Teva Clonazepam Discontinued Group

Hi cosmic love...I am wondering the same thing...started on Teva, switched to Sandoz after about a year and had no problems with that switch. Then Sandoz went away and tried Activas and it was bad...settled on brand Klonopin and the switch took a good 2-3 months to settle down, but have had more problems with K than I ever had with Sandoz/ Teva. Plus like you, I was close to being done and now I have updosed to the point of almost starting at scratch again....so depressed. I hear the 1mg teva is not going well for many....but have not heard a lot on the .5....but from what I have heard, the 1mg is made overseas, and the .5 appears to be original formula made here? I am so sick on the K, yet afraid to make it even worse by making another switch but just want to get stable again...

Hello, everyone.  I have been taking the Teva 0.5mg clonazepam for over two weeks now.  No issues.

Hello, everyone.  I have been taking the Teva 0.5mg clonazepam for over two weeks now.  No issues.

 

That is such great news. I hope I can get the Tevas at my CVS when I next need to refill--my brand name is no longer being covered, can't afford with no prescription.

Hello NJStrength!  I was hoping you’d see this.  I know you are in the same bind I’m in (2020 insurance changes sending the cost of brand Klonopin into the stratosphere). 

And I was hoping to get one more refill of brand before year-end but my insurance wouldn't put this one through until today; should have gone through on the 30th of November. I do have a stockpile so can do a slow crossover. I was planning to begin tapering mirtazapine but decided to put that on hold until I am hopefully adjusted to the new K. Hopefully it will be a non event.

Thanks for replying Libertas. Hope I can find a pharmacy that is willing to special order. And yeah ddjohn3, I hear you, after trying the other manufacturers I went through withdrawals and am scared of that happening again. It's just at this point I've been on the same manufacturer for over a year with no progress, just progressively worse symptoms from taking it that were there to begin with. It was just the one that gave me at least a tiny bit of anxiety relief compared to the others. But I'm done with it. It's way too sedating, and messes with my sleep. Maybe they all do. All I know is I didn't have these problems when tapering slowly off Teva. I didn't get interdose withdrawal, I didn't get incredibly sedated, and if I wanted to take a nap, I was able to without waking up 2 hours later in a state of panic. Who knows. Hopefully these will offer some modicum of relief like and it'll be no biggie.

Cosmic Love....yes...totally have same exact issues with the brand K as you're describing...bad sedation, yet not much in terms of anxiety help and increased sx and even new sx on it. None of that with the Teva. I found Teva at Safeway and Albertsons and Yokes if that helps anyone (Safeway and Albertsons are now owned by same people).

Libertas....did you switch all at once or over time? How many times a day are you dosing? Where you stable when you made the switch?

thanks!

I switched all at once.  However, I did hold after making the switch so I could determine if the change had any impact on my withdrawal symptoms.

Sun 🌻

 

Sun,

 

Yes, benzos are used for pain caused by numerous ailments more often than experts on pain management would like. And they are also used along with the opiates which can be a recipe for overdose and disaster.

 

The bacloflen is often used for pain and muscle spasm and might be a better one for your spinal injury and the subsequent muscle spasms.

 

Now the Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is a toughie for sure- major problem for you along with those other stressors you mentioned. I doubt that any of this pain is related to medication. If anything, the medication has probably helped.

 

Have you seen a pain management specialist? If not, that might be the best idea yet. They are trained to manage pain, and very carefully. Please consider this.

 

My best to you and your child. 💝💖

 

Intend,

 

Thank you. I missed your reply, and haven’t been on much since last spring. Between my son, my mom passing, and my boyfriend being diagnosed with an autoimmune myopathy, it’s been a lot.

 

I appreciate your feedback, and I stabilized on the brand name. But never achieved same level of pain relief. I had to updose to do so, of course, now in tolerance and have my migraines and face pain back after a glitch in my scale caused a drop in dose.

 

I wanted to follow up with you, as you mentioned you don’t think the K is causing my pain?

 

Best,

Sun❤️

 

Hi All, thanks for all of the feedback on new Tevas. Is anyone having memory problems on new Tevas?im taking the orally disintegrating tablets which are ok, but it seems to be messing with short term memory—this was never really an issue with old Tevas.

 

Thoughts on whether or not new Tevas are messing with anyone’s memory?

Hi all,

I have finally found a pharmacy that has ordered me the "new" old style Teva 833's.

 

With all the varying brands I have been forced to endure since Teva was having actavis formula, I am just wondering if ANYONE has had bad sxs from the off-brands, gotten the  new green 833's and balanced out.

 

I was forced to stop tapering and at 2 mgs old Teva and had to go up to 4 mgs of mostly actavis this last year and am reallyu kindled or the actavis and othersjist don't work for me.

 

I am supposed to pick up the new Teva 1 mgs later today so want to make sure they are better than actavis. Can someone that has experienced similar situation please tell me? Thank you and I apologize for the bad grammer, etc, but am kindling like crazy. Will the new Tevas let me stabilize and then continue taper

Hello dbhigh333,

 

That’s great that you’ve found a pharmacy to order the “new” (original formulation) 1mg Teva 833s for you.

 

If I’m remembering right, we have two members who have experience with the 1mg “new” Teva 833s so I hope they’ll chime in. 

 

There also are at least two of us who have been able to switch to the “new”/original formulation Teva 0.5mg tablets (NDC “0093-0832-05”) with no issues.

 

In the interim, have you considered contacting Teva Generics directly to inquire as to the manufacturing status of the Activas 1mg tablets?  Here’s a link:

 

Teva's generic of Klonopin® Tablets [CIV]: Clonazepam Tablets, USP CIV

https://www.tevagenerics.com/product/clonazepam-tablets-usp-civ

 

If Teva Generics keeps its webpage updated and if I’m interpreting the above correctly (and those are two big ifs ), Teva is still manufacturing the Activas 2mg tablets but perhaps not the 1mg (the only 1mg tablet shown is the 833s).  If I were you, I’d call to ask.  Even if Teva has stopped manufacturing the 1mg Activas, they may still be available via certain suppliers/distributors for a while.  Also,  I’ve read that some members have pharmacists who are willing to order the largest size bottle of their benzodiazepines (e.g. 500 tablets) and keep them “in reserve” just for them.

 

 

Edit: Corrected typo in member name so redaction will work properly.

Hey dbhigh333,

What happened to us is verysimilar. Was on Teva forever finally felt as stable as one can tapering then they dissappeared. Had to updose too but didn't ever feel a sense of my body getting used to the new manufacturer. It may not be the best time to tell because I'm going through a lot of physical issues that are clouding things even more - but I got the new Tevas. I feel like they may take a while to get used to again given it's been over a year of problems but right off the bat they were better than what I was taking.

 

I've switched to others too and have had terrible acute withdrawals after a few days - didn't feel that happen with these so far. Will they be/feel exactly the same as before they were taken off a market? I wouldn't even know because it's been so long and so much has happened since then. But again, so far they're ok.

 

Hope this helps 

Hi db,

I was switched to teva 833 1 mg k. I always had yellow k.  It m7st have been activis. I never had the original teva. It was a hard adjustment for me. But the activis was not so great either. I think I am finally starting to adjust after almost 3 mos. I had muscle pain. But the switch made it worse plus I had just made a cut. You might try to switch over slow.  I wish I did that. I didnt know. Some ppl had no problems.  Let us know how it goes.

 

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for doing research that helped me.

 

I did get 120 new 1 mg tevas. But, they are unscored and say TEVA on one side and 833 on the other. The NDC is 00093-3212-5 so according to Libertas (Thx a million) these likely are made in Chech Republic, but are at least Tevas.

 

Maybe soon the old formula made in Jerusalem will be wide spread if for no other reason there is a huge market for clean, dependable generic clonazepam. They say not to chew them or dissolve in mouth (like a time release, but Actavis 1 mgs also say this)

 

I have only taken one after 3 Actavis earlier in the last 24 hours so can't give much of a report. TMW, I intend to call Teva and ask the 's and have NDC numbers at hand.

 

I also intend to go directly to them now as my extreme nausea has subsided.

 

Will continue this human guinea pig experiment and report as I can. Why do I have a feeling that big pharma indeed does have some pill that could get a person off these demons but it would be an expensive block buster? Like Roche brand Klonopin which as of this year went sky high in price ($700 per month). I a quite sure it is all about the benjamins rather than curing anything that keeps them in control.

 

Sorry about my ill feelings but I think it is the AI Beast system in action. Think how much those horrible generics are and most insurance will no longer pay for brand. Think how much these awful generics are paid for by insurance companies.

 

Hopefully Teva will see the need and undercut Klonopin with a better product that is generic. They also have a monetary reason to bring back the good (bad stuff).

 

Sincerely,

Dbhigh333

That’s great news that you got the new 1mg Teva’s, dbhigh333. And it’s even better news that your nausea has subsided.  Good for you for calling Teva - please let us know what you find out!

So true! We are human guinea pigs. They should be paying us for this. Ugh

Hi all,

Unfortunately, the other night I had only taken one of the new Tevas (unscored 1 mg) and was super hopeful for the first time in years.

 

I went directly onto them rather than taking (IMO) impure Actavis which caused me to stop taper and double my intake (from 2 mgs to 4 mgs). I have taken the 4 mgs of Actavis for months but could not handle the sxs so thought I'd reinstate to 3 and then to 4mgs.

 

Anyway, Either these Tevas are stronger or I picked up a bit of the flu because I have had real tired feeling and little appetite, but know I haven't tried them long enough to see if I will feel good enough to restart taper. I might have to hold for quite awhile.

 

I also apologize for promising to call Teva Corp., but have failed to do so. I wanted to ask them if this unscored tablet 833 would be the same as the old formula since the NDC# was different. Mine is 00093-3212-5 and Libertas said his .5 mg tabs had a different NDC.

 

Its sad to have so many sxs that one does not know if they are really sick or it's just the meds.

 

As soon as I am able I will try to call Teva and find out.

 

Best wishes to all "accidental addicts" (sorry about the phrase), but most of us were not warned or told how to taper. I blame big pharm as they basically blindside medical schools.

My understanding is the .5 are original made here...and 1 are different formula made in Czech republic..

So I just got a bottle of the original brand Teva .5 (what I originally began this wretched journey on). I am on brand K now. I am still not stable from the big crash the end of Sept...but really want to make the switch because I feel like ever since I went from Sandoz to brand K I have had nothing but problems (mostly a lot of dizziness and the fatigue has been so much worse). Any suggestions out there? I am dosing 4 times a day. Maybe switch out one dose a week? Or 1/3 a dose a week? I wanted to wait until I got stable-but it's just not happening...should I wait anyway? At this point I am so afraid to do anything :-(

ddjohn3: 

 

Thank you for sharing the good news that you now have the 0.5mg Teva’s in hand.

 

So you don’t have to go digging through old posts to find it, here’s a brief recap of what I did along with an update on my status.

 

I did a “cold switch” from brand Klonopin to the Teva 0.5mg.  I held my dose constant (i.e. no reductions) for a week to evaluate the impact of the change.  I had no issues so then resumed my taper. 

 

I have now been taking the Teva 0.5mg for about six weeks.  The only changes I’ve noticed (which may or may not be due to the switch) are positive: (1) the intermittent, incredibly painful muscle spasm I used to get in my right leg at night has disappeared and (2) my sleep has improved a tiny bit (I had been experiencing the dread “3 am fire alarm” but now experience a more gentle “6 - 6:30 wake-up call”.  A third positive change is that my wallet is thicker -  my out-of-pocket cost for the generic Teva is less than 2% of what it was for brand Klonopin.

 

Now to address your request for suggestions about how to switch.  Given that you have been unable to stabilize ...

 

If I were you, I would switch to the Teva 0.5mgs as expeditiously as you can.  Why? That’s the only way to know if the Teva 0.5mg are going to work for you.  As long as you are in the process of switching, you will not know if the symptoms you are experiencing are due to (a) instability, (b) change in drug source, or © a combination of both.  Also, assuming your plan is to hold your dose constant while you make the switch, the longer you take to make the switch, the longer it will be before you can resume tapering.  I hope this makes sense.  If it doesn’t please let me know - my brain is a little foggy today.

 

GumbyGirl:

 

I hope you are still following this thread!  Would you feel comfortable sharing the results of your “experiment” with using the new Teva 0.5mg to prepare a homemade liquid with milk?

 

ddjohn3: 

 

Thank you for sharing the good news that you now have the 0.5mg Teva’s in hand.

 

So you don’t have to go digging through old posts to find it, here’s a brief recap of what I did along with an update on my status.

 

I did a “cold switch” from brand Klonopin to the Teva 0.5mg.  I held my dose constant (i.e. no reductions) for a week to evaluate the impact of the change.  I had no issues so then resumed my taper. 

 

I have now been taking the Teva 0.5mg for about six weeks.  The only changes I’ve noticed (which may or may not be due to the switch) are positive: (1) the intermittent, incredibly painful muscle spasm I used to get in my right leg at night has disappeared and (2) my sleep has improved a tiny bit (I had been experiencing the dread “3 am fire alarm” but now experience a more gentle “6 - 6:30 wake-up call”.  A third positive change is that my wallet is thicker -  my out-of-pocket cost for the generic Teva is less than 2% of what it was for brand Klonopin.

 

Now to address your request for suggestions about how to switch.  Given that you have been unable to stabilize ...

 

If I were you, I would switch to the Teva 0.5mgs as expeditiously as you can.  Why? That’s the only way to know if the Teva 0.5mg are going to work for you.  As long as you are in the process of switching, you will not know if the symptoms you are experiencing are due to (a) instability, (b) change in drug source, or © a combination of both.  Also, assuming your plan is to hold your dose constant while you make the switch, the longer you take to make the switch, the longer it will be before you can resume tapering.  I hope this makes sense.  If it doesn’t please let me know - my brain is a little foggy today.

 

GumbyGirl:

 

I hope you are still following this thread!  Would you feel comfortable sharing the results of your “experiment” with using the new Teva 0.5mg to prepare a homemade liquid with milk?

 

Hi Libertas and ddjohn,

 

I'd be happy to weigh in on my experience with milk titration and the new Teva .5s.

 

Before starting my taper, I switched over to Teva from Actavis, with no problems.  After about 5 weeks, I started my taper using Actavis, which is going well.  Lately, I've been using Teva, too, in my milk titration.  The one difference between the Actavis and Teva that I've experienced is this:  The new Teva needs more time to dissolve in milk, perhaps because it is pressed more tightly.  What I do to remedy this is that I prepare my milk with the pill 24 hours before I take my dose.  I leave the dose in a glass jar in the refrigerator to give it a chance to dissolve.  Shaking the dose a few times during this 24 hour period, and then again vigorously before pulling  with the syringe helps a lot.

 

I hope this helps! Wishing everyone the very best with tapering!

Greetings, GumbyGirl.  When I read your post about making a homemade liquid with the Teva 0.5mg tablets and milk, I was eager to learn more. Thank you so much for responding!

 

The claim that the ingredients (excipients) used in the benzodiazepine tablets from a specific manufacturer do not make a difference when it comes to preparing a homemade liquid has always puzzled me. Based on what I’ve read, my understanding is that excipients do matter. For example, a study conducted by a team of pharmacists found that lorazepam tablets from two generic manufacturers required significantly different volumes of sterile water to disperse the tablets (the tablets had both different ingredients and weights). This in turn required different volumes of the suspending agents to prepare “a pharmaceutically optimal” liquid formulation. Moreover, the chemical stability of the final formulations was affected. (See link below for details.)

 

The findings from your “experiment” confirm that differences in generics can make a difference when it comes to preparing homemade liquids.  This is important and helpful information to me as well as other members. Gratefully yours, Libertas

 

Chemical stability of extemporaneously prepared Lorazepam suspension at two temperatures. - PubMed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23118704

Hey there.  Greetings to all.  I don't check this thread any longer but just happened to stop by since this was such a pain/worry for so long.  Anyhow, I crossed over to Valium and a few months ago but just wanted to share that I found with TEVA Valium that the pills wouldn't dissolve all the way in milk, even when left at room temperature and shaking for some time.  Another member gave me a tip, which was to add a small amount of water to my pill to dissolve BEFORE adding the milk.  It only took 1 ML of water to dissolve it almost completely (something I could SEE, which made me feel better) and that did the trick.  I don't use milk right now as I'm using the pharma Roxane but thought I would pass this along.  Maybe it's something in the TEVA pills just in general?  Another friend who uses a different generic and Roche Valium didn't have that issue when dissolving in milk - her pills dissolved pretty quickly.

 

Best wishes - hope TEVA bringing back the old formula helps many of you!!!