Having severe anxiety been on Klonopin a year

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So I have been on .5mg of Klonopin for a year now and get 15 tablets a month no more. I recently had a stressful life event happen and have been dealing with the worst anxiety of my life for over a month now. I am not sure if it is related to being on the Klonopin or not. I get head rushes and extreme panic attacks, chest pain and can't drink caffeine at all right now. It feels like I am being tortured mentally but feel fine as soon as I take the Klonopin. I take one .5 mg tablet every other day. Does this sound like it could be benzo related or am I just having a mental breakdown from stress??

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Hello Leo, welcome to BenzoBuddies!

Sorry to see that you found yourself in a situation where the direct cause is unclear.

At 15 pills a month that is roughly a pill every other day. After a year of use that is still 6 months of using klonopin in total. Since klonopin has a longer half-life than many other benzos, it may have still been in your system still by the time you took another dose, so physical dependence was most likely going to occur at some point.

I have no doubt that stress is also a factor in how you feel, but if you are experiencing tolerance or interdose withdrawals to klonopin that may be making you more sensitive to stress.

Do you plan on taping off of klonopin?

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Wow you really spelled it out perfectly! I think it definitely made me more sensitive to stress. Yes, I do plan to taper off Klonopin because this has been one of the most painful experiences of my life! Luckily I didn't take it every day for a year. I didn't experience any problems with Klonopin this entire year but the moment I started dealing with stress and anxiety I was unable to cope with it and it spiraled out of control which may have been a result of the Klonopin. It's so terrifying. I went to the ER 3 times and the psych hospital for a few days. I have bipolar disorder and for some reason anti-psychotics are making me very ill when I take them. They make my heart beat fast and I break out in a sweat and I can't sit still. This has never happened to me before when taking anti-psychotics. My brain chemistry is all jacked up right now