Trouble with clonazepam prescription

[[sf...]]

I was not sure exactly what category this fit in. I have PTSD and long term insomnia which is very bad. After trying many sleep meds and a couple anti-depressants for sleep all of them gave me very bad side effects. A few years ago my Dr prescribed clonazepam. I still don't sleep enough but more than without it. The side effects are minimal and tolerable. I do have short term memory issues and concentration issues but those are also caused by PTSD and sleep deprivation. My long time trusted Dr went to concierge care which I cannot afford. So out of the two Drs left at the practice I chose the one that I didn't know as I knew the other one sucked lol. The 3 month follow up for my refill went fine until I got the results of my urine test and found they had done a screening for a long list of illegal drugs! I could not believe it. I have not used an illegal drug in 40 years and take my legal med as prescribed my chart has nothing indicating drug abuse and I have been going there for years. After much effort it seems the LSU Ochsner Health system instituted the policy recently for all patients prescribed benzos. I thought no way I will put up with this invasion of my privacy and have to prove I am not a criminal and began to look for another Dr outside that system. The 1st Dr who was taking new patients(and most aren't which is weird) will not prescribe ANY controlled substances! What are patients who need legal drugs for medically legitimate purposes supposed to do? Just suffer? I don't know what is going on all of a sudden. When I messaged my new Dr saying I hadn't consented to a drug test she said if I didn't I could not be prescribed that med. So are we in a "mob boss" model of medicine now? Play along with rights violations or we'll hurt you? They ought to know you can't just stop benzos after long term use. I hope all Drs around here aren't this crazy. I guess time will tell. This whole thing is shocking to me. Guilty until proven innocent is not an American value. 

[[je...]]

Hi @[sf...]

Welcome to BenzoBuddies!

I am so sorry you were put through this whole ordeal. I understand your frustration and anger at the situation. Is your new doctor now refusing to prescribe your Clonazepam? What is your dose and how long have you been taking it?

[[sf...]]

My dose is one and a half mg. She did prescribe it since the screening was already done behind my back without my knowledge. And unlike the previous Dr who sent 3 refills after my 3 month follow up she will only do one a month and I have to request the next two which I guess is not that big a deal but it is illogical as they don't hand me 3 bottles at once. It is in the computer system and can't be refilled until 28 days after the last refill. I am not sure how long I have been taking it but I estimate several years. 

[[je...]]

Well that’s a relief. I was concerned that she would cut you off. I completely understand how upset you are that you are being treated this way when you are taking your medication as prescribed. Unfortunately doctors are becoming more hesitant to prescribe benzos. 

How do you feel about your situation now? Do you want to continue taking your medication indefinitely or are you considering other options?

[[Le...]]

3 hours ago, [[s...] said:

I was not sure exactly what category this fit in. I have PTSD and long term insomnia which is very bad. After trying many sleep meds and a couple anti-depressants for sleep all of them gave me very bad side effects. A few years ago my Dr prescribed clonazepam. I still don't sleep enough but more than without it. The side effects are minimal and tolerable. I do have short term memory issues and concentration issues but those are also caused by PTSD and sleep deprivation. My long time trusted Dr went to concierge care which I cannot afford. So out of the two Drs left at the practice I chose the one that I didn't know as I knew the other one sucked lol. The 3 month follow up for my refill went fine until I got the results of my urine test and found they had done a screening for a long list of illegal drugs! I could not believe it. I have not used an illegal drug in 40 years and take my legal med as prescribed my chart has nothing indicating drug abuse and I have been going there for years. After much effort it seems the LSU Ochsner Health system instituted the policy recently for all patients prescribed benzos. I thought no way I will put up with this invasion of my privacy and have to prove I am not a criminal and began to look for another Dr outside that system. The 1st Dr who was taking new patients(and most aren't which is weird) will not prescribe ANY controlled substances! What are patients who need legal drugs for medically legitimate purposes supposed to do? Just suffer? I don't know what is going on all of a sudden. When I messaged my new Dr saying I hadn't consented to a drug test she said if I didn't I could not be prescribed that med. So are we in a "mob boss" model of medicine now? Play along with rights violations or we'll hurt you? They ought to know you can't just stop benzos after long term use. I hope all Drs around here aren't this crazy. I guess time will tell. This whole thing is shocking to me. Guilty until proven innocent is not an American value. 

Do the test if possible. they are concerned because polydrugging or street drugs often lead to poor results with benzos. benzos are also not a long term solution. I couldnt recover on them and think they hinder that but then you are stuck not only withdrawing but dealing with the original issues. You are in a tough spot. talk to a doctor about options.  

 

The rules about benzos have recently changed in many countries including mine and docs are often just dropping patients cause they are getting investigated and reported for prescribing these beyond the 3 week max( for my country). doctors are scared of lawsuits and scrutiny. 

Edited May 5 by [Le...]
addition

[[sf...]]

I'm open to other options but haven't found one in years. I have thrown away so many "natural" remedies that did nothing. One new one my previous Dr prescribed gave me bad anxiety so stopped and went back to the usual. There is a new one for sleep but it costs 100 a month instead of 2.51 for clonazepam. And it seems everything else that says "may worsen depression" does. But after this I feel any hope of trusting this new Dr has been shattered completely. 

[[Le...]]

i really do believe people worsen on these things and they will be hard to get in the future. Talk to a doc about a slow slow slow taper and other options. few are perfect. 

[[sf...]]

Well tbh I don't really give a crap about their "concerns." The 4th Amendment says the people shall be secure in their persons from unreasonable search and seizure. 30% of people taking benzos supposedly take opioids. If true then 70% of us don't and they are testing 100%. I do not accept that I must prove I am not a criminal. And as I stated above I already took the test because they did not inform me it was being done. I found out looking at my results in the patient portal. 

[[sf...]]

So that would leave me more exhausted and with less sleep than now which with the med is still not enough.

[[Le...]]

it is hard to do while on them but a 10k run per day is a much better option than benzos. there is always a deadline with them. 

[[Le...]]

yea there is no perfect solution but starting a taper will be much better than going cold turkey. they are treating you like an addict after getting you addicted. it happens a lot. 

[[sf...]]

I tried Ambien, Trazadone, Mirtazipine, Doxepin, and about every sleep med they make. All very bad side effects.

[[je...]]

Unfortunately I personally don’t think there’s any solution for insomnia other than for your body to learn to sleep by itself again. Very often the benzo itself creates insomnia after long term use. It happened to me. I’m now slowly recovering and starting to get more sleep naturally. 

[[Le...]]

yes   this is a dangerous spot you are in. get help from someone who knows about a slow taper. 10% every month or six weeks max. there is lots of info about this and if you tell the doctor to do it slow so you have time to deal with other issues as they reemerge then even one less aware may help. 

[[Le...]]

dont leave this until you run out. please please. 

[[Le...]]

Just now, [[L...] said:

dont leave this until you run out. please please. 

i dont need another to share my experience with me.  get on it. 

[[Li...]]

20 minutes ago, [[L...] said:

The rules about benzos have recently changed in many countries including mine and docs are often just dropping patients cause they are getting investigated and reported for prescribing these beyond the 3 week max( for my country). doctors are scared of lawsuits and scrutiny. 

Would you feel comfortable sharing your country with us?  BenzoBuddies has members from all over the world to this would be helpful information.  

[[Le...]]

canada. i have seen 6 psychs including my sister and all deny that protracted withdrawal exists. apparently my tinnitus is an auditory hallucination and I am bipolar with hypomania, schitzophrenic, autistic,  the list goes on. Everything except hey when your dad was killed, brother broke his back, sister got cancer, mothers heart failed all in 3 months and you were given Klonopin for 2 years then dropped. 

[[Le...]]

i have 2 sisters. one psych and the sick one. maybe confusing. the psych is taking benzos and never got off. 

[[Le...]]

i take no drugs and am fine now. but not happy about this. 

[[Li...]]

7 minutes ago, [[L...] said:

canada 

Thank you for letting us know.  I wondered if that might be the case— overprescription of benzodiazepines has been getting a lot of attention in Canada of late.  In case you haven’t already read it, you might find this article of interest:

 

Benzodiazepines in Canada: Is a Withdrawal Crisis Looming?

 

[[Le...]]

thank you for that. I am refused referrals and second opinions by last psych and gp. dont think you are even allowed that here. everytime i start to talk about this stuff I get kinda crazy and give people the wrong impression. Other than dealing with this stuff I am taking care of my family. fixing my brothers roof. travelling to texas to help my sister after surgeries. I am mostly fine. cant deal with doctors though. 

[[Le...]]

sorry to take over the thread. please deal with this stuff and dont join me. 

[[Li...]]

16 hours ago, [[s...] said:

My long time trusted Dr went to concierge care which I cannot afford. So out of the two Drs left at the practice I chose the one that I didn't know as I knew the other one sucked lol. The 3 month follow up for my refill went fine until I got the results of my urine test and found they had done a screening for a long list of illegal drugs! I could not believe it. I have not used an illegal drug in 40 years and take my legal med as prescribed my chart has nothing indicating drug abuse and I have been going there for years. After much effort it seems the LSU Ochsner Health system instituted the policy recently for all patients prescribed benzos.

@sfwl LSU Ochsner Health is not the only large healthcare system that requires urine drug testing for patients who have been prescribed benzodiazepines and use them on a chronic basis.

Kaiser Permanente in Washington state requires annual urine drug testing for all benzo-prescribed patients categorized as ‘high-risk.”  See link below.

US Veterans Affairs ‘suggests’ annual urine drug testing for all patients who use benzodiazepines chronically. See link below.

It’s also possible the FDA guidelines for safe deprescribing of benzodiazepines currently under development may address urine drug testing.  The contractor developing the guidelines is the American Society for Addiction Medicine.

Links:

Benzodiazepine and Z-drug Safety Guideline (Kaiser Permanente Washington State, 2022)

Re-evaluating the Use of Benzodiazepine: A VA Clinician’s Guide (US Veterans Affairs, 2021)

[[Li...]]

15 hours ago, [[s...] said:

And unlike the previous Dr who sent 3 refills after my 3 month follow up she will only do one a month and I have to request the next two which I guess is not that big a deal but it is illogical as they don't hand me 3 bottles at once. It is in the computer system and can't be refilled until 28 days after the last refill.

@[sf...] Time-limited prescriptions (e.g. no refills in your case) and mandatory checks of state PDMPs (Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs for controlled substances) are finding their way into clinical guidelines for prescribing and deprescribing benzodiazepines.  In addition to mandatory annual urine drug testing for ‘high risk’ patients, the above-referenced Kaiser Permanente guideline also includes this statement:

”Patients on chronic benzodiazepines prescriptions shall receive all benzodiazepine prescriptions from one physician and one pharmacy whenever possible.”