Clonazepam Anxiety

A couple of months ago I started trying to wean myself off of the Clonazepam I've been taking for a year or two now (memory fails me as to how long it has been exactly.) I began taking Clonazepam primarily because it helped with the tinnitus I have. But it also helps with my anxiety as well as with a restless-leg-syndrome sort of feeling I experience throughout my body all the time. Perhaps I tried to go off too fast. (2 months?) But it didn't go well.

Anyway, to make a long story short as the saying goes, my tinnitus skyrocketed, my rls-type feeling came back with a vengeance, I couldn't sleep, I started feeling more nervous than I can recall ever feeling, and I began experiencing waves of sheer panic. So now I'm back on it (3 half 0.5 mg. pills per day) feeling as though I'm probably stuck on Clonazepam for good.

Now, however, I've begun to develop a whole new set of fears. What if my pdoc closes his practice... will I be able to find another pdoc (one I can get to) who'll prescribe it? What if there was a shortage and I couldn't get it? What if they stopped making it? And on-&-on... Fortunately I'm old. So, hopefully, I don't have all that many years left to deal with it. But, if I did, I don't know what I would do. The thoughts scare the bejeebers out of me.

@Skeezyks the what ifs are enough to keep me awake at night. I guess I am stopping worrying because there are a multiude of what ifs and they are not all going to happen. Life is not long enough for that.

As far as getting a prescription there are other options available but not sure if they would work for the meds you take. But the fact they relieve symptoms is a good sign.

If you can get a prescription from somewhere, online pharmacies that are proven reliable and safe can often get meds in short supply. In my area there are 4 major pharmacy chains and now Amazon is getting into pharmacy along with Walmart.

My what ifs are not comforting but concern the trends I see in society where great divides are opening up between people in countries and the climate is changing rapidly and unpredictably. I guess if I let that get to me I will start losing sleep.

I hope that you find a work around to not worry about things. If not write me and we can exchange What Ifs ! @CANDC

Hi Skeezyks,

Benzo's are notoriously difficult to come off of. I'm in the process of tapering off clonazepam and it's going ok, but I'm going very slowly. I've moved down from 3 mg to .5 mg / day, but it's been over the course of about 2 years, and before I started reducing the Clonazepam, my pdoc cross prescribed diazepam, which is much easier to get off of. So I'm gradually lowering the clonazepam and will then taper off the diazepam. If you're interested in this method, I recommend you check out benzobuddies.org and look for the Ashton Manual - that's sort of a bible for benzo tapers.

I find whenever I do a decrease, I have about 5 days where my anxiety spikes, I have trouble sleeping, and I have increased brain fog, but it usually clears up by the end of 5 days so it is possible if you decide you want to come off them.

splitimage

Hi Skeezyks: I also have tried to get off Klonopin in the past.

The prognosis gets better the slower you go (at least in my experience).

In the U.S., (and maybe in Canada too), they make 0.125 mg dissolvable tablets of Klonopin. Meaning you could take 1/12 less of your current dosage (which I understand is 1.5 mg).

So you could try asking your doctor to prescribe 1.375 mg of Klonopin for a few weeks or however long you agree on, and see how that goes. Then you would make another reduction of the same amount provided that the first reduction goes well.

There are also other benzos with longer half-lives out there than Klonopin that you can use to get off Klonopin (somewhat ironically).

One of those is Librium (chlordiazepoxide). I know all of this because I've tried it all with my doctor.

Anyway, good luck with it all!