Is the onset of dystonia gradual?

Edit:Never mind. I used the wrong word, I guess I meant rigidity not dystonia although I learned it otherwise, but within an hour of taking a PRN klonopin the muscles started to relax and I wasn't in pain for the first time in a few weeks. Now I can feel it coming back, just barely. I'll be using my PRN benzos until I see pdoc Monday but I am so glad to have a way to help the muscle pain. I need to pay better attention to my body.

I've been on a typical AP for about 5 weeks now. I'm still at a very low dose but my history is that dose means little with how I respond. I can tolerate huge doses of some meds without noticing and other drugs I have problems at tiny doses.

I've had a lot of stiff and sore muscles that just keep getting worse. I thought at first it was from bending over the sewing I was doing but that didn't help. And then it wasn't just my upper back, it's my hips and my lower back and my jaws (I grind my teeth normally but don't seem to be grinding more than usual from how my teeth feel, yet my jaw hurts). My ankle and feet have been hurting; I've been blaming arthritis and my shoes that are relatively new. Pretty much my whole body is tight, sore muscles and I've not done anything to cause it and I'm not under that much stress. I'm cycling but that doesn't usually cause physical pain.

But overall I am tight, achy muscles that do not stretch out or relax even with my 2 mg of klonopin at night and it is starting to keep me from sleeping. I was blaming that on my position in bed making me more sore.

Can dystonia happen gradually so that you explain it away as other things? It's one thing I've never had to the point of needing to treat. I have a script for cogentin but since I see my pdoc Monday I'm going to wait until then and use some PRNs to see if that helps the tight muscles.

Thank you!

Not really sure if it does. Hope it's not much serious. Keep us posted about your doctor appointment.

Now that the pain is all back after the benzo wore off and then I took the AP which is released pretty quickly into the bloodstream (I just took more klonopin.) I have decided that I'm going to fill the cogentin script tomorrow if I can find the pharmacy (I'm dogsitting out of town, of course) because this really is uncomfortable. I can't believe the difference with the benzo but I'm not allowed enough PRN klonopin to keep the pain away until Monday and the valium that I have would work better but even a little makes me sleepy. I'm about to take a small dose of it too though since it is night anyway and all I have to do tomorrow is get up and let the chickens out around sun-up (I guess I'm small farm sitting really) and go back to sleep. And if I can't stumble to the chicken coop with valium in my system they'll survive until I am awake.

I both can't believe how sore I am and that I let this go for weeks. Except I can, this is why my family dr and I have had to discuss my inability to report pain well and the need for him to grill me about it. stupid PTSD. At least now I have learned to eventually get around to it and to tell the drs when I hurt; I had to learn that the hard way too. It just never occurred to me that I should ask my pdoc why I was in pain all the time.

Now I'm worried I won't be able to tolerate this med and it is helping, even on a very low dose. But if I need cogentin already I don't know if I'll be able to handle higher doses. Guess that's why I have a pdoc.

Glad you got some answers tho ....