12 months off. I think I beat this thing for the most part

I was on Klonopin for 3 years at a dosage of about 2 mg. I did a 4 month taper and about a year ago, I took my final pill.

I would say I'm about 70-80% healed. My major symptom, easily, was insomnia along with some really bad anxiety. The anxiety (including the horrific anxiety I had before I started the meds) is 95% gone. Just like that.

Sleep is way better but still a bit fractured. When I started my taper, I would constantly wake up every 0-2 hours; it was horrific. Nowadays, I'm hitting a solid 4-6 hours. I still get the occasional bad night, but that happens maybe once or twice every 4-6 weeks, not every day like it used to.

I really think that people undersell just how long the healing process takes. If you've been on this medication for years, expect to face a yearly healing process. That being said, you will eventually reach a point where things really start settling down, and from there, it's just a matter of getting over those last few bumps.

Feel free to ask me any questions, and I wish you all the best.

Congratulations Ms, good luck moving forward.

Hope for your continued healing....it does get better in our own time!

B strong

I was on Klonopin for 3 years at a dosage of about 2 mg. I did a 4 month taper and about a year ago, I took my final pill.

 

I would say I'm about 70-80% healed. My major symptom, easily, was insomnia along with some really bad anxiety. The anxiety (including the horrific anxiety I had before I started the meds) is 95% gone. Just like that.

 

Sleep is way better but still a bit fractured. When I started my taper, I would constantly wake up every 0-2 hours; it was horrific. Nowadays, I'm hitting a solid 4-6 hours. I still get the occasional bad night, but that happens maybe once or twice every 4-6 weeks, not every day like it used to.

 

I really think that people undersell just how long the healing process takes. If you've been on this medication for years, expect to face a yearly healing process. That being said, you will eventually reach a point where things really start settling down, and from there, it's just a matter of getting over those last few bumps.

 

Feel free to ask me any questions, and I wish you all the best.

What were you strongest w/d symptoms? Did you have head pains? I"m dealing with those now.

msflore - thank you for the encouraging post, and congratulations on your great progress!

Very happy to hear about the improvement in anxiety, as that is definitely my worst symptom...

Wishing you continued healing! ♥

Hi msflore.

How long did it take your depression (intrusive thoughts/anhedonia) to go away or did you deal with that at all? Also, how long before your insomnia improved?

I was on Klonopin for 3 years at a dosage of about 2 mg. I did a 4 month taper and about a year ago, I took my final pill.

 

I would say I'm about 70-80% healed. My major symptom, easily, was insomnia along with some really bad anxiety. The anxiety (including the horrific anxiety I had before I started the meds) is 95% gone. Just like that.

 

Sleep is way better but still a bit fractured. When I started my taper, I would constantly wake up every 0-2 hours; it was horrific. Nowadays, I'm hitting a solid 4-6 hours. I still get the occasional bad night, but that happens maybe once or twice every 4-6 weeks, not every day like it used to.

 

I really think that people undersell just how long the healing process takes. If you've been on this medication for years, expect to face a yearly healing process. That being said, you will eventually reach a point where things really start settling down, and from there, it's just a matter of getting over those last few bumps.

 

Feel free to ask me any questions, and I wish you all the best.

What were you strongest w/d symptoms? Did you have head pains? I"m dealing with those now.

Worst symptom was insomnia. Weirdest/most profound and worrying symptom was literally losing control of my foot for a week. My entire foot spasmed and jerked around every few seconds for a whole week -- truly bizarre.

But to answer your question, yes, I had pretty nasty head pains and tension headaches/stiff neck. At times, it felt like someone was pushing down on my skull and other times it felt like a full blown migraine. Last time I had one of these was a couple of months ago and it lasted maybe a day.

How long did it take your depression (intrusive thoughts/anhedonia) to go away or did you deal with that at all? Also, how long before your insomnia improved?

First question is hard to answer since I'm clinically diagnosed with OCD (before taking the meds) and intrusive, repeating thoughts are something I've been dealing with since I was a teenager. That being said, withdrawal did knock those thoughts into overdrive and they've calmed down considerably -- probably since month 6.

Insomnia was very sporadic up until a few months ago (maybe around month 9 or 10). Until then, I would go through periods where I would get decent sleep for a couple of weeks, then would get insomnia episodes that would last a week or so. Early on, especially throughout my taper, insomnia was constant for about 4 months with almost no windows.

For the past three to four months, I don't get the week long insomnia episodes anymore. Worst case, I maybe get a day or two of bad sleep every month or so.