Clonazepam (Benzo) side effects
 

I have been taking clonazepam (aka Klonopin) (1 mg) at night to sleep to prevent my shaking problem (that the doctors still don't know what is causing it). At first the clonazepam was hurting my kidneys, but then the pharmacy switched manufacturers and the problem went away. Don't believe that all generic drugs are the same!!!

I just wanted to know if anyone has experienced extreme agitation while taking this drug. When I wake up in the morning I feel agitated, frustrated and the need to take very deep breaths to calm down. Other than my blood pressure med and stomach med for gastric reflux, I'm down to only the clonazepam from the handful of meds I was on before when I had my neck injury. BTW... I'm 4+ months post-Oxy dependent. I'm going to stop taking it for a week and see if anything changes. Any ideas??

First ,whatever changes you make, do it with your doctor approval...k?

Secondly, I seriously doubt that switching from clozamepam to klonopin actually caused kidney damage.

I've re-searched klonopin/clonazepam extensively and have never heard of it causing kidney problems, however I am not a scientist and have not researched everything.

I have a long history with klonopin and have been on as much as 13mg daily.

This is my experience with it.

I found it to be very addictive
I abused it bad
I found that the seditive effects lessened to almost nothing in aprrox 6 weeks.
(That problem can be fixed with a -bump up- in dose.)

I found that although it worked perfectly at first, the drug eventually did far more damage to me, than it was worth.

The withdrawal was something from Hell.

It has also been my experience that (sadly) a few doctors out there don;t understand what benzo tolerance means, and they continue prescribing it month after month, year after year.

I have had to learn a very harsh lesson concerning the potetial of benzos to dismantle peoples lives.
................ I believe that all doctors (whether they are addicted to writing prescriptions or not, should be forced by law, to comply with strict guidelines, when dispensing addictive drugs.

I take full responsibility my part (abuse of benzos).

Boy did i get off topic... lol

I have experienced all the symtoms you described being on klonopin.

Your post is too vague to make a legitimate conclusion about what might be the problem, but there is such a thing as a paradoxical reaction to benzos, though it doesn't sound like this is what is going on (plus, it's incredibly rare).

You can read about it at medscape.com, article #489358, or google "benzodiazepines" and "paradoxical reaction." You have to join to read past the abstract, but it's free and totally worthwhile. It's a fascinating article, especially because they have hypothesized a link between prior alcohol use and this rare phenomenon.

Emmer, how were you able to take such a high dose?? 13 mg is alot, i can take two and sleep for hours,.. doestn it make you sleepy?

I have been off klonopin for years now. 13mg didnt have much of an effect on me after a few weeks.
I've abuse much more than that in a day and still did very little, if anything.



I knew a woman who was taking 90mg a day (bought on the street) and still funtioned.

How long have you been on klonopin, CMF ?

i have been on Klonopin for about 2 yrs now, i have abused them before, but really all it does is make me very sleepy, so its not even worh it to take more than prescribed

I can't remember how long it took before i started abusing them ..........
anywhere for 1 day to a week........and couldn;t maintain the proper dose. I was mixing them with other stuff too.

Let me tell you CMF, the withdrawal isn;t fun. It was like someone picked me up and thru me into hell. This was not C/T either.

I always advise people I know to consider talking with thier doctor about using these pills, only for the very short term.

Because, when its time to come off them (abused or not).......... it aint fun. ;)

It prolly took Emmer a while to build up that tolerance to 13 mgs. I was on very large doses too. Getting off of them didn't give me any problems. I got off that along with a bunch of other stuff. I do read about people having serious problems coming off this class of dope.

i was on 6mg and then one day something bad happened and i got put on 13mg. The stuff worked fantastic for about 2 weeks.

I'm bad though, once when one of my bottle's was empty........ I licked the benzo dust in the bottom.

.......i think i might have done that more than once. lol

I was prescribed Klonopin years ago, it was a love/hate relationship. I loved that it doped me up, cuz.. that's what I used to like, but honestly couldn't stand the side effects and tapered off w/in a few days and haven't touched it since. Nasty stuff.

Being an addict, and prone to popping pills.. (knowing this NOW and not years ago), i wouldn't go near a klonopin prescription unless my life literally depended on it.

I was allowed to take 1.5mg of that when I was prescribed it for awhile. I don't think I ever took more than that and 90% of the time I didn't even take the full amount. Most of the time, however, I would take all 1.5mg at once because I found it ineffective otherwise. I was taking it pretty much daily and I didn't have any problems when I stopped... just depends on the person, like anything else.

Thanks to all that replied, but nobody really provided any insight if they had any of the side effects that I originally asked about. I did my own research and I found that in some cases the following side effects can happen:

Abnormal thinking, including disorientation, delusions (holding false beliefs that cannot be changed by facts), or loss of sense of reality; agitation; behavior changes, including aggressive behavior, bizarre behavior, decreased inhibition, or outbursts of anger; convulsions (seizures); hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there); ... unusual excitement, nervousness, or irritability; ...

So, I think I found the answer I was looking for and I have started to taper back on the clonazepam and will eventually stop taking it. Thanks!

I've read some wacky stuff on a benzo forum. There was a lady who said that, due to taking xanax, she was deathly afraid of water !!

Abnormal thinking - yes

disorientation - no

delusions (holding false beliefs that cannot be changed by facts) - yes (but only somewhat)

loss of sense of reality- yes, during withdrawal (@ the peak)

decreased inhibition - no

outbursts of anger - very much so

aggressive behavior -very much so

agitation - yes

convulsions (seizures) - no

hallucinations - no

unusual excitement - no

nervousness - no

irritability - YES

bizarre behavior - yes

impared memory - yes (very frustrating)




~hope this helps~

Question For Those Who Have Stopped
 

To All-

I haven't been on SR for exactly a year but I am glad to be back...I don't want to hijack someone's thread however I don't want to crowd the forum with similar questions.

What I wanted to ask is this...I have been on Klonopin for over a year now, 1mg 2 times daily. I don't abuse it; I take it once in the morning and then again before bed. There have been days where I have even got by with only taking one pill the entire day.

That being said, I have about 20 pills left, so ten days of regular dosing, and I'm in a bit of a spot. I moved away from my home state and also my Dr. that originally put me on the benzo...While I was living in another state, my Dr. there gave me the same script so I have been taking it non-stop this entire time.

For anyone who has stopped taking any benzo, but particularly Klonopin, what are the withdrawls from it like? I have heard they are everything from hell on earth, worse than an opiate withdrawl, to it not even having an efffect on the person. Granted we are all different in our chemical and biological make-up. This I understand....But for those who have dealt with the worst of the worst, what should I expect and what is the best way to deal with the withdrawl?

I appreciate any and all feedback...like I said, it has been a year since I have been on this forum, however, I remember that everyone on here treated each other with the upmost respect and never put someone down for what they had done in their past. I'm glad to be back and I will continue to post and read the wisdom that is posted on this board.

Much love to all of those in recovery and a prayer to those who are working to find the courage to begin recovery. Last of all, I am going to bump a post which I posted a year ago...it was something I wrote in the lowest time of my life yet it has helped me in every aspect of growing as a functioning human being. When I originally posted it, a few posts were made on the help that people received from it so I hope by bumping it, the same will happen again.

Happy 4th of July to all and a prayer to those who are not with their families at this time because they are fighting to keep our independence and help others gain the same honor we have as Americans to live in a country that isn't perfect, but allows the people within it's boundries to feel safe rather than be wore-torn and fighting for the simple act of being free.

End of my rant... :-) God bless..

sk8r

Sk8r

this crap is awful as bad as Xanax wd but can vary on dose. Klonopin takes longer o leave ur system like 3-5 days.

Probably need more pills to taper down and dr help and family help. I've gone through this twice I can honestly say it one of the hardest things I've done in my life. I felt like I was losing everything ESP my mind when coming of them.

I did on my own and tapered too fast but I'd it in 5 weeks and 2 hard weeks to detox and 4 more weeks before I could get out in public and people again. Maybe a detox center would have been quicker. I probaby should have taken months to taper off 3-4mg day.

Big kick in the butt is when I was 6 months ou an had bad headaches dizzy blurry vision and had to go to various drs to rule out a teal issue. But 8 months out you'll feel a world of better

detox and such is like an injury it takes time to heal. I think it's bs when u see famous peep going into rehab an out in a month. Take longer little wonder y they go right back to it

u can do it

JoshNU-

After reading what you wrote I must say that I am, for the first time in my life, scared of coming off of something. My friend told me that it was deadly dangerous to go cold turkey but I almost didn't believe him. What seems like such a simple, innocent medication, is actually worse than the opie habit I've kicked more than once. Hopefully the Dr.'s in my not-so-liberal community will help me with the taper so that it is as painless as possible.

Thank you for the information you provided and for sharing your experience with me. It always helps to hear the suggestions of others who have already been through the process when you are preparing to detox. My biggest hurdle right now is that I'm unemployed, therefore leaving me without any healthcare insurance or money for paying for any scripts. Hopefully, keeping the faith will bring about good things. And God bless the members of SR for emotional support..

Regards and Many Thanks,

Matt

benzos are funny.