Rivotril 0.5 mg Claonzepa,

Everyday living
1

Hello,

I have spoken about Clonazepam on this forum before An interesting set of discussions, basically a lot of you said that it is highly addictive, keep away from it.

Taking one pull at night does allow me to get a decent night’s sleep. If I don’t take any my legs twitch and spasm so much that I cannot get to sleep and nor does my wife, a definite lose-lose situation.

For a couple of weeks everything has been good with one pill a night. Night before last my legs were quite twitchy and kept me awake for quite a long time even though I had taken a pill, A large slug of rum finally did the trick. So last night I thought I would take two of these tiny little oranget pills.

Well I slept like a log, woke up when the alarm went off, struggled to get dressed and spent the next two hours in a sort of fog and I was very stiff Its taken me 3 1/2 hours to start functioning, usually it is about an hour.

What reactions have you had?.

2

Hi Patrick,

Most (all?) prescription drugs have risks and side-effects, but ALL of them also have benefit for some people, in some circumstances, so I don’t think it’s helpful to brand any licensed and properly prescribed drug as “addictive”, and say people should not take it.

I have used diazepam (another drug in the same family) intermittently for many years, to control anxiety. By “intermittently”, I mean I can go weeks or months without needing it, depending how my health behaves, and one pack of 28 can stay in the cupboard for months. Despite all the scare stories, I’ve never yet become addicted. So just because some people DO become addicted doesn’t mean every individual will react the same. Just like only a very few people who drink alcohol will become alcoholics. It’s true that you do not know, before taking it (either alcohol OR a prescription drug) whether you are one of the people likely to be susceptible to addiction…

However, in the case of drugs, your doctor should weigh up with you the benefits, versus any possible risks or problems - that’s part of their job.

I have unquestionably benefited from diazepam, and no awful things have happened as a result of my using it, neither has my consumption spiralled over the years.

Maybe it isn’t “good for me”, but I’m sure being crippled with anxiety, to the point of being locked in the loo throwing up wasn’t “good for me”, either, so which is the lesser of two evils?

It would be wonderful if we could all make do with nothing, for any of our health issues, and just get by with positive thinking, but sometimes that’s just not practical, is it?

I know you’re not taking the clonazepam for anxiety, by the way, but whatever the underlying reason, if you need it, and it helps, I don’t think it’s any good getting too worked up about the addiction issue. I’m sure your doc will monitor your usage carefully, and intervene if there are any concerns.

Incidentally, mixing with alcohol can amplify the effects of BOTH, so be careful. Unless you were taking huge doses, it’s not that you are at risk of death, but you may become more intoxicated more quickly than you’d allowed for, and so be at higher risk of accident.

Doubling the dose in one move could also be a cause of your recent problems. Were you told you could go up to two if necessary? If so, maybe split the difference, and try 1.5 next time?

Or it may be that you were just having a rough few days, and will go back to being OK with one.

If you try to stick to the minimum that works, and not keep feeling tempted to “give it a boost”, you will reduce the chances of addiction.

Tina

3

Hello Tina,

So nice to talk to someone who speaks sense. Too oftenb the comments are knw=ee-jerk reactions and not necessarilt thought through.

I know alcohol can amplify the effects, I have had too many sleepless night recently.

I will return to one pill and see if it works. Waking up in the fog, physically and mentally, that I was in this morning was as bad if not worse than not much sleep.

Clonazepm was prescribed for restless/twitchy legs. I take amytriptaline to help me sleep. Sometimes I think I rattle as I totter down the street with my rollator.

So many thanks,

Patrick

4

If you are refering to my reply to your previous post re: clonazepam, i can assure you it was well thought through, sorry if you thought it was a knee jerk reaction,i can assure it was not,i wish i hadnt even tried to explain,because i can see it fell on deaf ears,

all i was telling you was my experence with benzodiazepines, i was only taking 2 x 2mg, a day and didnt up my dose at all,and didnt even realise i had even become addicted UNTIL i tried to come off them,my body became chemically dependent on them,and they caused me a great deal of problems, but its like anything else, you have to be in that position to understand.

5

Hi Patrick.

Never heard of this so goggled it,the first time i read you post,then reading all side effets of it,some of witch looked scarry.

Then you got a reply from Tina,and i read it all again,came to the conclusion that if it works for you why not.

Know it was not ment for MS in mind,but then again a lot of my pills where not desinded for MS in mind.

Has anyone checked your meds with you,just that i noticed you where on diffrent meds to mine for the same problems.

Instead of Clonazepm i take Dacofen,instead of Amytriptaline i take Zopiclone to help with sleep, i am on 200mg of Amytriptaline mainly for depresion, i am also on Sativex and that helps as well with the spasms and twithing, is it ok if i pm you if i have more questions.

Take Care.

Chris