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I had a similar experience after taking klonopin for 18 years. My doctor had me very slowly reduce the dose (0.5 mg every 3 weeks) but I had awful tremors, shaking and twitching movements anyway. At times the shaking was so violent that it made me fall out of bed. My husband would hold me down during the times when the shaking was at its worst. These shaking and jerky movements involved my entire body. Then I had my first, and only, panic attack. We were not prepared for any of this and felt lonely and very scared.. We went to the er one night but they heard about klonopin withdrawal, put me in bed in a hallway and ignored me. And no, they were not very busy. It was at 3a.m. and after 12 hours of these shaking and jerky movements and the panic attack I still have some tremors after 3 years and am on 2 meds to help control it. I had bad headaches and nausea too. I would still be taking the klonopin if I had known it would be like this. I'm sorry I took it at all. But for me, the outcome was not worth what resulted.
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I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I've been on Klonopin 2mg for 16 years and I want to get off of it. I recently went down to 1mg and would like to detox but I'm 53 and am in Menopause, have Chronic pain, and now suffering from severe Restless leg syndrome. Plus I'm going through a divorce. I know the longer one takes Benzos, the harder it is to get of them. When you got to .125 mg did you stop and how long were you at that strength? I know my psychiatrist won't taper me slowly with a compounding pharmacy. He's been a detox doctor and they detox with Phenobarbital and Clonidine and muscle relaxants. I've been in Rehab a few times and it's a course over a month.
I'm very sorry to hear about your horrible experience. can I ask you at what dose did you start at when you began your detox?
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I am so sorry to hear of your absolutely terrifying experience while withdrawing from Klonopin. Many times I told my Dr. I was a happy, healthy, social person before stopping Lorazepam after taking at least 10 years. I was put on Klonopin to withdraw from Lorazepam 6MG. I am 9 months into the tapering from .5 to now 1/2 of .125. I cannot believe your Dr. had you withdraw so quickly. I still have tremors in my mouth and jaw but am so happy I have gotten this far. I have to say tho every morning I worry about what my body is going to do to me. Definitely my body turned against me. I lost my hair, went down to 106 pounds, my skin still hangs off my bones. One week ago all of a sudden my upper and lower gums were all swollen (not bleeding) and were receding. I won't belabor the side effects. I'm now a JUNKIE reading and researching Benzodiazepines and wish there was something I could do to get them off the market. I had never heard the word Benzodiazepine 10 months ago, I knew the word Lorazepam that's all. Many websites say you can have side effects for many, many years. Also, all have said you need a Psychiatrist not a GP to help with the withdrawal, although not all are really familiar with withdrawing from Benzodiazepines. I just do not know what to say, you are still suffering and it's a sin what has happened to you. Sounds like you are still having withdrawals, those are many of the symptoms. I cannot believe there is nothing out there that can help you. I will get back to you if I hear any successes with new trials. Keep up with connect.mayo, it is my new best friend. By the way you were not on a slow taper which research says is a must. Go on Line to Ashton Manual on Benzos.org. This will give you knowledge and hope. Laurine