Clonazepam.

[sodman]

Is Clonazepam harmful to an 82 year old man who has been on it for ten years?

[ggreg]

Dear Sodman,
I've been on it for ten years, and the only thing that I needed to do in that time was get my dose increased a couple times.  A person can get used to the amount they take, so it's important to have it increased from time to time, or else the drug won't provide the relief they need.  ALSO, another issue with clonazepam is the generics can sometimes not be very good, and it can throw a person into withdrawals without them realizing it, altho this is sort of unusual.  But it happened to me twice in ten years and I've read about others.  The prescribing doc should be made aware if the drug isn't doing its job, and then they can both put him on the trade name version for a while AND increase the dose, and things should improve very rapidly.  

But as for harmfulness, if a person winds up stopping the drug too suddenly, it can give a person seizures.  If a person is going to go off the benzodiazepines, they have got to taper unbelievably slowly (two months).  But as long as the stuff keeps a person comfortable, there is NO reason not to continue taking it.  And this cannot be said of all drugs people take; but for tranquilizers, gosh, they're just so mild in general.  Also, I combine it with two other rather sedating sorts of drugs and never had any particular breathing problems, but I also do not drink, so in my view, it's when you combine too much alcohol with sedating drugs that you might have an issue.
GG

[theasian]

Hi
10 years is a long time. I doubt there would be any harmful effects now. The only thing that you would have to look out for now is that he may develop a tolerance towards the drug.
Take care

[MMahon]

I have been on Benzodiazepines for 40+ years on and off, mostly on. :-)
If you haven't had any effects after 10 years, anything new is unlikely.
You do need to look out for other drugs interacting with it and side effects from withdrawal if you are advised to stop taking it
Does it help?  Why the concern at this point?