Is Clonazepam causing these symptoms now?

[legend88]

I posted on MedHelp several months back after a weight exercise gone bad (neck pain) triggered what has been now universally dismissed as anxiety by all doctors, though really unclassified by any except psychologist treatment for OCD/panic. I am 39 and had no prior medical history.  None. This is all new to me even though 5 mos have passed since the incident. A battery of tests including repeated blood work (thyroid, lead, mercury, lyme, Wilson's, endocrine, general panel), MRI and CT scan of head, MRA of neck, sonograms of abs and neck, GI endocscopy, and various Neurology  exams looking for general gait disturbance all came back negative.  Assuming MRI and CT scans by standard also were looking for signs of disease and reports have been combed over several times, I assume larger markers were cleared.  I used to have headaches and neck pain, but they no longer exist except for occasional shooting pain in head which lasts a couple of seconds.  I am left with some internal shakiness (usually all day) and sporadic teeth chatter (both cannot be seen with naked eye), weakness of the upper left arm just below the shoulder (about a 3 with 10 being most discomforting), left leg weakness, about a 2 (thigh) and most disturbing, tight jaw accompanied by a slight paralytic weakness of the tongue which comes and goes every day (about a 3).  I speak normally and movement is not affected, but it seems like it takes some effort to get the words out as quickly as the thought process.  My tongue sometimes feels coated and cottony.  I am generally nervous daily.  I have random muscle twitches, but not often and could be with any limb. I am fearful.   I was originally prescribed Zoloft @ 25 mg, then when increased to 50 I became very jittery and had about 15 side effects.  Took it for about 8 weeks then weaned myself off.  I was then prescribed Lexapro @ 5mg along with Clonazepam 0.5 mg, but the SSRI's just don't agree with me.  So finally, for the last 7 weeks, I have been going up and down with the Clonazepam only , mostly taking an hour before bed 0.5 -.625 mg once daily.  I was having problems sleeping and eating as well, but I believe this has helped me get past it.  For the first time since taking I skipped a dosage last night, and today feel very jittery with the tight jaw and tongue symptoms exacerbated and some head pressure above both ears.  The arm seems to be the same.  I told my psychiatrist about this, and he said Clon does not have side effects at this level and symptoms are most likely psychophysiologic.  I disagree. I would like to know if others have had the jaw/tongue/speech symptoms as a result of taking this med and if I should try to encourage my docs to withdraw me slowly or keep taking since it helped get back my sleeping pattern?  I don't have panic attacks and my emotional state is such that I sometime fear the worst and have a hard time accepting anxiety as the primary concern here.  What other avenues do you think I should pursue as far as other probable tests should be performed for above symptoms if not clonazepam?  I will also try to post this on Doctor forum.  Tks in advance.

[Paxiled]

Take a klonopin.  If symptoms go away, it's the missed dose.

[legend88]

They go away but not completely.  I am especially worried now about my left arm weakness and twitching.

[Paxiled]

Most likely you're anxious about what happened, but only a doctor can tell you for sure -- and even then, probably not.  You might try taking a magnesium citrate supplement and see if it helps.  Many anxiety sufferers -- in fact, most Americans -- are deficient in magnesium, which is responsible for relaxing the muscles.  Just a thought.  I'm going by the fact that taking klonopin again made almost all the symptoms go away, confirming the most probable cause being the abrupt cessation of the med.  The remainder may just be the anxiety of it becoming conditioned in your thinking, which is what bothers us anxiety sufferers in the first place.

[legend88]

Thank you for the info.  I started taking Magnesium Glycinate 200 mg just yesterday after reading your message and many others regarding Magnesium deficiencies.  I am curious if this will help, if it does it will change how I think about medicine forever.
Is there a specific dosage recommended?

[Paxiled]

If you're just taking magnesium, then start with the 200mg.  What you don't want to do is take a lot of magnesium long-term without also supplementing calcium, because too much calcium leaches magnesium out of the body and too much magnesium leaches calcium out of the body.  So start with the 200 and see how it does.  If that doesn't do it. go up in dose another 200 and see if it helps.  If it does, switch to something like Solaray 1:1 magnesium to calcium citrate and see if it helps as much; this reverses the usual formula of 2:1 calcium to magnesium, giving you more magnesium but assuring you're still maintaining sufficient calcium.  Hope it helps.