[Phoenix_1]

I just turned 65. My pdoc only treats seniors. I've taken Klonopin every day since 1987. My pdoc wants me to stop taking it because of my age because a study was done about it. The problem is that it's the only thing that controls my anxiety. I told him I didn't want to stop it so he's done nothing yet.
He says it contributes to falls. So do a lot of other drugs I take. Lamictal can make you dizzy.
Are there any older people here having the same issues?

[TRNRMOM]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_1

I just turned 65. My pdoc only treats seniors. I've taken Klonopin every day since 1987. My pdoc wants me to stop taking it because of my age because a study was done about it. The problem is that it's the only thing that controls my anxiety. I told him I didn't want to stop it so he's done nothing yet.
He says it contributes to falls. So do a lot of other drugs I take. Lamictal can make you dizzy.
Are there any older people here having the same issues?

i am a 72 yr. old female who has been taking 1/2 .5mg klonopin for prob. 20 years. if i'm really stressed out, i'll take the other 1/2 in the afternoon. i take 3 meds to sleep, one of which is another bento (temazepam) but i have psych nurse and my gp who prescribe these for me without any questions. i am very i touch with my bipolar 2, having been diagnosed 40 years ago, and i want to continue living a stress-free life and more importantly, having good sleep every night. i get where you are coming from. i work out 5x/week so my bone density is 100% so my thinking is: i could fall even if i wasn't taking klonopin. good luck with your dr.

[neverending]

I just tried to post n lost it so will repost.

I m 67 n taking Ativan and have been with no problems.

My friend is 77 and taking klonopin and has been for a very long time. She isn't having any problems with it either.

[still_crazy]

it seems kind of...cruel, to taper after such long term, successful treatment.

[~Christina]

My Pdoc thinks taking someone off a long term benzo is just wrong. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

[Phoenix_1]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

My Pdoc thinks taking someone off a long term benzo is just wrong. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I agree.

I'm not fond of my Pdoc, but the choices are limited and Pdocs are few. In 2012-2013, I waited 18 months to get a new Pdoc after mine moved to India.

I'll keep arguing with him about the Klonopin but he's very stubborn. He read some study and believes it completely. Some doctors think they know it all. They don't.

[~Christina]

I had a few IP stays that the IP Pdoc really had issue with my Xanax use citing all these studies.

About 3 years ago I was IP and my Fibro flared so bad I was going out of my mind in pain I could barely breathe the weekend on call Pdoc saw me and told me he would treat my pain right away if I agreed to detox off Xanax , nothing made sense to me , I was sobbing in pain, apparently at some point I agreed.

I woke up almost 48 hours later had no idea who I was or where I was. I couldn’t stand up, I felt like dying. My nurse that has been there forever sat with me and helped explain to me what happened and I still just could not wrap my head around it. She kept telling me to call my husband. I told her I wasn’t married. Yes I was that bad.

He detoxed me using phenobarbital.

So I’m back home and my anxiety is just getting worse and worse. I was giving anything non benzo a real go , I was desperate for something non benzo to work. I was terrified of going back on one for fear of ever having to go back through a detox ever again.

Finally my Pdoc and T and I sat down and they both said they wanted me back on Xanax or Valium. At this point I had been out of the hospital about 4 months. I had zero quality of life, I was in tears constantly, never really able to take a deep breath, I was sleeping a handful of hours at most each week.

So I got my life back. One day my Pdoc will retire and I’ll get a new “Dr Graves” and he /she might be a pill Nazi and demand I get off them?? But until that happens I try not to think about it much. I have severe ptsd over that whole detox it’s not funny.

My Pdoc and T actually sent a letter to Vanderbilt about the ptsd trauma that the detox caused.

I have wound up back there IP numerous times since and that guy is still there but he will never be my Doctor again.. I won’t even look his way because I still want to slap his face off ... I always get my same Pdoc and she’s a wonderful young woman.

Sorry this turned into a novel but it’s just what I went through.

My Pdoc feels that AP’s can cause as many long term effects as benzo can.

[winter4me]

I am 66 and have taken fluoxetine and Klonopin since my mid thirties,
no problems. I have been through detoxing on my own (tapering...) because I wanted, as I got older to get off these, the only meds I have taken on a regular basis...ever.
It was awful no matter how slow I went and I decided a year or so ago it's not worth it.
If you notice problems with balance etal, consider tai chi, yoga, regular walking, riding a bike just for fun and other activities that will strengthen muscles and improve balance. Do be careful with alcohol. (behind some of these warnings are regulations that apply to facilities that care for the elderly---often with less than adequate research---some still prescribe vitamin D to "prevent falls" although this has not proved at all useful. (I am an RN, my most recent years were working with kids, I am retiring now--I think--but I did a good deal of long term care and skilled nursing in the decade prior---and unless a patient is "skilled" they only get the physical activity support that staff are able to provide---meaning, aides activities staff and nurses & in the current climate this is sorely limited---I wish PT would be a routine and reimbursed part of ADL maintenance)...sorry for the ramble..