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Klonopin withdrawal induced status epilepticus

Wed, 07/16/2014 - 00:19

Don't know the proper way to directly respond to 'bread' about Klonopin withdrawal but yes, I had status epilepticus seizures for days while home alone from 'cold turkey' withdrawal. Mental Healthcare workers told me it would be just 'fine' to do that so I did. It was the worst nightmare I've ever been through. Withdraw slowly over very long time to diminish brain damage, seizures and hallucinations only to name a few of the 50 severe withdrawal symptoms you will most likely have. Please read the Ashton Manual to educate yourself. What I had to endure was nothing short of death. Please be careful and NO, there are no Doctors out there who are educated enough to help you with withdrawals let alone a recovery. After ONE year I am no where near healed and I have severe memory & cognitive impairment from that Klonopin withdrawal. I have no hope that I will ever fully recover.
 

Comments

Klonopin is used as a control

Submitted by just_joe on Wed, 2014-07-16 - 12:43
Klonopin is used as a control substance for people with epilepsy. If the mental health doctors put you on it they should know you need to be weened off of it. I do know what status epilepticus is and wht it is like when you come out of it. When I had it there was no 911 and having 40 convulsive seizures an hour then the only thing I could be taken to the hospital in was a station wagon. I started it around 10pm and was loaded into our neighbors wagon around 5 am, Once I was in the ER I was told that they got me out of it only for me to go back into it. All I know is I came too 3 days later. It did take time to gewt everything back. It took weeks in the hospital only to get back home and work at getting everything together. As for short of death welllllllllllll the doctors had done everything they could and they didn't know what would happen to me. Those are words that came from the head neurologist at the hospital. He stated they gave up since they couldn't do anymore for me. He followed that by Your mother never gave up and she had been there by my bed almost all the time I was in the coma. So I can deffinately say I would not be here if it weren't for a nothers prayer. I do hope you get things streightened out   I have severe memory & cognitive impairment  Best wishes and please come back and let us know how things are going Joe

Thank you. Yes, I know

Submitted by sanderella57 on Wed, 2014-07-16 - 13:27
Thank you. Yes, I know Klonopin is an antiseizure medication prescribed for sleep in my case and you would think that Mental Health would know about the dangers of abruptly stopping but they didn't. They even refused to believe me when I told them what I experienced for weeks filtering in and out of psychosis & seizures. I lost all faith in them after that. You didn't mention what caused your seizures. I'm so glad that you made it through your nightmare so you could share with us. Do you still have them if yours wasn't drug withdrawal related? But most importantly, how do you cope with the memory & cognitive problems? I had to relearn how to use my computer all over again among many other things and this whole experience has left me with nothing but rage. Rage directed in so many directions I can barely function and live a productive happy life. What gives you hope?

I am one of the few that

Submitted by just_joe on Sat, 2014-07-19 - 21:07
I am one of the few that really know facts about how they got epilepsy. I had been written up for daydreaming in class for about 1 1/2 years, I had wierd feelings in my right hand from time to time. Then 1 morning I had a grand mal seizure at school. Mom took me to Doc and they did an EEG it came out normal. I went thru 15-20 other eeg's all of which came out normal. I was taking meds and still had wierd feelings in my hand. I then hada seizure which looked like a grand mal but it was deffinately different since I was concious during the seizure. I saw everybody. I heard what they said .I herd Pam telling someone to go get the nurse. So doc wanted to find out more and since Dads insurance was having an issue they wanted further testing. On sprin break I had planed a nice break away from everything. I did not plan on a trip to a hospital.During that 10 stay I was rund thru a battery od tests 4 of which were more eeg's. One was a neuro-ageogram and a spinal tap at the same time. The neuro=angeogram was the mri of the 1960's. But yo udid feel things after it. They pumped air up into my head and took x-rays. Well tehy had found nothing abnormal in all their tests. The last etest was another eeg. During that eeg I fell asleep and they then found abnormalities. Seeing where they came from they looked closeer at the neuro-angeogram and looking closer they found scared brain tissue. The cause was a hemmorage to the brain. My current neuro also ran tests and the MRI and he varified the diagnosis and then went farther. The hemmorage to the brain was cause by a blow to the head which happened between 6-8. Now I do know I came off the top rung on a bunk bed ladder and hit my mouth on the bottom rail knocking out 4 teeth and gashing my tongue and cheek needing 32 stiches. I probably hit the top rail which would have spun my head enopugh to hit the bottom rail. SO my epilepsy was caused by a blow to the head which caused a hemmorage to the brain which caused scar tissue.. As far as seizures   YES I still have some. I have been bless to not have had a convulsive seizure since 1970. The seizures I have now last seconds. The time to focus is also in seconds. I can be in a crowd talking to friends and have one and unless you knew what to look for and you were watching me you would know nothing about me having one. I can attribute that to newer medication along with a doc who wants to get what I want. That would be seizure free. The seizures I have now are like blips in time. I can put up with a blip now and then when they are seconds long when I have  a life time of things happening around me. I live each day as if it were the last and do with it what I can to see if I can help others. That is why I come here and coment on posts. I also have done drug studies on newer medications. I really hated the older meds. They did control seizures well but man what a downer they were. I took phenobarb. dilantin and tegratol. I got to dallas and had to get a new neurologist. One of his first questions after reading the paperwork was. "How do you get up in the mornings?" I said 3 alarm clocks placed in 3 different areas of the room all set 20-30 seconds apart. He informed me I was takiong enough phemobarb alone to put the average man to sleep for 24 hours. Now add that to the other drugs and I was taking one big cocktail. I can barely function and live a productive happy life What gives you hope?  

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