Benzo withdrawal (Rivotril, aka Klonopin)

[decca]

As you have variable extemes of BP , It might be worth asking your doctor about this -
http://www.endocrineweb.com/pheo.html

but please remember it's EXTREMELY rare.

Decca.

[Cathy V]

Unstable BP can indeed be another sign of anxiety. tho its more common in us oldies than youTyoungsters. This is what brought me to nmp. My blood pressure was 138 over 83 may 2007. I moved to germany in june 07 and in august my bp was 180 over 110! i have never in my life had high bp...what was goin on? dont know. the doc said it was moving to a new country and leaving life behind as i knew it. So they put me on betablockers and they seem to keep it stable...sometimes. This morning it was 135 over 79...brilliant, but yesterday it was 150 over 92.

But its the side effects that brought me here, the hightened anxiety and increase in ectopics. Its a combination of the meds and my reaction to it all.

Please down be too downhearted about the comment that anx never leaves because for the majority of ppl it does leave. Ok it might come back in certain situations and because of whatever your particular trigger is for it, and maybe we just have to accept that we are sensitive ppl but it doesnt mean we cant find a way to cope with it. Thats what this forum is all about, showing ppl how to cope and once you have learned how to do that, the anx will no longer be the enemy.

When you look around at ppls posts you'll see that we're all at various stages of recovery, and you'll get there believe it...just believe in yourself, and tune into the positives and not the negatives.

Keep posting, keep talking, keep sharing. We're here ok?
Cathy xxx

[n3r0x1k]

@Decca: that sounds (or rather "reads") plausible, although do you think that if I don't have the first symptom I may not have that? Cuz it says "listed from the most common to the least common", and headaches being listed first, and I very rarely get headaches, and when I have some, they're pretty mild.

@Cathy V: Oh so your move to Germany is recent. Do you have any family there or anything? I've always wantd to speak German, which is wierd out of all languages... I speak english and french (I live in Quebec which is mainly french) but always wanted to learn German. Tried once but amounted to "biter" and that's about all I absorbed, hehe.

Good luck with your BP btw. Thanks for your encouragement btw, I get easily caught up in the thought that I may be caught like this, especially without the benzo's, for life, and it helps to get reassurance.

[pete69]

hi,
i didnt mean your anxiety was life,i was speaking in the short term,as you have stopped rivotril and wondered what you was going to replace it with,i know people who stop meds and then think they can do without them and practice cbt etc-but its nearly always back on the meds after 6months.

so yes long term there is a future without this but i was speaking more about whats next for you....good luck and keep on keeping on.

[decca]

By what I can gather the headaches and other symptoms are severe , there is only one posting on here with reference to it -
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthr...eochromocytoma

I don't think you have it for one minute and I appologise if I worried you, but it's worth bearing in mind to talk to your doc about it should your symptoms worsen.
Doctors can't think of everything specially rare conditions. One of my grandsons had a rare cancerous tumour around the spine when he was 7 months old and it took us 3 months to get any of the Dr's we took him to to listen to what we were saying and in the end it became an emergency dash to the nearest neuro hospital when he nearly became quadriplegic.
He's 9 years old now and thankfully he's doing well due to the miracles of modern science and a very clever surgeon from Budapest.

Decca

[decca]

I agree with Pete,
I refused to take meds for ages and had 8 sessions of CBT which did help up to a point but around Christmas my tension and health/social anxiety became so bad that it effected my heart rate and BP so much that I agreed to take Diazepam, I've limited the dosage to 2 to 3 mg per day and it certainly helps me carry on my life fairly much as normal.
I think low dose long half life Benzo's are OK but you have to treat them with respect.

Decca.

[n3r0x1k]

@Pete: Thanks for the rectification.

@Decca: well I wasn't really panicky about it, although I must admit it did throttle my mind. Here, I can't really tell my doc "do these tests on me", but if I see it worsening I'll get to testing. Afterall, I'm not passing out all the time like this other lady who posted in '06 (thanks for the link). Too bad she didn't come back to say how it went, but I imagine everything went fine for her.

And about the meds, no, I'm not trying to avoid benzo's, only I've taken them for almost ten years now and sometimes when I had panic attacks I could take 3-4 rivotrils/klonopin (1 mg's each, prescribed 2 mg's daily since a long time) and sometimes I could go up to 8, which starts to get pretty high. The problem with Benzo's is that your body always develops a tolerance so that's why you feel in withdrawal when at the same dose for too long, and keep augmenting till you have to go through withdrawal cuz of being on too many.

My plan is once I'm done with withdrawal, I might take them ON NEED when things get too bad, but not on a regular basis as not to redevelop a tolerance where they don't act on me anymore.

Thank you all again.

[decca]

Hi n3,
Yes it would have been nice if the lady came back to us after her treatment.

I think your aproach to the benzo's is very sensible,hope all goes well for you.
Keep us updated.
Best wishes,

Decca.

[n3r0x1k]

Hi n3,
Yes it would have been nice if the lady came back to us after her treatment.

I think your aproach to the benzo's is very sensible,hope all goes well for you.
Keep us updated.
Best wishes,

Decca.

Well I don't know if I updated in this thread, started talking about it on a benzo-related board, but I reinstated at 0.75 mg's and will go down ~10-12.5% every 10-14 days. I had no choice, went to the ER last week and was practically in seizures from quitting too fast and had hyperventillation + extreme panic attacks 5 hours straight almost daily, + kept waking up shaking all night with sweat etc.

[Athena27]

Hy i'm new on this forum. It has been on month since I am on Rivotril. I began at 2 mg (because I took other medication before). it was too strong my doctor told me to find a dose when I sleep well and I have energy. So I was able to go down by quarter to 1,25mg in three weeks (1,50,1,35,1,25). I try a quarter less but I didn't work, too fast, bad condition. My doctor told me to stay on a dose for a month and after we will talk about going down gradually. I would like this steady dose to be 1.12mg but I'm afraid to try again. Maybe I should wait to do 14 consecutive days. It's has been 7 consecutive days on 1.25mg. I tough that maybe after 10 days I could give it a try before going back to work (july 7). I think i will be a little bit less tired in the day. Or maybe I should simply stay put at 1.25mg and wait for my doctor order ?

Do you know people who take 1mg to 1,25 mg a day for less than 2 months at a steady dose who was able to go down well gradually ?