how long do withdrawl symptoms last with klonopin?

Klonopin withdrawal is the worst!! dont ever stop without telling youre doctor and never stop cold turkey!!! it puts you in a fog for weeks and severe depression!  still not over it and its 10 days and counting... 

Mike

Mike,

I am going through a withdrawal right now... from Lexapro.
  my next med to get off is Klonopin.

I have been learning a lot about this...
I am suffering a lot from anxiety and depression.  but I think there are things which can be done
to help the body to detox and to rebalance.

I have been taking fish oil. the brand Nordic Naturals is the best.
Tomorrow I am going to pick up some special supplements from my acupuncturist.

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and  Lentra.  which, I think is more specifically for anxiety.
There are blood tests which can tell you, from your neurotransmitter profile...which supplements would benefit you.
I hope this information is helpful to you...or to anyone else in this incredibly difficult situation.

thanks for writing.

sandra

im getting off klonopin and buspar..only on for 3 months..why did you take gaba instead of l theanine...or can you take either one..i researched it and you have to take alot of gaba to get some of it to the brain barrier....l theanine goes through the brain barrier more effecient...thanks...

rkfguard wrote:

musicman wrote:

MUSIC MAN POSTING - 003

Before I begin my 3rd update, I want to respond to "long73".

First, long73, welcome to the community of those trying to deal with clonazepam withdrawal. You are not alone. To answer your one question...I did not have night sweats while taking clonazepam...only after trying to come off of it. HOWEVER, I want to provide a caveat. In past years, not recently, I would have night sweats prior to taking clonazepam. This was always, at least in my case, when I had a urinary tract infection. I think I might have had this happen to me twice in my life-time and within the past, let's say, seven years. Once the urinary tract infection was resolved, the night sweats went away. So, I should say that night sweats can mean that there is another issue, but considering that I am very healthy, this time is it definitely the clonazepam withdrawal.

It is important that I do not give you medical advice. Even though much of my respect for the mainstream medical community has diminished greatly over the past two decades (believe me...they have earned my lack of respect), they do provide some help, albeit somewhat self-serving. I should tell you of my family history regarding cancer: my grandfather died from brain cancer at the age that I am now (60) and my father died from small bowel cancer at 68, as well as my 33 year old paternal cousin from intestinal cancer and another paternal cousin from cancer. So, I have a heightened awareness of cancer, and I intend to break the cancer cycle in this family.

I will give you a quote to keep with you: "Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain". - Attributed to Mark Twain.

Get yourself fully checked out. Don't let fear determine what you do...or don't do.

You have pains in your chest. Many times I have gotten pains in my chest, thinking that I had a heart problem. This, of course made no sense to me, considering how active I am. One time I was hospitalized for seven days, until one of the doctors came to my room and stated..."you don't drink, you don't smoke, you eat right, you walk five miles every day ... what are you doing in my hospital?". She promptly dismissed me from the hospital. What was happening was stress; not heart disease. At that time, and up until last November (2009), I was employed by a highly intense computer company (you would know the name), and the hours of work and stress were off the charts. This stress is what caused the pain in my chest, and so I had to change my lifestyle. Essentially, I had to do an honest day's work...but not worry obsessively over it all the time. I'm now retired from that job...and you know what...the work still continues on without me. So, learn from my mistakes. It's just a job.

What I am trying to tell you is that many physical problems can be caused by different things. Some are serious; some are not and can be changed by changing your life style. So, again, I would encourage you to start with getting a complete physical and mention to the doctor that your concern for cancer is great and you want to know if that particular disease can be eliminated from your worry. I actually did that myself one time, i.e., I specifically told the doctor to look for any signs of cancer in my physical. Because of the health insurance companies, doctors are stretched to the limits and so if we want something specific, we have to ask for it. In short, the only one who will truly be concerned about your health is ... YOU! So, be proactive at ALL times. Read, study, learn, and take action!

I really cannot emphasize the importance of using the suggested solutions that I have mentioned in my first post, i.e., MUSIC MAN POSTING - 001. You had a problem and were given clonazepam to help that problem. Most likely your nervous system, like mine, was badly compromised.

There is no way you can come off clonazepam, unless you take some natural supplements, as well as my nutritionist's other suggestions, to start repairing your nervous system. Most of the suggested supplements you can buy at your health food store. ALWAYS BUY QUALITY!!! You must build up your system with healthy non-destructive supplements and food (alkaline vegetables!!!) to restore your health and the damage that clonazepam has done.

I mentioned previously that I would not talk about the other supplements that I take, as there are so many, but I might do so in another post, merely to provide an understanding of what must be done in this world to overcome the damage that our society's life style places on us.

UPDATE

As I write this on December 3, 2010, I am able to report some more success and some disappointments. It is important to me that I am totally honest with you, so that you can learn from me.

The success is that I was able to push myself a little more and held off taking another pill for six days, instead of five. So, again, on the day I took the pill (12/2/2010), I took 1/2 a pill or .5 MG. That's good, and I will now try for seven days. Again, my goal is to be off of clonazepam by the end of the year.

I am only experiencing three withdrawal symptoms at this time: night sweats and stomach pains and a new one...ringing in the ears. Let's look at this closer. Again, honesty is everything, so that I do not mislead you.

NIGHT SWEATS

I really need to think about this one, and I am going to be able to better address this next week, as I try an experiment. First I will say that the night sweats have not been excessive. In the Spring when I tried to go cold turkey, I would have to change my clothes and my sheets at least twice a night. I was definitely soaked!!! That is not the case now. I never have to change my sheets, but I MIGHT have to change my clothes, but the sweating is not in any way as bad as last Spring.

BUT...during this time, I have also turned on the heat in my home. So, perhaps I simply have too much bedding. I am going to eliminate one blanket tonight and see if that makes any kind of a change. In other words, at this point, I'm not sure if the night sweats are from the clonazepam withdrawal or simply because I've turned on the heat and have too many blankets on me. I'll be sure to update this next week.

PAIN IN STOMACH

To tell you the truth, this was a little bit disappointing to me that the pain spiked up. BUT...to be truly honest with you, 1) I was NOT consistent in taking my GastroMycin and 2) I was eating too soon before bed. Why would I do something so dumb, when I know that it would cause me a problem?!!! Well, I will offer no excuse, but I will simply state that this past week I worked very hard on my music (I am trying to finish an difficult music course), and when I do this, I work late into the evening...yet ANOTHER bad thing to do for someone who is trying to repair his nervous system. In short, I did all the wrong things: 1) did not take GastroMycin in a regular and consistent manner, 2) ate too late at night and just before bed, and 3) stayed up way too late.

I pretty much set myself up for failure, and I failed. My task in this new week will be to take the GastroMycin regularly (i.e., one before every meal with A LOT of water), stop eating at least four hours before bed, and 3) get to bed by 9:30 PM. By the way, the pain, as always, goes away as soon as I am up, have taken my GastroMycin, and have had a full (I MEAN FULL) glass of water. To repeat, taking the full glass of water, cleans the stomach of bacteria and aids in digestion. This should be done throughout the day, about an hour or two after eating...no liquids should be taking while eating, as it will hurt one's digestion. Also, I continue to take my hot tea in the morning, after taking the GastroMycin. I cannot name the brand due to the regulations on posting, but you will want to find a natural tea that contains licorice...yep, just like the tasty candy. The black licorice helps to settle the stomach.

So, again, I failed to do the right thing (e.g., eat properly), and so I failed in getting well. It truly is up to me (...and you).

RINGING IN THE EARS

I do not believe I have mentioned this before, but I can assure you that in the Spring when I was trying to come off of clonazepam, I began having "ringing" or a "humming" in my ears. This is truly annoying. This time, I still feel that clonazepam is causing it, as I am using less and less of the drug and the ringing has just started within the past 2-3 days. Could it be that by listening to so much music as I am doing my music class work that this might be causing the problem? Well, I will have to say that this is always a possibility, except that prior to coming off of clonazepam I was doing a great deal more music writing (e.g., composing music to a movie) and I did NOT have ringing in my ears. So, I think the verdict is going to have to be out on this one, but I really feel that there is a good case to make for clonazepam causing the ringing.


I will close for this time and report more next week. My hope is that I can truly bear down on doing all the right things. Going the natural route is the best way, but I cannot be lazy in my attempts and must stick with what I am doing and be consistent. Without being consistent, I will fail, and that would mean going back on clonazepam full-time, and I do NOT want to do that.

Good luck to each of you and especially to long73.

im getting off klonopin and buspar..only on for 3 months..why did you take gaba instead of l theanine...or can you take either one..i researched it and you have to take alot of gaba to get some of it to the brain barrier....l theanine goes through the brain barrier more effecient...thanks...

Hi.
that was a long post and I will read it more carefully later.
good for you for your goal to break the cancer cycle in your family !
I believe this is done through a holistic healing process- diet being of primary importance...which is what you are doing ! great !
Have you heard of the Gerson Therapy ?
A very holistic, wonderful treatment for cancer/ chronic illness?

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She ( Jess Ainscough ) has been a god-send to me on my healing journey.
I am healing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
in withdrawal from Lexapro.
and soon to tackle clonazapam ( klonopin)

From my research- the best way to paper is not to create spikes in your levels...which you get from being off the drug and then taking 1/2 a pill.
Better to taper... say - 1/10 of your dose...daily ...and to step down approx 1/10 every 2 weeks...staying within your comfort zone the whole time and trying to minimize your level of suffering. thewayback.com offers solid advice and support for getting off drugs. I recommend them.
good luck. !!
sandra

I was prescribed 1mg of clonazepam every 12 hrs. around the end of Oct 2011 for anxiety (which came out of the blue). After about a month, my side affects were getting worse and worse to where it affected my abilities to work and study for college. It made me unconscious after about a half hour taking my medication. I tried to ween myself off of the medication because my social worker (who went through what i'm going through) said it was best even though my doc said i could abruptly stop taking them. So I took .5mg every 12 hrs and that only lasted two days. Even after a month, i was going through withdrawal symptoms, just by cutting back. I had such severe headaches and nausea that I told myself I have to stop taking this medication altogether. I had no idea i would go through such symptoms as migraines (never had before in my life until now), body aches, twitching, a heavy head, exhausted, but cant sleep or breath normal, and heart palpitations. I would SUGGEST to ANYONE, UNLESS you are dying, DO NOT TAKE THIS! It it too habit forming and you are better off first talking to a psychiatrist, social worker and get help the NATURAL way first. What has been helping me cure my anxiety is breathing exercises, eating health, staying on a strict sleeping pattern, and some cardio. I guess i will have to deal with the symptoms till they are gone, but its been four days and I still have symptoms . I hope this helps if at all to anyone experiencing this because it is very scary. I would love some feedback too if anyone has a better approach to dealing with the symptoms of withdrawal and dealing with anxiety.

I've been slowly tapering off Clon for 8 months now.  It's been very difficult especially now that I'm at .375 mg.  at night.  You would think that at the end it would be easier, but now there's no buffer for my anxiety.  I agree with everyone here, it is an awful drug.  It suppresses so much  real emotion, that when you get all these emotions back, the only thing that helps to deal with the self talk, self consciousness is prayer.  Only praying to God every single day, many times a day, has helped me through this thing.  Withdrawal from this drug is a very slow and deliberate process with no shortcuts.  Each month you cut down very little.  And stay on that amount for a full month.  Next month taper again, and stay on that for a whole month.  But each with month, you will suffer from at least headaches and a little excess shaking.  Sometimes, painful self-consciousness.  But this is part of the whole way of getting off of this horrid little pill.

I can't say it enough, if you have anxiety disorder do NOT go on clonazapem.  Exercise, run, take up piano lessons, painting, anything but this drug to ease anxiety. 

I also was on a 1 mg/day dose for about 5 yrs to treat Restless Leg Syndrome; and also have recently gone through a reduction to 0.5 mg/day since I was uncomfortable with what I had read about long term affects; and want to get off it entirely. The first time that I tried I was unsuccessful; I didn't get anywhere near the amount of sleep that I needed. At that time I was dealing with some stressful events in my life, which exacerbated my RLS and made it even more difficult to get a good night's sleep. I recently gave it a second try and was taking 0.5 mg/day for about 5-6 months. When I first started I had some difficulty getting good sleep, but serendipitously ended up taking Advil PM since I was doing a lot of physical activity which resulted in a lot of muscle soreness. Taking 1 or 2 Advil PMs in addition to the Clonazapam really made a difference and got me through the initial rough spot - which lasted about a month. I recently tried eliminating Clonazapam entirely and again ran into problems getting a good night's sleep, took the Advil on occasion for 1-2 weeks; and, knock on wood, am doing OK. There were a few nights in the beginning when I threw in the towel and took a dose, but by keeping the stress down, getting some good but not excessive exercise, I'm doing pretty well.

hi jodi, my name is jon and i was injured in the iraq war and was put on klonopin in 2004. i have never been able to stop taking it. I didnt know it was addictive when i started taking the meds. I take large amounts daily to control mental episodes, and all my attempts to quit have ended badly. I literally get seriously moody and even violent. Ive never been this kind of person. I been taking it for nine years. Im really disappointed that I can't stop and doctors say i should'nt. I know what u are dealing with. Your doing better than me if you stopped, because i really really have tried. Thanks for reading. Email me back if you would like.

OMG Jodi I am there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never Never take this hellish pill !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update: With good nutritional supplementation (high B vitamins and Omega 3's), I feel more calm. I am still at .375. But considering I had stress from my cat dying 3 weeks ago who was my favorite cat, and that it didn't stress me out to raise the dose, I consider that a victory.

So, moderate exercise, good supplements with high B vitamins and treating yourself very well are still the right ways to combat this addiction. Note: Music man was right about high supplements. It's a must.

I, too, have been taking 1 mg Klonopin, at night, for about a year to combat insomnia -- I started it to get off Xanax. Fortunately, it worked overnight...a miracle in itself. But now I'm hooked on Klonopin. Though I'm currently down to .5 mg Klonopin a night, I want to get off this and all and any drug forever since I feel so tired and groggy during the day. Last night I just decided to feel the anxiety and took nothing to sleep, read a book, ate some cereal and slept 2 hours, then awake til 4 and slept a bit longer. Even managed to get to yoga this am, but wonder what sort of side effects - besides grogginess and yukky belly from sleep deprivation -- I might be having and for how long by stopping it cold turkey???

My husband just told me a little while ago, that I'm stealing his "serenity", because I am so sick all the time with insomnia, restless leg syndrome, etc., etc., etc., I still do all my daily chores and everything I should as a helpmate, but I think I still get on his nerves. He says he thinks I'm Manic and he's worried about me. He has no idea what it really feels like to lose your "serenity".

I am 29 & have been taking Klonipon/clonzapam since I was 17. I have tried others for my seizore disorder & considering it again & for it to be the final straw. But if i miss a day i have a seizure, it can be a small or a big seizure attack. To me this was the worst thing to start. If anyone has ideas for me & my problem I would love to hear/read them!! Also I am currently insurance free! I'm in a huge bind

Hello,

My doctor took me off the medication since I was just taking it for sleep (2mg). He decreased it to 1 mg for 2 weeks and today is my second day off the med. I am now experiencing anxiety and sleep loss. I've never had anxiety before and the shortness of breath is scary. Terrible feeling. Wish I had never been put on this medicine. I'm going to try to fight the withdrawal effects from Klonopin by using natural herbs and over the counter supplements such as Sweet Slumber. Any advice?

I took klonipin 0.5 once a day for 3 months and weaned off it with the help of Xanax .5 for 2 weeks. I can't sleep. Now the doctor wants to put me on Ativan 0.5 mg at bedtime. I wonder if I should do this or just keep trying to sleep without drugs.
I started on Klonipin for a burning mouth syndrome and it didn't help. Now I am fighting anxiety and sleeplesness.
I could use this to keep me from getting anxious whenever the mouth is really painful. I am torn with what to do. Take Ativan and risk dependency or just suffer with everything else.