"We had an unexpected emergency at home with my grandmother, and the sudden stress caused an intense spike in both my physical and mental symptoms. The shock sent my nervous system into overdrive, leaving me dealing with severe dissociation, panic, and an overwhelming sense of ..."
— @DeNy
Sorry to hear this! How is your grandmother doing now? I hope better. Undergoing stress is such a challenge when our nervous system isn't equipped to handle it. How are you feeling at the moment?
"I have been dealing with a throbbing, heartbeat-like pain in my right molar gum area after meals. Has anyone experienced localized gum or tooth pain like this purely from withdrawal, or is this usually something that needs separate dental attention?"
— @DeNy
I know people can get pain in different areas due to withdrawal, so that wouldn't be unheard of. You're good at keeping track of things, so continue to keep track of the pain. Does it worsen after eating, or is there any pattern to it? If it doesn't resolve, then it wouldn't hurt to have a dental exam to rule out certain things.
"Second, regarding some persistent upper back and groin itching following a past fungal diagnosis, I am torn on whether it is safe to actively treat it with topicals right now or if it is wiser to leave it alone while my system is in such a sensitive state."
— @DeNy
Didn't you use topicals another time and you seemed to tolerate it well? If you're unsure this time and can tolerate the itching perhaps you can use some more natural remedies. You can always use Google to search for suggestions.
"Overall, it has been a chaotic week and I am just doing my best to survive it. My recent reduction of 3.73% last month was clearly too aggressive for my baseline, so I plan to slow down significantly to 2% a month moving forward to give my body a real chance to stabilize. I am..."
— @DeNy
Glad to hear you're going to slow things down. Slower is faster. Give yourself lots of time to stabilize; it will make future reductions easier. 🩷