Benzodiazepine class action law suit

rosebookay didn’t tell you to mind your own business. He/she was just giving you a heads up in my opinion.

Andy, I now have new sleep doc that I saw for first time about 2 or so weeks ago. Previous one gave me the klonopin which soon caused side effects, tremors, body buzzing, eye issue, and some weakness in my legs. He prescribed it after I told him I was having issues with insomnia which could be result of mild anxiety. I honestly just thought it would help me sleep better, which it did, but then the side effects started about 6 or so weeks into taking it. Was told by he and his assistant that they didn't think klonopin would do this. After 7 months and my symptoms getting worse, I stopped cold turkey as of March 3, so just 3 months ago. My eye issues stopped almost immediately, body buzzing was terrible first month or so after stopping but is much improved. Leg strength also much better but I do still have some minor body vibrations taking place. Lingering effects are prolonged and worse for people who stop cold turkey like I did but the symptoms I experienced while on it were freaking me out and slowly getting worse. This Benzo was poison for me but that's my personal experience. BTW, my current sleep doc said she would have never given me klonopin. Just go's to show, beware of your physician, they all look at things differently. I have 3 docs in my family and I remember my Harvard/Johns Hopkins nephew tell me to be your own advocate.

Hi. May I ask how much klonopin you take . I have severe anxiety and I take this along with other meds .
Thanks so much

How have benzos permanently affected my life? Let me count the ways. I was a professional at the height of my career in 2005, always a light sleeper with episodic sleep trouble, but I hit a really tough spot during the end of life process and death of my father. I now recognize this as sleep anxiety that grew from some nights with little or no sleep, for concern for my father. It grew into a full blown sleep disorder.

I was prescribed the magic sleep elixir, Clonazepam, no informed consent, no warning of risk for tolerance, dependence, cognitive or any other problems - take this pill and sleep will return. It did. I had NO IDEA what this pill was doing in my brain, was prescribed over and over again, no questions asked, by a revolving door of docs who came and went. It wasn't until I had been on it nightly for 10 years and was experiencing terrible sleep that my new PCP told me about benzos and dependence, tolerance and withdrawal. I was mortified. I tapered 1/3 of the dose slowly, and at great cost to my sleep and well being.

My sleep has worsened over time, reducing my quality of life, I have anxiety I never had before, I have a very depressed mood I never had before. I was tough as nails, now I cry all the time, I can't handle any stress, I can't calm myself, I have withdrawn from friends and family, I isolate, I have intense headaches, burning mouth, taste distortion, nausea, GI distress, significant not healthy weight loss, the list is long. In 2019, one week into my retirement, a new PCP told me I needed to stop taking clonazepam, at which point I began another slow taper. This one lasted two years, I stopped sleeping completely and was slammed with withdrawal. At the end of two years, I was still tapering, not close to the end of the taper but close to the end of my rope, I couldn't continue this way. A new PCP and my prescribing doc decided with me that the withdrawal process has permanently damaged/dysregulated my central nervous system, and now recommend continuing to take the drug as a "palliative" measure.

So I am trapped on a drug that no longer helps me sleep, in fact has damaged my sleep, but without which I simply don't sleep at all. Every pill I take I know is doing further damage, but the extended suffering of withdrawal is not compatible with life. I sleep some, but have many nights each week where the quality/quantity of my sleep is insufficient, so I live in a state of nearly constant sleep deprivation, which has had drastic consequences for my health, quality of life, well being, state of mind.
I get so low when I realize that this - shitty existence - is what my life will look like for the remainder of my days.
Can't work, can't play, can't eat, can't sleep...I missed every holiday with family this season because I was too sleep deprived to be any good. Giant anxiety and irritability, I'm actually afraid of escalating and going off on an undeserving relative so I stay home after a bad night. I stay home and think about dying. My three decade domestic partnership fell apart, so I live alone, for the best because I don't wish myself on anyone. Plenty of me time.
I attribute every single one of the above issues to taking benzos for way too long that they have injured my brain, which doesn't function great with them and hardly functions at all without them. I see no future for myself that doesn't involve suffering. I retired relatively young so I could fully enjoy my life after a 30 year career. I had plans. Now I can't even leave the house several days per week. Travel? Forget it. Another job? Can't do it. New friendships? I've alienated all the old ones because I'm not a good reliable friend and they don't understand why, so no, there are no new friendships. My family tries very hard to be supportive, but they see me falling apart before their eyes, and I'm not always easy to get along with. A burden on those I care for the most.

Since 2005 and the beginning of Clonazepam, I can see it so clearly now, I have evolved into a completely different person, one I barely recognize and don't care for at all. I grieve the loss of my old self - happy, funny, silly, curious, intelligent, ambitious, active, friendly, confident, reliable - she's gone. I am now working with a therapist to try and find some sense of value, meaning, purpose in this "new life" I didn't ask for and don't want, which bears almost no resemblance to the life I had before benzos.

I wish I knew of one because I would join it! l was prescribed Klonopin by a psychiatrist in 2021 who said it was fine to stay on forever but he didn't tell me that it would completely take over my life, which it did. By the 2nd month of starting it I needed continually increasing amounts of Klonopin to sustain its anxiety-reducing effects and became completely addicted to it. I wanted to get off it but the prescribing MD didn't know how to effectively taper me so I felt I had no choice but to stop "Cold Turkey", which I did in Dec. 2022. I am now in a supportive Outpatient Drug Treatment Program (thankfully paid for by my insurance) in the city where I live but I am still suffering with debilitating physical and psychological effects of what I was prescribed and may very well be suffering with these for years. To make matters worse, a new Medical Provider recently prescribed Ativan for me - another Benzo which they said wasn't too hard to stop when and if I wanted to - and then when that didn't do anything for me they switched me to Valium. That made me physically sick but the prescribing NP wanted me to stick with it anyway, however, I could and would not do so. Consequently, I am now in my SECOND Cold Turkey Benzo withdrawal and it is absolute hell! I'm about 1 week clean from this round of Benzos and am determined to stay off them but now fully realize how dangerous these drugs are and how unethical it is for them to be so cavalierly dispensed by psychiatrists and NP's to patients too desperate to find relief from their anxiety to question their providers advice and prescriptions. So if anyone hears of a class action suit involving Benzos - please let me know because I definitely want to be part of it!

I wish I knew of one because I would join it! l was prescribed Klonopin by a psychiatrist in 2021 who said it was fine to stay on forever but he didn't tell me that it would completely take over my life, which it did. By the 2nd month of starting it I needed continually increasing amounts of Klonopin to sustain its anxiety-reducing effects and became completely addicted to it. I wanted to get off it but the prescribing MD didn't know how to effectively taper me so I felt I had no choice but to stop "Cold Turkey", which I did in Dec. 2022. I am now in a supportive Outpatient Drug Treatment Program (thankfully paid for by my insurance) in the city where I live but I am still suffering with debilitating physical and psychological effects of what I was prescribed and may very well be suffering with these for years. To make matters worse, a new Medical Provider recently prescribed Ativan for me - another Benzo which they said wasn't too hard to stop when and if I wanted to - and then when that didn't do anything for me they switched me to Valium. That made me physically sick but the prescribing NP wanted me to stick with it anyway, however, I could and would not do so. Consequently, I am now in my SECOND Cold Turkey Benzo withdrawal and it is absolute hell! I'm about 1 week clean from this round of Benzos and am determined to stay off them but now fully realize how dangerous these drugs are and how unethical it is for them to be so cavalierly dispensed by psychiatrists and NP's to patients too desperate to find relief from their anxiety to question their providers advice and prescriptions. So if anyone hears of a class action suit involving Benzos - please let me know because I definitely want to be part of it!

I’ve taken Ativan for years and I know that I am addicted to this drug..my doctor warned me for years about them and how difficult it is to get off them, all the while it was already too long. I tried many times to wean myself off them and I succeeded twice but somehow with my doctor’s help I went back to them. I don’t think that I can do it anymore, I have even bigger fish to fry as they say, having to deal with cancer and all the insanity of today’s world..my point is that I just want to be able to cope with my life and if they could find a better drug for anxiety that works as well I would definitely be on it. The worst thing a doctor can do to us is prescribe meds that cause so much trouble and then later when all the negative publicity comes out, they don’t want to be associated with it anymore.. they the callously make you feel like the bad guy and they DO NOT take any responsibility for your addiction, they would rather try a bunch of other drugs to replace the benzodiazepine. I tried doing the same and I don’t advise anyone to do this because it truly messed me up. The fact remains that drugs are a mixed bag of tricks and they can be your best ally or your worst enemy

I'm so sorry for your son's tragic experience.

Whereas it's clearly a result of improper management of his Klonopin dosage, I'm afraid I can't see any way to attribute the outcome to the medicine (often very useful) itself but rather to its egregious misuse in misprescribing.

I personally know second hand of a woman who died because of her personal misuse of klonopin (contrary to what she was ordered), but that too I don't see as attributable to the manufacturer of the medication but the patient's negligence.

However, I most certainly do see that negligent psychiatrist responsible for your son's care, as liable for a slam-dunk malpractice suit.

(I took klonopin for a long time, and from the first day it was prescribed my psychiatrist gave me careful, emphatic instructions on rules for its consumption - especially, the need for its conscientious GRADUAL titration up or down as indicated.

I think this is absolutely standard practice and you should be able to find responsible psychiatrists to back you up.

(The woman I know of who died, went into "status epilepticus" which killed her.)

My deepest sympathies to you and others who have suffered from professional misprescribing of this powerful - but often very useful - medication when prescribed according to the manufacturer's cautionary notes.