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Benzos For Gi Symptoms


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Hi,

Sorry that I have not been very active on the forum lately... things are not going very well. Just wondering if I can get some feedback and experience on this...

Has anyone had any success (or failure) using any of the benzos (Valium, Klonopin, clonazepam, Ativan, etc.) to reduce nausea, decrease the frequency of bowel movements, and reduce intestinal cramping or the dizziness and other autnomic symptoms related to over-stimulation of the bowel?

Thank you in advance. Hope everyone is hanging in there!

~ Broken_Shell

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Good to see you back. I take Clonazepam (Klonopin) once a day and it seems to help with some of my dysautonomia symptoms. I think it's worth trying it out. I only take 1/2 of a .25 tab, but I take it with a small amount of Paxil and Trazodone. Somehow the combination works for me. Hope you find one that helps you, too.

Cheers,

Jana

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Good to see you back. I take Clonazepam once a day and it seems to help with some of my dysautonomia symptoms. I think it's worth trying it out. I only take 1/2 of a .25 tab, but I take it with a small amount of Paxil and Trazodone. Somehow the combination works for me. Hope you find one that helps you, too.

Cheers,

Jana

Can I ask what specific symtpoms it helps and what time of day you take it? Thank you.

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I think it helps with the nausea and lessens my constipation and IBS (I have the opposite problem you have), and it also helps with my anxiety. I just feel a little better when I'm taking it than when I'm not.

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Broken shell

I sometimes have used low dose xanax but can't use it in this hotter weather..even with AC on in house we can't keep it as cold as I NEED as the xanax adds to symptoms. But yes it seems to calm down my gut by relaxing the peristalsis motion.

BUT also to slow bathroom frequency, I got a tip from a girl who sees a Dr at Vanderbilt. Eat a tums or rolaid tablet. It helps slow down the digestive juices starting in the stomach...and "may" calm the lower G.I. tract thus can slow the bathroom frequency issue...not necessarily diarrhea but the numerous trips to the bathroom, in my case.

I usually ALWAYS AVOID antacids as I don't get heartburn and we need to have all the digestive enzymes we can for the instrinsic factor and other things to absorb nutrients. Especially as we age.

Anyway, this tip may not help you but it was such a little thing that I tried it once and by gosh it helps me. I usually eat one or two when I know it's gonna be one of those days and while not foolproof, it often helps. Good luck.

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I don't have prescription coverage so always like to try just a few pills of a new med. That way if I dont' do well on one, I can try another kind without having so many extra pills for nothing.

benzos vary GREATLY what with half life varations and such (Klonopin half life longer than xanax for instance or do I have that backwards? sorry very tired)

But the diff meds can be worth trying but at the LOWEST dose possible. And I get the generics and they work well for me. I use .25 of xanax but started with half of one of those pills when initially used them years ago.

I have used Xanax and Klonopin..the latter for sleep. but years ago Valium did not work for me and put me in a bad mood. But we are ALL different and our bodies are like fingerprints..unique..so what helps one may hinder another. and though in the same family these meds can work differently on our brains.

My late brother in law, a doctor was given Ativan and it turned him into some maniac..and made sure he never got it again (he lived in a hospital for a while waiting for a heart transplant and that's how he found out his bad reaction) but another benzo, forget which, worked well for him.

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My experience has been this:

Horrible over stimulation of GI. Then syncope during bathroom issues. Fun. Sometimes I am on the bathroom floor for days at a time. What helps me (regarding the benzos) is that I take 5 mg valium but I take it at night before I go to bed. I can do this because when I lay down my BP will raise too high even if I sleep with my upper body raised slightly.

Now when I take the valium then the next day the GI stuff is much slower and less violent and the BP doesn't raise (that I know of) when I am sleeping.

I take Flourinef 2X a day for the syncope due to BP drops, Gabapentin for a variety of stuff, 25 mg nortryptiline (also helpful for GI over stimulation), Baclofen for muscle spasms, and the B vitamins and presription D for vitamin deficiencies.

Before I got this bad I took benzos during the day in low dosages and it did help the GI stuff. For me it was really just a matter of finding the right benzo at the right dosage and taking into account the severity of my symptoms at the time. It is a tricky job but was worth it to me to help control my symptoms.

Again, this is only my experience. I was really scared to try new stuff at first (who am I kidding? I still am) but this was one thing that did help. It was also the one med that didn't seem to have negative side effects for me.

Hope some of my experience can answer some of your questions....Let me know if there is anything else I might be able to answer.

Thanks

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I take Lorazepam 2x daily. It has been the ONLY medication that helps with the dizziness, and for awhile, the brainfog. It does not give any improvement to me for the gastrointestinal symptoms I have. BUT, for a good 6-months when I began using Lorazepam, I was able to drive when the medication was active in my system. Over time, however, that has changed (can't feel safe while driving), and that's, I believe, because my body got used to the dosage amount and no longer takes those extra steps to allow the actual "anxiety" I feel when driving to calm down, etc. And no doctor feels comfortable upping the dosage just so I can drive again...they'd all rather ween me off of it, but realize that is the only thing that keeps the dizziness at bay most of the time.

Hope my experience helps a bit. :)

Sarah

Hi,

Sorry that I have not been very active on the forum lately... things are not going very well. Just wondering if I can get some feedback and experience on this...

Has anyone had any success (or failure) using any of the benzos (Valium, Klonopin, clonazepam, Ativan, etc.) to reduce nausea, decrease the frequency of bowel movements, and reduce intestinal cramping or the dizziness and other autnomic symptoms related to over-stimulation of the bowel?

Thank you in advance. Hope everyone is hanging in there!

~ Broken_Shell

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Shell, I have been taking Klonopin (my dr. wrote brand necessary) and It really helps me. I take it at bed time and I think it really helps me with GI issues as well. I realized how much it helped when I had to go off of it for a week.( I didn't feel the "need" for it but after about 5 days without it some of my symptoms came back). I asked a dr. when I was at mayo about becoming addicted to it and he told me that it was no big deal... just a problem for those people who have a history of drug abuse. I worried about taking it every day before then. I now take it every night and sometimes during the day if I really feel cruddy. Once you take it for a few weeks it doesn't make you so sleepy. During the day I also will cut the tab in half. For some reason my dr did not want me to have a generic for this one. I did not have a good experience with Lorazapan (ativan). It stopped working for me and in the beginning it made me feel like I was drunk. Also when I went off of it (slowly) I had withdraw symptoms. Best wishes to you Shell!!! I am praying that you feel better very soon. KayJay

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Sorry, I forgot to put down the time of day that I take my Paxil and Klonopin - I take both a couple of hours before I'm going to bed because they help make me drowsy and I sleep a little better.

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