Tapered off Zoloft and Clonazepam

Hindsight is a great thing. If I knew years ago what I now know I would never have taken the first Clonazepam/Rivotril but as started as a sleep aid and continued for decades.... no questions asked until I had no doctor and then treated like an addict... Pharmacist said you are not addicted but your body is now dependent. So after over a year getting off will never ever put one in my mouth again. I also got off Zoloft x 2. I feel like I was robbed or mentally assaulted but at the time needed help and the help was in the form of meds... my adult daugher now 62 on Zoloft for decades and her dr called her her poster child for Zoloft! I know meds save lives but they can also alter them negtatively as we know.

I was started on Clonazepam .5mg six years ago by my GP because of panic attacks, insomnia and significant weight loss a year after major back surgery. I don't regret starting Clonazepam because with it I was finally able to sleep and eat. It's good my GP didn't try starting me on an anti-depressant first because we later learned I have bipolar. I've been with a psychiatrist for over two years now who wants to try to get me off it. Over the years, I've managed to wean myself down to 3/4 of a .5mg, but that's as far as I can go without what feels like too much anxiety, irritability and insufficient sleep. I've gone through two more surgeries and three cases of broken bones in the last three years so I dread the thought of ever having to move away from physicians who've known me a long time and understand my medical history. I'd like to be off daily Clonazepam just to have one less thing to put in my nightly pill planner and, of course, to not have clueless people treat me like I'm an addict.

@blueskies1530 I totally agree with you so sorry you have so many back surgeries i’ve been on the same medicine for years she wanted to take taper me off because I’m on opiates because both of them work against each other, I don’t believe that it just helped me so much with anxiety, but hasn’t helped me with sleep at all

@chrisco
So Clonazepam hasn't helped you sleep better? If I try to take less then I notice that it helps me. What's your dose?

Just one back surgery for me, two other unrelated surgeries.

I take 1 mg I take 300 mg quatine I know I spelt it wrong but that’s what I taped to sleep too and some sleep Gummies and melatonin what am I doing wrong I cannot sleep. I wake up every two hours of course it’s my pain wakes me up?

@chrisco ....sorry to read this... I havent slept well for five years after getting off Zoloft then Cloanzepam... and bladder pain and emptying bladder every 2 to 3 hours thru night: we sure need our sleep to get us through the nexty day. They say dont nap during day but I do mid afternoon and have for long time, it is not the napping that causes insomnia. Am just wondering when last time you had meeting with your Doctor..... what you are taking, anything for pain? Sorry I dont have medical expertise just trying to help ... J.

@lacy2 thank you for responding. I take 1 mg of Klonopin at night sleep aid and melatonin and like you said I get up four or five times a night to go to the bathroom and I deal with chronic pain all day.

@chrisco ...at my age and other circumstances, and as spouse is on 12 meds a day, and looking back at all the meds I was given and took without question, realizing of course most helped me.. but leaving me on some for many years with no quesations asked and what I went thru; i decided to get off as many as I could: it has not been easy. I still take glaucoma eyedrops and have to take Imodium, and i just tried 2 months off Thyroid meds but was told not a good thing! So am back on... I was given 9 antitiotics for uti in 2024 then they said no more! Well that was odd.. why give me the 9 then? So to be honest i have never been so questioning of meds/confused in all my life.. bit late now for me but years ago didnt have internet to check! I must say the Clonazepam/Klonopin did help me sleep and have had insominia since going off... its a double-edged sword as they say, isnt it.

@lacy2 I wonder why they didn’t explain why you’re getting all those meds?

@chrisco Hi .... i was on a few meds, and lots of antibitoics for utis etc, long story, but husband now on 12 meds: for heart, diabetes 2, blood thinners, needle, 3 cholesterol meds, for stomach from meds; water pills for heart, imodium etc. he is only 73, i am 82: i said to him: if you were age 2O and physically fit and took all these meds it would make you ill ! He has never had to take any type of meds for depression or anxiety.. opposite of me!