[Mckey]

I have been having seizures for a while now, and special K acts like a anti convulsant (like most benzos) for my brain. I keep seing neurologists and they give me one EEG and its fine so they say there is nothing thye can do (hogwash!). So I had this brilliant (*ehem* delusional *ehem*) idea to go off my klonopin for my next eeg in a couple of weeks to produce a seizure.

The last time I went off klonopin I had a severe petit mal seizure, but it took a couple of weeks. So I went off my special K two weeks before my next EEG.

Well...

I actually tirated down from 1 mx 3 x daily to 1mg a day in like 3 weeks time. And I was perfectly fine until I went cold turkey off of 1mg. The first 3 days were okay. I was twitchy and spacey like I usually am in withdrawl from klonopin, but nothing I couldnt handle or wasnt used to. But then came day 4. I was laying in bed talking on the phone when dissociation hit me like a rock. I suddenly felt like I was dreaming and I hung up the phone. I then layed there for a min and had a thought..."where am i?".

I ran out screaming "help!" to the living room. I told my parents about what was going on about the no klonopin for 4 days and how I recognized things but I didnt know exactly what they were or who they were.

I called my pdoc at 10pm hysterical and he told me to get back on klonopin and to go to the hospital if I felt the same way the next day. By the time I was on the phone I felt better. The dissociation was better (but not gone completely).

I did what I was told and went back on special K. And I feel fine. Except I will still have spurts where I will be somewhere with my parents and ask "where am i?" and "who are these people?".

So yeah Im a dumbass. But what I dont know is...

Is this normal withdraw?
Should I still be having dissociation spurts after 5 weeks?

I asked my doctor the first question and he said "all withdraws are different for different people and meds. it COULD be normal". Which doesnt help. And I havent seen my neuro or my pdoc since last thursday so I havent had the chance to ask question number 2.

What do you think?

[celestia]

It took me a full year almost to be rid of ALL the w/d side effects of a long-time benzo habit.

Are you familiar with the acro RTFM?

Here is a link to the "farking manual" My experience was straight out of this manual. The seizure window is 11-16 days post last dose when going cold turkey. I had my glorious seizure right on day 11, in the dining hall of the psych ward I had been admitted to just 12 hours prior. Way to introduce one's self eh?

Benzo Withdrawal Manual

This post has been edited by S9: 24 August 2009 - 10:52 AM

[Bionic Duelist]

Thanks for that link S9. I am thinking of getting off my lorazepam medication, and worried that it's gonna be harder then hell to do.

I'm sorry you're having trouble Mckey, it sounds like you really are struggling with it. I hope the EEG goes well and they can treat you for the seizures. My son takes lamictal for petit mal or absence seizures and it's helping him a lot. Best of luck to you!

[Mckey]

Thank you for the link S9. It seems veryb helpful. Although... my doctor doesnt want to take me off of it considering it helps so much. I dont have the attention span right now to read all of the link, but I am planning to.

S9 what kind of seizure did you have? Are seizures abnormal for you? Or is it a typical occurance?

And thank you HD. I actually just got prescibed lamictal last week and I am starting it tonight. Yeah petit mals are my most common sizure, then the SPs. Its good to hear lamictal helps with petit mal/absences. What I read said that lamictal is only for partials, which was discouraging. Thank you for the reassurance )

[Bionic Duelist]

Good luck with it Mckey, it's worked for years for my son, so maybe it will help you. Best of luck with it. I know how much benzos do help with the anxiety, I am glad that the buspar my pdoc put me on is working. It's great that I can 80% of the time now deep breathe and rationalize away a panic attack on this Buspar. It doesn't work for everyone and some people get suicidal on it so if the benzos are working and the doc is cool with you on them I would stick with them.