Can you reinstate Klonopin?

[lej]

Hi,
I've had a problem with anxiety since I was 17. I mostly managed to live with it and wasn't really too bothered by it.
I moved to South America in 2003 and enjoyed life. I would go swimming 5 x a week but from swimming in a pool that was a bit to cold, I got a dry cough after a few months. I went to a doctor who also used acupuncture and she insisted on hearing my whole medical history. I mentioned my anxiety problem but said I had it under control. She said that acupuncture can CURE that. I hesitated and then agreed which was a huge mistake. The acupuncture made me really anxious. I think it wasn't really the acupuncture but more the fact that the placebo effect made me lose my confidence of being able to cope with anxiety.
Anyway, that lead to me going to a psychiatrist and I ended up taking 0.5mg Klonopin 3 x a day which got me stable again. One doctor told me you could basically take it all your life. After a while I reduced it to .5mg in the morning and .25mg in the evening and just stayed at that dosage for the next years, never having the need to increase and never having a return of my anxiety. I moved to Germany in 2009 and that's when I met the usual benzo-phobic doctors. One told me I should just taper off.

I decided to go to CBT once a week to manage my anxiety and during this time I tapered off really slow. Once I was off my anxiety really took off although I mainly blame it on anti-Benzo forums and all the horror stories you read. They're enough to make anyone freak out. I was totally fine during tapering but once I read those stories my panic reappeared. Do the math.
Before I went off the drug my life was: traveling, partying, doing a lot of sports, socializing, working, enjoying life.
Now 4 weeks off my life is: I'm becoming extremely agoraphobic, major anxiety, feel panic attacks coming when I go out, can hardly do anything and I can hardly do my work, I feel depressed. The same situation I was in after the acupuncture. If I try to ignore all the horror stories for a minute I actually feel fine but that effect doesn't last too long. It's like trying to ignore a pink elephant. I'm just convinced that my anxiety is based on the worry/anxiety cycle and not withdrawal.

My therapist tells me to learn to cope without meds. Great, now I can hope that one day I can cope and feel doomed until then.
I'm tempted to go back on the meds(rather be on meds than living like this) but anti-benzo forums sure make sure that people are as miserable as possible. They tell you if you go back on benzos after you're off, you will be much worse than before because the devil himself will make sure of that(slightly exaggerating but anyone who has been on those forums will know what I mean). They only offer you a "tough it out - it only will take about 2 years" reply as support. The CBT doesn't really seem to do anything. Maybe I don't have enough confidence in it.

Has anyone here ever been on and off of benzos and knows if they will still work once you've been off?

[DaneV]

There is no reason why a benzo wouldn`t work the same way after not taking it for a while. The only thing that might happen is that you get your initial side effects again because your body isn`t used to them anymore; if you had any before.

I Think what you`re going trough right now might be a combination of (mild) withdrawal and your mind telling you that you that you will be anxious without klonopin.
0.25 mg a day is a very low dose, especially when you`re on it for a long time. I doubt that it did anything to your anxiety for such a long time, other than making your mind believe it did. The placebo effect is very strong, and when combined with mild withdrawal symptoms it might let you believe that you really need this medication.

I would suggest to try to taper off. See what happens when you take 0,125 mg for a couple of weeks. If that goes fine, take half of that for a couple of weeks and so on. Maybe when you`re on a low dose you could take some natural anxiety relievers like valerian and l-theanine if you feel like you need them.

If this really doesn`t work out for you, then maybe you should stay on the 0.25mg dose (or lower) if you really feel it improves your quality of live. Don`t be afraid of these horror stories on these forums; i don`t believe there is much reason to be worried if your on such a low dose. The people who experience some major problems with the use and withdrawals from benzo`s are (or were) probably on a far higher dose than you are. Like 3x 2mg a day for example.

[lej]

0.25 mg a day is a very low dose, especially when you`re on it for a long time. I doubt that it did anything to your anxiety for such a long time, other than making your mind believe it did. The placebo effect is very strong, and when combined with mild withdrawal symptoms it might let you believe that you really need this medication.

I would suggest to try to taper off. See what happens when you take 0,125 mg for a couple of weeks.

I was actually on more than .25mg. I was on .5mg in the morning and .25mg in the evening.
I already tapered off and stopped taking the Klonopin 5 weeks ago. My feeling miserable started after I stopped.
The reason I asked if I can start taking it again is because anti-benzo forums say, you can't go back on it after you stopped because it will not work anymore or make things worse. According to them it has something to do with your GABA receptors and your healing process.

That's why I was curious to hear if that's true because I know anti-benzo forums are biased. The reason I say this is because they tend to blame ALL symptoms on the drug and NONE on the original disorder.