how long do withdrawl symptoms last with klonopin?

My name is Connie and I have been on clonazapam (generic for klonopin) for 11 years. The first 10 I took 0.5mg twice a day. One in the morning and then once at night. I was prescribed for panic attacks and anxiety. But let me assure you if you're on this sight, I bet you can remember one day of panic attacks or anxiety that was as bad as one day of these withdrawals. During the same visit with my dr I was also prescribed paxil (anti-depressant). Now I know why. Klonopin is a depressant. It will make you loss your will to live, work, clean, all you want to do is cry. How much of that can a person take? I stopped taking the anti-depressant on Dec 29, 07. So I have been off of it for 6 months now. That was 85 days of withdrawals. I refuse to go back on the anti-depressant, so my only choice is to get off the 2mg per day of the klonopin. I'm tired. For the last 4 or 5 years I have been down in the bed with pneumonia, strep throat, flu, before that I never even had a cold. I didn't know that klonopin made my immune system weak. But now I do. I have not done it yet, but Maybe I have found something that can help us all.

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It is all natural dietary supplements that helps you taper off and you use the various vitamins and herbs to level out these horrible side effects. It cost 285.00 for the program and you get to speak with a team of doctors when necessary about your experiences. One of the dr's was on Geraldo. So it's probably legit. I'm going to try it. In the mean time how should I taper off? And I hate hearing that these withdrawal symptoms could last for 2 years. I am so angry at myself and everyone else. Especially the doctors, for not knowing what they do to us when they prescribe us this medication. I think there's so many meds out there know that they just give out what the pharmosutical (spelling) companys give them just so they can get the perks. What happened to the doctors that actually wanted to help people? I hope I hear from someone soon that has a beginning and an ending. So I will know when my nightmare will be over. If someone does, or knows someone that does, please for all of us on this sight, give us some real details.

I was on 1mg on Klonopin for 6 years and it is the most regretful thing in my life. Today will be my 26th day off of it and I am suffering the following withdrawl symptoms;

-Racing Heart
-LightHead
-Electric Shock sensation in my chest
-Palipitations
-Skipped beat
-Sometimes Severe cramping in upper torso

I dont like to do a whole lot anymore and am hoping that after reading over 500 testimonies online to this damnnation the Doctor has put me thru it might be over by the end of the year. You wonder sometimes how another person thinks that it is ok to prescribe a little pill for another and put them thru hell. One more thing you guys might want to check out is www.labelmesane.com. I have been on the Glutathione bulider for a few weeks and it has eased my symptoms. The only thing that stinks is I know I am in for a long journey. Do not think you folks are the only ones out there that some Dr took your life into his own hands and subjected you to this HELL.

Ive only been on klonopin for about two months. i have recently had a lot of hair loss and I have not known why. i was asked by a friend if i have taken any new meds and I did research... so yes I would say its the klonoopin

I have been tapering off klonopin for 2 months now and am down to 1/2 mg. every other day. Now I realize I'm just prolonging the detox. I start to get symptoms (fuzzy vision, headaches that feel lke my brain has been fried, very bad anxiety(y i took it in the first place!), muscle twitches and on an on... This is the hardest thing I have ever tried to do, having to work through it. Is taking a bit every one or two days setting me back,even if its a less amount? I feel like its just prolonging the inevitable...

I'm 4 and 1/2 years off klonopin and I am still living in Hell. I have lost all hope of ever feeling better. Klonopin is pure POISON.... DO NOT EVER TAKE IT. I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH THE DANGERS OF THIS DRUG.

There is Hope,
l had been taking rivotril for around 18 years at different dosages.
For a while 6 mgs. a day.

l gradually tapedered every year, yes, year, taking off .5 a year.

Well l have been al most 3 months with none. l am finally starting to sleep well. l have 6 good days out of 7 now. Please do not give up.

It is very odd that you would be on 16 megs daily when the human body can not process more than 4 megs. This can NOT be what the doctor ordered.

First of all. Never EVER take alcohol and benzos together.

I have been off of xanax for one year. i was taking 4-6 mg a day for 3 years. When they say withdrawal lasts 6months to 2 years they are not kidding. Now you can decide how long u want it to last.
I remember one day i just got fed up and went for a run. I ran, i cried, 3 months or so after quitng the xanax and i got fedup, i just went for a run. Low and behold that very same day, when i got back from my run, i was just tired, and i didnt feel the way i was half an hour earlier. So i started running more. My mind started to make better sense of situations. I accepted certain realities. I talked to my doctor he gave me a safety net of 2 kpin pills a day which i rarely take. it has been a year since i quit the xanax. I still have the anxiety, but i respect myself enough to find ways around it other than chewing a handful of xanax or sitting in self pitty because im going through with-drawl.

it was that single day that i decided to run out of frustration that i started a quick and very much needed healing process of both mind and body. I was about to thump a bullet into my noggin because i had thought i already destroyed my mind and body with the xanax and that it was never going to get better. I was wrong. It did get better. A lot better. Now i can look back and im happy i am where i am today. There is still room for improvement and there always will be, but im healthy mentally, im healthy physically, i need to quit smoking ciggarrettes, running helps with that, i only have a couple a day now but none would be preferable. I rarely takea benzo even though i have a perscription. Hell i didnt take any last weekend and i was sitting watching the royals win a baseball game while i had a beer. Life gets better. For those of you thinking your going through a huge mess of sh*t, well, it will get better. It will be very very rough, but you have to be rougher. you need to understand that. Ive been doing very well for a long time now, i still get panic attacks, i never take my kpins in quantities that will result in a crippling withdrawl phase over time. Remember to at least have 3 days a week dedicated to your health. and you will get better, and you will get better quicker. get out and run. lift weights. hug your mom.

I was on 2 mg for a year then 1 mg for a year.I completely stopped in feb.Bad mistake!I,ve been off this stuff for 4 months and have had withdraws including,headaches,vivid dreams,urinary problems,visual cloudiness,feeling of going crazy,hemroids,acid reflux,shortness of breath,can't sit still,back pain and alot more.Have been at the doc weekly since going off with nothing but problems.I wouldn't wish these withdraws on my worst enemy!I stopped drinking and smoking marijuana many times with no withdraws like this!

My sleep doctor also told me how easy it would be to get off of Klonopin. He laughed when I said that it could take 6 months to a year to do it by gradual tapering. He just said to reduce it by half each week and it would take a month. Easy for him to say. I tried going cold turkey in Dec. 2008 when I was taking Ambien and only sleeping 3 hours a night but I didn't sleep at all for 5 days. When I reported to my sleep doctor's office office on the 6th day he said I was "a mess" and to take the Ambien. Since then in April 2009 I tried going back to Elavil (which I took for 18 years) I and had a panic attack and quit my only consistent job for the past 8 years as a night cab driver due to severe anxiety Ambien caused me because it has no anti-depressant properties and I have developed severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder and I believe brain damage from 9 months on Ambien. I did this I month after signing a year lease on a house with my girlfriend and my 2 dogs. Since then I have been suicidal but I just keep it to myself because my family and so-called friends don't want to hear about my problems. I've gone to local suicide prevention services to times and had to wait 5-7 hours to speak to a doctor/therapist. They have given my Seroquil, which didn't help and made me call my landlord in a panic trying break year lease because it made me more suicidal when I realized how much I hate being a security guard and how deadly boring the job is, repeating the same mundane tasks like scanning bar codes on properties all alone at night. I have since decided to stay in my lease with my girlfriend but she doesn't want to hear about my problems so I've found a low cost therapist.

I've been on Klonopin since May 1mg at bedtime and I sleep about 4-5 hours a night. I've tried reducing the dosage to .5 mg but then I only sleep 3 hours. I've been a night security guard for 4 months and now make 1/3 of what I made as a cab driver and will probably have to find homes for my 2 dogs. Living with my girlfriend is the only thing keeping me alive, I can't leave her alone but I've been a sleeping pills addict for 20 years now. I have given up on trying to quit. I drink caffeinated iced tea in the morning along with a tablets of Reishi, Omega 3 Fish Oil, and Magnesium Citrate (which a natural doctor suggested). Accupuncture did nothing to help me sleep and the natural doctor paid lip service to weaning me off the Klonopin. Everyday I cry to myself that I will be stuck in a $10 an hour prison, have to give up my dogs, and move back to my parents house in Los Angeles and leave the love of my life in Austin because I can't handle that my life is now sabotaged. I hate what sleeping pills have done to my life. They have destroyed my memory so I can't go back to school because or severe memory problems caused by sleeping pills. Don't take sleeping pills and get off them if you can. It's too late for me. I am doomed. Sorry for the dissertation of my problems.

Here's a new one for you. I took Klonopin 1 mg/day for about 5 years then went to 0.5mg 4 years ago. I decided that I really wanted to quit taking it, so about 4 months ago, I went to 0.25 mg/day for 2 months, then came off about two weeks ago. It was prescribed for peripheral and autonomic neuropathy , and those symptoms are creeping back into my life. Several days after coming off completely, I started having a chemical odor through all of the pores on my body. I told a friend that I smell like someone dipped me in a bug spray/vinegar solution. Really offensive, even to myself, much less those around me. It has a special little quality too, in that it gets into the sheets, and house and car upholstery. Has anyone else out there experienced this? Of course I wonder if it is a side effect of the withdrawal or something else unrelated.

The smell is something that I have been through also you are not alone. I notice it in the car mainly. It smells like ammonia very strong. I havent felt it around 4 or 5 days, but was so strong that it literly made me sick. I'm assuming the Klonopin has something to do with it. I was on 8 Mgs a day for around 2 years. I weaned completely off it in around 2 months. In fact I havent taken any in about a week and 1/2. It has in fact been the hardest thing I think I have ever done in my life. I keep holding onto the idea that tommorow I will feel normal again, but then the next day comes and it is about the same. Sometimes I even get it in my head that maybe I am just the type of person that needs to on this for the rest of my life. Its a scary thought, but when I was on it, I never felt as bad as I do now. U name it I have it. A feeling of psychosis, restless, sweats, muscle twitching, headaches, not able to put full sentences together without pausing throughout, UN-reality feeling, blurred vision, lethargy. I can't stand it, not sucidal just feel like it won't even come to an end. People around me say that they can see me getting better, but I don't really. Throughout the day I feel decent maybe 60-70 % of the time but that other 30-40 % is a nightmare. It seems to come on it waves and last night was the worst wave that I have had. Immediately I had a racing heart, full blown panic attack with an alternated perception, uncontrollable sweats and twitches with dizziness. It even felt strange to be on the phone with a longtime friend of mine. I have a Dr's apppointment Wednesday thank god, do you guys have any suggestions? Sometimes I just need to hear that I am not out the ordinary in my feelings. Any tips or tricks to help me through this? B12 maybe? Oh and I am also on Ambien for insomnia which makes me not able to wake up. :-(

I heard that AMbien would actually help you out with your withdrawal. This is the problem with being on klonopin is that you don't learn how to deal with the anxiety--you are doing okay! Please bear that in mind Do you know how to meditate at all?

Yes I have been meditating and just recently got put on abilify to try and ease the pain of withdrawal. This was the first time that I had seen abilify prescribed for this. I am very hesistant to get back on any other meds but my Dr said I should only be on abilify for 3 weeks to get me away from the klon. Abilify is no fun though. I am on day 3 and so far it has made me want to throw up, have restless legs, dizziness, drool (lol) , Hot flashes, and the absolute worst dragged down feeling that I have ever experienced. The feeling is worse then I can explain. Back to the ambien.....I have quit the abilify to to obvious reasons and ambien is truly great to help you sleep when coming off the klonopin. I do sometimes think that I need to be on Klono forever. In all actuallity I might just happen to be one of those persons that truly needs it longterm. I don't like to think so but then again I have been on lexapro (fainted), lamictal (did nothing), effexor (strange feeling), and most recently abilify. These words coming out of my mouth right now are not being derived from a panic attack, anxiety, or a hunger for klonopin. I am just honestly tired of feeling like sh*t. Every day seems like it is a repeat of the last and I keep waiting for it to not be. I am not suicidal, just wondering if you guys know anyone or are that person that needs to be on Klonopin long-term to feel right? Any help would be great, thank you.

Let me know what you think of this article I found online today. =)

Hi there, what's the article that you found online today? I'd be glad to read it if you had it. Sometimes people do need to be on klonopin for a long term but that doesn't really mean anything--think of it as having to take drugs for a liver condition or something. You wouldn't stop taking the drugs because you didn't want to be dependent on them, right?