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I have been in Clonazepam 0.5mg TID for 18 years
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: May 15 8:15am | Replies (223)Comment receiving replies
I started using 0.25mg of Clonazepam once in sporadically at approximately 50 yrs of age for insomnia. It would happen perhaps once a month during my menstrual cycle that I could not sleep well and after a few days of getting up at 2am I would take a small dose to get a good nights rest. When menopause was getting closer (58 yrs old) my sleep pattern became an issue and so i needed it more frequently before my bedtime. Sleep became an obsession! The half dose of the pill was great here and there and then it became necessary to take it every night and then upon turning 60 many things gave me anxiety and I started taking 0.5mg. I am now 62 and I really don’t like to depend on this as the only way to get to sleep an entire night. I tried to ween myself off by going down 1/4 pill less every week and only got back to 0.25mg and at that point I could not sleep at all. I was staring at the ceiling at 2AM and that made me even more angry that I was so dependant on that pill that I said I’m gonna tough it out and cut it out! I could not sleep at all for 4 days!! I was so distressed that I went right back up 0.5mg! My doctor suggested for me to take Buspirone 10mg and then to start weening myself off the Clonazepam again. It has been 1 month and I am now at 0.25mg again for the last two evenings. It’s really not easy - I want off of it!! I can’t understand why women my age sleep so well and I can’t without this drug??
Replies to "I started using 0.25mg of Clonazepam once in sporadically at approximately 50 yrs of age for..."
Clonazepam is the longest acting benzo. I found Busbar did nothing, it was like a placebo, and this is before I was on Clonazepam.
There are new drugs out for insomnia but the one I tried wasn’t in my drug formulary and cost $600 with a copay of $400for 1 month. It worked very well and in 10 years it will become generic. I tried one other, quite a bit cheaper, but it made me feel weird. Are you in a state that allows CBD TCH gummies? I was using them for a while and they worked. Trouble is you aren’t supposed to use them with other anti-anxiety or depression pills. My philosophy is if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Stay on the Clonazepam. An interesting method I discovered was to break a Clonazepam in half snd let it dissolve under your tongue when you get in bed. It is absorbed quickly. I am not a doctor or a pharmacist, I discovered this on my own after taking Ketamine first a year, which did not help my depression.
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I’m sorry you’re feeling so stressed about your need for this medication, the stress is what causes sleepless nights and the medication helps you so you’re in a bad place. It’s not uncommon that the dosage went up over time especially with this type of medication, if you really want to stop then a new drug might help you get more sleep and then tapering down your dosage will be more tolerable. I’ve been taking the same medication, albeit a different brand for many years, I use it for anxiety and ptsd and it works well for me, I don’t understand why doctors give it to people who have sleepless nights because there’s better options available, I can say the same for me but this is what I use for over 20 years. Many people especially seniors are the most likely to have this issue but it will eventually be phased out with younger doctors who won’t prescribe it, sadly they are putting unnecessary pressure on the seniors by forcing them into a withdrawal which will probably cause more harm than good.