Clonazepam is used alone or with other seizure medicines to treat absence and myoclonic seizures (especially in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome), and can help stop seizure clusters. (An example of a cluster might involve a person who has one complex partial seizure in the morning and three or four more seizures over the course of the day, just once a month.)

A person who typically has a prolonged warning before seizures (a particular symptom, an unusually long aura, or a series of small seizures) may be able to prevent the larger seizure by taking clonazepam when the warning begins.

For seizures that mainly occur during sleep or shortly after awakening, giving clonazepam or another benzodiazepine at bedtime can be very effective in controlling the seizures and improving sleep.

Reviewed March 2005 by Steven C. Schachter, MD, epilepsy.com Editorial Board.