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Re: Return to baseline after AD discontinuation » Zana

Posted by jedi on April 14, 2009, at 18:43:51

In reply to Re: Return to baseline after AD discontinuation, posted by Zana on April 14, 2009, at 15:45:21

> Jedi, I am curious about why you tapered off the clonzaepam since I am taking a total of 3mgs a day and no one, no pdoc, seems concerned about it. Friends and family are very concerned that it is a downer and contributes to my depression. Unfortunately, I have a trememdous amount of anxiety too and difficulty sleeping (2 of the 3 mgs I take at night.) I started to taper myself off and my pdoc said she wouldn't suggest it.
> What do you think?

Hi Zana,
I had taken clonazepam for many years as an augmenter of Nardil for my social anxiety and atypical depression. It seemed to work really well for that. However, after many years on the medication, my memory was getting much worse. I think most people will agree that long term use of benzodiazepines does affect your memory. This is why I tapered off the drug. My anxiety level had reduced to a point where I thought I could stop the clonazepam, so I did.

3mg of clonazepam is a large dose. It doesn't sound like much, but most equivalence charts show that it is 20 times more potent than diazepam(Vallium). This would make 3mg of clonazepam like 60mg of diazepam.

If you need the med, stay on it. However, there are better medications for sleep. I take 25mg of Seroquel, which just knocks me out. I am super sensitive to the histamine medications, and this is why Seroquel works so well for me.

Even after a 3 month taper, when I finally quit clonazepam, I had some rebound anxiety and insomnia. These withdrawal symptoms went away after a couple of weeks. People that are prone to addiction will probably have a very hard time with clonazepam withdrawal. Especially if they were long term users like me. I'm not addicted to anything, except maybe food, and 3 months was actually pushing it for tapering off 2mg of long term clonazepam usage.

Be Well,
Jedi


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