Sarno's work, and then a few years more just because I was either on drugs or totally messed up in the head. Anyway, it's been half a year since I quit taking Suboxone, and even though I was armed to the teeth with all of my Sarno knowledge I got suckered into another TMS equivalent.
They call it Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome or PAWS. In the past I had read about it but I wrote it off as a TMS-equivalent, but in rehab we got inundated with information about it—how long it lasts and what our symptoms will be (tell me if any of this starts to sound familiar). What they told us was that it was an extended withdrawal period with symptoms that would come and go and would also cycle and change (ie: move around). This means you could have anxiety one day, muscle aches the next and so on.
The first curious thing that happened to me was hearing about everyone else in the rehab that was coming off of opiates experiencing Restless Leg Syndrome. Now, I knew already that it was on the big list of TMS-equivalents, so I laughed it off and got hit with what I now call "Restless Arm Syndrome" instead. So I get discharged and I'm wracked with all kinds of symptoms for months on end. The same familiar, paralyzing obsession I had come to know so well in the early years plagued me like nothing else. I was afraid to do anything for fear of making the symptoms worse. I spent hours googling "post acute withdrawal +suboxone," which only threw gasoline on the fire.
Now, I'm not exactly sure what was actual withdrawal or what was TMS and I don't really care. I feel like I turned a corner the past few days. I started applying what I knew in the past about my other TMS symptoms to the withdrawal, and like every time before I overdid it and my fear shot through the roof. What I was able to notice, however, was that through sheer tenacity I got the symptoms to start shifting around during the day and was able to observe them change. This was enough for me to realize what I was experiencing was a highly-believable equivalent fueled by the information I was given back in rehab. Like most TMS stuff when you really take a look at what's happening it starts to make less and less sense.
Needless to say I've been freaking out the past few days until I remembered how I actually got my other symptoms to leave me alone. I didn't do anything at all. Satisfied with the knowledge that they were TMS I left them alone and moved on with my life (albeit a drug-fueled mess of one).
This one was tough, however, because there was no literature to support it. I still feel a little shaky because as far as I know I'm walking through uncharted territory. But it just seems ridiculous that half a year after quitting a drug you would still be feeling the same symptoms. This is especially true with what I know about opiates. It might be different for some other drugs but in this case it was just getting retarded.
I needed to write this all out in case someone goes through a similar experience. Hopefully you'll be able to save yourself the suffering. Recovering addicts have enough to deal with without getting a TMS smack-down layered on top of it. |
Edited by - easyfrantic on 01/09/2012 19:30:29 |
|
|
bryan3000
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2012 : 00:41:20
|
Easy,
Big congrats on beating your addiction, though I do understand it is a day by day processes.
I've had an awful protracted withdrawal problem from medical use of small amounts of Xanax. I do believe the syndrome is real, mostly because I was several months into it before I really did any research on what it was about. I thought I would skate off of Xanax with no prob as long as I tapered slowly. Months after quitting, I was in a hell I hadn't seen prior or since. I'm now 8 months out and feeling 65% better from the WD symptoms and getting back to the old anxiety/tms symptoms. Can the two blur? Sure. But for me at least, there was an undeniable post-acute syndrome to contend with. I wondered about continuing on at various points... something I never thought about before and probably never will again.
I do understand your point though. Nocebos can be very dangerous. My best advice is to just use these medicines VERY carefully so one never has to go through what we did.
Keep on keeping on. Best wishes.
_____________________________
-1/2010 - Developed chronic sinus problems. ENTs/Docs can't find anything
-5/29/2010 - Doc gives cocktail of allergy meds which induces first ever panic attack/anxiety.
-7/16/2010 - Anxiety stays/worsens - put on Xanax
2/1/2011 - Began Xanax taper - Withdrawal starts - full body chaos
-6/11/2011 - Last dose of Xanax. Physical/emotional chaos continues for several months.
-Now: Taking it day by day, looking for real answers and ways to heal myself without medical poison. |
 |
|
|
easyfrantic
2 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2012 : 02:12:56
|
I'll admit I'm a little cavalier (and a little crazy) when it comes to this stuff. I'm the guy that uses TMS knowledge to fight colds and other things that probably should be just accepted and dealt with. Actually I beat off a cold the other day that felt like it was coming on. My sister was sick and I almost fell into it.
It seems to be working though. I was waiting for the bus today and my ribs were aching like a mofo and then I think I remembered something Dave wrote on this forum and said to myself "it's not because you're standing up that they hurt" and poof. No more rib pain. It was instantaneous.
To clear one thing up, you never really "beat" addiction. I'll have to go to meetings and work my program for the rest of my life or I'll end up either dead or in jail. Good luck with the benzo withdrawal. I saw some people going through that in rehab and they were... well they weren't feeling too good. |
Edited by - easyfrantic on 01/10/2012 02:13:42 |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (SUCCESS!)
