Klonopin taper

Thank you, Laurie. I am sorry that you have suffered from RLS for over 30 years. It is an awful and painful disease. I want to join that group. I wish there was a cure for this disease. The dopamine agonist medications that I've read about can stop working in some people and make the RLS worse. I went back to the Lyrica. It helps about 40 %. If I walk and pace most of the day then I can sleep at night. I am so proud of you getting an of the Benzos. Wow! That is a huge accomplishment. I wish I was off. I want this Clonazepam out of my body. I was hit hard with this neuropathy in my hands and feet in January and that's when the RLS came back. I had it off and on five years ago while in peri- menopause and I would sometimes get it always during the day and usually when I had pms. It would come and I'd be writhing in pain and my legs wouldn't stop moving, then I'd take a pain pill and it would go away. I had told my pain Doctor and he gave me Gabapentin and I took it for two days but I exercized my legs and the RLS went away. I have been on pain management pain medication for many years for my neck and lower back and the medication doesn't work so well so I usually get cortisone injections. I was planning on getting surgery and then the Neuropathy and RLS hit me real bad. I was also planning a Klonopin taper. I went down from 2ngs to 1ng and I cut my pills in quarters and recently went down 25% but my muscles got really tight and I could feel the anxiety and with all the pain I'm going through now my caretaker/ best friend said I should get this RLS and my heart problem under control first. Did you have anxiety when you were tapering your dose?

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Hi @ayankeeinnm. I think koonopin has help me some in the past but i developed a tolerance plus a bill in georgia has been passed that will not allow my doc to prescribe it for long term use after the end of this yr. That is why i am having to try to taper off the drug. Thank you for responding

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This has been going on 5 years?

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You do know RLS is said to be a form of PARKINSON'S? I am 100% in agreement with this as while tapering off Lorazepam 6mg, with Clonazepam .5mg caused mouth and hand tremors. A big mistake my Dr and Psychiatrist made tapering me with .5mg Clonazepam when should have been 3mg. I am going thru untold problems. Wish I could start that taper over and do it correctly.

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I feel your pain, I’m 72! I had a very big life chsnge last October, my partner of 6 yrs died of Covid this year! Let me go back to beginning, back in 2018 my partner was diagnosed with Dementia, it was a slight case, so I could continue with my job, which was very well paying with great benefits, & I loved it, when he started getting to the point where he could not be left alone I called his only child, his Son! I told him the whole issue, he came down and said QUOTE” I HOPE WE ARE ON THE SAME PAGE! “UNQUOTE” I looked at him and said. WHAT PAGE WILL THAT BE, he looked at me like I had 3 heads! Long story short I ended up quitting my job to take care of him, leaving me just having my SS ! I took care of him 24/7 I had Breast Cancer in 2018 had to have a Bilateral Mastectomy! I was blessed , nothing in Lymph Nodes & nothing went outside the margins! But his son & brother left me holding the bag, I was 69 then! I took care of Hime for 2.5 yrs straight! I asked nithing if this man! I have been in depression for years but got ahold on it with lots of counseling, and meds and one of those meds was Clonzapam! My Dr started me out with 1mg, dosage of 1/2 in a m 1/2 in afternoon & 1 1/2 at night! All was great, the torture started coming on when his son THOUGHT I was STEALING FROM HIS FATHER! I WAS NOT! It was him & his Uncle! I guess they thought I should be paying rent and part of bills while living there my question is: HOW IN THE HELL (pardon word) was I to do that on my SS. The house note was over $2,000! After giving up 2 yrs of my life, his brother came in pushed me out , then he & his son put my partner in a Nursing Home, he died 2 months later from Covid. We was not ready to go to Nursing Home!!! All they wanted was his money and ranch! Ok now you can see why I was on Clonzapam 1 mg and you saw the dosage my Dr had me on, it added uti be 2mg for a day. I was doing excellent! I had to move back home in Indiana! I HATE IT HERE. I was in Dallas fir 14 yrs! But my daughter needed a babysitter for 3 days a week, so since I was being put of my home

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Yep, I totally sympathize. How do you rein in a runaway limbic system. I've always had that problem, but it became debilitating as a consequence of work-related stress when I was in my 40s. The coping method I stumbled on, almost literally, was running. It worked like a charm; after running 12 miles from 3:30 to 5:00 AM I was able to face all work-related problems with aplomb for the rest of the day. Nothing bothered me; in fact I was borderline euphoric. I thrived for about 5 years in this fashion (running 12 miles every morning) completely without medication or counselling. Then, one Summer vacation, when I was running downhill in the Rockies I suffered an explosive herniation of a lumbar spinal disc and my running days were over. For the next 25 years I subsisted on 2.5 mg of Klonopin/day, as I underwent a total of 5 major back surgeries. The klonopin was not nearly as effective as the running had been but I was able to function. However, as time went on anxiety and insomnia gradually re-emerged along with the appearance of novel symptoms (see benzo withdrawal symptoms in Wikipedia) despite my continuation on the stuff. So a little over 3 years ago I weaned myself off over a 1 year period and have been benzo-free for about 2 years. Life post-benzo has been challenging but doable. To cope, I've reverted to my pre-benzo exercise strategy, which now involves walking (pushing a walker) for about an hour as vigorously as my 83 year old decrepit bod (with a very bad back) will allow. In the final analysis that's the only therapy that gives me any real relief and enables me to enjoy a loving relationship with my wife, kids and grandkids. I no longer take any meds whatsoever, nor do I see a therapist. The latter never worked for me. So I highly recommend daily vigorous aerobic exercise to get those endogenous endorphins up, as an alternative to messing up your GABA receptors with benzos. Whatever you do, all the best.

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