Question about Medicines when it comes to anxiety.

I have been taking klonopin for months almost daily now and I have a doubt. I started looking online and saw that it can cause issues in the brain by another user like memory loss? im not sure, but I'm worried, my doctor told me I should cut it half for the rest of the week, but I want to drop it. What do you guys suggest?

 

It's hard to give anyone advice about Rx meds since everybody's experience and body chemistry is different. But I will say that I was taking Tramadol in low-dose (average 20-25 mg/day) for about 9 months until about 3 weeks ago. (Tramadol being a mild opioid for pain that also has an anti-anxiety component). But I am just effing sick of it all, sick of TMS, sick of taking medication, sick of feeling bad, sick of thinking about how to "fix myself", etc. So I stopped the Tramadol completely, and I have less discomfort and anxiety now than when I was taking it. But I'm also changing other things, like stopping reading or thinking about TMS (including being on this forum! He says while typing on the forum, lol).

Also I will say it is good to follow your doc's advice and taper.

 

Hi, stevow7! I want to make sure you get advice from medical professionals on this one. Quitting benzos cold turkey after months of use can lead to intense withdrawal and - depending on the dose - sometimes seizures. You’ll want practitioners with trained experience to work through this with you.

This forum is always here if you need mind-body healing advice. For this question (which is a medical question), a doctor will know best - they can help address your medication concerns and help you safely discontinue prescriptions. If you aren’t happy with your current provider’s advice or want a second opinion, it’s okay to find another medical practitioner you feel more comfortable with. I’ve also called local pharmacists many times for general questions.

It’s good to be informed on potential medication side effects. That said, please remember there is a tremendous amount of inappropriate advice on the internet from people who got lucky, don’t understand how medications work, are unaware of the possible risks of quitting cold turkey, etc. It’s also important to keep in mind that uncommon or even misleading (not always intentionally) horror stories about side effects plague the internet. If you are dealing with anxiety, it’s a game changer to work with a doctor you truly trust to help you make decisions - this helps one avoid going down the internet rabbit hole and trying to make decisions independently or by consulting with laypeople.

From an anxiety management perspective, it sounds like you still don’t feel safe. I would consider why memory loss reported in one user scares you. Steve Ozanich told me years ago that I was addicted to worrying - and that realization was so freeing. I repeat that to myself whenever I continue to feel unsafe.

This forum is a great resource for mind-body healing, but medical advice will be best provided by practitioners. I hope everything works out!

 

thanks a lot! do you think stop looking for your solution haves really improve symptoms?

 

thanks so much for your insight on this. the thing is, I don't remember if Sarnos talked about stress or mental stuff like anxiety. so I look here for this and thanks for your respond. I don't know how anxiety and stress feels like. I focus too much on forums, too much on my symptoms, the feeling of losing focus, or not thinking straight, constantly feeling mentally exhaustion and I look in places for answer. Should I just not focus? I tend to be scared to do things and rest because I feel the rest is needed to recover, but then I feel like i could be doing other things.

 

It's really important that you follow your doctor instruccions. I took ativan too for 3 months and currently taking an SSRi for anxiety, in my case at least I really needed, I am also doing therapy, reading a lot and practice exposure to get better. It's a combination of all these tools.

 

Great advice above. I recently (finally!) got off amitriptyline for anxiety. I was on it for many years and made several unsuccessful attempts to get off. It was really hard. Each time I tried; my anxiety got so intense... and I had a lot of sleep problems.

What made finally made me successful was mindfulness meditation. It's a powerful tool for dealing with anxiety.