Reinstating Klonopin After 2 years (Part 2) *Please Help*

Made another post about this, but wanted to be more simplified. I was a cold turkey benzo person. Was on varying doses of Ativan for 2 months, switched to Klonopin for a month at various doses and was advised to stop. Have had bad protracted withdrawals for over 2 years now. Anyways, I was hit with the Flu which caused my sleep and food intake to take a hit, Took melotonin liquid to try to help (bad idea) and had a reaction to it. Ended up with racing heart, brain numbness/fog, agitation/restlessness, and again, sleep problems. This past week I've gotten maybe a couple hours a sleep in total no matter what methods I tried to get back on a good sleep track. After a talk with my mom and spouse about it because I was not eating much of anything or sleeping due to the issues, I decided to try to take .5mg Klonopin 30 minutes before bed just to see if that would help alleviate the anxiety, agitation, restlessness, and sleep deprivation. Didn't really feel it hit and I eventually just knocked out and woke up 3 hours later. My question is, since I took 1 dose of Klonopin during this 2 year timeline last night, should I be good to just wait until the Klonopin wears off and chalk it up as a failure and not take anymore of it or how should I proceed? As of right now thus morning, I'm feeling pretty restless, anxiety, shivering, chills, and having some panic. despite the 3 hour knock out. Just trying to figure out where to go from here. Thanks!

reinstating is not always good,i also did CT but seeing little improvements from week to week but still crap,but better than i was. the brain fog is still here for sure but the brain will heal,sport is a good thing if you are capable to do its a stress killer mechanism

Yea I knew it was a gamble reinstating a dose after 2 years of continuing suffering. But after all this happened I just couldn't handle anymore and I broke down and tried to help myself. I am unable to do sports unfortunately as my mental and physical health is not good. All I'm trying  to figure out now is what should I do? Do I continue taking the .5 at bedtime until it's effective and then do a real taper down the line? Did taking thus dose ruin the 2 years of progress and when the effects wear off I will go through hell all over again? So confused on what to do.

in this case yes,the hell continues. my brain also turned into mush. my GP killed me with this completely. 2 years is hell. for how long you took these crappy drugs?

Hi Faith...so sorry to hear that you are having a bad time?  Don't answer if you're not comfortable with it...but may I ask why you were put on benzos in the first place?  Not discounting withdrawal at all, but is there any possibility that those issues which caused you to be prescribed in the first place are still a factor in your life?  Do you have a primary care physician that you like and trust?  Best wishes and best of luck to you.

Hi, my name is Tyler actually. I was actually  put on benzos because of some PTSD I had from traumatic events that actually took place under the care of physicians. Was given a "Compazine" drug combination in the ER for a Migrain that I had and I got a severe adverse reaction that caused "Neuroleptic induced Akathesia" that lasted for weeks and put me in a psych ward cause they didn't think it was the drugs. They thought I was schizophrenic. Anyways once I got out of all that, I was put on Ativan to help with anxiety and movement issues, but I didn't take it in a consistent dosed manner because I developed fear of medication after the compazine adverse reaction. Then I heard about benzo withdrawal and read horror stories and I didn't want to keep taking it, but it did help some of my issues at that time. I wanted off the stuff though and was switched to Klonopin for about a month that i also was scared to take amd took it off and on at varying doses. I was told to "Cold Turkey" because they said I "Was only on the Ativan for 2 months and 1 month on the Klonopin". That's when I was hit with protracted benzo withdrawal that has been going on over 2 years since that Cold Turkey. I was able to get to about 50% healing over this 2 years when I was hit again now with this trauma! I thought I would take 1 Klonopin .5 I had to see if it could help revert something. But I feel terrible still and nothing is changing . Im barley eating anything, and my brain and body feels absolutely destroyed😞

 

I always refer people to this thread discussing the different issues to consider during the decision of reinstating. It helps to make and informed decision. I'm very sorry you have to deal with this

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=53305.0

I always refer people to this thread discussing the different issues to consider during the decision of reinstating. It helps to make and informed decision. I'm very sorry you have to deal with this

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=53305.0

Hi Tyler I am so sorry about your situation that’s a really tough decision to make. Jelly’s reference is a good must read. Although I’m still tapering and not in your situation the only thing I can recommend is to evaluate if you can (I know easier said than done) if it’s due to benzo wd or something else from your history that can be treated in another way besides reinstating. You’ve come so far and if I read correctly you had some improvement. Other than that I believe that quality of life is important so whatever you decide I wish the best for you and my prayers are with you

Joeb

Thank you for your response and help. It for sure is a tough decision. But the main I'm struggling to find an answer for even on Google, and other sites is what happens when you go through protracted withdrawals (in my case 2 years) and then you intentionally/unintentionally take in a single benzo? I'm talking with my family now and we are torn on what decision to make. The points we are trying to justify for not taking another one is "Well it was only 1 dose of .5 at bedtime. You've been recovering over 2 years, so I don't think that if you don't take another it would have been enough to alter or change anything after it wears off?"On the negative side we are saying "But what if when it wears off you go into a spiral like in the beginning of your recovery and how long would it for your brain to settle back down again?" Be honest, if it was you, what would you do?

Only you can make this decision.  If it was me, based on the success stories of varying length and intensity during recovery sharing that time is the healer, I would stay the course and not reinstate.  IMO, I would not think that one dose will undo all of your recovery to this date.  Best wishes on whatever decision you make.

Tyler, I don’t believe taking 1 dose after 2 years is going to make any difference, but that’s just my opinion. You can try searching on the forum to see what others have done but remember we are all different. There’s a bb Platoon that I think did a dose after a few months post cold turkey recently and I read he held off and is now making progress. You can check out his stuff.

Have you spoken to a benzo wise doc at all on this?

Anyway if it were me not knowing everything about your situation and suffering I would not take it. But that’s me. I hope you find the right decision for you and feel better.

Joeb

 

You are in the same shoes I m now. Your post is exactly the same as mine three weeks ago. I just reinstated after two years too. Aslo I had reinstated before. At that time it was only 3 months gap.

Well, let me tell you that I just started taking clonazepam again and I got somehow stabilized. Still working on it. Both times I reinstated was due to supplements that I should know better not to take.

I have to admit that this time is getting a little more difficult. I hadnt been on this drugs for a long time. It was mostly tapering them.

It is difficult to start with a specific dose. I did 0.5 and then up to 1 mg the first reinstatement and then tapered for almost a year. Now I am at 0.75mg this time. I'm able to sleep 6/7 hours.

Nobody here is going to tell you good things about reinstatement. The issue is if you can cope with your symptoms. and if you can function. Just one dose is not a big deal. you should be able to continue ok quitting. What I haven't done and probably dont do is to add another drug. At least for the period of getting stabilized.

I know its a very difficult situation. Nobody out of this place understands what is going on. But there are people outhere that comes and goes out of this drugs with no problems. Reading horrible stories is not gonna help. Most here dont understand the subject and everyone is different. With just one dose i would stop there and fight the storm as long as you can. Give it some days and if it becomes ambereable ask for days at work relax as much as you can. Psiclogical issues are mostly of great influence. There are buddies here that have tried three times and they have been successful.

Again, I would try to quit and do the impossible to stay out of it. Exercise socialize eat less and good food and wait for better signs.

Hope this helps

 

Thanks for your response! I will definitely take your opinion into consideration. As of right now, I think the best thing to do is wait until it wears off and see how my brain responds. I would think if it's very negative or severe effects after it wears off, that's a sign that I should reinstate and begin a very slow taper over a period of time. If it wears off and I feel about the same as I did before I took it, then I know I can do without it.

My personal opinion is if you took one dose and you don't want to continue then I think it should be okay. If you are sure you don't want to reinstate, then I think considering it as a once off bump in the road is a much better alternative than reinstating and going through another withdrawal process. I have no scientific evidence to back it up, it's just an opinion.

Oh my gosh Tyler...I am so sorry to hear about the genesis of this problem.  I too was given compazine in an ER for severe nausea in 2005.  With that infusion began the worst 8 hour period of my life.  Uncontrollable body-wide tremors.  Not until I got home hours later and on the internet did I find out that this was actually an anti-psychotic given for nausea and that the tremors could last a long time or even be permanent.  Went back to the same ER and got a physician who was smart enough to know exactly what was going on.  IM Ativan and Benadryl completely reversed it within 30 minutes.  So I definitely sympathize with your plight.  I wish I had better advice to give in order for you to feel better, but I think the folks here have already provided about all there is to say.  Whatever you decide, I wish all the best for you and hope you're feeling better soon.

Hi, everyone. Thanks again for all the support from my previous post. I read every message you all posted. After considering my options, I am scared about this reinstatement on Benzos, but because of the severe depression, sleep deprivation, and anxiety I recently experienced that made me take it in the first place, I am in a loop. I have a follow up question and here's the run down for those that haven't read my other post. Had a bad reaction to a supplement and the effects were lasting for days and it was causing me debilitating symptoms, so out of pure desperation, I took .5 Klonopin at 10:15pm February 14th. Was able to feel "somewhat good", with side effects like shivering, chills, some brain fog, and agitation. Tried to get through the day on just that dose, which I did. Did not take another dose February 15th. It has since wore off and hit me again this morning though and I have bad symptoms happening most notably, feeling "Hyper Active/Hyper Sensitive" to any form of stimulating. I got through the day the best I could and unfortunately,  I couldn't handle the effects of it. The nail in the coffin was when I was on the phone with my mom and my mind completely gave out. Didn't remeber a thing she was telling me and lost the ability to communicate back to her. This triggered an anxiety/fear response and I took .25 Klonopin 2:17pm today February 16th and the effects were not desirable (not sure if the dose was too low or what) but my biggest side effect when I take it is shivering/cold chills, brain fog, body agitation, pacing my house, and feelings of hopelessness. So as of right now, I've token just the 2 pills over the past 3 days. My question now is (hope I am not making a mistake), is it okay to switch to Valium? Or how does that work? I heard that Ashton Manual says it isnt even advised to use Klonopin because it's quickly eliminated from the body. It said I should have used Valium because it isn't as potent as Klonopin or something? Other question is if not, how should I be doing my dosing at this point? So confused what dose to take, when to take it, etc...IDK I'm so scared guys...I just can't stop crying, my emotions are all over the place, and feeling so lost and feel like the way things are going I'm doing nothing but more harm to myself, but when I stop and say forget this reinstating, I have even more issues is the Klonopin wears off. I'm still not eating, barley sleeping, and loosing weight by the day from the walking around in fear and confusion on what to do. 😰

 

*Modified* Shaking/shivering is getting very intense! 😥

I don't consider .75 mgs of Klonopin worthy of a reinstatement and taper, they were rescue doses that won't typically effect a member.  Your response tells me that you seem to be having an extreme reaction to benzo's and deciding to take another one would put you in a worse situation than you are now.

 

Reinstating now won't erase the past cold turkey, in fact its my belief you could have a worse time, the body seems to remember past stops and starts and it gets rougher each time.

 

My suggestion would be to hold off for a few more days before making a decision that will complicate your life exponentially.  If however, you and your doctor decide that taking another benzo is the best thing for you then we'll of course support your decision.

hey man, you will get back on track even with a setback, i took rescue doses in  when i had to take something  to go out to do something i couldnt miss,  everytime i took a rescue dose it set me back to more intense symptoms, for week or so and then getting back to baseline, not a goog thing to do,  anyway your going to get back on Track, if your felt 50%healed after 2 years then keep going, dont reinstate , this will trow away all your progress and make this process even harder..