Pantoprazole and Lorazepam discontinuation help

Hi Carolin,
I saw your reply to my private message then I found the reply here. OMG Vatican...I don't like auto correct.
I am so sorry to hear about your compression fracture, I hope you heal quickly.
Thank you for all of the info. I have had heartburn/reflux since I was a child and been on all kinds of medications. First of all congratulations for getting off of pantoprazole! I have suffered so much trying to get rid of the benzos it is ridiculous. It is the most horrible thing I have ever been through. I am at .287 mg and have been tapering for 4 yrs from 1.5 mg. During the beginning of covid my BP acted up and the new doctor I had gave me a BP med that blew up my CNS then she added Lorazepam which just added fuel to the fire. She would not listen to me when I kept telling her that I was having anxiety, plus several other symptoms from the BP med. I started researching on my own and figured out what was happening. Doctors are too quick to prescribe benzos, you can become dependent in as little as 10 days...it is so sad. Unfortunately about 50% of people suffer terribly from taking benzos and don't have a clue what is going on. Most doctors are under informed and uneducated on the affects of benzos then to make matters worse they don't want to take the time to learn. I guess you can tell this is one of my soap boxes. I commend you for taking the time to taper off of the benzos and I hope it will go smoothly for you.
I hope that I can keep going with the transition from the PPI to famotidine. Since famotidine and lorazepam are both metabolized by the liver it can make the withdrawal affects harder from the benzo. That is so awesome the quivering in your hand has stopped. Benzos can cause so many symptoms...some are very strange. I am so glad for you that you did not increase your dose. My dose is such an odd number because I switched from pill form to liquid lorazepam intensol. I did that so I could dilute it with water and be able to make small reductions.
Thank you for talking to me and I wish you the best with your taper and recovery from the fracture. If I can help you with questions about the benzos taper please let me know. Slow is good but just keep going.
Sincerely, Debbie

If this is the message you are referencing, I can tell you I did stop taking pantoprazole. Because it’s a coated tablet and can’t be broken in half, I took one every other day for about a week. Then one every three or four days and after a month, I just stopped. The symptoms I was having were very low belly pains, especially on the left side of my body. My doctor said that is where the sigmoid colon is. He was totally expecting to find a problem there during my colonoscopy, but there was nothing. When I stopped, the pantoprazole, the pains went away within a week. I also realized my body didn’t even need this type of medication anymore. Symptoms of Gerd and reflux have hardly returned at all. Also, the doctor tried to get me to take omeprazole before I stopped PPI’s altogether, but I had no luck with that one either. Same awful stomach pain. All PPI’s gave me the same trouble. I did try famotidine. This is possibly going to sound weird. I did Pepcid AC and got horrible stomach aches every time I tried it. I found generic famotidine at the grocery store in a 20 mg dose. I can take it without any problems. Just the Pepcid made my stomach go crazy. 🤷‍♀️ the problem with taking stuff like this every single day is you don’t even know if you need it anymore because you take it out of habit. I don’t know if you have missed days of your pantoprazole and felt horribly because of it. That would be a different story than mine. my body did not miss it at all. Also, pantoprazole is supposed to help heal ulcers in conjunction with other medication. I got my first stomach ulcer in March of this year while I was still taking pantoprazole. That makes no sense to me. So, onto the benzos. This one would depend on how much you are taking. I take .5 mg daily. When I talked to my doctor right before my back injury, he said stopping alprazolam should not be difficult at all because it is such a low-dose. I am using the time while I’m stuck in bed to half the pill and am taking .25 in the morning and .25 in the afternoon. I am not supplementing with pain pills or muscle relaxers as he suggested. He said that would make stopping the benzo even easier. I don’t want to trade one for the other and I really hate pain pills. so for the last three days, I have still taken the same amount daily but think over the next few days. I will stop the afternoon .25 and possibly by next week. Start to skip every other day with the morning. I don’t know if this is helping you at all and I’m dragging on and on. I can say that even splitting my small dose into two separate ones, the quivering I had in one of my hands has stopped already. I was starting to feel like after taking this medication for so many years, even at a low-dose that my body was begging me for more and I refuse to go there. I would rather feel slightly bad stopping, but right now I’ve got bigger things to worry about. if there’s any questions you have or anything specific I might be able to help with, please feel free to message. I’ll be on the lookout!

Carolin I meant to comment on the Pepcid AC vs the famotidine...it may have been the inactive ingredients in the Pepcid AC. It is scary some of the ingredients that are used.
I have read that taking PPIs can cause H. Pylori which is the cause of peptic ulcers. 🤷

Yes, inactive ingredients were one of the reasons I stopped the pantoprazole. When I told my doctor I had a stomachache every day, he said that numerous patients of his that all took pantoprazole had complained of the same thing over the last month. This was back in March but he was thinking they changed the inactive Ingredients. That was another reason stopping them was easier to do… they were making me physically sick in that very specific sigmoid area of my lower gut. I’m excited for you to drop the PPIs! The side effects just keep cropping up the more we talk. Good luck again!

Yes, AutoCorrect is the devil! Even voice texting answers in these little boxes is challenging. I’m constantly having to go back and edit the craziness it adds. It sounds like you are well on your way to complete success over the benzos! I am so excited for you!! I hope to be there soon myself. It is crazy how many things in your body they can affect when you start really digging for answers. As I lie here in bed, I am searching for another gastroenterologist because I know after the back heals, it’s time to work on the gut again. Since stopping the PPI’s, I have found my lower belly is actually my problem and not Gerd or heartburn any longer. It makes me wonder how much the PPIs contributed to my belly problems. (Like, can they upset gut bacteria??) The one thing that was found during my tests was the ulcer, which I got after a year on pantoprazole. I have a few thoughts on what could be causing daily stomach aches, but the last two Gastros I’ve seen were only interested in colonoscopies and endoscopies. The last appointment I had with my most recent Gastro ended with his saying “I think you might have IBS and oh by the way, I’m moving to California”😳🤦‍♀️ I’m on the hunt now to find help for this. I don’t suppose gut health has ever come up in your journey? I’m looking for some common sense help with do I take probiotics or not? I tried once a few years ago and they gave me such horrible stomach pains, I dropped them after a few days but if I’m gonna have a stomachache anyway, and they’re actually going to help eventually, why not try? The whole gut Doctor industry is a nightmare, especially here in Las Vegas. Every doctor does tests but doesn’t actually help fix the problem. This one is my soapbox! The doctors don’t listen or really help, they just prescribe. And it’s so hard when it’s your gut. It’s not like my back where you can see it on an x-ray. It’s actually gonna take someone who cares to find help. I just don’t know how many doctors there are out there like that. Thanks for the conversation, Debbie! And don’t forget, Not all famotidine is created equal! If one doesn’t work for you, try other brands. Still can’t believe Pepcid was my worst and my three dollar grocery store brand is great. I’m sure you’ll have success stopping the PPI‘s. I think the people that don’t see the success are those who stop without an alternative. They end up with their reflux going crazy and then start the PPIs again rather than finding an alternative. I think you got this! Good luck!! Carol

How long were you taking pantoprazole?

It would not surprise me at all if PPIs upset gut bacteria. Oh yes my gut is all messed up! I contribute it to the benzos but it could be in combination with the pantoprazole too. I tried probiotics and after a week of taking it I had stomach pain with vomiting and diarrhea. I stopped taking it then finally realized I was probably experiencing die off from the bad bacteria. I haven't tried it again. I think the trick is to gradually increase the dose. Oh yes I agree! It is so hard to find a good doctor who will really listen and try to get to the root to the problem. I hope you will have better luck finding a good gastro doctor. Thank you, sometimes cheaper is better!

I absolutely have to start probiotics because I have a stomachache every single day and no BM without assistance of some type (magnesium antacids, laxatives, and recently the worst of it all MiraLAX). I am researching which one to try but I know whichever it is, it’s going to wreak havoc on my gut for a while. I’m looking at Align and Seed. Any insight?

I sometimes make bran muffins, they seem to help. I also started adding psyllium husk powder to my oatmeal every morning I believe that is working well. I started with 1/4 teaspoon then increase by 1/8 teaspoon every 4th day working up to 1 tablespoon/day. I haven't been brave enough to just mix it in a liquid to drink...I think that would be nasty kind of like miralax is.

My last gastroenterologist had me start with Metamucil and it backed me up worse… Too much fiber evidently🤷‍♀️ MiraLAX was the next and it is some weird stuff! The closest I can come to describing how I felt after taking it is hallucinations, like weird, dark, seeing things when I close my eyes. Nope!! And I’m eating so healthy right now and making sure I get the right fiber count every single day and it’s not changing a thing. It’s so frustrating! I’m glad you found a workable combination.