Clonazepam withdrawal? please Someone help me

[lisaloves1]

Please help me,
I have been taking Clonazepam 0.5mg twice a day for the past year because I had anxiety problems when I am alone (Sort of like stage fright when I am outside). My anxiety problems have lessoned when I went back with my sons father and I only started taking Clonazepam 0.5mg about once a day or even once a week as needed when I need to go out somewhere alone. I really stopped taking it because my sons father and I were trying to have another child and I do not want it to affect the fetus. I was on Seroquel because I had a hard time sleeping my psychologist prescribed me Seroquel 100mg 3x's a night but I would take them about twice a night until I started having serious side effects such as restlessness and irritibility to the point I cried asking myself Why have I taken a Seroquel. Now I haven't seen the doctor for about a month so I missed a month dosage on Seroquel and Clonazepam but I had some left over. I refused to take the seroquels because of the irribility and I forced myself to sleep at nights...Sometimes it would work. Now the doctor prescribed me with trazodome instead of Seroquel and said to me since I did not take Seroquel as prescribed he refuses to give it to me again. He also prescribed restless leg syndrome pills but I am not taking them as well because since I have been forcing myself to sleep I was able to manage to do that. Now I am going through something that feels like I am in Hell every day, I sometimes feel like I can't breath, I feel like crying because I don't know how to stop this withdrawal pain at night I had visual disturbances such as the bag on my door was moving in slight circles. I cried myself to sleep that night and had to take a clonazepam. Please Doc can you tell me what to do? I know I shouldn't have stopped taking the pill abructly. I was not told I would get any withdrawal symptoms. I really don't know if I am having withdrawels from Clonazepam or From the Seroquel. I am taking Clonazepam the way I was prescribed scared to death now for the fact that I might risk myself if I am pregnant. Please Please help me. I do not know what to do.

[lisaloves1]

Ty so much Greenlydia,
              You have helped in more words than I can say so thanks :)

[RubyWitch]

If you are still seeing your therapist every week and your doctor for your meds once a month..........why are you not addressing all these quesitons and concerns to them? I'm afraid that revelation has left me a bit........confused.
Don't know who told you that Clonazepam will cause "floppy" babies, but the only one who can give you the correct information is your OB/GYN. (By the way, what the hell is a "floppy" baby?) They're kind of "floppy" by nature, so are we talking "extreme floppiness" here?
Sorry about the mix up in the amount of meds your on. As some folks know, I need pictures and pie charts when it comes to dosages!
Glad to hear you finally had a good nights sleep. Sometimes we can induce horrible insomnia in ourselves by simply fearing we won't be able to sleep. I've done it myself when I've had a bout of it. I start thinking negative thoughts before bed like "what if I can't fall asleep AGAIN," "what if I can't STAY asleep?" "what if I toss and turn all night and wind up exhausted in the morning....." It goes on and on and sure as the **** crows at midnight, I DON'T sleep. You can find all sorts of good advice on things to do before bed that will help you relax, to reset your thinking to positive.............and you can do that without drugs. Like I said, you have to break the negative thinking cycle and I think you've made a good start by attributing your sleep problems to all the medication you were taking to "help" you sleep.
I am also happy to hear that you won't be messing around with your meds anymore. If you want to taper off the Clonazepam, you're going about it the right way this time, by discussing it with your doctor.
And even more kudos for you for being in a group therapy situation that deals with your issues. Being around others with the same problems can be extremely beneficial and supportive. I hope you do work on getting out of the house more.........it would be a shame when baby number two appears if you couldn't proudly parade him/her around town! Let that serve as a bit of motivation for you! What mum doesn't want all the old biddies at the shops to coo and fuss over your wee one?
This last post of yours is filled with so much that is positive! I really think you've turned the corner and your path is much clearer now. We are all rooting for you and know that you will succeed. Keep your eyes on the goal and know that we're always here if things get wonky and you need a bit of support or a butt kicking......which we all need from time to time and I promise it will be a gentle kick. LOL
I'm very proud of you!
Keep us posted, OK?
Peace
Greenlydia      

[lisaloves1]

I still do go to therapy every week and I see a doctor for my meds once a month. I heard the Clonazepam causes infants to become floppy. Not sure if it's true but it has caused testing in rabbits to have disformed babies. Anyways, It's not 0.25 I am on. I am on 0.5mg twice daily. I believe that I was getting restless leg syndrome from the Seroquels or the sleeping pills I was taking before so I stopped. After a while it wore down thank God. I had a good night sleep last night for the first time. I don't know if it was mental like when you think about why you're not sleeping you don't actually fall asleep....whatever the case maybe I had a good night sleep and I fell asleep fast. I hope this will happen again today. I already know about withdrawals from my own experience and I am not going to stop taking the pills without talking to a Doctor which I am going to see this Friday to see about him giving me a little lower dosage of clonazepam so I can taper them off....
About being housebound anxiety. you're absolutely right. I go to group therapy with people who have anxiety as well, every week and we are talking about things like this. I was told I need to be out the house more and not just stayed cooped up in my home and on the internet. I am working on that!

[RubyWitch]

OK......let me see if I can get THIS one straight.

You are NOT pregnant, but want to be.
You ARE taking clonazepam, 0.25mg bid (twice a day) AS DIRECTED
Your restless leg syndrome has mysteriously vanished.
You suffer from pretty severe insomnia.
You have a fear of being alone outside, (agoraphobia) which you've had since you were a child.
You went to therapy to try and change.
And finally, a year and a half ago, you got back with your childs father and "things are better and I'm happy now."

Is that about it?

There is NOTHING there that is not fixable, so calm down and make a plan.

My first bit of humble advice would be for you to NOT get pregnant until most of these issues are fully under control. Even tho it would make you very happy, it would still add stress and you've got enough of that currently. And if you think you're hearing your biological clock ticking, ignore the damn thing! I didn't have my second son until I was 35 and many women are waiting longer than that, so make that a non-issue right now. You've got time.

You are taking the clonazepam, as directed, and state you are feeling better. Keep taking it and let it do it's job. In time you can discuss with your doctor AND your OB/GYN about either getting off the medication or staying on it. (I don't have the knowledge to know if you can take that while pregnant) But for now, it's working to help you feel better, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (And for the love of Mike, don't MESS with it!)

That your restless leg syndrome has apparently vanished on its own is great. I didn't know it could do that, but what I know about RLS would fit in a gnats nose bag. What does your doctor say about this? Whatever he/she says, just enjoy the fact that one nasty disorder is gone and we'll all hope it doesn't return. Please do not obsess about it.

Your insomnia is definitely an issue you need to discuss with your doctor. Since this is far more than the occassional bout of insomnia, perhaps a sleep study is called for. I just think there are some things that need to be ruled out before you keep popping one pill after another.

I'm going to sort of lump these next two together for the sake of brevity. That you have some fear of being alone outside is a form of agoraphobia, and you've apparently had this since you were a child. This is something that needs to be addressed in therapy before you wind up being totally housebound. Which is something many, many folks here will tell you is a living nightmare. You say you were in therapy once before "to try and change." What became of that? Without knowing why you stopped, I obviously can't offer much except to say give it another shot. If you had a bad experience, let us know about it. But I honestly believe you would benifit greatly from it and owe it to yourself (and your family) to try again.

Lastly, you say you are back with your childs father, things are better and you're happy. This sounds like a very happy ending with a couple of bumps in the road. Bumps can be smoothed out...........so, from where I'm sitting, you can either be the car on the road or you can be the possum.

Be strong and pro-active. You CAN do this!
Peace
Greenlydia  

[lisaloves1]

Thanks Greenlydia,
   I know I needed that. First I'm not pregnant, I was trying to get pregnant is the reason why I started not taking the clonazepam twice a day but yet once every other day or when I go outside. Usually when i'm outside is when I get anxiety. I felt like I didn't need to take the clonazepam because I don't have anxiety that often since I am always with my sons father. so yeah I had some left over when I missed my doctors appointment. The seroquels he was giving me was 100mg but said I should take 3 of them at night. I would take that with the restless leg syndrome pill. So one day my rls pills finished so I decided to just take 2 seroquels and omg did it make it hell for me. I couldn't sleep I was fidgety and I was scared to take any more seroquels and try to learn how to sleep on my own instead of taking these medications. I caught a bad withdrawal from either Clonazepam or Seroquel but I stayed off Seroquel and I am not about to take another sleep medication because I am scared to death to go through another withdrawel. Now my rls has gone away but I cannot sleep and I am trying to find ways like breathing exercises or meditation just anything to help me sleep. I do take the clonazepam 0.5mg twice a day and learned it was a stupid thing to do by not taking it as directed and I am started to feel a little bit better. I am not agitated much the only problem is my sleep. I really was better off without these meds. my Anxiety was almost like a stage fright I get when I am outside by myself, but I was always fine when I was with someone else. I went to therapy to try to change. I usually speak loud and sometimes I get anxious and people would tell me Lisa, you talk to fast or you talk to loud and it wasn't the first person who told me it was a couple of people. I had broken up with my sons father and I was extremely shy to the point I hated to go anywhere by myself I've had this problem since I was a child. I got back with my sons father a year and a half ago and things have been much better and I am happy now. I just want another child. I'm 31 years old and I do not want to have any side effects if I do get pregnant in the near future. Anyways long story short I know. I just want to try to taper off the clonazepam and learn how to sleep well. It's really hard for me right now

[RubyWitch]

Your first big mistake was deciding, on your own, to take the Klonopin only when you thought you needed it, and worse, to skip it for an entire week at a time! After being on it for a year, you absolutely needed to taper off this med under the supervision of your doctor. It is NOT a drug you take prn! (as needed)
Your psychologist prescribed Seroquel for sleep?! Quetiapine is an antipsychotic med and has as side effects, agitation, anxiety and INSOMNIA. It should also never be used if you are pregnant or are trying to become pregnant.
Then you tell me you haven't seen your doctor for a month, so in other words, you have gone cold turkey off the Klonopin and stopped the Seroquel but then say you had some left over............!
Now you have apparently been BACK to your doctor who now has you on trazodone, an antidepressant and refuses to give you Serequel because you did not take it as prescribed. He ALSO gave you something for RLS but you've decided not to take that.........
Now you feel like your going through hell, you feel like crying all the time, you feel like you can't breath, you have visual disturbances and you don't know how to stop the withdrawal pain and your solution was to pop a Klonopin.
Now you tell us you are taking Klonopin "the way I was prescribed," but you're afraid by doing so you may risk your pregnancy.
ARE you pregnant or just trying to get there?
I'm going to be very harsh here. You, miss, have screwed up in so many major ways, I'm really at a loss as to what to say! Do you think these meds are prescribed for you to play around with, to take on some sort of hit or miss whim? These are serious medications which can create serious problems when you don't take them as prescribed..........but you've found that out for yourself, haven't you? You are going through some withdrawal and need to see your doctor or your psychologist immediately and tell them EXACTLY what the hell you've been doing! They need to get you straightened out first and then prescribe something for the correct condition(s) you have..........which I think include anxiety, depression, sleeplessness and restless leg syndrome. Is that the entire list? And if you ARE pregnant, I'd get myself in front of my OB/GYN as soon as possible and tell him/her all the stuff your on.
And for crying out loud, when you are prescribed something, take it AS DIRECTED. Never change ANYTHING without consulting your doctor first! If you feel you don't need something or it's not working or you don't like the side effects, keep taking the med and call your doctor! Let THEM advise you on what you should do.
You ended by saying, "I don't know what to do."
If YOU don't know what to do, let someone who DOES tell you!
Get to your doctor ASAP.
Peace
Greenlydia