Clonazepam

[Gardenera]

The doctor recommended Clonazepam Auden for restless legs, which works a treat b ut I spend the next day fighting to stay awake. The problem then is either I have restless legs and don't sleep for nights on end or I take Clonazepam and sleep like the dead but can't stay awake during the day. Catch 22. Anybody suggest anything? Thank you. Gardinara

[tealsea]

I was prescribed "klonopin" in 1986. I tried getting off of it, but that was quite painful. So here I am, completed addicted to it. So what is worse? Drug addiction. You become a slave to it. There are other solutions to RLS than drugs.

[smilingjane in reply to tealsea]

Not for a lot of people unfortunately 😏

Many people with sevear and not so sevear RL have gone year after year trying everything 'natural' to no avail.

It is a nasty illness that can wear people down to a hopeless state.

I wouldn't be here today if it wasnt for my drugs.

I can put up with needing my meds. I couldn't put up with RL.

[Joolsg]

Clonazepam is good for short term relief but you quickly become tolerant & it stops working so perhaps you could look at alternatives.

First step is to check iron levels & ensure serum ferritin above 100, preferably 250 as raising levels dramatically improves RLS in 60% of sufferers.

If that doesn’t help, look for any dietary triggers.

However, if you have nightly RLS & raising iron doesn’t help you will have to consider other meds like pregabalin/Gabapentin or opioids.

[Joolsg]

Just seen that you were on a VERY high dose of rotigitone patch and were suffering augmentation 5 months ago. Are you still on the patches or did you get off them? If you’re still on them, augmentation will still be a problem and you would need to withdraw very slowly and then consider pregabalin, opioids.

[Hidden]

Clonazepam has a very long "half life" of up to 30 hours. That is, it stays active for the next day, hence your problem.

[Hidden]

Hello Gardenera,

I had a similar experience in that it worked but the next day I was smashing the kitchen up in rages! I managed to split the tablet to half dose, still took the sting out of the RL, but I was a bit less mad. Sadly it didn't work for long. But maybe a slight wiggle in the dosage could be enough to relieve you but not make you as sleepy. It could also be that once your body has adjusted to it a bit, the sleepiness will subside too. Not sure how long you've been taking it.

It's always a juggling act, isn't it?

Really hope you can strike a balance.

[MarymaryA]

Have you looked at nhs.uk/conditions/restless-... There is alot of information on there. My late mother-in-law mentioned having RLS and she liked drinking tea in the evening. I wonder now whether it was the caffeine in the tea which made her RLS worse. Just a suggestion.