Genevieve Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 I'm pretty sure I'm having interdose withdrawal between my doses of klonopin. I take my dose at 8:00 p.m. every night -- as prescribed. I've been taking it for about 4-5 weeks now. In the beginning, I would feel anxious around 5 p.m. Then it started happening around 3 p.m. Then noon. Then this week I've been anxious, depressed and I've had increasingly bad hand tremors all the time. Today, my husband commented that I looked pale. I was pouring sweating. My whole body was shaking. My head hurt. My body hurt. I couldn't eat. The anxiety was overwhelming. I finally took one of my PRN ativans for the anxiety. And it all went away. And then the lightbulb came on. Holy shit, I'm addicted/dependent. I have a pdoc appointment tomorrow (thank goodness) and will talk to her about it. Has anyone else had this happen? Is this a typical course of how benzo tolerance and dependance goes? Just looking for others who've experiences this, or similar, and how it went down for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluechick Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 (edited) You absolutely NEED to taper off of them. Inter dose withdrawal is very real and is not a good sign. The only way to fix it is to get off of them or go on more. If your pdoc wants to give you more, find a new pdoc. If your pdoc doesn't know a proper taper schedule go find another pdoc. be very careful. From my experience far many pdocs are not knowledgeable in how to take someone off of benzos. I recommend you get educated about a proper taper schedule.. Go get educated and if you know more than your pdoc then find a new pdoc. Edited February 19, 2013 by thesystemisdown Removing a link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genevieve Posted February 14, 2013 Author Share Posted February 14, 2013 So this can happen even when you're taking it exactly as prescribed? (Which I am.) It sucks, because before this started I think it was really helping me. I'm hesitant to come off of it. Thanks for your reply. I'll see her today about it. Do you think she'll want me to go inpatient because of it? By the afternoons I'm in really really bad shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluechick Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Yes, you can reach this level of dependence even when taking it as prescribed. And if you get a proper taper schedule you won't need to go I.P. In fact, I.P. is really the wrong place to go for benzo withdrawal because those folks focus on extremely fast med changes. Tapering off benzos takes some time. According to my pdoc, the taper time should be one half of the total time you have been on it. Since you haven't been on that long you shouldn't have a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genevieve Posted February 14, 2013 Author Share Posted February 14, 2013 Ok thanks. Going to my appointment now. Can barely type because of the hand tremors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moody Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 I also had interdose withdrawal on .5mg of klonopin. I took half a pill in the morning and half in the evening. I started waking up every morning with horrible anxiety, and the anxiety came back about an hour or two before the evening dose. When I told my doctor, she gave me the option of increasing my klonopin dose, but I chose to get off of it entirely. It took a while to wean off of it, about 2 months I think. But I had been taking it for about 6 months. Once I was off for a while, the rebound anxiety went away. I can still take klonopin as needed, just not every day, or I get dependent again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooster Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 I'm going to just be cautious and say that talking with your prescribing person and listening to their opinion is much better that listening to a bunch of random nutters on the internet. We all tend to filter information through the lenses of our own issues. The OP doesn't necessarily NEED to get off benzos completely as bluechick insists. There are ways, as Moody describes, to use benzos responsibly even if one has experienced signs of dependence/tolerance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notfred Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 I agree with Wooster, there is no absolute need to get off benzos. Some people take them long term, it is up to the doc as to if he or she wants to do this. There is nothing wrong with long term benzos for some people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluechick Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Wooster and notfred, I suppose I should qualify my statements. Yes, long term benzo use is common. Personally, I choose to stay away from them because of my own experiences. Dependence begets tolerance, often requiring greater and greater doses of the drug in order to ensure efficacy. And if the OP is already suffering from interdose withdrawals, she is nearly guaranteed a difficult withdrawal should she ever choose to get off of them. And withdrawal from benzos for people who are susceptible to those symptoms can be absolutely horrid. I speak from personal experience. That having been said, for some people, long term use of benzos can be a life saver. YMMV. Ultimately, like all meds that we subject ourselves to for our MI, we must each individually weigh the risks v. the benefits. Anxiety is a bitch. I know. It can be crippling. And for many people the withdrawal effects outweigh the potential benefits and relief that benzos can provide. I'm sorry if I was a little too vehement on the original post. I had just woken up and had an immediate fear response as I remembered my own horrible ordeal with benzo withdrawals. If it works for you, then by all means don't let my B.S. scare you away from them. I'm just an internet crazy. I'm not a pdoc and you should always listen to the person with the education and experience over someone like me. Sorry if I was a little too zealous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genevieve Posted February 14, 2013 Author Share Posted February 14, 2013 Thank you everyone for the replies. I appreciate seeing both sides. My pdoc thinks I'm showing some tolerance and she increased my dose for now. She thinks the symptoms I was having were from extreme anxiety -- caused by withdrawal or personal circumstances (things are really shit right now) she didn't say. She increased my dose to 1.0 mg to cope with these increased anxiety symptoms, whatever the reason for them. I'm ok with that for now. I can't keep going the way I was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryp Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I am pretty sure that dependence does not "beget" tolerance - dependence is a completely normal and acceptable phenomenon which occurs in people taking all kinds of medications. Many do not develop tolerance and even those who do - huge out of control dose escalation is not what the vast majority of people experience. Furthermore, since the OP has only been on the medication for a month, it is very possible that she is simply not yet on an appropriate dose. I also am not convinced that interdose withdrawal during the first weeks of a medication have ANYTHING to do with how difficult the tapering process will be. It's not so much that you are too vehement as that you are presenting things as scientific fact which are nothing of the kind. Unless you can show me supporting literature, I will continue to believe that your above points are in fact false. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Energizerhoney Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Reading through this my first response was ” she just needs a higher dose.” 0.5 klonopin to me is a small amount, it just wouldn't hack it for me personally. Your just taking 0.5 a day?! Thats not going to control much imo. Some days I take 2-3mg a day. Some days none. It doesn't doing like inter dose addiction, just simply not enough med to control your symptoms. But that's just my rambling about it. I hope you gtt relief soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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