On Clonazepam

Hello, I'm a 28 year old male living in Costa Rica, and have been prescribed Clonazepam alongside Citalopram for quite a while. I'm very concerned about the Clonazepam - if I try to stop taking it abruptly I can't sleep at all and heart beat seems to increase, and my anxiety and worries (be them irrational or rational) become overwhelming and my cognitive capacity decreases terribly. The same happens if I ever stop taking Citalopram. Sometimes I feel stigmatized so I try to feel normal by doing what seemingly "normal" people do, not take medications and try to be normal. It's hard. Sometime I even feel that the Citalopram isn't helping me, although I am able to somehow hold a job for now. I increased the intake of Clonazepam to at least 1 mg a day and I can't take less, or else I feel very strange. I was considering switching medications and keeping a very low intake of Clonazepam but my anxiety levels don't allow me to do that. If there is anything you can suggest I would be very grateful. I'm very skeptical of the psychiatrists in Costa Rica; I heard from too many people that most of them are very expensive and ineffective in many ways. I don't want to generalize on the medical institutions of Costa Rica, but I don't want to put my condition at a greater degree of risk. Thank you!


This discussion is related to Anti Depressants causing personality changes.

[ggreg]

Dear Space,
I have been taking Clonazepam for ten years and Sertraline (an SSRI cousin of Citalopram) for eight years.  During that time, I have been on and off those drugs for different reasons.  What I have found out is, you cannot stop or reduce dosage on either drug without going into withdrawals.  THAT is what has made you feel so strange, when you have tried to stop your medicine in the past.  It's just like in the movies, when the heroin addict needs his fix, he goes nuts.  Also, the longer you've been on the drugs, the harder it is to rid yourself of them.

The Clonazepam is the easier of the two to get off.  Tapering is the recommended way to do it, cutting dose by a small amount and live with that level until you feel normal again, usually several days, then cut again.  You are looking at weeks of feeling miserable, and if you go too fast, it can throw you into a seizure.  You should tell your doctor what you're doing, he might can give you something short-term to keep you calm during the adjustment.

The Citalopram is a whole different ballgame.  I really lost it when I went off my SSRI.  I threw stuff, screamed, wanted to run away.  It takes months to get it all straight.  The withdrawals are exceedingly bad.  Suicide becomes a very real possibility, so you've got to have your doctor on board with that one.  I cannot emphasize enough the trouble you can get into fooling around with an SSRI.  

Under no circumstances should you go off both drugs at the same time.  And it would be helpful if you had a psychologist you met and talked with at least once a week whilst withdrawing, because all the reasons you were put on the drug are going to come out of you in a big-time rush, and you are gonna need help dealing with it.
GG

[spacecadet79]

Thanks for your answer and for emphasizing! On the suicide factor, I've been in hospitals for severe depressions and attempting it (a few times). Here in Costa Rica I currently have no doctor, and like I said, I'm very concerned about the psychiatrists here - don't want to end up worse. Still, I am in the process of searching for somebody that can help.

My doctors back in Israel (whre I was living before) perscribed 40 mg of Citalopram and 0.5 mg of Clonazepam daily, so I'm sticking to it. I know I have to continue with the former. I can't go off it, at least not now, knowing that my condition is not very optimal, although the latter does worry the #"#$" out of me, due to the increase to 1mg.

Yeah, well a few weeks of hell I can manage. Been through much worse than that in my life.

Thanks again,

Eli  

[(Not so) Spunky]

I have taken clonazepam for quite a few years now, but never regularly, so I haven' t had to deal with too many w/d symptoms. But I was on Xanax daily for a few years, and remember having to get a razor and shave off pieces to cut back. Benzo's are awful. Most people I know aren't "addicted" but have become dependent on them. Unfortunately, the whole "not sleeping" thing will happen no matter how long you take to taper. I was literally taking  like .001 mg (just a razored slice) for my last 2 weeks and still had insomnia for a week when I quit. As far as your SSRI, I'm sorry I can't help on that- not sure what one you're taking? I have been on Paxil, Prozac, Effexor XR, and Wellbutrin. The only one I had an issue coming off of was Effexor- and the w/d's lasted a week or so.