Hi Amber. What is cyclothymia? How much and when do you take the klonopin? My anxiety is off the chain and i can do nothing today but lay in bed. I have an appt with my pdoc tomorrow and he is going to have to give me something to help with this horrible feeling. Im willing to try anything at this point. Have you ever tried seroquel?

Hi dawgbone .... Cyclothymia is a slightly less severe case of bi-polar I disorder. My therapists thinks my mother, who was an alcoholic, was probably bi-polar due to her erratic, abusive behavior toward me, an only child. I've always had significant ups and downs ever since I was a teen, but not to the point of running away or being really manic ..... just extreme depression and the best the "up" part ever gets is what I'd call other people's happy. It's definitely leaning more on the depression side.
abby

Hi @amberpep. I can hear the concern in your voice. I’m sorry you are worried about Klonopin (clonazepam) and what might happen if you start tapering off of it. We understand some of these medications can be challenging to stop taking.

It’s important to know you are not alone. I’m tagging @jimhd, @janetdh , @hazelblumberg, and @lauren123 , who have experience with clonazepam, as well as some other members who have participated in our Mental Health Group here on Connect, @johnjames, @predictable, @blindeyepug, @gailb, and @contentandwell, in hopes they may be able to provide some support. We are here for you and want to discuss anything that is worrying you.

You mentioned sometimes you think it would just be better if you were dead. Please know we are very glad you are here and for your participation in this community. If at any point you start to feel like you may consider hurting yourself, please call or text 988, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline https://988lifeline.org for immediate help. Your safety is the most important thing to us.

Hi, Abby. Yes, I'd been diagnosed as bipolar once, and I have no idea why. I have clinical depression, and I definitely don't have the manic highs. Sometimes doctors know nothing. One psychiatrist put me on lithium. He kept me on it for six months, even though I kept telling him it was doing NOTHING. He got really angry and started screaming at me during an appointment, so I got up, threw my bottle of lithium at him, and walked out. The end of him.

I've been on clonazepam for ages. It's helped the panic/anxiety disorder immensely. But then I started wondering if it was really helping anymore. My psychiatrist is wonderful, and I hope he never retires (he's about 70), and I talked to him about tapering off. He was skeptical and thought it WAS helping me, but he helped me figure out a tapering-off schedule. Unfortunately, as I tapered off, the panic/anxiety symptoms I'd known but hadn't experienced in ages started coming back. So, I'm back on it. I'm on a very low dosage--0.5 mg two to three times per day--but it does help.

I've been so severely depressed in the past that, seven years ago, my psychiatrist strongly suggested that I check into a psychiatric ward. I did, and I was there for 3 1/2 weeks. Amazingly enough, it was a GREAT experience. Everyone else on the ward had severe clinical depression as well, so we all totally understood what the other was feeling. If a medication wasn't working or was having adverse effects, the docs were right there and could take us off the meds or change them immediately. I'm still on the combination of meds that they found for me at the psych ward, and I'm doing well.

Please don't even consider suicide! Yes, I think we've all been there at one time or another. But trust me: It WILL get better. It will. If you feel that you need the help of a psych ward, don't hesitate to go to one. My time in one helped me immensely, changed my life, and got me the right meds. Take good care of yourself.

Hazel

Abby, I'm pretty sure that my body is physically addicted to clonazepam after all the years I've been on it. And y'know what? I don't care! It helps me.

I have had panic/anxiety disorder for as long as I can remember, even as a kid. I had no idea that I had "something." I just figured everybody felt that way and that they were better at dealing with it than I was. When we lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, the University of Minnesota was conducting a study on panic/anxiety disorder. My husband saw the ad for it in the paper, decided it sounded a lot like me, and suggested I go. I got into the study. I have no idea if I was on a placebo or a drug. No matter what, I learned a lot about the illness, and I could get medical help after the study ended.

If clonazepam helps you, there is NO NEED to get off it. As to being an addict--I mean, who cares? We're not talking any kind of dangerous addiction here. We're talking about something that's life saving.

And you would NOT be better off dead! You would have last-minute regrets, and you'd pull yourself out if you could. So, don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure that all of us with clinical depression have been there. It sucks. But things do get better. And docs do eventually find the right combination of meds. See my post below: I had to spend 3 1/2 weeks in a psych ward to find the combination of meds that help me, and I am actually grateful for my time in the psych ward.

Keep writing to us, OK?

Hazel

@lisalucier @amberpep Sorry, but I really have no input here. I have never had to be on medications for mental health, any episodes I have had of depression have been short lived and with a specific cause. My daughter on the other hand has had more problems. She has been diagnosed as bi-polar but I have never seen a manic episode and the times she has suffered from depression there was a reason also. I really do not know if she is on any medication these days. Once they are adults we often do not know everything going on in their lives.
JK

Yes, admittedly, a nice long therapeutic rest at a nice Psychiatric Hospital sounds pretty good long about now.
abby

@amberpep

Hi, Abby. I've been taking klonopin for 11 years for anxiety, and a secondary benefit of keeping me from acting out my dreams, which is why this is one med that my wife doesn't want me to stop. I did try to get off it once by going from 1mg to .75, but I couldn't sleep for several nights, so I continue to take 1mg. I feel that if I need a medication long-term, and it's performing its function, I don't consider needing it to be an addiction. I'm okay with knowing that I may be taking a medication the rest of my life. I realize that addiction is a very real problem for many people in this country, and that it's a real societal problem. It's most unfortunate that because it's a societal problem, it's become a political issue, and as a result, it's become a potentially disastrous problem for those of us who depend on the medications for legitimate reasons. For those of us who have chronic pain and mental health issues life is a real challenge.

Jim

Thanks, Jim, @jimhd

Yours is a post I wish I could "double-like."

Teresa

Please hang in there. You CAN get off this under a good!!! Psychiatrist's supervision and enjoy life again. Best of luck to you (and me) and know that millions have managed depression / anxiety and you certainly can, too! : ) Be well!