Clonazepam

[BettyRae]

Has anyone taking clonazepam think it makes RLS worse? One doctor really wants me to take clonazepam for sleep. I have two doctors that tell me complete opposite things!!! Here I am in the middle!

[SueJohnson]

it's fine for RLS. The problem with it though is it has a long half life of 40 hours so will make you sleepy the next day. I would recommend lunesta, That is what I take.

[NJB71]

clonazepam works wonders for both sleep and restless legs. After nearly a lifetime of sleeplessness and patrolling the house all night I get relief and a restful sleep. Yes, you may be a bit sleepy next morning but it soon wears off when you get going. I only take 0.5 mg and that is sufficient for a good nights sleep.

[Triny]

I wouldn't recommend taking any benzodiazepines for longer than 7-10 days. If one uses them for a longer period of time dependence and tolerance develop. I had a terrible experience with Clonazepam (have side effects like dizziness, brain fog, etc.) and am slowly tapering it off. It will take me approx. 18 months to taper it off completely. I developed dependence to it within 7 weeks of use and cannot stop it with a fast taper. You could check on Benzobuddies.org how many people have serious problems with benzodiazepines and particularly Clonazepam.

[Searcher55 in reply to Triny]

Oof that sounds nasty! How long have you been on it & what dose before starting to taper? 18 months is the longest taper I've ever heard of to be honest. Do you have co-existing Neuro sensitivity of some kind? I know ND people can find it harder too.

I worked in an in-patient drug/alcohol detox & rehab facility in England for a few yrs.

People would come to detox from very high levels of Benzo addiction in a safe medically supervised environment. Some on 60-100+ mgs of Diazepam/Clonazepam/Temazepam a day. Incredibly scary dangerous, rarely less than 4 months. Though a number managed it in 12 wks.

[Triny in reply to Searcher55]

Hello, yes, benzos can be nasty if used for longer than 1-2 weeks. I took Clonazepam for only 7 weeks and developed dependance. My dose was 0.250 mg taken 2 times a day. I have Parkinson’s disease. I taper slowly, because if I go fast, I get tachycardia, anxiety, etc. from the withdrawal. On BenzoBudies.org one can find many people tapering slowly, due to withdrawal symptoms.

Are you familiar with the Ashton Manual? If you have been working in a detox clinic, you should know it. Or perhaps your bosses didn’t want you to read it, because it describes very well the risks of long term benzo use and of rapid detox from benzos. Unfortunately, sooner or later the benzos turn on people and they start experiencing dependance, tolerance and interdose withdrawals. I really hope that you will be one of the lucky ones to avoid getting problems from long term benzo use. I am glad that Clonazepam saved your life. In my case it put it on hold and made a nasty mess out of it.

benzoinfo.com/ashtonmanual/

[Searcher55]

I've been taking it for 5 yrs 0.5 mg at night, it's been an absolute life saver for me. The tablets come wi a split in the middle so it's easy to break in half & just take 0.25 to start if you're a little nervous but 0.5 is the best dose.

some ppl can find them hard to come off after taking them for a while but if they work, you won't wont need to worry about cessation.

Also, Clonazepam doesn't appear to require increasing the dose to get the same effect over time. I'm still on 0.5 after 5 yrs. The only change I've noticed is sometimes I wake after abt 6 hrs sleep or wake during the night, but I can get off to sleep again easily. Most importantly, there's theres no RLS on waking, so I don't dont care!

I am in the severe category, without medication I have it 20 hrs out of EVERY 24, sometimes 24/7. I'd suffered every day & night for 35 yrs till I was prescribed Opiate for afternoon/eve use & then in 2020 I was prescribed Clonazepam for sleep by my Neurologist.

Literally saved my life 😌

[Heavyd65]

I have taken Clonazepam several times over the many years of suffering from RLS. If you use it very sparingly it might be okay. Its very addicting and your tolerance to it will increase. Personally I would stay away from taking any Benzodiazepines. They are habit forming and stopping them can be special nightmare…but thats my own experience. I know what works for me. I no longer take Pramiprexel. Just taking Red Mangda Kratom. I would like for find something else that works as well.. pregabalin is my other go to..just don’t like the side effects. I would like to try Tapentadol next. I have severe neuropathy. Good luck!

[FinallyBetter]

Clonazepam is a cure for nothing! I was taking it for 14 years for anxiety (and taking larger and larger doses as time passed, so up to 3mg a day) and it took about 2 painful years to taper off of it completely. The anxiety I had getting off of this was 10 times worse than the initial anxiety. Everyone I know who took it wished they had never started. Try something else for your RLS. Clonazepam is not the answer.

[BettyRae]

May question was, Does anyone think Clonazepam makes RLS worse. I can take or leave it.