The Klonopin Klub#2

I agree esperanza. Let’s hope so. It’s actually more than hope at the moment.

 

People are taking action, and that’s a good thing imo. I read a lot of the news and watch a ton of msnbc.

 

Try very hard to not to not let it upset me, but’s that difficult. Will never look away though. Better to know than live in some lazy fantasy world.

 

On another note,

 

I got a reply email from the Office of Business Integrity for Teva. They explained that they were hoping to bring Teva clonazepam back at some point. No big investigation needed, but very glad I had emailed them.

 

Then called Teva myself. Spoke with Kevin. He called CVS close to my house. Pharmacist told him that shelves were stocked with Actavis clonazepam. I then called CVS further away from my house that’s inside a Target store. They are also stocked with Actavis clonazepam.

 

Looks like Actavis is here again in Utah. I’m filled up with Sandoz right now, so don’t need to and can’t get anything different until next month. Hope good old Teva keeps up doing ok on the stock market. Got a running feed of it going here on my iPad. Hard to say with all these tariffs being put on all our allies. Healthcare stocks usually can weather this though.

Ok so I’m a bit lost after reading all that to catch up. But intend, when I said implying & you said saying about the other generics, did you mean, you’re concerned that the other generics are poor or that they may discontinue too?

 

I’m glad to hear it seems all worked out for you with the k pin. Do you plan to stay on it now or crossover to Valium?

 

What do you make of teva saying they may bring their k pin back? Anymore info on that?

 

I spoke with teva today too & customer service said that actavis .5mg is on back order & May be out next week or may not be, may take longer. To look for it at cvs. Still really doesn’t help me except give me another generic to try besides teva & solco, if it ever gets rollled out here. Then if I’ve started onto solco again by then & it disappears because actavis is back, then what? I chase solco from pharmacy to pharmacy. Thay lirpterally don’t know what their preferred k pin is, except Walmart, they were the most professional & know, accord. They, teva, also make the brand & identical generic of the modafinil & the medical personnel was very helpful in assisting me with ndc numbers for my pharmacy. I think the medical branch is much better than the dude in customer service who keeps telling me things are on backorder.

 

Thanks Esperanza & intend(sounds like you two have bonded, that’s great!) & hope everyone has a good night. SC

Love to everyone in this group. Esperanza

Hi all,

thanks just for being their & all the action here lately. It really stinks that I won’t be able to afford brand k. I wonder if I could get a manufacturer coupon or any coupon. Anyone know about that sort of thing? Who is the manufacturer?

 

Then if I did get it, I would definitely need help with scales & or liquid(doc won’t do liquid) as you can only halve them not quarter them. I’m on such a high dose, you’d think I’d need to be able to quarter, but that put me in withdrawal last time🤔guess I’ll need scale/liquid help.

 

Aurora,

Thanks so much for looking for me out here. Sorry I was tired when I responded to everyone last night. You’re very kind to find me. So yes, teva discontued & putting many in a bind.

 

Nolo, sorry to hear your hitting bumps. Hope it all works out soon for you.

 

Dub, you said your cuts hit you harder on actavis? Thinking that means it’s weaker?now you’re considering brand it’s making you feel so bad?

 

I also read that both teva & brand have an inactive ingredient that may or may not act as benzo in body, something to that affect.

 

Please let me know brand manufacturer & any ideas of how to get it affordably.

 

Yes, intend, I hope you don’t go from this support board, but we all must stay in our comfort zone.

 

Warm be well wishes to all. SC

 

Hey! Yes the cuts do feel stronger so it maybe weaker. But I held for a few extra days and feel stabilized now and ready to start cutting again. Actavis feels muuuuuch better than accord.....

On another note,

 

I got a reply email from the Office of Business Integrity for Teva. They explained that they were hoping to bring Teva clonazepam back at some point. No big investigation needed, but very glad I had emailed them.

 

Then called Teva myself. Spoke with Kevin. He called CVS close to my house. Pharmacist told him that shelves were stocked with Actavis clonazepam. I then called CVS further away from my house that’s inside a Target store. They are also stocked with Actavis clonazepam.

 

Looks like Actavis is here again in Utah. I’m filled up with Sandoz right now, so don’t need to and can’t get anything different until next month. Hope good old Teva keeps up doing ok on the stock market. Got a running feed of it going here on my iPad. Hard to say with all these tariffs being put on all our allies. Healthcare stocks usually can weather this though.

 

They said they might bring it back?? Sounds like Teva be playing some kind games with us lol! Hope it is true... I called them numerous times and they never even gave me an answer for why it was discontinued in the first place.... sounds like they have no clue what’s going on.. smh

I didn’t answer all day because our internet went down around 3:30 this afternoon.

 

The story of this Teva mess is this:

 

Teva is the biggest generic drug manufacturer in the world. But they also wanted to make branded drugs. They had one branded drug called copaxone which was highly successful. But as the patent time was running down, they tried to buy into other drug companies. They made offers to Mylan and Novartis, but they weren’t interested.

 

In the meantime, Allergan had just added Actavis as a generic branch. It seemed that right after that (as far as timing), Teva made an offer to buy Actavis from Allergan, and Allergan jumped at that because Teva paid 40$billion to acquire Actavis. On their own, Actavis had a great reputation for making very good medications.

 

The 40$billion debt that Teva took on turned out to be an overeach for them, and the company started to fail. A lot of this happened against recommendations of members of their own corporate people.

 

So this was in 2015-2016, and Teva has struggled to recover ever since. They’ve had to lay off thousands from their workforce and close down manufacturing facilities all over the world. I don’t know about the rest of the US, but Teva was here during all that time. And Actavis was here for a very long time. And when the acquisition took place, Actavis was gone for over a year. It was like they just disappeared. And that’s when I was switched to Sandoz. And then Actavis was back again. Teva did what they called their “Actavis integration.” So people could choose between Teva products and Actavis products. So I was switched back to Actavis. And then the debt really got to Teva, the corporate structure was reorganized, and they hired a new CEO called Kåre Schultz who had a reputation for bringing companies back when they were in trouble.

 

And he’s been doing that. I really don’t know why they’ve decided to bring make Actavis as their clonazepam product now. It does feel like a game in some ways. I do feel wary of them because it’s become too much “fooling around” for my taste. I’m really sick of it overall. This is why taking branded K would be better I guess. Still unsure of that idea because of cost. Just worn out and tired of calling pharmacies. Well, it’s super late here, and I have a tendency to become negative in attitude by now at night. No dulled emotions here. But that’s what I know about Teva and all this BS.

 

I am following this thread as a concerned Klonopin user. I was on Teva, then I have had one refill of Mylan which messed me up for a while and now my pharmacy is out of Mylan and are now putting me on Actavis for my next refill. I will be glad when these switches are over. Is Actavis similiar to Teva? I hope to get positive responses. Like everyone else, I am pretty fed up with this.

So, it’s early morning here, and I’m reading back on some questions that were asked after my internet went out yesterday.

 

In the middle of my ranting yesterday, I did check my email and saw that response from Teva’s Office of Business Integrity. Kind of caught me off guard as I thought I’d either not get a response or it would take longer, but they did respond.

 

It was as I said, but has one part that says, “Generally in the Pharma Industry there are interruptions in manufacturing in the supply of drugs. In this particular case, Teva is able to provide the Actavis drug as an approved FDA substitute to avoid a drug shortage. Teva is working hard to bring back the historic Teva clonazepam sometime in the future. If you have additional questions or concerns, please continue to contact customer service for assistance.”

 

So I really do not know myself what’s happening here with Teva as far as the Teva clonazepam in the future. And that also leaves the Actavis clonazepam situation up in the air also. The reason I emailed them in the first place was to get clarification of which clonazepam they would be using, and to me it seem to basically repeat the lack of clarity some of us have gotten from customer service already. I can only say that’s what’s in your own pharmacy or others you’ve called is what’s there.

 

I did call that CVS in the target store further north of me as I said, and spoke with a knowledable pharm tech who said they did have Actavis clonazepam on the shelf and were waiting for more of the .5 mg to come in. The other CVS was called by that customer service person, and he said the pharmacist there said that Actavis was fully stocked in that location. There are plenty of other pharmacies here I could call, but I get worn out and irritated doing all this calling.

 

 

“

bbmom, your pharmacy is out of Mylan clonazepam because Mylan has discontinued it. And if you found that it wasn’t comfortable for you, it’s probably because some people find it’s weaker than other types of generic clonazepam.

 

Some don’t notice any difference in these generics, while others do.

 

As far as Teva clonazepam and Actavis clonazepam, that’s another question in my mind also. I made great progress on Actavis, and I’ve never taken Teva clonazepam. I’d probably notice a difference because I’m highly sensitized, but you may not. This particular KKKlub doesn’t get a ton of participants overall, so maybe we just have to wait for other responses.

 

DubCity says that they’ve done ok on the Actavis after not being able to get Teva, so that’s one answer to your question.

Intend- Thank you so much for your response. Just have to keep on keepin' on, I guess. No other choice.

I agree bbmom.

 

It’s hard to make progress on tapering when the rug keeps getting pulled out under someone.

 

And by that I mean if these drug companies keep switching generic clonazepam, people continually have to adjust to something new and have to stop tapering while they adjust. That’s what I do anyway; I don’t taper while I allow adjustment to take place.

 

I saw my doctor today, and he was quite surprised at all these discontinuations and replacements. We’ve agreed to go month by month and see how it goes. He’s very concerned about the stupidity of these drug companies and the FDA.

 

I’m going to make a call to Northstar and ask why they are discontinuing the .5 mg and what’s happening with the 1 mg clonazepam. And I guess I’ll keep that information to myself because very few people seem to care about any of this, and that as strange to me as what’s going on with these drug companies.

 

Yep, this is a lonely business in the sense that so many family and friends don’t understand this, and most doctors don’t either, but really disturbing loneliness occurs when members of benzo buddies don’t care. I do know how to help myself, and that’s who I need to be concerned about. It’s silly to make calls and send emails and relay that info here when very few ever say a word. It’s not only silly; it’s stupid, and I’m not stupid.

 

So with that I’ll say I’ll continue to read B.B., but posting on this support group is totally fruitless.

Ok guys so I saw my psychiatrist today. I told him about how so many manufacturers are discontinuing their clonazepam and asked if he thinks it's because more companys are finding out how bad benzos are for people. He laughed and told me drug companys don't care about people they only care about money, and wen't on to tell me that drug companies aren't making money off clonazepam and thats the reason so many companys have discontinued them. I was very shocked how honest he was since he makes a living handing out pills to people. He is a very nice doctor when I told him I was having trouble with generics he told me he could precribe me brand klonopin and write down on the script that I can only take the brand and that I am allergic to all generics. He said this way they won't charge me for it. So i guess im going to try the brand klonopin since it's going to be the same price as the actavis. why not? lol. maybe you guys can ask your doctor to do the same thing. I'll update you guys if it actually works and is the same price as the generic.

Hi all,

Intend, all of your efforts are appreciated. I havnt been on here in a couple of days. Sorry you feel your leg work fruitless. It’s been helpful to me & im sure others, but certainly discontinue doing it if it’s stressing you.

 

Very interesting & confusing about teva k pin.?

 

Dub, you lucky duck! Hope it works out for you. In the meantime, can you tell me what the texture, solid or soft, taste(like teva), score lines(easy to use for breaking splitting?) of actavis is like compared to teva? Did the doses seem to last as long as teva? Any other comparisons to teva?

Thanks

I am posting again because I think it’s necessary.

 

Yes, I do feel my leg work is fruitless. I’m just worn out in general and I am stressed for numerous reasons. My hubby is having to do a bunch of work that is hard on him because I discovered a tiny leak in the sprinkler system.

 

I have had to make so many calls to local people and to drug companies that this has just piled up on me. And later on today he is going camping with our grandson. I will have to run around today to pick up medications before he goes. And there is just so much to do I am overwhelmed. I feel so far behind in just the everyday stuff that last night I felt like crying.

 

Even this minute, we need to call Walgreens to get those ordered. I can pick them up tomorrow, but it’s just the idea that a lot needs to be done. When I get to thinking about it, I’m so overwhelmed. I feel like I’ll never get caught up.

 

Yes, it is very confusing about the Teva KPin. I know all about activis myself. Dub doesnt need to tell you what they look like. The 1 mg is bright yellow with a very good score down the middle. I am a good pill cutter so when I crossed to Actavis from some generic brand of xanax, I used a very good pill cutter that was cushioned on both sides. It worked fine. I never used a scale to cut a pill or to  micro taper.

 

The .5 mg Actavis is pink. It also has a good score down the middle. I could cut that easily also.

 

Yes, I agree that Dub is fortunate to be able to get brand K. Anyone of us can do that. Some may pay for it by ourselves, while others pay some part ourselves. It just comes down to money and your insurance company.

 

And I do not agree with Dub on this idea of drug companies not making money on clonazepam. I don’t care what the doctor said. Basically, doctors don’t get involved with drug companies a lot. They’re involved with their patients. Yes, drug companies really only care about money. But this is not just about clonazepam. If that were true, then it’s true of all the benzos. And it’s true of all medications, not just benzos or other medications. Of course generics are less expensive, but that’s true of generics for all medications. Dubs doctor made an incorrect statement there.

I’m sorry your stressed & sad, intend. Thanks for all your efforts. I hope you feel better very soon. I’m sorry to bee brief but I’m busy works no on scheduling my ms Meds delivery injection training etc. my provigil from teva that rite aid ordered didn’t come in today. Very disappointed about that. I’m at barely functional level right now, just so much medical junk going on with me & depression & fatigue are making simple things seem impossible. Best wishes, take a deep breath with me. XX

Don’t worry Sc.

 

You have a lot on your plate to get figured out. You need some time to sort this.

Thanks intend. Be well

Hi all,

Intend, all of your efforts are appreciated. I havnt been on here in a couple of days. Sorry you feel your leg work fruitless. It’s been helpful to me & im sure others, but certainly discontinue doing it if it’s stressing you.

 

Very interesting & confusing about teva k pin.?

 

Dub, you lucky duck! Hope it works out for you. In the meantime, can you tell me what the texture, solid or soft, taste(like teva), score lines(easy to use for breaking splitting?) of actavis is like compared to teva? Did the doses seem to last as long as teva? Any other comparisons to teva?

Thanks

 

Hey Scardie I have been on Actavis for well over 3 weeks now. The texture is solid like teva and actually taste just like teva... it has that same minty taste as teva. The shape of the pill is actually different than teva, it is rounded which makes it very difficult to cut without causing it to break or crumble, if you are trying to dry cut like I do. I use a mg scale so i just file it down with a nail file to get to the exact amount i need, instead of using a razor. It takes a little longer but nothing crazy. I'm surpised actavis isn't availabe in your area yet have you tried to put in a special order for actavis? GL!

I have decided just to stay on actavis instead of switching to brand klonopin. I am finally starting to stabilze on actavis again and don't want to mess around with anything new again. I'm sure the brand klonopin isn't identical either and I will either feel an updose or a cut, not trying to deal with all that headache again. I'm going to hold a little longer in between cuts with actavis since i felt the cuts more than I used to on teva. It's going to take me longer than i expected, but hey any cut is better than nothing. GL benzo fam hope everyone has a nice long window today...... we all deserve it!

Dub,

 

From you mentioned in a previous post, you’ve tapered down to @.125 mg if I remember correctly.

 

And you’re doing ok on Actavis. Overall I’d say your decision to stay on it is a good one because as you say, the brand K is probably different (I would expect it to be myself), so why change things now.

 

It’s really up to the individual whether to go to brand K or not, but if I had gotten down as you have (still working on tapering half of original dose of 3 mg) I’d just stick with what worked and had access to. My situation is different than yours in that I’ve been switched 4 times between Actavis and Sandoz, and with the Sandoz discontinuation, a 5th switch is coming up for me. Not looking forward to that a bit, but it has to happen no matter what.

 

I’m told by 2 CVS stores in my area that Actavis is on their shelves right now, so I guess that’s what I’ll try again. My thoughts there are that my CNS is familiar with those two generic brands so (although this switching back and forth has caused problems), it’s probably better than introducing a different generic brand entirely. I hope I’m right. Clonazepam is not my original benzo (alprazolam is), and that crossover was a total screw up because doc at the time had no idea how to do it, and then switched me back and forth from generic X to generic K 4 times in 6 months. The word “switch” is a word that’s not only familiar to me, but one I use frequently as it’s seems to be appropriate under these conditions.

How does this group feel about updose? I am dealing with family in crisis, very depressed and anxious.  I need to be there for them. Have tapered way too fast and been holding 3 weeks and still getting worse.  I do not want to do something to make it worse than it is. Do updose seven work? I was in tolerance and suffering before the taper. Would welcome any opinion.Thanks, Esperanza

How does this group feel about updose? I am dealing with family in crisis, very depressed and anxious.  I need to be there for them. Have tapered way too fast and been holding 3 weeks and still getting worse.  I do not want to do something to make it worse than it is. Do updose seven work? I was in tolerance and suffering before the taper. Would welcome any opinion.Thanks, Esperanza

 

Esperanza, I had to updose by .125mg to get some stability in April.  I held my updose for a month.  What dose was the last you felt more stable on?  You could always go back to that dose and hold until you are able to resume tapering. 

How does this group feel about updose? I am dealing with family in crisis, very depressed and anxious.  I need to be there for them. Have tapered way too fast and been holding 3 weeks and still getting worse.  I do not want to do something to make it worse than it is. Do updose seven work? I was in tolerance and suffering before the taper. Would welcome any opinion.Thanks, Esperanza

 

I also answered on the Long Hold Group.

 

Yes, updoses have worked for me. I did significant updoses twice, you can see my signature.

 

I still believe that long holds work but, for me, they don't pull me out of a bad place like an updose does. Without a signature I don't know where you are/how quickly you tapered, but I think you should give it a try. I would go up to where you last felt stable, or go up a little bit, then a little more if you need to. It can take a little while for the updose to kick in. I also believe that updoses work best when you believe they will work. I think some people question whether they will work, then they sort of self-sabotage.

 

Wishing you healing. Family matters can cause a lot of stress.

Thank you, Uni and NJ, I think if I updose to being functional, I would probably have to go back to the point where I began. My first cut was way too big 25-30%.  I am wondering if I was in tolerance withdrawal, deteriorating slowly over many years and it is perhaps too late for me. I still am going to discontinue the drug, but am thinking so much damage has been done that I am going to have to live out my life the best I can as a mentally ill person.  Sadly, I never was before. I took k for 17 years. My “mental illness” seemed to surface shortly after I started it. I look back and know se all the subtle signs. I fell for the chemical imbalance theory (during menopause). Now I am stuck on prozac and beaten up by k. Who knows what happens to people like me. I will have to simply accept. But I will never abandon my life. I love my family too much. Love to you, Esperanza