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I have been in Clonazepam 0.5mg TID for 18 years
My psychiatrist retired and I was left to find a replacement. It seems there are a majority of nurse practitioners these days taking patients as providers, many do not take insurance. I found a nurse practitioner with a very good educational background. I saw her in person and she renewed the medications I was in for 6 months. Next month we had a zoom meeting and she told me she wanted me off the Ambien and Clonazepam because I would get dementia or Alzheimer’s with long term use. She insisted I start tapering against my will. I had school phobia in grade school, began having depression symptoms in my 20’s, and in my late 20’s had two major panic attacks. I have been depressed with anxiety most of my adult life. I have been hospitalized twice because of this. I have never asked for an increase in dosage of Ambien or Clonazepam fur 18 years after I found a wonderful psychiatrist who was so good at medication management.
Now, tapering Ambien and Clonazepam I have started self mutilating by picking my fingers raw until they bleed. I can’t sleep at night, I have become socially phobic. I have become isolative and often think of suicide with no plan. I am 73 years old and I think it is so cruel to put me through this when all I want is to have quality of life, not quantity. I live with my husband in adult senior living which I have not adjusted to. Taking these meds away has decreased my desire to exercise and my endurance is decreasing. My new provider told me if I didn’t want to taper my medication that I should find a new one provider. I did manage to taper the Ambien but I am down to half of the Clonazepam and feel like I can’t go on. Please help me. I am on Paxil and Wellbutrin for depression but it is anxiety and insomnia making my life miserable. I am not the same person I was a year ago.
I feel miserable, she has destroyed any quality of life I had. I really don’t want to live anymore.
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I would also like to add that issues with sleeping well is a huge problem for many seniors but also for the younger people. I found that those who sleep well never had any problems in doing so and those who need help with sleep have been struggling for many years, eventually it will lead them to asking for help. We trusted our doctors and didn’t really question the medication they prescribed but now we know better. It’s an outrage that we’re forced into stressful withdrawal because they want to remove this medication thus creating another crisis. There’s no reason for them to hurt innocent adults who have never abused their medication.
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2 ReactionsMy dosage never went up over 18 years. I was on Ambien for sleep 5-10 mg hs prn. My psychiatrist managed and watched that my dosage wouldn’t go up. Then he retired and All Hell broke loose. I was tapered down two drugs at the same time. I finally tapered off the Ambien but still had insomnia even though thePA wanted to continue tapering the Clonazepam. I quit going to her, found another PA in a different clinic with the same philosophy. I walked out of the appointment. I found, on my third try, another PA . She has allowed me to stay on Clonazepam TID and I am doing fine. I take the third dose close to bedtime and it acts as a sleeper.
Everyone is different, and I was told a bunch of hogwash when they said the Feds in Colorado were regulating the drug to twice a day. I was in high anxiety and developed social phobia because of it for an entire year. I agree that these drugs should not be started on new anxiety patients. However, being on a drug for 18 years, it is cruel to try and titrate them down.
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2 ReactionsClonazepam is the longest acting benzo. I found Busbar did nothing, it was like a placebo, and this is before I was on Clonazepam.
There are new drugs out for insomnia but the one I tried wasn’t in my drug formulary and cost $600 with a copay of $400for 1 month. It worked very well and in 10 years it will become generic. I tried one other, quite a bit cheaper, but it made me feel weird. Are you in a state that allows CBD TCH gummies? I was using them for a while and they worked. Trouble is you aren’t supposed to use them with other anti-anxiety or depression pills. My philosophy is if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Stay on the Clonazepam. An interesting method I discovered was to break a Clonazepam in half snd let it dissolve under your tongue when you get in bed. It is absorbed quickly. I am not a doctor or a pharmacist, I discovered this on my own after taking Ketamine first a year, which did not help my depression.
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2 ReactionsI live in Canada so insurance is not an issue for most meds unless it is not covered by Medicare. I tried CBD, THC (not on Medicare and pretty expensive) on the advice of many people and because it is legal here in Canada but as you say Buspirone did nothing for you, so was this method for me - perhaps I didn’t give a long enough try. The only thing about CBD/ THC is that you cannot travel with it and we do a lot of travelling! What do you do when you do travel?? Go back to Clonazepam? I’m not depressed - I am the opposite. I can’t stop going - I’m like the ever ready bunny!! I need to calm down. I thought maybe my endorphins were too high from exercising so much?
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1 ReactionI have never encountered your situation so I don’t feel qualified to
answer. I would not take a prescription drug to counter your endorphin
boost when you exercise.
Jeanne
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1 ReactionI didn’t take it to counter the endorphin since endorphins are a great feeling I have been very intense in working out since my mid 40’s and have not stopped since. The sleeplessness began slowly in my mid 50’s despite my very active daily activities and exercise. I never suspected endorphins could affect the sleep pattern until someone mentioned that perhaps the reason I could fall asleep but not stay asleep was that I may have been working out too much. I did mention this to my family doctor but it was not taken seriously. I did not pursue the issue with my psychiatrist as he is fully aware of my exercising passion. I’m just looking for anyone who has successfully weened themself off of 0.5mg Clonazepam and if they took anything else to help the transition.