Tolerance withdrawal from Klonopin

[2020bluesky]

Hello Everyone,

Please give me advice! I have been taking .25 of Klonopin for 1.5 years. Now it has just stopped working and every afternoon, I start getting very shaky and anxious for hours. I have been supplementing it with Gaba Calm and Evening Primrose Oil. These help a little bit. I exercise every day. Called Dr. and they upped my Klonopin dose to .5 everyday but I am terrified of ending up in the same trick bag in a few months and on a higher dose. Is there anything else that can help me? Should I wean off Klonopin now and try something else? It is a horrible feeling that happens every day. Sometimes you feel like you are going insane.

I first got sick from food poisoning where I puked in a busy restaurant and acquired PTSD. (long story, won't bore you) Docs had already tried to give me Zoloft, Prozac, Amitriptyline, Cymbalta, Lyrica, and probably forgot a few. Could not take any of those. For instance, Zoloft hurt my stomach so bad, I couldn't take it. Prozac made my anxiety a million times worse. Amitriptyline gave me heart palpitations, Cymbalta-worst medicine ever.

Anyway, should I try Buspar or Effexor? I would love to take something beside a Benzo and feel normal so I can be free. I feel that my anxiety now is rebound anxiety from the Klonopin. Please ADVISE!! I don't know what to do and my Psych Dr. is really clueless.

[Dolphin14]

Sounds like you are building up a tolerance to the klonopin. Your body is requiring more to get the job done.

Took me years of trial and error to get on meds that helped. I would keep trying.

I'm not a Dr but my thought is it's time to get off the klonopin, not continue to raise the dose. That's my opinion.

[2020bluesky in reply to Dolphin14]

Thank you, thank you! Yes, time to get off. It's not working at all. Do you mind me asking what helped you? I have to work and be in front of clients, I am royally screwed if I don't get this figured out.

[Dolphin14 in reply to 2020bluesky]

I'm on Effexor and have been on buspar in the past.

I also take abilify.

Hopefully they can find something that works for you.

It's really trial and error. You really need a good discussion with your MD.

Best of luck

[Laurennnnnnn]

I had the same problem with klonopin!! I was taking it often and my doctor finally prescribed it to be taken once a day. But after a month I was having withdrawals. So the dr upped it two times and finally decided to put me on something more preventative and switch from klonopin to Xanax for anxiety attacks (as needed, not every day). It’s been a lot better. But those klonopin withdrawals are so uncomfortable and scary, I’m sorry you’re dealing with them

[2020bluesky in reply to Laurennnnnnn]

Thank you so much!! Did you just stop taking Klonopin cold turkey as you were taking Xanax or did you taper? I need to take xanax or valium for sure as klonopin is not working at all. I tried it one day at .5 and still not working.

[Laurennnnnnn in reply to 2020bluesky]

I tapered down! It didn’t take as long as I expected because the Xanax seemed to help with the klonopin withdrawals. And I’ve never had any Xanax withdrawals (and there were times when I’d need extra every day for like a week lol and then I’d go back to taking it maybe once every few days and not notice any side effects)

[2020bluesky in reply to Laurennnnnnn]

Thank you again. How long did your taper take? Sorry for all the questions, I need a new Dr. that knows what they are doing.

[Laurennnnnnn in reply to 2020bluesky]

Don’t worry about it! My doctor was super unhelpful with all of this so I ended up going to my pharmacist for help constantly 😂

Tapering only took maybe three weeks for me. It was way shorter than I expected.

[designguy]

I suggest doing a psychotropic gene test to find out what drugs are best suited for your dna. I did one from genesight but there are other sources available. Mine was covered by insurance and it was very helpful in narrowing down and choosing an antidepressant that has worked very well for me after trying numerous ones that didn't.

[nurseval99]

Anxiety is horrible and even worse is benzodiazepine withdrawal which is often overlooked. i have anxiety and i have achieved relief with adding Deplin to my medication regime. it is actually folic acid that crosses the blood brain barrier. it is expensive, however, if you get it directly from mail order pharmacy it is around $60 for a 90 day supply. I hope this helps. i also recently experienced food poisoning for the first time in late august and have infectious colitis that will not go away. the pain is excruciating.