Klonopin Use

I was on 1mg 3x a day. Now I am on .5 2x a day. I am still on it. My doctor is talking it really slow. But now at .5 2x a day he is letting me stay here for now anyway. I never had a problem talking it. In fact I felt alot better on the 1mg 3xday. But will all the illegal druggies they really punish us for their mistakes 😤 good luck to you.

When I was taken off the clonazepam I was taking 1.0 x 3 a day. Mayo in Arizona but me on them in 1999. I was doing great on them. I had a reaction to the Larium I took to go to Africa. My central nervous system went crazy and I was seriously dizzy and I was having horrible panic attacks. They at least let me function. But after my doctor passed away then the new doctors were like you can't take a benzo that long and he took me off of them. After I ended up in the hospital and had to have surgery to repair my broken arm in 2 places and crushed my elbow the hospital but me back on clonazepam. So far since that I have had 4 different doctors who wanted to take me off. I take .5 2 times a day now and it helps but not as well as it did on the 1mg 3 x day.

@bonez3861
A Doctor just took you off 3 mg a day of Clonazepam? All at once? That could literally kill a person.
Glad to hear you are doing better on 1 mg a day.

Hello, I’ve been on 0.5 since 2004. I have severe tinnitus in both ears. Recently my new pcp wanted nothing to do with it and wanted me off. I explained I take two a day and it was 3 but two was working.
Doctors confuse anxiety with depression sometimes. He asked me to see his psychiatrist of choice and naturally I agreed. After a 90 minute visit she said you do completely understand all the risks and I think you use it because you need to. You are not at all a woman suffering depression and I will write my notes to your pcp. She said I could go back if needed. It was a lovely visit and she completely understood that I’m fully aware about falling and memory issues, among other issues it can cause.
I’m changing pcp doctor again because I simply am not comfortable and I know this will be addressed again.
Did you fall while on the med or when you stopped.

@mothermary1 I have tinnitus and hyperacusis that causes facial pain and numbness. I completely understand using Klonopin for this reason. I have cervical stenosis and muscle spasms that also benefit. I would love to take Klonopin every night but it affects my memory sometimes, and I don't want to become dependent. I am practicing acceptance of tinnitus, selling a condo where noise is an issue, and doing tai chi for neck. I take 0.125- 0.25 Klonopin once or twice a week at bedtime. It makes me feel safe that I can do that but I know for me, it has to be limited unfortunately. My neuro has tried many other meds and I have bad reaction to all of them so he is still willing to prescribe, and I have a 20 year history of using them sparingly. If I need more I will go to a psychiatrist as you did!

I fell or whatever I did as I can't remember anything from that. I was taken off of it by a new doctor because mine retired. He just stopped it right before I was going to Kansas to see my granddaughter and my 1st great grandson. I hurt myself in Kansas and I couldn't get surgery until I got back home in Florida. I went from the airport to the hospital and had surgery the next morning. They but me back on the clonazepam. It was so unessassry for that doctor to do that to me. Good luck to you.

I have commented before regarding Klonopin usage. I finally found out that since college I suffered from debilitating depression. I did not know then what depression was and suffered through it for many years. Finally Time Magazine came out with an issue with Prozac on the cover and I read the article. Finally I had a name for what I had been living with all these years. I talked to my primary care physician and she put me on Prozac. As is common with SSRI’s my body did not do well on Prozac but did very well on Zoloft. I also saw a psychiatrist that added Wellbutrin and Buspar to enhance the Zoloft. It was so common then that they actually called it Welloft. He also added 1mg of Klonopin in the morning and 1mg in the evening. I have been on this regimen for over thirty five years. Every time I have tried to pair back my Zoloft or Klonopin I have slipped back in to debilitating depression and had to start taking both to come out of the depression. He finally said if it is not broke don’t fix it. For all these years I have heeded his advice and had a great career in sales while hiking and skiing along with many other physical activities with no side effects.
I am retired now and have no memory or balance issues but I thought it might be a good time to taper my Klonopin. My primary care physician had me start a tapering program but it did not go well and I went back to my normal dosage. Her comment was it was my idea and questioned why at 73 I would choose to do that. Her attitude was much like psychiatrist many years ago. If it is not broke why are you trying to fix it.
My mother had debilitating depression but like so many people of that generation she had no idea what depression was and SSRI’s had not come out yet. The previous antidepressants had bad side effects and I had tried those with terrible results.
Long story short my mother suffered a miserable life self medicating with alcohol and affecting my whole family growing up.
I have been reading horror stories regarding people trying to taper off Klonopin and my question to all the people on this post is why if it is not broke they are trying to fix it. If you don’t suffer any side effects and you live a happy life why change?
I have known people that retired and decided it was a good time to cut back on their antidepressant and the results were terrible for not only themselves but their significant other.
Depression is real and so is anxiety and many times they go hand in hand. Both my children suffer from one of the other and take medication for it. They are both extremely successful with great families.
I will end by saying if it not brok why fix it.
Please tell me what I am missing here.
I look forward to your comments.

I appreciate the response. My question is, were you able to keep the same dose all those years? I hear many who say you develop a tolerance and need to increase dosage.

Yes I have never increased my dosage in the 35 years I have been taking it.
One time on a trip with my son I stepped on a fish hook that had washed up on the beach. The pain was incredible and he took me to the emergency room. They extracted the hook and prescribed OxyContin. I took one pill that night and the pain went away. I never took another pill again.
I think certain people have addictive personalities and whether it is alcohol, cigarettes or pain pills they are going to abuse them. For the rest of us common sense takes over and we don’t drink and smoke knowing it can kill us and certainly don’t take opioids or pain pills to get high.
Maybe I am missing something here and I would love hear from others.

@daveshaw developing tolerance for Klonopin has nothing to do with personality, in my view and from what I have read. I have been told the body can get accustomed to a certain dose over time and more is needed to get the same effect. You are fortunate that has not happened to you but I don't think it is helpful to blame those for whom it has happened as addictive personalities or "abusers" or lacking "common sense."

The fact that you could not reduce your Klonopin shows that you did develop dependency, but your tolerance did not increase. So you weren't able to get off but you also didn't need to go up on dose.

I avoid taking Klonopin more than two days in a row. I stick to 1/4 or in a rare case 1/3 of the lowest dose. My body is sensitive and I would expect tolerance to develop so I am careful. I use 30 0.5mg pills in 9-12 months so doctors continue to prescribe for me.