Adding Clonazepam (Klonopin) & I am nervous

[sjconner]

I started the seizure/epilepsy journey almost a year ago. I started with Topamax. It made me giggle and I wanted to sing the Smurf song while I was teaching US Goverment. My neuro discontinued that and put me on Lamictal. I have virtually no side effects on Lamictal. I got to 125mg twice a day and was seizure free for the summer. Because I had had a seizure early on while ramping up on Lamictal, he wanted to add another med for insurance purposes. He added Neurontin. In October, I had a nice, big, fat simple motor seizure that sent me to the ER. He dropped Neurontin and upped my Lamictal to 200mg twice a day. Still having simple partials and motor seizures. We drop Neurontin and add Zonegran. Within a week, Zonegran made me lose too much weight and was I was rapidly becoming depressed. He had me drop Zonegran on Friday. I called the nurse today to report how I was doing after dropping Zonegran ... still having partials, etcetera. Today he added Klonopin .25 to .5 mg twice a day; I am still taking 200mg twice a day of Lamictal. Anyway ... based on what I have read (PI, forum, etc) I am nervous about starting this. Because he prescribed a med from the benzo class of drugs, I feel like I have pretty much come close to the end of the medication road. Should I be nervous about Klonopin? I think I will take .25mg to start with.

 

[Abynorml]

you won't be nervous once you take some, its great for anxiety, just take it as directed, it can be addictive.

 

[masterjen]

I think you have to ask yourself:
1. Are there other treatment options.
If not, then ask:
2. Are the seizures problematic (dangerous, unpleasant, etc.) enough that you want to stop them

I'm not trying to be funny by asking the second question. The answer to (2) is very much an individual choice, but worth asking yourself. And if your seizures are not tolerable (eg. due to danger, how they make you feel, etc.) then that seizure control unfortunately comes with risks. I think controlling dangerous, etc. seizures is worth the risk of addiction if you are out of choices for medication or other treatment.

 

[Belinda5000]

I've been taking Clonazepam for years, I take .5MG and I've never taken more than 15MG a day of it. It can make u tired. It's one of the few drugs along with Topamax and Tegretol that help control my seizures.I have partial seizures and also tonic - clonic sometime.

 

[Cint]

Anyway ... based on what I have read (PI, forum, etc) I am nervous about starting this. Because he prescribed a med from the benzo class of drugs, I feel like I have pretty much come close to the end of the medication road. Should I be nervous about Klonopin? I think I will take .25mg to start with.

True, Klonopin is a benzo. So is Ativan, but that is used in emergency situations most of the time. Klonopin is also used for anxiety and bi-polar as are many of the seizure meds; Lamictal, Neurontin, Depakote, Tegreto, Trileptal- to name a few. As long as you keep your dr. appt and have your drug levels checked periodically, you will be ok.

BTW, you still have a ways to go when it comes to medications. There are plenty more out there. In the 30+ years with E, I've tried at least 10-12 meds and there are still more news ones on the market.

 

[nicholas:)]

I've been taking Clonazepam for 2years or more - first at a high dose then 0.5mg (equivalent to 10mg of Diazepam) a day. It helps with my anxiety and simple partials.

 

[sjconner]

I really, really hope it helps my seizures. I want something to work. I have had 5 combinations in less than a year. One of the reasons I am leary of the Klonoin is my experience with Ativan in the ER. They gave me two 1mg doses. I was totally out for the next 36 hours. I don't know if that was do to the med or the seizure (extended focal motor) that spread to the other side or both. I can tell when I am going to have another focal motor because that shoulder starts to ache, feel tight, is just very uncomfortable. I am ready to ditch the pins and needles in my lips and the crawling bugs all over my body.

 

[Cint]

One of the reasons I am leary of the Klonoin is my experience with Ativan in the ER. They gave me two 1mg doses. I was totally out for the next 36 hours. I don't know if that was do to the med or the seizure (extended focal motor) that spread to the other side or both.

More than likely was the Ativan. That is what they do for seizures in the ER. And usually, it takes awhile to recover from a bad seizure + taking Ativan.

 

[sjconner]

It is 5:36 pm (Mountain Time Zone) and the day went better than I thought it would. After I took the first dose last night, I was really tired but couldn't sleep. I used to get that way if I took too much Benadryl. I teach less than angelic teenagers (way way less than angelic) and was worried about being able to stay on my toes. My classes went fine; I was a little tired. Other meds have been worse. My lip started to tingle but did not last as long as it usually does. Earlier, my shoulder started to do it's achey/tight/uncomfortable thing but so far that is it. Most of my motor seizure stuff is in the evening or the morning, occasionally I have them during the day. We will see if my shoulder does it's thing.