Quit your klonopin cold-turkey.

Had a lovely seizure this past weekend as a result.

In my defense, over the Thanksgiving holiday I was sleeping a ridiculous 18+ hours a day and felt drugged to the point that I could not function. I could hardly walk straight and would only wake up for and hour or two at a time. So over the Thanksgiving holiday I called the on-call line to get advice on what to do because I have to drive my kids to school on Monday. I guess everyone was busy celebrating, because no one called me back. (My NP was ticked off about this when she found out about it at my appt. Somebody is going to get in trouble.) Anyway, By that Sunday morning I was still in such a stupor that I felt like the only thing I could do was to stop taking the klonopin because I had to drive the kids to school on Monday and I didn't want to risk an accident. I wouldn't want to hurt my kids or anyone else, let alone get a DUI. I had an appointment scheduled for Thursday and I figured talking about going back on the klonopin or staying off it could wait until then; how bad could quitting it be. (Famous last words, right?) I was miserable all week- trouble sleeping, headaches and such, but I dealt with it. My NP put me back on a reduced amount of the Klonopin on Thursday, but Friday I had a partial seizure. (Never had one in my life, and I don't have epilepsy. There really isn't much doubt it was related to the withdrawl.)

Anyway kiddos. I'm okay as I guess I can be right now. (still in a bad episode, but trying to make progress.) I'm sure I'll to have the lovely follow-ups (and fall-outs) from this little mess I've created for myself. Learn from my dumb-o mistake. They aren't kidding when they say not to quit your benzo meds cold turkey. The side effects aren't just feeling miserable. They can be much more serious. I'm likely one of the rare cases because I haven't taken klonopin very long and I also take anticonvulsant meds as a mood stabilizer. But it evidently is possible.

I'm only posting this as a reminder. I know we all know not to quit benzos cold turkey, but I think maybe sometimes we may be tempted to tell ourselves we'll be okay. Or some of us go through phases where we really don't like our meds and want to go off of them for a while. Do yourself a favor and talk to your doctor about the situation so you can at least do it safely. And if they aren't available, wait until they are. <3