Nothing makes me more horrified than reading recommendations to take Klonopin (clonazepam) for CFS or any other condition for that matter. I’ve read even the most respected doctors like Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum’s prescription to take “½ mg of Klonipin, begin slowly and work your way up as sedation allows. Take ½ tablet at bedtime increasing up to 6 tablets at bedtime as needed. Can be effective for sleep, pain and Restless Legs.”
If you think that taking Klonopin may be a better trade off than experiencing RLS or insomnia you probably have never experienced being enslaved and literally tortured by a drug. Klonopin’s effect on me was not only a hellish nightmare over a period of over 5 years but I ended up in a state where I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t digest food, I had severe and torturous burning mouth syndrome, I was in fact going to die if I didn’t do something drastic. And by drastic I mean I spent over a year withdrawing from it, in excruciating pain, with zero support, and in absolute terror. And because I couldn’t walk I ended up in some Podunk hospital being told by a neurologist, “You are paralyzed because of the medication you were taking.” He said “were” because I had tapered off of it over a period of a couple of months in my desperate attempt to get out of hell. Although he told me it takes about 3 months to get off drugs like that he didn’t know that I had CFS, and I hadn’t figured it out either. So instead of 3 months and because of my CFS and my really poor state of health it took over 3 years for me to recover just from the Klonopin. And then I had another 5 years of recovering from CFS in front of me. That experience had it’s upside because I realized profoundly that doctors didn’t get it, their drugs weren’t the answer and I needed to heal my body.
Having every cell in your body paralyzed including your GI tract is not only frightening and excruciatingly painful but its further damaging your body at the cellular level. And that’s why although I respect doctors like Teitelbaum for their dedication and their support of CFS I also realize that most doctor’s commitment is strictly in managing illness not healing the body. Anyone taking 6 milligrams of Klonopin like Teitelbaum suggests is going to end up a prisoner of the drug, in a constant state of painful withdrawal, and with symptoms that are many thousands of times worse than they started out with.
So do I hate all benzos? No I don’t, in fact I also recommend taking them in very small amounts if you’ve tried everything and you cannot get your restorative sleep. I just don’t want anyone to go through what I did, and many others have, read this interesting expose:
The Trap Almost nothing is more stressful and harmful to health than experiencing regular insomnia. Insomnia causes irrational thinking, anxiety and depression, it increases pain by lowering your pain threshold, decreases cognitive function, profoundly worsens all symptoms of CFS, and makes real living impossible. Insomnia is a further trap because the misery it causes increases your anxiety about sleep so it’s a vicious vicious circle of fear and anxiety, and loss of sleep.
But when I finished withdrawing from Klonopin I went through another nightmare of insomnia as my brain was adjusting and I experienced 2 months of not sleeping. I went to bed around 10 pm and woke up every night at 1 am. So for over 2 months I only got 3 hours of sleep a night. I don’t even need to talk about the symptoms I experienced from this. I made an appointment to see a new doctor and told him that I was experiencing insomnia because I was in pain (true, insomnia only aggravates pain) and he gave me Bextra, which is now off the market but the little bit of help I got from taking it also helped me sleep. Thinking back now the psychotic sort of insomnia I experienced as a result of my brain so misfiring from the Klonopin withdrawal was many times worse than the excruciating physical pain I experienced actually withdrawing from the drug.
If you are taking a benzodiazepine because you absolutely need to sleep I don’t have a problem with that. I do have a problem when doctors add drugs, bounce you around on different drugs, and keep increasing doses until you are in a quagmire of addiction and dependence. You then face being a “user” and very often accused of being an addict even though you were only following doctor’s orders. And I know this for a fact because I didn’t doctor shop for the Klonopin, I only took it from one doctor as prescribed. And all the symptoms I experienced FROM taking the Klonopin were diagnosed as other problems like IBS. I didn’t have IBS, I had a paralyzed GI tract. I didn't have anxiety either, I was experiencing protracted withdrawal. And after my Klonopin hell I never had another bout of depression either.
A switch flipped for me when I realized that drugs, although helpful when used judgiciously are not the answer. In fact too many people just like me are being so harmed by well meaning doctors who don't have the time, and don't have the knowledge to guide you toward actual healing. There is no physiological requirement in your bodies cells for these man made chemicals. There are however many other requirements in your cells for other substances that I talk about in this blog and I will talk about more. Things that your cells need to heal.
I’m going to talk about natural ways to help with pain, depression, and insomnia in further posts. I just needed to rant about my horrible nightmarish experience and to warn you about “following doctor’s orders” if it’s ever suggested that you take Klonopin for your CFS.
If you think that taking Klonopin may be a better trade off than experiencing RLS or insomnia you probably have never experienced being enslaved and literally tortured by a drug. Klonopin’s effect on me was not only a hellish nightmare over a period of over 5 years but I ended up in a state where I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t digest food, I had severe and torturous burning mouth syndrome, I was in fact going to die if I didn’t do something drastic. And by drastic I mean I spent over a year withdrawing from it, in excruciating pain, with zero support, and in absolute terror. And because I couldn’t walk I ended up in some Podunk hospital being told by a neurologist, “You are paralyzed because of the medication you were taking.” He said “were” because I had tapered off of it over a period of a couple of months in my desperate attempt to get out of hell. Although he told me it takes about 3 months to get off drugs like that he didn’t know that I had CFS, and I hadn’t figured it out either. So instead of 3 months and because of my CFS and my really poor state of health it took over 3 years for me to recover just from the Klonopin. And then I had another 5 years of recovering from CFS in front of me. That experience had it’s upside because I realized profoundly that doctors didn’t get it, their drugs weren’t the answer and I needed to heal my body.
Having every cell in your body paralyzed including your GI tract is not only frightening and excruciatingly painful but its further damaging your body at the cellular level. And that’s why although I respect doctors like Teitelbaum for their dedication and their support of CFS I also realize that most doctor’s commitment is strictly in managing illness not healing the body. Anyone taking 6 milligrams of Klonopin like Teitelbaum suggests is going to end up a prisoner of the drug, in a constant state of painful withdrawal, and with symptoms that are many thousands of times worse than they started out with.
So do I hate all benzos? No I don’t, in fact I also recommend taking them in very small amounts if you’ve tried everything and you cannot get your restorative sleep. I just don’t want anyone to go through what I did, and many others have, read this interesting expose: The Trap
Almost nothing is more stressful and harmful to health than experiencing regular insomnia. Insomnia causes irrational thinking, anxiety and depression, it increases pain by lowering your pain threshold, decreases cognitive function, profoundly worsens all symptoms of CFS, and makes real living impossible. Insomnia is a further trap because the misery it causes increases your anxiety about sleep so it’s a vicious vicious circle of fear and anxiety, and loss of sleep.
But when I finished withdrawing from Klonopin I went through another nightmare of insomnia as my brain was adjusting and I experienced 2 months of not sleeping. I went to bed around 10 pm and woke up every night at 1 am. So for over 2 months I only got 3 hours of sleep a night. I don’t even need to talk about the symptoms I experienced from this. I made an appointment to see a new doctor and told him that I was experiencing insomnia because I was in pain (true, insomnia only aggravates pain) and he gave me Bextra, which is now off the market but the little bit of help I got from taking it also helped me sleep. Thinking back now the psychotic sort of insomnia I experienced as a result of my brain so misfiring from the Klonopin withdrawal was many times worse than the excruciating physical pain I experienced actually withdrawing from the drug.
If you are taking a benzodiazepine because you absolutely need to sleep I don’t have a problem with that. I do have a problem when doctors add drugs, bounce you around on different drugs, and keep increasing doses until you are in a quagmire of addiction and dependence. You then face being a “user” and very often accused of being an addict even though you were only following doctor’s orders. And I know this for a fact because I didn’t doctor shop for the Klonopin, I only took it from one doctor as prescribed. And all the symptoms I experienced FROM taking the Klonopin were diagnosed as other problems like IBS. I didn’t have IBS, I had a paralyzed GI tract. I didn't have anxiety either, I was experiencing protracted withdrawal. And after my Klonopin hell I never had another bout of depression either.
A switch flipped for me when I realized that drugs, although helpful when used judgiciously are not the answer. In fact too many people just like me are being so harmed by well meaning doctors who don't have the time, and don't have the knowledge to guide you toward actual healing. There is no physiological requirement in your bodies cells for these man made chemicals. There are however many other requirements in your cells for other substances that I talk about in this blog and I will talk about more. Things that your cells need to heal.
I’m going to talk about natural ways to help with pain, depression, and insomnia in further posts. I just needed to rant about my horrible nightmarish experience and to warn you about “following doctor’s orders” if it’s ever suggested that you take Klonopin for your CFS.