Benzos make it worse

I take Clonazepam to help me sleep. A cancer diagnosis and subsequent nephrectomy has me anxious and sleep became an issue. I don’t like the idea of taking the Clonazepam on a routine basis but it does make me sleepy and I need to sleep! I still tend to wake up at 3 am but I can usually get back to sleep. I have intrusive thoughts. It’s getting better. The shock of the cancer diagnosis is wearing off. I am just trying to deal with the task of living day to day with a cancer diagnosis. I know plenty of us are out there. I am nervous about my upcoming scans. I am trying not to let cancer control my life! It’s dictating my life to a great extent. Balance is important to have always but as a cancer patient I need it more than ever!

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I take Clonazepam to help me sleep. A cancer diagnosis and subsequent nephrectomy has me anxious and sleep became an issue. I don’t like the idea of taking the Clonazepam on a routine basis but it does make me sleepy and I need to sleep! I still tend to wake up at 3 am but I can usually get back to sleep. I have intrusive thoughts. It’s getting better. The shock of the cancer diagnosis is wearing off. I am just trying to deal with the task of living day to day with a cancer diagnosis. I know plenty of us are out there. I am nervous about my upcoming scans. I am trying not to let cancer control my life! It’s dictating my life to a great extent. Balance is important to have always but as a cancer patient I need it more than ever!

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Hi, @azkidney57 - I have personally never had a cancer diagnosis, but I understand it brings up anxiety on many levels. Are you still waking up at 3 a.m. despite the clonazepam? When are the scans you were feeling nervous about?

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@doorman I guess this is the first time I've posted here. My first psychiatrist started me on Clonazepam at 1mg at bedtime, and a second one as needed. I rarely take a second one now, after 13 years of taking it. I tried tapering off it, but when I tried .75mg, I couldn't sleep, which is very unusual. I gave up after a week. My wife gets on my case about the number of meds I take, but Clonazepam is one she very much wants me to continue. Beside the anxiety, it also stopped my acting out my dreams by kicking and flailing, so I take it almost as much for her sake and safety as I do for my own benefit.

I did the 6 week trial of a bunch of antidepressants before landing on Wellbutrin. The one I had tried right before that was Effexor. It had no effect. But there's another discussion about the nightmare of tapering off Effexor. I'm glad I never had to deal with that one. Doing the 6 week trial of one antidepressant after another was no walk in the park. I gained ten pounds with one of them, because it made me crave food, especially sweets, all the time.

I don't think I'd want to take .5mg bid. I'd much rather take one at bedtime, though after all this time it doesn't make me groggy if I take a daytime pill.

One thing that concerns me is the possibility of serotonin syndrome. Beside the Clonazepam, I take Wellbutrin, Mirtazapine, Imipramine and morphine sulfate contin. With additive effects, I could probably get into trouble by taking too much of something. Same thing goes with the cns suppression. My doctors all have a list of my meds, and I'm sure they would see the red flag if it were to pop up.

Someone asked about Mirtazapine. A year or so ago I was feeling increasingly more depressed, and I talked with the psychiatrist about it. He prescribed Mirtazapine as an add on to the Wellbutrin. It has helped. Thank you, Lord, for all of my doctors.

Jim

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I had my MRI of abdomen and pelvis this afternoon. I was a little nervous. I have never had an MRI before. It felt confining. It took a long time but the tech prepared me well. I had contrast. The tech let me listen to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons which helped. What worries me is that they will find Mets. I have a CT of chest tomorrow. I will get results next week. I don’t feel ill. I actually feel OK except for fatigue and lowered energy level which I feel comes from having a solitary kidney. I take Clonazepam for sleep and yes I do wake up sometimes between 2-3 am but now I am able to go back to sleep. It’s been 5 months since I had the nephrectomy not a very long time. I get frustrated because I have always been very healthy and then they found a tumor! I am trying to adjust to my new life but this experienceis so very life changing! I just have to keep things in perspective and not let a cancer diagnosis govern my life!

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I found out that I had a solitary kidney in 2006 during a PET scan prior to beginning chemotherapy for breast cancer. I was 58. Until I hit my 40s, I was active and relatively healthy. Then I started a new job and then a business which consumed every waking moment until I was diagnosed with breast cancer. At 71, I have this that and the other in addition to all the fun stuff that seems to comes along with aging and being a stage IIIB cancer survivor. (13 years now!)
Living with a single kidney hasn’t been responsible for any of my deficits so far. I am careful to keep well hydrated and don’t drink alcohol. Those are the only things I do to keep my kidney as healthy as possible. So go for it! In addition to being active, I had 2 sons well before I knew I had only 1 kidney.
I think what I’m trying to say is that you can live quite normally with 1 kidney. All the best...

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Wow....you’re really on a bunch of meds. Tell me....why the morphine?

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@doorman I take morphine for my peripheral neuropathy pain. It's becoming more and more of a hassle making the doctors believe that it really does help reduce the pain.

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