Move from Lorazapam and Zopiclone to Clonazapam side effects?

[[Bl...]]

Hi All,

 

Is it common to get side effects after switching to Klonopin from Ativan and Zopiclone after about a week?

 

I was taking 1mg of Ativan(2 years) and 7.5mg of Zopiclone (4 months) and decided I wanted to get off this stuff. So I spoke to my doctor who gave me 2 x.5mg of Klonopin daily. Based on my calculations it seemed that the valium amounts for the A and Z was about 15mg, so .75k would be my crossover amount. I would take .25 in the AM and .5mg in the PM.

 

I moved over about 10 days ago and slept ok for the first night, then the next 9 nights consisted of passing out for an hour after taking the K, but then consistently waking up every 30 minutes or so. Now I already have tinnitus (electrical type sound) but about 3 days ago in the evening, I got this new tone blast in my right ear, accompanied with ear fullness and a feeling of ear vibration.  I took the K dose that night, and it calmed down a bit , but it's still there.

 

Since I didn't really have daily anxiety, I was going to attempt to push the full .75 dose to PM since sleep was my main enemy, but my new ear issue flairs up if I don't take the morning dose. I'm not sure what to do at this point. Should I wait it out, and see if I can stabilize on .75, or should I updose to 1mg and see if I stabilize then start my taper from there. I feel I may have already been in a tolerance withdrawal state when taking the z and the a at the same time.

 

Could this also be from possibly c/t the zopiclone and wondering if maybe as opposed to going up to the 1mg of K, I could add 3.75 mg of Z at night.

 

Thanks for your help,

[[be...]]

I'm not sure but the switch to klonopin or even Valium can cause problems in the beginning. You have to let your body adjust. I took zoplicon for quite awhile in the hospital after breaking my arms 6 years ago and continued on for months. 15 mg. but it stopped working so my old doctor said take 2. Typical so I phoned my pharmacist about going off it. I was also taking high doses of Ativan with klonopin at the time but very much in tolerance. She told me to quarter the zoplicon and take 1/4 off every 2 weeks. I was going to just quit it c/t but she said no absolutely don't. So I did it her way and had no sxs at all. Felt better and better but at the time I did have a sound in my ears at bed that sounded like a car running. After a couple of weeks it went away. It's really annoying and in some cases extremely hard to deal with but I think maybe yes try 3.75 of zoplicon for a bit then when the klonopin takes full effect you might feel better. Hope so. B

[[Bl...]]

Thank you for the advice! I'm gonna give that a shot. I'm useless without any sleep at all.

 

Thanks again

 

 

[[be...]]

Sleep is a natural healer I think and if you have enough zoplicon I'd try the 3.75 for 2 weeks then sorry got to tell it goodbye. But with luck your natural sleeping pattern, or something close should resume pretty quickly. It did for me. Just don't rush. Not a race. B

[[Bl...]]

Thank you! Hopefully this all gets sorted eventually.

[[me...]]

Sorry, but I have to disagree about adding back the Zopiclone. You've already been off it for a few days and it is really going to mess up things. Valium gives a nice even blood level, Zopiclone is going to throw it back into wild swings which aren't great for withdrawal.

 

I don't think a lower amount is going to help you sleep much (based on my experience). Unfortunately, you will probably have sleep that is somewhat disturbed for a while as your body adjusts. If you do try this, please report back on how it works.