Tapering Klonopin: What helps insomnia, night sweats and leg cramps?

I have recently started a taper from 1 mg klonipin. It was given to me for sleep 15 years ago. It suddenly stopped working mid November, so I made the decision to get off rather go up on my dose. I’ve not been sleeping since it quit working. Saw a sleep specialist who has prescribed Belsomra. Will f/u with him in four weeks. Take my first dose tomorrow night. Like you, nothing seems to work for the insomnia. Praying this doc can help me. Been dealing with insomnia 32 years! Best of luck to you!

I've been on a lot of discussions on this forum around insomnia and sleep medications. After tapering off a 12 year nightly dose of 1mg Klonopin, which seemed like my perfect solution, I was taken off of it due to my age (65). I spent approximately 9 months not sleeping more than a few hours a night, if at all, until I went to a sleep specialist/neurologist who confirmed that no sleep was as bad if not much worse than aided sleep. I'm finding 2mg Lunesta effective to allow me to fall asleep fairly quickly. My problem is that I am having night sweats many nights, and have to get up to change nightclothes or bad leg cramps are waking me. Last night I was up every 2 hours. The up side is that I am able to go back to bed and fall asleep in a relatively short time. I do not feel drugged or have any weird behaviors at night. Anyone have these issues and suggestions for resolving them? I realize they are completely separate issues.

@con123, I'm merged your 2 discussions into one, so people could follow your journey. I'm tagging members like @skullbasecancer4 @d45fy26 @jdtay87 @carlyd6972 @cindisue @dfb @nemo1, who have experience with insomnia, Klonopin (clonazepam) or Lunesta (eszopiclone) or both to share their experiences and hopefully offer tips about night sweats and leg cramping.

You may also be interested in this related discussion:
- Lunesta for Sleep. Anyone With Experience With It?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/lunesta-for-sleep-anyone-with-experience-with-it/
Congrats on the successful taper and finding something that helps with sleep. Now, for the final frontier of getting rid of the night sweats and leg cramping.

I'm sorry for anyone who has trouble sleeping; it's horrible. If anything else is going on, not sleeping makes that worse.

After I was put on high levels of antidepressants, I began to wake up and get up every two hours. I can go right back to sleep, so the doctor who put me on the meds said, "You're fine as long as you get a total of eight." Even then, I knew that wasn't right, but I didn't know what to do.

Over the last few years, my psychiatric provider has tried every sleep med. I have what is called a paradoxical reaction to sleep meds; they keep me up all night. I am currently on 100mg of Seroquel; it allows me to sleep. However, it has a lot of side effects. It wipes our REM and Deep sleep and adds to my chronic depression.

I recently saw a sleep doctor who made a number of recommendations for lifestyle changes that I already knew about and was working on. He also recommended an in-lab sleep study. He feels that drugged sleep is not sleep, and I agree. He wants me to titrate the Seroquel before the study. The problem with that is that being out for seven hours is the only break I get from suicidal depression.

I will do as he asks, but I am not optimistic. Who knows, maybe I have sleep apnea, and a CPAP machine will change my life.

A couple of things that do help are daily vigorous exercise, going to bed at the same time, and getting up at the same time every day. I also wear a blackout mask.

I am hoping to find a way to sleep naturally. In my case, however, I believe that the medications I have been on for fifteen years have altered my brain chemistry in a way that most likely can not be reversed. I have reduced or eliminated many, but it is still a struggle.

For now, I will keep taking the Seroquel. Small amounts of THC and CBD have also been recommended, but I haven't tried those yet.

If I find a solution, I'll make sure to post it.

I hope everyone lives in peace and good health.

Not sleeping is horrible, and if someone has not experienced it chronically, they do not get it. My sleep doctor feels that aided sleep is better for your body and mind than no sleep and I concur. I had insomnia long before I ever took any medication for it - since childhood - physical and emotional abuse, mother giving me sweet strong iced tea at dinner every night, and so many other factors. I just don't think my developing brain learned how to sleep normally.

I also do all the behavioral hacks. I have tried all the natural supplements ad nauseam and they just don't help me. What did help was Klonopin, but it messed up my brain and I didn't even know this until 12 years later and they took it away. I did a 9 month taper, followed by 9 months of severe insomnia. I have just been given Lunesta, which I KNOW is a sleep med that may not be good for me, but I am sleeping now. It might be on and off, but is much better than NO sleep all night or exhausting myself into a few hours. I am finally dreaming again and feel like a normal person during the day instead of a zombie, avoiding people and any interactions. I have energy again - especially mental energy - to plan and execute tasks like grocery shopping and cooking, hobbies like birding and puzzling and what little "work" I do for my own business, I'm on it, instead of avoiding. If you need meds, you do. Doctors make me take my statin 3x a week, make me take my blood pressure meds - so why deprive me of sleep meds if my brain needs them to be a functioning human? When I was not sleeping at all, I would get out of bed in the am and say, "I cannot live like this" and I meant it. Now I live life.

I am so happy your finally
getting sleep . I have been taking 1mg of klonopin for couple of years . I have terrible anxiety due to my husband’s cancer diagnosis. I know it’s not good for you . I am so scared . You had to go thru so much .

Lunesta can cause excessive sweating. Low potassium can cause leg cramps as can certain medications.

I battle these too and my potassium was low recently. I also take magnesium daily for Fibromyalgia and for leg cramps.

I hope this helps. They are painful. Blessings & Prayers to you.

Thanks so much for your input. I will look into potassium. I take magnesium and zinc at bedtime. My best guess is - probably not the Lunesta, but lack of the Klonopin/night anxiety not being controlled. I had horrific night sweats prior to menopause - worse than now, and I was taking Ambien for sleep issues. Once they switched me to Klonopin -no more sweats and better sleep. However, now that I am no longer taking a benzo, I feel more balanced, mentally and physically. I think my brain is healing, but that anxiety comes back at night. That might explain the sweats - but not the cramps.

Does Lunestra put you to sleep and stay asleep?

I have to admit, it is not as reliable as Klonopin was. However, I would say 6/7 nights I do really well on it. On the nights I don't fall asleep in less than an hour, I am able to rest calmly until I do, and if I wake in the night, I can go back to sleep pretty easily. No more lying awake all night, getting more anxious and agitated as the hours pass. (without any sleep aide). Everyone is different in how their brains respond to various sleep aides. I have no weird night-time behavior or side effects from it. I'm taking 2mg