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Hi.. I'm just trying to determine the difference between whether I have a mental health problem or I'm just going through benzodiazepine Tolerance/Withdrawal?? When I was 22yrs old huge into sports living a great life, my doctor proscribed me Klonopin 1mg at night & 1mg in the morning for very mild anxiety, at first it felt amazing! I thought to myself I never have to worry about anything again, well I was defiantly wrong! After time went by I'd say around 3 months later I was working & I started having some sort of anxiety that I had never felt before the medication, like I would kinda get a shaky/trembling type feeling & I still remember I would get off my 8hr shift at work & go to my car & I would literally be sweating & feeling so unrelaxed, so I knew there was something not right, i thought it was only my anxiety getting worse so I would go home & take more of the klonopin.. Anyways after time this problem got worse & worse I started having horrible sleeping problems that I never had before, then I started getting headaches, nausea, muscle tension, agitation & heart palpitations, I guess from just lack of quality sleep from what was going on I'm not really sure.. So the doctor put me on a very low dose of seroquel for sleep which helped for awhile then it lost its effectiveness so now it's been about 7-8yrs down the road I'm now 29yrs old & have almost no life because I cant sleep & feel good, I can barley even work.. I just want to know & I've been wanting to know for along time because I cant get any answers from my doctors what the heck is going on?? I've tried coming off the medications & it literally feels impossible because I'm already having a lot of horrible symptoms.. So my biggest question to everyone, does it sound like I have a mental illness or have I been going through tolerance withdrawal from the medication for years?? Has anyone out there went through anything like this? I'm just trying to get my life back.. Any input or advice would be awesome & greatly appreciated.. Thanks so much..
Replies to "Hi.. I'm just trying to determine the difference between whether I have a mental health problem..."
Just to give you an idea of equivalencies: https://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm So if you take 1mg klonopin twice a day, the diazepam (Valium) equivalent would be 20mg twice a day. You can then reduce by 2mg (or I did 2.5mg) every two weeks. If you stay with klonopin and reduce by .25mg, you'll be reducing exactly twice as fast as I did. IMHO, this is an unnecessarily traumatic route. Initially, I tried to discontinue directly from Xanax. Holy cow, what a mistake! Not only did I keel-haul my nervous system, but I failed as well. The benefit of valium/diazepam is that it has a long half-life, meaning it leaves your system very, very slowly. So there is no "between-dose" withdrawal. Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) is something you want to avoid. I think it can be avoided if you are careful and gentle with yourself.
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Hi, @num1boxer1919 - wanted to let you know I've moved your post here, just because there are so many members present in this conversation about benzo withdrawal I thought may have some input for you on whether you may be experiencing mental illness symptoms or side effects from benzo withdrawal.
Just to clarify, @num1boxer1919, so other members here can offer what they have gleaned from their experiences: Are you talking about effects from withdrawing from clonazepam (Klonopin) or just diminished response from this drug at this point? You are trying to determine whether you are experiencing one of these or whether your symptoms are from an anxiety disorder? What was your diagnosis when the doctor put you on the clonazepam (Klonopin)?