Getting back on clon

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I was fine taking clonazapam as prescribed.

Out of the blue last June I  returned from a year overseas and all doctors refused to jeep me on them.

 

6 months ago a new primary care dr said they had experience with tapers.  Halfway off I left the US again and came apart.  With a new dr and plan to ask to be put back on the drug.  I have all of the withdrawal symptoms and cannot function.  I can't drive, tinnitus,  muscle twitches etc. 

 

I'm 67 yrs old. Read a paper published 6 months ago which confirms my thoughts.   There has been so little research into this.  It is not a proven fact that use leads to dementia.   I don't want to be doing a video about how this withdrawal ruined my life.

 

Anybody else have experience with 30 plus years of use.

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Hey @[...],

Sometimes reinstating works and sometimes it doesn't.  I took Clonazepam for 7 years with no perceptible problems and then did a very fast taper off when I moved to a new state and couldn't get into a doctor for several months.  I had horrible withdrawal symptoms for months, though I didn't know it was withdrawal at the time.  I went back on about a year later and took it for 13 more years.  I became very sick over time and was misdiagnosed with several diseases/illnesses.  Reinstating also did not fix my insomnia or other issues from the too-fast taper.  It did lessen my symptoms somewhat, but eventually they became much worse. 

I don't know if I would have gotten sick had I stayed on it originally.  Sometimes the off and then on again seems to be the precipitating event for health problems.  I know this isn't exactly your situation, but it has the similarities of being an unintended interruption with a fast taper after prolonged use and trying to reinstate. I guess my point is, that it may not work to reinstate now.  The only way you'll know is to try, but you may risk kindling, which is what I believe happened to me. 

In hind-sight, had I known what was happening when I tapered off the first time, I would never have gone back on.  As terrible as that year was, I probably would have healed and wouldn't be dealing with the complications of kindling now.

I should also say that when I reinstated, I couldn't tolerate the dose I was at originally (no doctor could explain why).  I had to stay at half my original dose.

It's terrible that you were forced off, but, in regards to your withdrawal symptoms, there may be no going back, only forward and through.  I'm certainly not telling you what you should do, I just thought some more info. might be helpful in weighing your decision.   

We'll be here to support you whatever you decide.

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Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I don't think I would ha e had any problem if I stayed on it. The Dr now wants me to be medical detoxed and I'm just out of options.  I am pretty scared of this but can't get support for anything else.  I'm just tired now.

 

I guess I'll ha e to learn to live with the symptoms and accept that it's all beyond my control now.

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@[...],

Am I understanding correctly that you are completely off right now?  If so, what exactly does the doctor want you to do detox for?  

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Not off yet. I was really fighting to get back on them but it's been 9 months on off on ... lost track. So I'm trying to accept that like it or not I've got to get off them.  From what I've read that window has clozed for thinking that going back would work.

I'm not unique in being forced to do this.

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@[...], I am sorry.  That is an awful spot to be in.   If you are still taking them, will your doctor prescribe you enough meds to set up a slow taper to finish getting off of them and to calm down the withdrawal symptoms?  

And I was thinking, that you might want to either change the name of this thread to let people know that your looking for folks with experience with long-term use or maybe even start another one asking for people with long-term specifically to weigh in.   Just a thought to get some more feedback.