Posted by Elizabeth on June 27, 2001, at 22:55:12
In reply to Weird Sleep - Talk all night long. . ., posted by AnneL on June 26, 2001, at 21:52:58
> I literally "pass out" on Klonopin, have no memory of what I watched on TV in bed the last 20 to 30 minutes of my evening, talk all night long (so loud I even wake myself up) and have non-stop dreams (nothing vivid or scary).
When did this start? Did you start taking the Klonopin and the Effexor at the same time? (Starting multiple meds at once can make it difficult to tell what's doing what.)
Effexor and the SSRIs have some strange effects on sleep architecture, and sometimes this results in bizarre behaviour during sleep. I don't think I've ever heard of talking as a side effect, but my guess would be that the Effexor is the culprit.
> Can I just stop taking Klonopin after 4 months of nightly use or do I need to taper off of it?
4 months at 1 mg, bedtime only, right? I'd strongly suggest tapering. You should talk to your doctor about a schedule for tapering, and it should be flexible depending on what you can tolerate. An example of a reasonable tapering schedule would be to take 0.75 mg (I'd recommend getting some 0.5 mg tablets so you'd only have to split them in half), and if that seems okay, stay at that dose for a week or so. Then decrease to 0.5 mg, stay there for a week or so (if you're okay at that dose), and so on. You could even go down to 0.125mg (1/4 of a 0.5mg tablet) before stopping altogether, if you need to.
4 months isn't too terribly long to be on Klonopin, and you should be able to get off it completely within a month (probably faster). But there's no reason to push yourself. The key phrase is "as tolerated." :-)
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:68021
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010625/msgs/68155.html