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clonazepam withdrawl

I have been taken benzos for sleep for more than 12 years. Most of those years I took .5mg of xanax at bedtime. Which was very efffective for sleep for me. I never had to increase my dose, and never had a problem with periodical breaks. My md suggested that I  should try a "safer" medication, I agreed and was subscribed clonazepam.  Within a short time I had to increase my dose to 2mg at bedtime for sleep. After 4+ yrs i decided to get off this drug because it had lost its effectivness. I was prescribed ambien cr. After 3 days I started feeling this overwhelming anxiety, like a constant panic attack. Day 12 was just as bad as day 1. I assumed I was having a reaction to the ambien and went back to clonazepam. After my next md appt I tried once again, this time with a few xanax for sleep. Again, after day 3 the feeling came back, the best way I can describe it, is like all my brain nuerons are on overdrive, my brain is no longer my own, this is torture. The few xanax was of little benifit. I never imagined that I would have a phyical addition to this "safer" med. I'm on day 10 once again. The drug has been out of system for several days, why do I feel like this and how long will this last?  ps thanks lBKleen-this is all new to me
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4558492 tn?1356479167
Wow I cant believe what I'm reading. I have been addicted to benzos for a long time....not because they were prescribed to me but because I started using them in recreation which ultimately led to addiction. Clonazepam was always my favorite and at one point my tolerance was so high I was taking up to 25 tablets a day (.5 mg). Now it wasnt everyday because i found if I hadnt taken them in a couple of weeks my tolerance would decrease and I only needed to take about 5 to "feel good" and if I had taken a lot i would go to bed and still wake up "feeling good." I went rehab last year for my addiction, i took the bus because it was in a different city. When I got half way there I took my last 20 tablets all at once, chewed them up and hoped that it would ease the anxiety i had about going to treatment at all.
I never exprienced withdrawl symptoms like you guys have. I guess I'm really lucky or maybe its because I was taking large doses for short periods of time and then not taking them for a couple weeks until i could get a new prescription.
All of these drugs, clonazepam, ativan, xanax you name it...they are all addictive narcotics. So when p_od's doctor switched him/her from xanax to clonzapem cause its "Safer" i cant help but feel sad and angry at the medical industry (i refuse to call it health care because that's the opposite of what doctors like that are doing). Whatever happened to eating healthy and getting some exercise to sleep better? What about meditation, breathing techniques or counseling?
sadandfrustrated is totally right, its all about profit and it is a well oiled money machine. These pharmaceutical companies are taking basic human behaviour and putting disorder on to them and publishing it in the DSM with their drug listed as the cure.....That's just the way the majority of western society is...you feel sad? take a pill. You feel mad? take a pill. You dont feel anything at all? Well go to your doctor and get some pills.
As for sadandfrustrated accepting your addiction to the extent that you are saying is very very heartbreaking. Your letting them win. Have you tried slowly weening off the medication? If not you definitely should...do not allow yourself for a second to believe that you are stuck on that **** forever. I live in Canada so I don't pay to see a doctor and i dont pay for most of my prescriptions so I probably see it more optimistically than you do. As for it affecting your mood....I experienced the same thing...plus lots and lots of memory loss. I would lose days...no memory of what i did for a day sometimes 2 days unless somebody mentioned something then i would be able to recall it. The other withdrawl symptoms i had included really bad stomach pains and poops, increased appetite, lots of energy and a crazy amount of motivation to get stuff done, chain smoking. I dont know if Ive ever read anything about people having the same effects of clonazpam as i did (high energy, etc). Anyway, I am sending you lots of love and support and I know that you can get through this. Please let me know if you have tried weening.

Merry Xmas
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Avatar universal
Was originally prescribed clonazepam to take at night when I saw a doctor because I wasnt sleeping at all. Not a new problem, but I was sick of it and wanted to do something about it because it was affecting my mood.
Now, I Hmhave seizures (grand mal) each time I've tried to come off clonazepam. First I dislocated my shoulder, then seized in a walgreens and cracked my head on the floor). I've been on this med for ten years. Was on 1mg per day from 2002-2011. I ODed twice and was committed to inpatient psych each time since taking clonazepam.
So apparently this is how it will always be and I can never have children bc I'm stuck on this dangerous med, I have to see (and pay for) a Dr in order to approve the prescription too. The whole thing is a well oiled money machine. I have no health insurance and have medical debt from above events.
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Avatar universal
I am appalled at what little i can read right now as i have been on clonazepam for 11 years at 1.5 and bumped to 2 mg. @bedtime for RLS...
I lost my meds on the city bus and have never had this happen so therefore never had to call my lovely doc to give my repeat early...
my lovely doc of 17 years w/o incident with me ever...
said flat out no and ride it out for 3 weeks...
last sunday was a week and we had to call 911 as i was convulsing and called in as a code 4...
my heartrate was 165 opposed to 85...
i have 4 days to go as the hospital sent me home on 2 valium tablets that last 60 hours and apparently that would take off the edge...
i am very ill every waking moment and haven't slept in days, and my time is spent walking on eggshells in the event it comes back full tilt...
i think my doctor is inhumane and damn near killed me once so far on this hell ride...
i don't have a choice with taking it or not as RLS has no cure and is not a controllable condition mentallyor physically or emotionally...
he put me on these horrible pills 11 years ago and told me straight up,that they weren't addictive...
my pharmacist called him twice to help me and won't return the calls to the pharmacy...
i cannot believe what i have been reading on the net about this drug...
and apparently when i go back on next sunday i will go thru hell for a few days re-adjusting...
i truly and sincerely hope that everyone in here and everywhere else going thru this,makes it to the other side as i almost lost my life and i am only 46 and i live young and i am scared to death now that my heart is damaged...
all the best
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Avatar universal
i have been on clonazepam for 5 months.  Before that i took ativan only when i needed it.  I was having a bad spell of anxiety and my doc put me on .5 clonazepam 4 times a day.  I was fine at first but then the past 2 months i have been in a total fog.  i don't know how else to describe it. I started having vision problems, muscle spasms...etc  just to list a few.  so i've been going thru tests and everything is fine.  Nobody ever questioned the clonazepam.  then a couple days ago in the morning i went to take my am dose and it hit me, so i researched it and realized not only was i on a much higher dose than needed for anxiety, but all of the brain fog and fuzziness and everything else are possible side effects of it.  I am weaning off of it now.  On day 3 but i can tell u i have been having withdrawl symptoms just by decreasing slightly it is horrible.  but my fog is lifting. and i can tell u that i will go back to just taking my ativan as a need it.  
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Avatar universal
Hang in there. The peak withdrawal from clonazepan for me was at about 14 days.  Then my body started to turn the corner. It does feel like your body and mind are on overdrive. My Doc told me that it was a result of receptors in the body not having that sedated  effect anymore so it was wide awake looking for it I guess. I hope you can stick it out.  It's not easy, but you sound like you know what you need to do.  Happy Tanksgiving.
Helpful - 0
271792 tn?1334979657
Good to see you made it out here. It is Thanksgiving and it is very slow here today, so you will have to be patient.

I don't have experience with clonazepam, but from what I have read and heard, it should not be stopped cold turkey. You didn't mention it, but I am hoping that you weaned off of it.

There should be some people back later on this afternoon--or early evening---that can help you with this.

Hope you are enjoying your day!
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