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what do i do?

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donjenkins	what do i do?		Lead	[-]
Regular Visitor Posts: 253 07/25/05 3:58 AM	Tags : None Remove this ad hi all i been taking clonazepan (klnopin) for just over a year 3 mg daily. the problem is that although my visuals are the same (if not worsening) the clonazepan has lifted me out of the depressive anxious rut i used to be in. (dont get me wrong i dont feel like mary poppins!! but alot better). it has also managed to reduce the sickness and light headedness but that could have been the anxiety causing that. i had a medication review and told the GP this and he didnt want to interfere with my neurological medication, but did say that the clonazepan does have high anti anxiety properties in it. im s'posed to be finding a cure for my visuals and i didnt want to rely on a medication to beat my anxiety but it seems that i am. i dont know wether to slowly come off it and see what happens, i know i cant stay on it forever. just thinking about stopping taking the pills makes me feel awful! any advise ? thank you Donna
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sand500	Re: what do i do?	#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 352 07/25/05 1:37 PM	if it is not helping your visuals get better, i would try to gradually wean myself out of it. to use an analogy quoted on HPPD - use Klonopin as a crutch to help you walk - but if you can walk without it then dont use it. i would tend to agree with that. you may want to post this question on the HPPD site - a lot of people there have a lot of experience with this med and may be able to offer more consturctive advice - especially regarding the Klonopin withdrawal symptoms and how to deal with it etc.
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LarryC0000	Re: what do i do?	#2	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 460 07/25/05 4:00 PM	Hi Donna, It has been a while since we chatted. I know you have pronounced afterimages. Not other symptoms. The klonopin is recommended for that on the HPPD site if someone has that. I tried it and it did not help. That is the case with virtually all people here. IanKC did have reduction in snow from xanax, another med in that class. So I agree with Sand. If it is not helping, then you are best off not being on klonopin for long periods of time if you are able to get away from them. If the anxiety is from the visuals, I think most of us can understand that but there are better ways to deal with it in the long run. So my advice is to slowly get down on the med if your neurologist (I think you implied that is who gave it to you) is not against that idea. Larry
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leahesther	Re: what do i do?	#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 113 07/25/05 6:58 PM	Donna, I have taken Klonopin for over five years for restless leg syndrome. I do not have visual snow or disturbances. I post here because my daughter does. I agree with Larry and Sand that you probably want to very slowly reduce your dose. 3 mg. a day sounds like a lot (I take between .75 - 1 mg/day for my legs). On the other hand, after five years on basically the same dose and having tried neurotin and other things, I think Klonopin at low doses is a relatively safe drug and am not concerned about long-term usage. It is prescribed for me by a neurologist sleep specialist who scoffs at a lot of the talk about its addictive nature. Just another opinion, Lesley
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donjenkins	Re: what do i do?	#4	[url]	[-]
Regular Visitor Posts: 253 07/28/05 2:03 PM	Remove this ad thanks for your advise guys, i just feel like im gonna end up down that old road again of depersonalisation and anxiety, depression but i guess i will only find out for sure if i come off it. for some reason it just seems to clear my head of all that pressure feeling. i feel human, back on planet earth! Donna
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jacob	what do i do	#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 102 07/29/05 9:18 AM	hi donna I've been on various amounts of klonopin for the last 6 months - based on the hppd lit. my former shrink had me up to 3 mg a day. When i complained that i felt like a zombie and i was worried about a additiction - he told me i needed it for my anxiety and I wasn't addicted, but 'dependent' I'm now down to .5-1 mg a day. I only take it when i begin to feel a severe anxiety attack coming on - unfortunatley this seems to happen at least once a day. I'm surprised Lesley's neuropath scoffed at the addiction thing - its widely accepted that klonopin is addictive - its a narcotic, its sold on the street, as you probably notice for the first month or so you take it, it makes you 'high.' ultimatley I agree its better not to take it. I've read some horror stories about people trying to quit - abrubt withdrawal can apparently cause VISUAL DISTURBANCES - just what we need - more visuals. so a slow taper is essential. I guess the good and bad thing about klonopin is that it acts fairly quickly, (unlike an anti-depressent you don't need to build it up in your system to have an effect) so you go down or off and you can't handle it you can just start taking it again. It's difficult for me too to imagine living without it as long as i have all these horrible visual distortions. some days i can't leave the house unless i take it first. I was wondering if you had any tips on how to adjust since you've had this for so long. its only been 6 months for me and i can barely function - the idea of a lifetime of this makes me contemplate suicide. you said it's gotten easier over time - how? Lesley any updates on sara's condition? (I had a lyme disease test done yesterday although my doc thought it was pretty unlikely) cheers jacob
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IanKC	Re: what do i do	#6	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2955 07/29/05 12:43 PM Administrator	3mg of Klonopin a day is a lot for only 6 months. I've been on Xanax for around 2 years, and I'm only up to 2 a day... both drugs are about the same potency. If you had started with a smaller dose, you probably wouldn't feel such intense side effects. The relief might not be as great, but its a good trade-off for not feeling like a zombie for half the day.
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donjenkins	Re: what do i do	#7	[url]	[-]
Regular Visitor Posts: 253 07/30/05 4:57 AM	Jacob ''I was wondering if you had any tips on how to adjust since you've had this for so long. its only been 6 months for me and i can barely function - the idea of a lifetime of this makes me contemplate suicide. you said it's gotten easier over time - how''? at first i was exactlly like you i felt so low, depressed, considered suicide. i just didnt want to leave the house !!! i couldnt be bothered with anything i packed in work for over a year.all i did was watch these stupid visuals or look for new ones. when i now look back i got through it by making myself do things, making myself go out even if it was just to the local shop, the more i went out the more i didnt notice the visuals. dont get me wrong they are still there but my mind was occupied by something else. i started to go out socially again and when i was out i still had the visuals but didnt notice them as i was 'busying' myself. for me keeping busy was the key, i went back to work and have been there just over a year. i saw a shrink who said that i was doing everything right and there wasn't much he could do for me. its hard to explain how i got to how i am now, my visuals are still with me,they still upset me but mentally i am alot better. i do take clonazepan but i may come off it. they say time is a great healer!! just never ever give up !!!! no matter how hard it gets. im proof that you can mostly heal mentally just not physically yet!! Donna
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jacob	Re: what do i do?	#8	[url]	[-]
Posts: 102 07/30/05 8:54 AM	Remove this ad thank you donna i kind of feared that time and forcing oneself to get out is probably part of it. I find that some days i can go out and have a coffee with a friend and talk about books or movies or whatever and other days i just can't get off the couch and wonder what's the point of living in such misery. I was on effexor for two months which helped out with my social anxiety a little bit - but i was still just as depressed about the vs. i then started seeing a naturalpath who felt the problem was treatable (my vs started after taking the anti-depressent remeron) but told me he couldn't help me if i was on effexor. so i went off it, since my shrink wasn't really offering any solutions for the visual disturbances, accept get used to and take more effexor. I'm pretty worried that all my efforts and money with this naturalpathic approach won't pay off and meanwhile my social anxiety has come back almost as bad as when this first happened. I've considered going back on effexor or some other anti-depressent, but i fear they will either make my vision worse or insure this problem never goes away. anyway, not much pt in that rant - but its good to know that people have managed to claim their life back despite living with this condition. in 3 weeks i'm having an oxymark panel test - it tests - Antioxidants - Urinary Organic Acids - Amino Acids - Essential Fatty Acids - Oxidative Stress biomarkers - my naturalpath thinks this will lead to getting to the source of the problem and resolving it. i don't know, but i guess its worth a shot. I'll keep people posted on the results - like 6 weeks from now - jacob
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