2 replies to this topic

[hassasin85]

Hi

I got off 0.25mg of Clonazepam usage on and off a month back(last dose - 25th May). I used it for a duration of about 6 months (3-4 times a week before bed) mainly for sleeping issues. I had several jaw cramps that turned out to be due to low vitamin D around November 2016 which triggered health anxiety and sleep problems for me.

I was prescribed 0.25 mg Clonazepam to help me sleep which I took about 3/4 nights a week, until I noticed that it wasn't really helping sleep and my cognition was getting impaired. I tried taking one a week and so on, which didn't help, so I just stopped a month back on 26th of May.


Since then I have had a myriad of symptoms but the most concerning of them happened this week when I started waking up with pounding heartbeats and mild chest and back tightness. I went to my GP and an ECG was taken which turned out fine. Next day, I got a call from the GP that I needed to go to the ER ASAP as my blood Potassium level was at 6.9. I rushed to the ER with my friend and what happened next scares me the most. While filling out the forms, I was asked for my DateOfBirth, I didn't think much of it. When I sat down with my friend he mentioned I said XXJun1984 instead of XXJun1985 as my DoB - I obviously insisted I did no such thing. When I was taken away for another ECG and blood tests at the ER, I noticed that the tag indeed had XXJun1984. This scares the hell out of me as I cannot think why I would have got the year wrong as 1984 instead of 1985. Could this be anxiety/panic, or something more sinister neurologically? I have had mild cognition issues while coming off the Clonazepam like rarely struggling to find words while speaking, and typing incorrectly on the computer at times. Should I be concerned that I got the year of birth wrong at registration and insist on further checks? Incidentally, the potassium level turned out ok in the ER blood test, and the ECG was fine as well.




 

Edited by hassasin85, 26 June 2017 - 10:02 AM.

[Droplet]

Hello! You should really post this in the mental health forum...better chance of a useful response there.

[Boopy!]

That was a very low dosage.   Anxiety makes people insanely forgetful and an actual panic attack has definitely made me do bizarre things.    I would forget stuff while I was taking it and if I didn't,    anxiety would make me even more forgetful.   Lack of sleep is horrible for people.   I am trying to find a healthier way myself because in the end,   ativan hasn't helped me sleep and when it does it doesn't feel like healthy sleep.  But I agree,   they never make it clear it makes you dumber,   for many people including me.   I'm way older than you and noticed this but I was on it way longer and a higher dosage.    You can easily get the memory thing back,   simply by exercise and/or learning something new,   something you might have interest in.   Studies have shown this.   The brain can definitely get helped by SLEEP -- REAL SLEEP,   not the kind I have gotten from Ativan.   Ativan should be used occasionally,   and they also don't inform patients of this when prescribing it even to older people with whom they SHOULD warn not to use it every single night.   But in your case you are young enough that you should be able to recover.   And trust me,   EVERYONE has a rebound reaction like anxiety as soon as they quit taking it.    I have never met one person out of the hundreds I know  (and way too many people I know are put on this)   who didn't get a rebound reaction once they quit.   It's so frustrating to me that it's overprescribed.   

 

Even worse,   as someone who HAS been to the ER more than six times from what I recall over my lifetime,    they rarely seem to read the EKG correctly.   For example the last time they ran it several times because each time they screwed up.    And one time it looked like there were issues and then an expert looked at it and said it was a normal thing.   Thus I never could figure out who was right and continued to have panic attacks since who the hell could I trust.   I hate doctors.