Clonazepam

[Madison55]

I have been taking clonazepam for the past 4 to 5 months.  I was taking 1 mg a night or every other night.  I take it for generalized anxiety and for insomnia.  I feel like this medication has helped me where others have failed.  No other medication has helped me with my sleep so that is why I using it.  However, after 3 months on this medication,  I feel that my hair is shedding excessively.  My hair is falling out like never before and this is scaring me. Of course this gets me real nervous and is even causing more stress to my life.  I am taking hair vitamins right now to help but it hasn't stopped the shedding.  My doctor is trying to get me off clonazepam and put on Effexor to help with my stress, mood and sleep.  I just started this medication and it has helped me feel drowsy at night but doesn't knock me out.  Can anyone tell me their experience on clonazepam?  Can it cause  hair loss?  How do I ween myself off after 5 months of use?  Please help!

[Paxiled]

I've never heard of the hair loss, but who knows?  As I said on one of your other posts, nutritional deficiencies can cause both problems, hair loss and sleep problems.  Others won't have the same experience you have, so it's pretty much irrelevant.  It would be great if these meds affected us all the same, but they don't.  This drug has certainly never helped me sleep, and if you use it long enough it will probably stop helping you sleep as well -- neither benzos nor antidepressants are sleeping pills, but if anxiety is the cause of your problem, that's what needs to be worked on.  But sleep disorders come in several varieties only one of which is caused by depression or anxiety.  The largest of the other categories are drug-induced insomnia, sleep apnea, and a problem with your melatonin/sleep cycle.

[AnxiousNoMore]

It is best if you keep your information on one thread so readers can see it all together. You have 3 old threads in the anxiety forum about insomnia so some of the advice gets duplicated.
https://www.medhelp.org/posts/Anxiety/Has-anyone-tried-Phosphatidylserine/show/3023190#post_14338313