Severe Anxiety with Brain Fog after Xanax .25 mg for 2+ months Please Help

[Gustav85]

Hello, quick story plus a list a meds....I need help going mad this week because of new severe symptoms and no answers need support....

Xanax .25mg (2+ months)
Amitriptyline 10mg discontinued after 3 days
Protonix - 40mg for severe digestive issue still unsolved...(2 + months)
Caferafate - 1g for every meal (2 + months)
Beano/Gas-x

Story goes I went to the gastroentronologist last week and was given amitriptyline to help my digestive disorder...

I stopped taking .25mg of xanax the same day I started 10mg once a day of Amitriptyline

I took amitriptyline for 3 days at 9:30pm and stopped this Friday....because of symptoms...from either xanax withdrawl or the pill itself

I took one more xanax the day after I stopped the medicine....to relieve the symptoms of the amtriptyline....only made me more drowsyer but worse off

Presently, as of late today...Tuesday 11/9 I cannot sleep right...I stop taking xanax after that last one 2 days ago.....I sleep, my heart beats fast, and I awake feeling like I didn't sleep at all (being up 24 hour feeling) with severe brain fog, dizzyness, anxiety all day long...anxiety is very bad because I cannot function at all, cannot remember when to take my meds, or when to eat, and feel like I can't move without the room being foggy....plus since I cannot function ... i'm not eating right and thus hurting my digestive condition IBS, with gastritis, with esphoagal erosion....

I went out  (did not drive) and had severe head pressure, foggyness, and everything looked to be in slow motion...cannot concentrate at all...last week I was normal before stopping the meds (xanax 2 months +/Amitriptyline Only 3 days)

I need support or advice I cannot function and feel like a walking zombie with severe stomach and upper abodomin pain. Getting anxiety like crazy because a week ago I was normal...Please help

[Gustav85]

Hello calmshell,

Thank you for the post, and story...

Last week I was a functioning metally fine thats what I meant...if I went back on xanax would the brain fog go away, i'm scared waking like this with severe pressure in the head....I been shaking and my heart beats fast when I try to take a nap...suggestions? Last week when I was just on it I was fine, but everyone tells me Xanax withdrawl should not occur ... but I did take one 3-4 days ago...help

[calmshell]

Hi Gustav85..

I was wondering, at the end you said "because a week ago I was normal"... did you mean your stomach was not hurting/severe pain? When did your anxiety begin? When I started experiencing anxiety..mostly focusing on every SINGLE thought that I had that would scare me, I knew what my initial thought was that I overfocused on/analyzed, and from there just kept focusing /self-evaluating every thought after that, and lilterally scared myself all the time..over many things... It wasn't until a little later , (about a year or so) that I started to look at WHY I was having the anxiety....(it was caused by thoughts, but why was I trying to scare myself...what was the ROOT of this ...?)

Do you (I used to do this occasionally)/ can you pinpoint perhaps a trigger/experience/thought that may be a connection to WHY you feel brain fogs/anxiety all day? That is when I started to find out my thinking was distorted a bit...I had been used to a lot of "trying" in my life, but then being shut down/criticized very often , even when what I did/was doing was fine...it led to me being very, very critical of EVERY thing I did, said, thought......yikes!!!!!!! way too much for us to be constantly looking /picking apart every thing single little thing we do,  say, or think.....it def. leads to anxiety/fear....that what you are doing/thinking/ saying etc...is not "good enough"....BUT it is......we learn all the time..we are not perfect..absolutely no one is. We can learn from mistakes..not dwell on them!!!!! Or dwell on anything..

And same for surroundings too. i also used to look around my surroundings and over exaggerate what was going on, my place/role etc...with that feeling of "is this right? how am i doing here? " almost like you are trying to control things that are going on, so things don't get chaotic/etc....its I think then that we almost get a mind fog (i used to occasionally if I was overfocusing on my surroundings..or the outcome of what was going on) When we just let whatever it is, no matter WHAT, be, we just simply look at it , just see it, and do not analyze.....it def. has helped me clear my mind sometimes....
So if you can see a pattern or trigger of the anxiety (the root), I think that may help to then begin to heal this ...I think I had to come down to , " I trust myself. I am capable." and truly , truly know this..it helps eliminate fear when you know "hmmm..I am a great person /human being , and am capable, no matter what has gone on in my life..no matter what." I cannot comment too much on the meds, for I have not taken them, but trying to get a new "script" in your head; reasonable, forgiving , loving of yourself, and just acceptance of yourself, and practice this w/any area of your life, could help...

Not sure if this helped at all, but its just some things i've learned that have helped me...keep us posted though.. take care=)