help! 4 days too early and doctor won't rx early klonopin

[ymouszanon]

(preface:  I am going through the first stages of withdrawal.  I hope you can forgive my rambling, bad spelling, bad grammar or non sequiter post.  I would be most grateful if you can read my posting slowly and/or ask any questions of what it is you do not understand)


I have been taking 2mg clonazepam 2x per day for years.  I am out of kpins(klonopin the brand name for clonazepam).  I call my doctor and she won't give me an early refill, nor a 4 days "bridge" rx.  I have only only 1/4 of a 2mg of kpin(.5mg) and two .5mg old ativan(lorazepam)pills.  Through past experience i will have seizures within the next 4 days.  I have been a low dose, long term on benzodiazpines for 30 years.  The last "shrink"(psychiatrist) i was a patient of said that at my age, and with the health, situational depression(i.e. based on a real life loss, not a "chemical imbalance")and material(i.e.low income)problems i have, he said it would be inhumane to put me in to detox and he said it is a far better thing to keep me on them for life.-- AND I AGREE, AND IN MY OPINION I WOULD RATHER DIE QUICKLY THAN GO THROUGH THE HELL OF BENZO DETOX AND RECOVERY.  AGAIN THE WORST OF ANY DRUG ON EARTH INCLUDING HEROIN WITHDRAWAL.  JUST GOOGLE, or use you favorite search engine, 'WORSE THAN HEROIN' detox .

That shrink i only saw once or twice at the clinic i was going to.  After that it was two years of "med check" every three months seeing a nurse instead.  I can't stand many mental health organizations because they treat us like a number to exploited.

Since quitting this clinic my family doctor has been writing my clonazepam rx's(prescriptions).  I have been seeing her for 2 years.  She is really a nice person.  But with all this all these restrictions sumptuary laws are putting on doctors i think she is afraid to write me an early rx or a four day rx to get me through till i am back on schedule.

Out of the 30 years I have been rx'd benzos,  I may average once or twice a year, a 4 day at most over use. I have never had this problem of a doctor not giving me an early refill.  I could understand if a doctor had an addict calling or coming into the office on a regular bases asking for a new rx or refill on a months supply he/she uses up in a week or two.

Now in 2015,  it seems there is way too much severity of liability on doctors and patients.  It is like we are living in a totalitarian state.

Right now, I need advice on how and where i can get enough meds to carry me through the next four days.  I must concede that over the 30 years i have been on benzos, there have been a few times when, i have been without a doctor, and have used for example legally grey area online pharmacies.  but the last guy i dealt with is not to be found at his email address anymore.  There are tons of "no rx" online phramacies online but most i feel are scams now and i am afraid to order, and i doubt anyone is going to get me meds by tommorow even if they were not scams.

From what I gather it is very difficult to get a short course of benzos(benzodiazepines, including klonopin--clonazepam) from an emergency room visit.

I WOULD BE EVER SO GRATEFUL FOR ANY ADVICE ANYONE CAN GIVE ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

I LIVE WITHIN THE PITTSBURGH PA, BUFFALO NY, CLEVELAND OH, REGION.  ALL THREE MAJOR CITIES ARE ALL ABOUT 100 MILES AWAY from where i am living now.

ymous anon
male
usa

***@****

[Paxiled]

Because of the risk on seizures you could try an Emergency Room, or you could ask your pharmacist to give you a couple pills and see if they will.  Unfortunately, the current thinking on addictive drugs has turned back to prohibition, and the doctor has real reason to fear getting in trouble right now.  The main problem has been opiates for pain.  So you picked a really bad time to not follow your prescription.  I would only say, use the seizure angle and see if you can't get what you need, but from now on, don't exceed your prescription.  In my case, my psychiatrist's office is terrible about responding to refill requests, and one time the pharmacy gave me a few pills to tide me over, but that was the doctor's fault, not mine.  Good luck.

[ymouszanon]

@paxiled. a quote from your reply : " Unfortunately, the current thinking on addictive drugs has turned back to prohibition, and the doctor has real reason to fear getting in trouble right now. " INDEED ! the damn cdc should stick to generic diseases and not be involved in the doctor patient rx.  The cdc says they are guidelines on certain drugs but in fact they have the power of the police state to take doctors licenses away or send them to prison.  the damn private prison industry is involved with this.  As i may have written in my initial ramble i have been on benzos for 30+ years.  And 5 or so years before that i was tortured with neuroleptics(akathisia).  I had a nervous breakdown and was no threat, just a shivering hump on the floor crying.  the first few days, were no meds.  It was mh like it should be: sanctuary from the crazy world and family.  by the third day of rest and gentle pushing to get involved with arts and crafts, groups, art therapy, just like the old Quaker retreats of the 19th century. I felt much better after 3 days in sanctuary without meds, like i had a second chance at life, work and get away from my family and crazy usa.... then my stupid shrink(they all are) says lets nip your neurosis in the bud.  Well i went through hell ten times worse than my nervous breakdown.  Akathisia is like 24/7 drug induced panic and you keep pacing out of desperation.  its not like "restless legs" in an organic neuro disease.  what the neuroleptic(antipsychotic) does is make your breathing diaphragm spasm and you forces more oxygen into you and restricts your exhaling carbon dioxide.  i fired my doctor.  and there was a day period when i was on nothing and it was the first time i could sleep and relax.  then this new doctor does the same ******* thing by giving me neuroleptics.  Im glad he released me the next day.

for 8 years i was traumatized by that psyciatric iatrogenic event and could never really relax.

I saw a humane psychiatrist and told him and he put me on xanax.  it was the first time in 8 years i could really relax.  but when i tried to go back to college its almost impossible to concentrate on serious courses on xanax.

So now i am still here at the age of 60, on ssi for disability in the worst time in modern history for anxiety and pain patients.  My family doctor has been prescribing my low dose of hydrocodone and clonazepam.  about 8 months ago she finally caught on to what risk she was at, stopped the opioids.  she admitted" they got both our ***** in a vice"

the vicodin was pretty easy to get off compared to the clonazepam.  last time i saw her she told me the clonazepam rx was a favor.  so i got the message she wanted me to see a shrink to get it.

I've had seizures after going just two days off of clonazepam.  You see clonazepam may be long acting for about 36 hours but when it hits half life it just plummets to nothing.  thats why i am changing over to diazepam.  i know you can't go miligram to milligram.  it takes approx.  40 mg of diazepam(valium) two be equivelant to only 2 mg of clonazepam.  With diazepam, it works faster, but has a slow going down from half life like a week before the seizures hit.

I still get my meds and they are expensive.  i'll plead the 5th amendment as to where and who there coming from.i can say with all truth and honesty i am not hitting up poor old women in the ghetto a few blocks away and nothing from my family. I don't even go down to the hood to look for xanax because the guys don't have em, they just got nasty stuff like black tar heroin, weed,a few other illegal drugs.  actually i got some homegrown weed from a friend for 0 dollars, of a friend and it did calm me but it has no anti seizue or anticonvulsion properties i am aware of.

a lot more people die in detox units than is known.  if i had a choice between detoxing inpatient from clonazepam or any benzo or ending it all, i would take the second choice without a secong thought. same thing with going inpatient in a mental health unit.  i would chose the firing squad. i don't need any more suffering.  most mh units and hospitals today add a neuroleptic as soon as you go in even if your suffering a non psychosis.  and i believe crazy people should not even be forced to take neuroleptics.  and new neuroleptics are not improved.  they are just as torturous and potentially deadly as the old thorazine and haldol

Only the expensive benzo detox treatment centers us anaesthia assisted or use phenobarbital for the first week at night and you do your inpatient thing during the day.  no your wrong if you think barbiturates are hard to detox.  you just have to transfer to a non narcotic anti seizure medication like neurontin.  actually i found otc supplement like a combo of valerian root, passiflora, melatonin worked better and longeer than neurontin.  but thats just me.

well wish me luck and luck to all of you.

please don't hesitate to reply again, thanks

[ymouszanon]

by the way, the reason bridge drugs like phenobarbital have less recidivism is that your sleeping while your detoxing.  Without bridge drugs detox is a suffering trauma, and you go back to benzos because that memory of suffering is writ in stone in your mind and body especially your unconscious(in psychoanalytic sense and the palvovian sense). Also the harm reduction maintenance approach for street drugs has more success than abstinence from lets say heroin(i have no experience with it) makes the addict take less naturally becuase he or she doesn't have to center their whole day where to get it, sell their bodies to get the money, etc.  I have talked with many heroin addicts and the majority say the benzo the detox gave them to get off heroin.  then they get to the point they want to get of benzos.  the majority say benzo detox was far more difficult than heroin detox.

[sauce716]

hey if youre from buffalo hit me up i have a question 716-948-0032

[breakdance202]

Oh, and I promise this will be my last post (lol) but yes, benzo withdrawal is horrible! I tried going off alprazolam cold turkey once (my own decision. I had plenty left, so I wasn't forced to or anything). I lasted barely over twenty four hours. I felt like I was dying. Muscle spasms, numbing in fingers and toes, felt like a weight was on my chest, severe sensitivity to touch...

After twitching and spasming on my kitchen floor for awhile knees to chin I said screw this and took one, and the next day I still had lingering withdrawal effects. Sort of traumatizing in all honesty.

Anyway, so good luck, and I hope everything ends up okay.

[nursegirl6572]

I concur with Paxiled.  Your goal should be to ensure your safety, because as you know benzo withdrawal can be dangerous.

Unfortunately, with the huge issue of narcotic abuse and diversion, the doctors are more on the hook now than ever before.  It's a liability issue for them.  Even if you only take more Klonopin than prescribed every so often, that's still abusing your script and unfortunately has left you in this precarious position.  Moving forward, and after you get through this, you need to be VERY disciplined and make sure you are always following the Rx instructions.  If you feel your dose is inadequate, or you're feeling that the dose is ineffective, then you need to communicate that with your doctor and find another reasonable solution, rather than taking matters into your own hands and self medicating.

I would strongly advise you NOT to try to obtain this drug from any other source other than legitimately prescribed by a doctor.  To do so will place you at risk for all kinds of other issues, including serious legal ramifications should you get caught, which could end up with your prescription being permanently taken away, and you being flagged in the system forever.

As far as buying meds online, as you acknowledge, it's really been cracked down upon, and really, the only option these days is to buy from an overseas "pharmacy" and there are real risks doing so.  Most times, you're either getting a copy cat drug, or something all together different than what you THINK you're getting, which could be very dangerous, even lethal.  Also, the DEA has seriously cracked down on internet narcotic sales.  Chances are, you lose both your money, and the "drug" will get seized in customs anyway (and again, the legal ramifications).

I actually myself had a DEA agent show up on my doorstep last year asking if I had bought medications online from an overseas pharmacy.  The agent had a copy of my driver's license and records of two western union transactions I had made (scary!).  I was flabbergasted as I had NOT purchased any meds online.  Here, turned out those two WU transactions were from WU speedpay transactions for Sears (for a refrigerator) and to Tiger Direct for a laptop.  I was floored by the whole experience.  That's a perfect example of how closely "big brother" is watching!!

PLEASE handle this the right way, either with an urgent care clinic, an ER, or your doctor.  Just be honest that you've taken more than prescribed and have put yourself in a bad position.  Admit that you made a big mistake in judgment in doing so.  The only other thing I would worry about is that you said you used to frequently have early refills processed, and requested a "bridge" script at times.  I'm just hoping for your sake that that isn't going to follow you, because if it does, it will be even more difficult to convince a provider that you're not just drug seeking.

Let us know how it goes, okay?  I hope you find a resolution soon!

[breakdance202]

Oh, and when I was on alprazolam I had to wait EXACTLY thirty days to get my refill. It was really obnoxious. Especially since my thirty day mark was once christmas day.