Clonazepam for REM sleep disorder/seizures
 

Hello Everyone,
Hope you are all having a good day. I have been taking 1.0 mg of clonazepam a night for REM sleep behavior disorder and nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy for two months now. It has been giving me more dreams/bad dreams and feel like I am getting no sleep. Do you think I should try to go down to .5 mg of clonazepam and see if that helps? Or should I try lorazepam? I have taken a few lorazepam in the past and it worked great for good sleep with no dreams. I need sleep bad without these dreams. What do you all recommend?
Thanks so much for any suggestions,
Brain

call your doctor and tell them what is going on get permission to take the ativan and get a script then. TEll them that it works for you they will want to help you.
bizi

Yes, the doctor needs to know that the other is causing night dreams.

And things, and that yo:grouphug: want to try the two together to see if it works.

Donna:grouphug::hug:

I want off of the clonazepam and want to be taking no benzo's. they are making me very depressed and I am not getting any sleep. I am just thinking what you have all said that it is very dangerous to cold turkey or that is what I would do. Just thinking of a good tapering off plan may be- go to .5 for two weeks, that is half the dose I have been taking for 2 months and then go to lorazepam (you guys said this is half as strong as the clonazepam) if needed. I will call my doctor on Monday and ask him. But I have to get off this clonazepam. I hate it. It is having a very bad reaction on me. I don't want to be on lorazepam either. I just thought if the withdrawl was too bad after stopping the .5 clonazepam that I could take a little half of one of those if needed for a few days. I do not want any benzo's. You see this is why I am not on any anti-depressants is because they have a similar bad effect on me. I have tried them all.
Brain

Dear Brain

It is not a good idea to self-medicate.
Let a psychiatrist or neurologist help you decide what medications to take and what to stop taking.
There are better meds for sleep than Klonopin. It depends on what else the MD has prescribed.

M

Mari,
Yes. You are very right. The clonazepam is prescribed by my doctor. It is just no good for me so I need to get off it. I have only been taking it for two months. Do you think it will be that bad to come off of? I will call him Monday and see what he says but for tonight I am going to half my dose. I was planning on asking him about the lorazepam for tapering if needed. I am not just gonna do it myself don't worry. Good advise though as always. Thanks.
Brain

Brain,

I think you should wait until Monday.

Lorazapam is a short acting medication similar to Xanax in its half life.

Here is what Waves posted a few days ago:
Each benzo has a different mix of properties. They do not exactly substitute for each other.

M

Oh me oh my...
 

Dear Brain :Heart:

Please, Please, I beseech you NOT to alter your Klonopin dosage without complete endorsement, guidance and supervision of your prescribing physician.

Please realize, even if we were doctors, it would be a bad idea to do this on our own, because often we have a hard time self-evaluating as there can be psychological effects as well.

As to the nitty gritty questions you are asking. Yes, lorazepam is half as potent than Klonopin. Does that make it weak? No! Easy to taper? No! Lorazepam has a much shorter half-life (it leaves your system much faster) than does Klonopin. Despite the slight potency difference, Klonopin is perhaps less difficult to taper for those taking it for anxiety.

I chose my words carefully there. I did not say "easier" because that would imply one was easy and the other more so. Neither one easy to taper. Both are difficult, because both are high potency drugs. I said "perhaps... for those taking it for anxiety" because at equivalent dosages, clonazepam and lorazepam are close in anxiolytic effect. However, if a patient takes clonazepam for prophylactic treatment of szs it is a different tune: lorazepam is also effective for szs, and in fact is given to halt status, but clonazepam (Klonopin) has strong anticonvulsant activity and is the preferred drug for prophylaxis because its long half-life offers greater stability.

--------------------------

Basic Benzo Discontinuation Facts:

• ALL benzos are addictive. Some are more addictive than others.
  
  
• ALL benzos must be tapered in order to achieve discontinuation with a minimum of side effects.
  
  
• Tapering can still produce withdrawal symptoms. See:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodi...rawal_syndrome
  
  
• Excessively rapid tapering can produce a protracted withdrawal syndrome. See:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodi...rawal_syndrome
  
  Quote:

  Protracted withdrawal symptoms refers to symptoms persisting for months or even years.

  This is not something you want to mess with!

Sometimes d/c'ing from an addictive benzo requires a two step process:

1. gradual switch from original benzo to a long-acting, low-potency benzo such as Valium or even Librium
   
   
2. gradual taper of the dosage of the long-acting, low-potency benzo.

I do not know if your neuro will wish to do that, or whether he will even wish to withdraw you from Klonopin - you'd need something else to cover szs but that would not cover withdrawal sx, and it would not change one iota in terms of needing to taper the Klonopin. If you feel strongly about not taking a benzo, express this to your doc, and discuss your reasons why with him. It might not be too long as you've only taken the drug two months, but please do be patient with the process, and give it the time your doc deems necessary.

--------------------------

A lot of people take benzo's and stay on them for years. May I ask why you are suddenly hellbent on coming off Klonopin? I am curious because, just before your recent neuro appointment, you were wanting to increase the drug to 2.0mg, or at least 1.5mg? Of course, you need not answer - just my curiosity. Whatever you choose to do, please be very, very careful, and do not make a move without your doctor on board, please. :o: heartthrob:

Many hugs and good thoughts to you :hug: :hug: :hug:

~ waves ~

Waves,
Ok. I will wait until Monday and call him. I am hellbent on getting off them because for the last week or so I have been having horrible nightmares and have been feeling way depressed. Like crying all the time. Cannot be left alone. I think this is due to the clonazepam. Although it has been a bad week with my dad it has been bad before that and I was coping way better. I also have a stomach ache and diarrhea.
The nightmare I had all night last night was so so so bad. I need sleep. This medication is supposed to stop the dreams and the seizures and instead is making the dreams worse.
I wanted to up it because I do like the relaxing effect it has when really stressed but I do not think it is mixing well with my other meds.
I hear what your saying.
Thanks,
Brain

Dear Brain, :hug: :hug: :hug:

I am sorry about the nightmares.

Mari