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Coming Off A Drug and Very Scared

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  • November 5, 2017 at 9:43 am #176555
    Ria
    Participant

    Hi Guys,

    This is my first post here and I just really need a friendly ear and advice for what I’m going through. I’ve always suffered from anxiety my entire life, but these past 2 years have been so much worse. First it started with being scared I had something terminally wrong with me all the time, even though my doctor told me over and over I was healthy. He tried putting me on antidepressants, but every one he prescribed gave me an even worse reaction. When I was weening off of Peroxetine he put me on Clonazepam to help me relax, and while it stopped the panic attacks and anxiety, it made my depression worse and sleeping very erratic. So I’ve been trying to ween off of Clonazepam but it has been so difficult. My anxiety has come back ten fold, in the mornings I feel like I have to gag, my stomach never feels full for very long, and I’ve been having bad insomnia for two nights now. All of this is making me very scared. I’ve tried Melatonin and Nytol for sleeping but they don’t seem to help. I’m just so scared because I’m not sleeping. Reading all of these withdrawal horror stories on the internet has made me even more scared. I just don’t know what to do since I’ve never gone through this before.

    A Very Frightened Individual

    November 5, 2017 at 10:02 am #176567
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Ria:

    It so  happens that I was on Clonazepam aka Kl0nipin for about 17 years. And I successfully stopped taking it in October 2013, been just over 4 years off it. One serious effort which included of a few months abstinence in 2012 failed. The second effort succeeded. It was difficult and I will be glad to share with you any and all the things that did and didn’t work for me.

    Clearly, it can be done. And I am better for it.

    anita

    November 5, 2017 at 12:16 pm #176593
    Ria
    Participant

    Hi Anita,

    Thank you so much for replying. Any advice you could give would be wonderful. I haven’t been on it long. I was on it for two weeks and then I tried stopping cold turkey which was a big mistake. So I went back on a full 0.5 mg pill for a week, then I cut it in half and took half for a week which really hit me by day 3. Then after a week of that I am currently just taking a quarter of a pill but for these last 2 days I have felt awful and haven’t been able to sleep. I was having trouble sleeping before this all started and now it is even worse. I just can’t relax. I’m having very negative thoughts like what if I can’t make it through this, I’m not strong enough, what if I die from lack of sleep, and so on. I just really need some help from someone who has gone through this.

    Thank you so much!

    Ria

    November 6, 2017 at 3:33 am #176627
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Ria:

    I experienced more anxiety when withdrawing from the drug than I did before starting that drug. Before starting the drug I slept well, but while getting off it, I slept poorly and suffered greatly.

    At different times during the 17 years of taking 4 mg Clonazepam a day, I tried to get off the drug. Every time it was on my own, without the psychiatrist who prescribed the drug knowing about my attempt to stop it and without him guiding me in the process. My most serious and long term effort, in 2012, was one of those times and it failed. Following that failure I saw a new psychiatrist who was supportive of me getting off the drug. I saw him during the whole process of getting off it, very gradual. I felt safer knowing I had a professional behind me, one with experience on the matter, guiding me regarding how much less of the drug to take for the next week or weeks, whether I should take less next or keep the same dosage, etc.

    My advice at this point: do the withdrawing with the support of a psychiatrist and have it done very, very gradually, have all the patience in the world.

    I attended yoga classes 3-4 days per week, Tai Chi twice a week, other physical exercise every day, and quality psychotherapy starting at the end of my first failed attempt to get off the drug in 2012 and continuing through the final successful attempt. All those things helped.

    Then there was that night, October 2013, the first night or so of taking no Clonazepam at all: I was in panic, the fear felt intense and I considered taking the drug again, felt that I couldn’t make it. This is what I did (following previous advice to do this): I went to a place in my brain that was calm, and from there, I observed the panicking part of me. The panicking part of me was not all of me.

    It is like this: you can observe your big toe from your head where your eyes are located. You can see your big toe. It is part of you but it is not all of you. In a similar way, you can observe your panicking part from a calm part within you.

    That exercise got me through that night and made my withdrawal from Clonazepam successful.

    Post again anytime and I will reply to you.

    anita

     

     

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