benzo withdrawal and fatigue?

[tescodirect]

Hello all,
I've posted on here on similar topics before, but still trying to work out what is going on? Basically, I've had problems with anxiety on and off, which I think were initially triggered by a medication I was taking. I have also had problems with extreme fatigue and drowsiness. I had started taking benzos last year, and I think a lot of the ongoing residual anxiety was benzo withdrawal. Anyway, I'm doing a lot better with the withdrawal this time around, and I'm down to half a mg of diazepam a day. Still getting anxiety when I first wake up, but it is manageable.

However, I am having a enormous flare-up of fatigue. I am sleeping well, but I just cannot seem to wake up properly at all. The fatigue has been a problem for as long as the anxiety, but at the moment I am getting major fatigue without much anxiety. I just feel really drowsy throughout the day, and could fall asleep at any moment. I am therefore wondering if this is related to the benzo withdrawal as well?

I am also on simvastatin, which seems to cause fatigue in some people, although I am not getting the usual muscle aches and pains that people report with statins: just this constant feeling of drowsiness.

[tescodirect]

Thanks GL,

I am sleeping well, although I still feel tense and anxious when I wake up. The fatigue is really an ongoing feeling of drowsiness/sleepiness that lasts all day. Taking a nap does not make it go away.

I have spoken to a lot of doctors over the last few years, and it is astonishing how little they know. I will stick on the last half mg for a couple of weeks, and see how things develop. I know that fatigue and drowsiness is not listed as a side effect of zocor, but there is a lot of stuff on the net suggesting the side effects of statins are far more extensive than we realise. Anyway, I have been off of it for five days now, with no change to the fatigue. Will probably risk staying off for a couple of weeks, and then go back on.

Thanks for your comments.

[RubyWitch]

"Since you say you are sleeping well but just get over that groggy feeling, I think it might be a good idea to speak with your doctor about this."

This sentence SHOULD have read:

"Since you say you are sleeping well but just CAN'T get over that groggy feeling........"

Sorry

GL

[RubyWitch]

The w/d from your final 1/2mg of diazepam I don't believe should be causing you the extreme fatigue and drowsiness you're talking about. But what I have learned, from those in the "know," is that the w/d from the final mg of some, if not all, benzos, is the most difficult. It is only a GUESS on my part that this MAY be what is causing your fatigue.

In the literature I have on Zocor, there is no mention of fatigue or drowsiness as a side effect.

Since you say you are sleeping well but just get over that groggy feeling, I think it might be a good idea to speak with your doctor about this.
There are a number of things that could be contributing to your fatigue that your doctor can rule out with a simple blood test. And sometimes, even when we feel we've gotten a good nights sleep, in fact, we haven't. If for some reason you are not going into REM sleep, that can leave you feeling groggy in the morning.

To put your mind at rest (and hopefully your entire body) I'd speak with my doctor and just make sure there wasn't an underlying reason for this fatigue other than the possibility of w/d.
Please let us know what the doctor says, OK?
Peace
Greenlydia