Clonazepam is the only thing that works but is it doing me harm?

[magggzzz]

I started on Clonazepam many years ago for my RLS and it was wonderful. Finally I was getting a good nights sleep and not spending evenings pacing the floor. However over the years I've become resistant to it and now it takes about 3mg to have the same effect and sometimes even more. I took the time recently to finally find out more about it and I was quite shocked at what I read. Apparently it's highly addictive and can have terrible side effects if you ever do want to stop taking it. I also found out that it's lucky I don't drink and nobody had warned me about the horrors of mixing it with alcohol. (I'm not completely teetotal but I can't remember the last time I had a drink) I've tried almost everything else that's on offer for the RLS and nothing works for me. Should I just thank my lucky stars that something does work and stop whingeing or should I be concerned that I'm taking a heavy duty drug for something that isn't particularly life threatening but nevertheless would have a very bad effect on my quality of life. I also take gabapentin as I thought a combination of the two worked best but I don't think it really has that much effect. It's the clonazepam that really works.

[nightdancer]

Your quality of life is what you should be thinking about. If you are severely sleep deprived that can lead to all kinds of problems. Sleep deprivation kills. What I always say in my other groups, if it ain't broke don't fix it. If you are concerned about the higher dose, then do talk to your doctor. But, we RLSer's usually are just happy with whtever works. Your experience may not be someone else's experience with that med. I do know people who have a hard time getting off of it, and others who had no problem. It is very individual, so don't let everything you read scare you. Of course, and med in that class and many others should not be mixed wuth alcohol. Knowledge is power, so best to check out the best web sites for RLS, like rlshelp.org. go to the treatment page. ;o) It's the best RLs web site on the internet, by far.

[Martyrtothecause]

I've just posted a question regarding Clonazepam, only then to find your question which goes some way to answering my query. I think I agree with 'nightdancer' (brilliant name) in that if it's been bringing relief stick with it, especially if you haven't experienced any real side effects. Having said that I'll wait and see what responses I get from my question before taking the plunge myself.