Clonazepam (Klonopin, Rivotril)

Thank you.

 

For everyone noting the “even quiet the next day” phenomenon, the half life of clonazepam is 30-40 hours. That means more than half of your dosage is still in your blood for the next day, and significantly more than a quarter of it is in your system the day after. Not a long term solution.

When I got housed in the psych ward for insomnia they gave me clonazepam two out of the three nights to get me to sleep (in addition to 200-300mg seroquel... ). The fourth day I was in there I didn’t even notice the tinnitus at all when I was drawing. I thought it was because I was doing something I enjoyed! Nope.

 

All I read is horror stories from taking Klonopin. I take 1mg at 4am everyday. It definitely helps me start the day in a better frame of mind. I used to wake dreading another day of tinnitus. With Klonopin I can somewhat function with a better attitude.

Does anyone have similar positive results with Kolonopin?

 

It's definitely helpful to me right now and the effect has been sustained to some extent for a year; I also know from the past that withdrawing from it after taking it months or years, for me, is an intermittent nightmare of a 14-month bad acid trip.

I hope to be able to withdraw from it again eventually and I do not look forward to that; nor do I especially dread it, it's just another potentiality that I will deal with, if realized.

I took on a stressful career change this year that I do not believe I would have been capable of without clonazepam.

 

The horror stories aren't because the drug didn't help to quiet or lower people's tinnitus, it's about what happens in some cases when they quit taking it. For me, Klonopin worked great when I used it, but it was a nightmare of unbelievable proportions for a year and a half after stopping, and I didn't even take it daily, for the three month period I used it for tinnitus.

 

@linearb -- At one point I took clonazepam daily for about 5-6 years. Then (about 15 years ago), I withdrew from it over a period of about 15-18 months. Compared to how it "could" have gone, I'd have to say I did pretty well, though it was difficult. Having that experience, plus more recently the experience of being able to do mHBOT daily, I can say with a pretty high degree of confidence that my clonazepam withdrawal would have likely been far easier had I had access to mHBOT back then. I also believe that because of how deeply relaxing mHBOT is, many who are currently taking a benzodiazapine "might" be able to take it less often if they combined it with regular mHBOT. Just FWIW. - Best...

 

Some people have positive stories that then turn into nightmares. I was one of them.

It wasn't from ceasing the drug, I hit tolerance at half the amount you are on which caused my tinnitus to become horrendous. Tinnitus is associated with benzo use. If I had known that I would have never taken them.

They are dangerous drugs if they turn nasty on you, I would never recommend anybody use these drugs frequently. Many are on benzo buddies with tinnitus that have never suffered this previously...

Read the Ashton manual. It talks about this problem.

 

@Cape crusader my general observation is that people who are treating a condition in a way they find satisfactory, or who are able to use or withdraw from a drug without issue, are far less likely to have anything to say about it online. Without understating the very real and high-stakes risks of benzos, I will point out that they're some of the most commonly prescribed drugs, with hundreds of millions of scripts a year filled in the US alone, and having spent years interacting with the benzo recovery community I'd say it's the case that even among people who have difficulty withdrawing, people who are permanently impaired are a tiny minority, and people like @Luman whose symptoms persist beyond the duration of initial use are not that great and skew towards cold-turkey.

The problem is, you don't know what's going to happen, good or bad, until you get there, and @Star64 is one of many stories I've read where the drug works until it doesn't and then some. If someone is unlucky enough to actually have permanent damage, knowing that you were relatively unlucky is not comforting.

this is extremely interesting and I will keep it in mind if the time comes for withdrawal #3!

This information is now about 4 years out of date, but at that time I meticulously went through and contacted every person who had reported tinnitus during withdrawal and then stopped posting at some subsequent point to see how they were doing. 6-7 people got back to me and they had all improv

 

I would like to know the difference between Klonopin (clonazepam) and Ativan (lorazepam). I would have to explore more in this regard.

https://www.drugs.com/compare/clonazepam-vs-lorazepam
https://www.singlecare.com/blog/klonopin-vs-ativan/

 

Can you please explain these side effects. What happens when you withdraw? Are the side effects worse than living with loud tinnitus?

I’m wondering if it’s worth the risk?

 

My understanding is that Clonazepam is a generic form of Klonopin, so should have the exact molecular structure. Lorazepam is a different benzodiazapine with a different molecular structure. My understanding is it has a shorter half life than Klonopin. Shortly after I got tinnitus, I asked for some Valium (Diazapam) from my doctor, and he thought Lorazapam would be a better option, since it had a shorter half life in the body.

Discovered I didn't do well with Lorazapam, and I now keep the lowest dose Valium (2 mg) on hand. When I use it, I've discovered it only takes about 1/6th of a 2 mg tablet to pretty significantly take the edge off. That's an extremely small amount, and I don't know if it would work for anybody else. But it works for me, and it feels quite safe, as I only do it about 1-2x/month.

 

Klonopin has a much longer half life. The shorter half life drugs are better for occasional, short term use. The longer acting drugs tend to be more consistent long term. Additionally, unlike most of the other benzos, Klonopin exerts action at the GABA-b subunit receptor in addition to the normal benzo action at GABA-a; this might have implications towards tinnitus but I am basing that entirely on one study of another drug.

No one can tell you until you've been on it, that's the problem. Most people who take benzos for some period of time don't have a horrorshow of a withdrawal, but if you do, sucks to be you. Additionally, you're never really safe if you feel "stable" on the drug, because over a long period of time, at least for some people, tolerance creeps in to the point that you feel withdrawal effects on the same dose.

I can only speak to my own withdrawal experience; the first time was after 5-6 years of daily Klonopin use, I spent 14 months tapering, worked full time the whole time, used large amounts of cannabis to sleep, and mainly just remember being a bit anxious and sweaty, and towards the end having a period where I had some extremely bizarre dreams.

Following that withdrawal, and probably as a result, I developed myofascial trigger points in my neck and pelvic floor which required physiotherapy to get on top of.

My second withdrawal, 6 years later and after only 2 years of use, was more of a mess -- I elected to forego cannabis and all other substances, and so the insomnia was fairly excruciating. It took me quite a while to get off the last little bit, and once I did I had a really rough 18 months where I was seeing improvements, but at a glacial pace and with setbacks.

That second withdrawal was when I hit "building a faraday cage around my bed to keep the EMFs out while I sleep" levels of crazy, but again I worked fulltime all the way through. I do remember one day where I was walking around our office with a $350 EMF meter looking for hotspots, though... benzo w/d can do weird things to your basic rationality, is my point, and once you're messing with that, basically any amount of insanity you can think of is potentially on the table.

If/when I do a third withdrawal I expect it to be cannabis assisted again, but I am not in a hurry to do it unless the drug becomes ineffective, or I find adequate other treatments for my tinnitus and the other medical reasons I am prescribed the drugs I am prescribed.

Absolutely should but most of the generics out there right now are Accord brand. I used to think people who got hungup on generics vs name brand were nuts, and thought nothing of it when I got switched from Teva to Accord, but a week later I was a sweaty wreck and started googling and found a lot of recent stories about this exact generic brand of Klonopin. The most extreme case was someone who said they had been on a stable dose for 20 years, switched to Accord, and had a seizure a week later.

This caused me to learn that there's a difference between generics and "FDA Authorized Generics":
https://www.pharmacytimes.com/contr...ifferentiating-authorized-from-branded-types-

There seem to be no FDA authorized generics for Klonopin or Valium.

My take is that Accord is a bottom-of-the-barrel Chinese cheapest-in-class manufacturer, and I don't trust them, so I requested name-brand Klonopin.

Weirdly, the genetic stuff cost me $2 and my insurance like $30/month; the real stuff costs me $0 out of pocket and yet my insurer pays like $120/month. I don't get it, or care to figure it out, yay American healthcare.

 

The problem with benzos is that your body gets used to them, so then the original dose is not enough.

I have only used Diazepam a few times, just a single day at a time, for pain and to be able to sleep. The firt time you try it, diazepam is just like a miracle. Puts you to sleep like a baby, just one pill..

 

You are going to get different answers to this question, but after what I have been through the answer is NO.

I would not wish my experience on anybody. They are not recommended for long term use and have even caused problems for people after short term use.

If you don't start no need to worry about ceasing or hitting tolerance. Check out BenzoBuddies, you do not need to join to read.

While I do acknowledge this may only be a minority of people on this site who experience trouble on these drugs, regardless, you have to ask yourself how many drugs are you aware of that can cause this many issues for such a prolonged period of time.

I think the answer is psyche drugs unfortunately

 

I stopped taking the rivotril 0.25mg I had been taking for about two months (before that I took 10-15mg oxascand for a few months daily also) cold turkey no problem. It probably is different for different people. If I had taken the drugs for a longer period perhaps it would have been different. Benzo really was a lifesaver for me under strict doctor supervision, but I felt it could potentially be bad long term to continue.

 

I'm currently taking 2 mg per day, combined with some other psych meds, have been for almost a year now - it's the only thing that gives me a very real, measurable reduction in T volume. For now, I'm sticking with it and when/if consequences arise, I'll deal with them. I don't seem to be building a tolerance now that I'm combining it with other meds. Right now, it's the only thing that brings down the T from suicidal levels to "extremely annoying but tolerable" and I'm not giving that up unless I absolutely have to.

 

I'm currently taking 2-3 mg of Lorazepam daily. I am building up tolerance. But what else can I do?

I have panic attacks every moment. I wake up in pure hell. I live in pure despair and anguish. I live simply in a nightmare. The psychiatrist tried to put me on antidepressants because he does not recommend prolonged use of benzodiazepines over time.

I don't know if this use of benzodiazepines is preventing my recovery. I don't know if it is doing more damage in the long term.

But antidepressants didn't help. They are poison. Zoloft and Effexor created new tones in my head and made the T sounds even louder. They didn't help. At least Lorazepam seems to help me for the moment, a little.

When it stop "helping" me and everything will get worse, I don't know, maybe I dare to finally leave this world and that's it.

I never imagined my life this way.

I never imagined ending like this.

 

Did your tinnitus reduce again after that episode with benzos? It returned to the baseline?

I'm going to try start decrease my dose of Lorazepam before it is too late.

 

You have made a wise decision, benzos are dangerous drugs and should not be taken long term for this reason.

Unfortunately my tinnitus has not settled back to its baseline but I am only 11 weeks off the benzo and still have many other horrible symptoms due to withdrawal.

Things are slowly starting to improve with some symptoms, so I am still hoping that my tinnitus will eventually settle some more.

Withdrawal can go on for lengthy periods, some people experience symptoms for years after ceasing. Do a slow taper and hopefully you will not experience any problems.

You can contact me anytime if you need any further help with your taper

 

Clonazepam is bad.

This thread gave me the idea to try it back in 2017.

I took it every day for a month which was too long and tapered off over another two months which was too long and still had bad withdrawals.

It didn’t help my tinnitus and when I see this thread pop up and see Erik’s face as he was the original poster it just makes me want to punch him in the face for giving me the idea.

 

@Karl28 Sorry it didn't help you but it has helped many people cope.
I for one have been taking it for 7 years and it's been a life saver.

 

7 years? I'm nearing 1 year of taking it. How has it been treating you? Have you needed to raise the dosage much?

 

@Helheim I've stayed at .5 mg. I'm taking it with Gabapentin. There was a study done with this combination and it helped reduce the tinnitus loudness so I gave it a shot and it worked for me as well.

Lots of people frown on benzos but if your tinnitus is loud as hell, what else can you do but try different remedies?

I'm not advocating to use benzos, all I'm saying is it has been a life saver for me.

Stay Strong.

 

Fair enough, thank you. I'm on a bigger dose (1 mg in the morning, 1 in the evening combined with some other meds) but it seems to be helping a lot. Benzos allow me to function. Right now I feel like I'm choosing the smaller of two evils, you know?

 

@Helheim I do know exactly what you mean. We have lives to live now, not later.

I have family that counts on me and I can't function with loud tinnitus. So I choose to live now and we'll see what happens if anything down the road. My mother was on Benzos for almost 40 years of her life and she has lived to 91 without issues. These are choices that we all need to make

Stay Strong.

 

All these drugs work a bit by trial and error. You have to find the right one for you by trying.

 

Did it make any difference to hearing problems? Did they improve?

 

I take 1 MG of Clonazepam every night along with a few other drugs to help with sleep with the hopeful side effect that it helps with my tinnitus. Obviously tinnitus has a huge effect on our ability to fall asleep and maintain quality of sleep. Does it help my tinnitus? I'll be honest in saying I have no idea (my tinnitus fluctuates a lot), but it definitely helps with sleep.

There is a lot of fear mongering in this thread, but it's understandable. I do not know how or when I will taper off this drug but I know I can't use it forever.

 

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but Jordan Peterson became dependant on/addicted to benzos and sought radical treatment in Russia where he was put in a medically induced coma:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020...terson-treated-for-addiction-in-russia-a69219

https://nationalpost.com/news/jorda...public-life-because-of-tranquilizer-addiction

 

He was on massive doses for years and went into tolerance, it seems. The induced coma is a sledgehammer tactic, I hope it works. Who knows if an induced coma could reset tinnitus, especially tinnitus due to medication.