Frequent urination (hourly) benzo related?
Hey all, I've been taking clonaz for several years, but at a very limited dose. 0.25mg dissolvable tablets, and only as needed, which might be once or twice a week at most. At one point, I broke those in half and was only taking half of that as needed. I started having more severe anxiety in May after covid, and took them more often, maybe 0.25mg a few times a week instead. Nothing that seemed significant, but I did notice recently that going a couple of days without, I would have a severe wave of anxiety hit me out of the blue along with a bunch of other problems, and would take a pill, and have no issues for a couple of days. My last one was about 3 days ago, half a pill, and I haven't had a much anxiety, so not taking another one (trying to cut them out). Starting yesterday afternoon, I noticed I was urinating a lot, so I started keeping track. It's literally every hour. I was up all night. It's clear. I'm not drinking a lot, although maybe I should, because I feel like I'm going to get dehydrated.
Has anyone else experienced this with benzos at such a low dose? I also take 100 mg of gabapentin, down from 300 4 weeks ago (which i only took for a couple of months at that dose), and I've been dealing with lots of stuff from that. Brain shakes, nausea, dizziness, vision trouble, for the first 2 weeks, but seems to be tapering off. I have had at least 2 other nights where I urinated every hour all night, in the last few weeks, but it's hard for me to remember if I took clonaz the next day. I also sweat at night when this happens.
I had some recent bloodwork with full urine testing (5 days ago), and everything was normal except my bun/creatinine ratio that was 7 (range 9-20 normal). My doctor said it was unremarkable though.
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Hi @supernat,
Some medications can cause frequent urination. See this article and excerpt:
- What medications cause you to urinate frequently?: https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/medications-you-urinate-frequently-3566308/
Excerpt:
"Benzodiazepines affect gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the central nervous system. They can cause incontinence and urinary retention. Some benzodiazepines that can cause increased urination include: Valium (diazepam)
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4 ReactionsThanks! I'm on klonopin and gabapentin, but I stopped taking klonopin (was barely talking any to begin with) last Wednesday, and this started up 2 days later. I started running a low grade fever though, so I went to the doctor. They think it's a prostate infection. I started antibiotics yesterday and was able to sleep last night, so maybe. But I still wonder if it was really withdrawal from klonopin. I'm tempted to take a klonopin and see if it comes back, but that's just my brain talking haha.
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1 Reaction@supernat did you ever figure out it it was kolonipin? Was the frequent urination the days you didn’t take it!
@johannafun - welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Wondering if you also are taking or have taken in the past clonazepam (Klonopin) or another benzodiazepine? If so, have you also had this frequent urination issue?
Yes I take oxycodone 10 mg once a day and I urinate every 15 minutes for a couple hours. Its frustrating especially if I don't get relief from the pain which sometimes happens
Marlie
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