Question For Those Who Take Klonopin?

[Tammy]

Hi! Well I think I've posted about how much Klonopin does seem to help me at times, but here's my dilema... I only take it on my absolute worst adreanline rushy days, so it's not consistantly in my system because I'm afraid of my body getting addicted or that if I find it works well, at some time, my body will become tolerant of it. Last summer I went through months of complete **** because of coming off of Prozac, so I'm now terrifed of going through that ever again. I felt like a drug addict in detox as I ended up with discontinuation syndrome (on top of the POT Syndrome)!!! Has anyone here been on Klonopin long-term and done well... has it given some of your life back to you? I'm just not sure what to do here and my doctor wanted me back in a month to decide how I was doing on it and that was back in February!!! I'm feeling so sick right now, so hopefully this made some sense

[Michelle F.]

Why did he want you to take Klonopin? I have been on 1/2 of a .5 mg/day dosage for one week because of Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD). Though my history using it has not been long, I do believe it is helping to relax my central nervous system (CNS) enough to allow me to get to a much needed deeper stage of sleep. I only take it as directed. My reason for deciding to follow her recommendations was because I was feeling so sick. Don't know if that helps at all.

[firewatcher]

Hello, I have been on Klonopin for 4 months now. I've been taking .25mg once in the morning and 1/2 that again at night. It was supposed to help the tremor, but worked for the constant headache instead ( I have never had any anxiety.) It has become less effective the longer I take it, and I would like to either up the dose or just get rid of the headache and come off it entirely. My primary doc says that while it is addictive, it is mostly with those who "self-medicate," or "take it when they need it." He wants me to come off very slowly (over 6 weeks) and says that I should have no withdrawal effects, but I'll let you know. My titration off starts the last week of September, so it's coming up. It has never sedated me, but there is not much that does (even some anesthesia.) As long as you only take it as prescribed and your doc monitors you I hope it would be OK. I think that a lot of the treatment of all this ANS stuff is to throw medications at it and see what works. What symptoms are they hoping to treat with it?

[jbrian00]

I was initially placed on 8mg of Klonopin (2mg 4x a day...yeah a crapload ) because my initial crash was a panic attack and my psych was treating me for panic disorder. Not long after that dose I started titrating down cause I read the meds could be addicting and they were only intended for about a month of use until my cymbalta kicked in. Anyway, it took me a good 6 months or so to taper down to nothing, and I didn't notice any bad withdrawal symptoms.

Multiple docs have explained that the meds should NOT be used for long term (i.e. years) cause your body does build a tolerance and you're forced to take more and more. Also, my advice (and I've come of klonopin twice already) is to take it slow and make yourself a withdrawal schedule. I used http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s5 as a guide for developing my taper schedule. I know they have you substituting Ativan, but I did not do that. They have some helpful tips for anyway trying to come off of benzos or antidepressants. Get yourself a pill cutter and I've found that the lowest decrease possible to cut, given the size of the Klonopin tablets, is about 1/8 of a tablet. If you'd like help designing a schedule I could email you the excel schedule I made up that I will use for tapering klonopin my third time.

FYI I believe docs in general have you taper meds a bit too quickly. Most aren't even aware of discontinuation syndrome. I did have severe symptoms upon cessation of Cymbalta, but didn't know if it was POTS or withdrawal. I've been so medicated I don't know what POTS symptoms are without meds. If what I was experiencing was POTS, I was pretty much disabled.

Hope this helps,

James

[Sophia3]

Been taking Klonopin 18 years,

FOR SLEEP ONLY.

Between .5 to 1mg at night. Do not take it during the day. Never been an issue.

I am not taking it round the clock. But about addiction, either you are an addictive personality or not. This has been discussed numerous times.

If the med helps your quality of life or sleep, TAKE IT. If it makes you a zombie, interferes with personality, work--if you can still work, family or social life or ability to function, than it may NOT be for you.

But I am disabled not taking ANYTHING and have plethora of sleep disorders...so it works for me but I can NEVER control 'when" I get to sleep...I could take more but choose not to. I get to sleep anywhere from 1am to 3 to sometimes 5.30 AM !!! without Klonopin, I would be insane after 18 years of sleep disorders on TOP of the ans junk.

[dawn]

I have been taking Klonopin 1 mg at bedtime for about 8 years.

I take .5 of xanax 3 times during the day, that has been for about 13 years.

I know I am addicted. I cannot function without it, so stopped worrying about being

addicted along time ago. I plan to take it forever.

Dawn

[Tammy]

The reason I'm considering taking it more regularly is to get some quality of life back as I'm completely home bound due to severe ANS issues from POTS. My doctor hoped it would calm down my ANS ... ie., adrenaline rushes, tremors, shaking, etc. However, as I read some of you take it for sleep, I actually get insomnia from it, so if I do take it, I have to take it in the morning, so my body is reacting to it a bit differently also. I guess I'm going to talk to my doctor when I'm somewhat functionable enough to get back in to see him and see what he thinks of my concerns. Thanks for all the input

[Sophia3]

Tammy

I get the same reaction from Xanax...causing insomnia

I take that when I leave the house to exercise or listen to a Cajun/dixieland band. .25 mg of xanax. Helps with adrenalin surges.

Would love to take something round the clock but afraid of losing effectiveness...not addiction.

Good luck!

Klono and xanax may be in the same "drug family" but hit me completely differently.