Klonopin taper

I've been on some sort of benzo for 9 years. I probably should have cut less. But not going up. Will power through. Thanks for replying.

OMG .... this is horrifying. I have cyclothymia and have been on Klonopin for several years, along with antidepressants and Lamictal (mood stabilizer). Most of the time they work well together, but now as I read this about Klonopin, it worries me. My anxiety goes through the roof at times if I'm not on it and the panic attacks start rolling. I'm afraid to stop taking it, and yet I don't want to become an addict either. Sometimes I think it would just be better if I were dead.
abby

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

Abby, I agree 100% with Hazel! If you have something that works - stick with it! I have suffered from clinical depression for many, many years. I have tried several different medications. Some had great results but then stopped working and others had horrible side effects. I have been on my most recent medication for about 8 years. It is working just fine, and I don't want to do anything to mess that up! Really, who cares if you're an "addict" when your life will be miserable without your medication? It isn't like it's heroin or cocaine or some addiction that will ruin your life. Your clonazepam is helping you and is doing you good. I would stay on it. And though all of us on Mayo Connect are suffering with different issues, I believe NONE of us would be better off dead. There is still so much to life, even with my health issues. Please reach out to a suicide help line or a therapist or someone you feel you can trust if you are feeling suicidal. That is such a regretful final solution when there may be other help out there. Don't cut your life short, please. I have been in a psych ward for attempted suicide. I know your desperation and pain. However, there is help and you are not alone. And, don't stop a medication that is working. Doing so will just push you further down that dark spiral. Praying you are feeling better soon. Please keep in touch!

Thanks for the message. Well said!

Thank you all for your kind replies. I know,in my head, you're all right ... I think it's just being alone so much, too much time to think, and there has been a lot of upheaval in my life the passed 12 years ...... first 12 years ago I left my husband of 40 years - he has a personality disorder and I could no longer live with the emotional and verbal abuse, I moved in for 2 years with a girlfriend from my church, after 2 years I bought a condo. and was blissfully happy there ....... all the while my kids were hounding me to move closer to them - about 4 hours away ...... I finally relented and moved; I've hated it here for these 2 years, so I now am moving again to a smaller town. It seems like all I do is pack, unpack, pack, unpack. And now this whole thing with my therapist has me very ill at ease. When I had the breakdown, about 5 years ago, a girlfriend took me to the hospital, and they evaluated me for a day. If I was suicidal, I would have been admitted. I actually was on the edge of suicide, but told them no. Then they enrolled me in a 4 week day program from 9 - 3 at the hospital which was a group with folks with all sorts of issues, but we were all there for the same reason .... we needed additional help and we were hanging on the edge. It was a wonderful 4 weeks. That probably sounds crazy, but from the first day we all connected and no two of us were alike ..... there were people on drugs, a man who was gay and had a "wife", a girl who periodically hallucinated, people like me with either cyclothymia or bi-polar. It was a wonderful group of friends.
If I had my choice of anything .... I'd move back to Frederick, rent a condo in the same complex I was in (I sold my other one), keep going to my therapist and psychiatrist, and possibly go back to that group for another 4 weeks. Once you've been in it, you can come back. On top of that, I feel very old, useless, and that there's nothing left for me anymore. So what's the point? I had a knee replacement and revision about 5 years ago, but otherwise, I'm very healthy ...... except for my brain. I just feel like I'm taking up space.
abby