Ulcers and Benzodiazepines

Hello,

4 months agao, I had a Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy and I am still experiencing pain, in the upper part of my abdomen. After some research, I thought this might be Ulcer related. During this time, I was on 4 mg of xanax a day, and my dr. switched me to 2 milligrams of klonapin per day instead, as the side effects of withdrawal are less severe, and the klonapin is less addictive. For a while, I stopped having the pain, and when I took a few xanax on certain "severe stress" days, the pain returned.

I assumed that it was the xanax causing the pain. However, even exclusively on the Klonapin I am again having pain. It seems exascerbated by stress, and brought on my hunger.

Am I on too high of a dose of the klonapin? Also, I have taken prilosec everyday for the last 6 years. Plus, I have noticed lower back pain with the xanax, but not the Klonapin. Which is unusual because xanax is a known muscle relaxant. I don't know if my muscles are atrophying while I sleep or what.

Plus, I didn't think Klonapin was classified as a benzo...am I wrong about that?

Any help would be great...thanks!

[ggreg]

I can answer the muscle relaxant part of your post.  Klonopin is better at relaxing muscles than Xanax.  This is because Klonopin is a Benzodiazepine that is also classified as an anti-convulsant.

As for the pain in your tummy, I can only guess at that.  But you said you notice it when you have stress and when you are hungry.  This can cause regular stomach acids to churn around in there and make you a little sick.  Drink some milk or take an alka seltzer when that happens to help neutralize the stomach acid.  You could also see about changing the Prilosec to another newer kind of antacid, too, that might work better.  

And if you continue to have problems with that acid feeling, you could have one of those stomach scopes look in there to make sure you don't have an ulcer or whatever, which would require different treatment than what you're getting now.  But I don't get an upset stomach from my Klonopin, I take 1mg daily for panic disorder.