I was originally prescribed klonopin in March 2016 for a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder - I was experiencing unwanted intrusive thoughts, depersonalization, dissociation, and major anxiety. The klonopin was very helpful then, but I never felt like the GAD diagnosis was correct. After embarking on an eight-month odyssey of multiple therapies to deal with my “psychological and emotional issues”, my acupuncturist encouraged me to go back to my doctor for more tests, as my condition was not improving (you know things are bad when your Eastern medicine practitioner sends you back to your Western medicine practitioner). As it turned out, I had severe anemia. The hematologist I saw said I was “toast”. I asked her if anemia would explain my psychiatric symptoms; she said, “um, yeah - you weren’t getting oxygen to your brain!” One month of iron supplementation later all morning symptoms were gone… but my psychiatrist never believed the anemia could cause my symptoms (and that his diagnosis was inaccurate), and kept e on the klonopin. Here I am, six years later, withdrawing, and he is s calling it a “re-emergence of my condition”. He doesn’t believe tat klonopin withdrawal can cause tremors, spasms, and jerking of limbs. I feel like gifting him a copy of the Ashton Manual, for crying out loud; these symptoms are textbook. I just need to know whether I should be taking more/less/a different manufacturer/a different benzo (Valium) to taper. Thanks for listening.

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