Long term Klonopin (clonazepam) use effects on memory

[SubDude]

Can't your Dr's try to slowly taper you off? I can empathize but by the sounds of it you've been on Benzos far longer than I.

Or did you just start recreationally and now use habitually too? How much Clonazepam are you on daily if you don't mind me asking?

I was first introduced to benzos and methadone by VA after returning from Vietnam. Back then they were telling us who had been wounded [physically and psychologically] that Methadone was a wonder drug. Valium and other benzos came later on if I recall correctly. They give me k-pins now at 2mg daily to control panic attacks from PTSD. No more because I'm on bupe too and that's how Govt healthcare works.

Many people think PTSD from war experiences get's better over time but for many of us it continues or get's worse. So yes I'm a long term user and will likely be on them for life. Only good part is meds and healthcare are free for vets with service connected disab. K-pins don't work for me for recreational purposes though 3-4 MG of xanax with oxy and/or alcohol does. Problem being they now have a urine screen which will separate specifically which kind of benzo you're using and I'm screened monthly since they moved me from pain clinic to ort. So I can use other benzos for about 5 days after the screen.... same with pot which I don't smoke often.

 

[qwe]

A bit off topic but here in Europe Lyrica is prescribed for GAD. I used 600 mg for a couple of years and felt like my brain worked at 50% of it's capacity. Felt totally retarded on it. I've never felt that with any benzo.

doctors around here like gabapentin. it tears apart my cognition...

 

[Steps]

Benzodiazepines really do impair memory

They impair memory during the time its in effect, and can very well impair memory long after cessation of use

Benzodiazepines are known for their lengthy post-acute withdrawals... its almost mindblowing, really...

HOWEVER, Nootropics from the "Racetam" chemical family combat benzo cognitive and memory impairment very well
Supplement with choline citrate while taking a racetam, in order to keep your acetylcholine stores from depleting

Piracetam is the most widely known racetam, cheap, effective, legal.. etc.
Very neuroprotective, almost NO side effects AT ALL, not toxic at all... doses such as 10GRAMS/kg didnt produce adverse effects

 

[sweetsweetjane]

Wow, I am so happy to see that even one person has had memory issues from taking clonazepam. I have been taking this medication for over 10 years. I am in my thirties and panic attacks began at age 17 for me. Panic attacks completely run in my family history; mom and dad's side and mom and dad and siblings for that matter!

It's awful! My parents take xanax as needed but that is between them and their Primary Care Physician who I clearly think is an idiot!

My brother takes Klonapin and I take Klonapin. I am allowed to take up to 3 mg daily.

Most days, I take 2mg to 3mg. I'd also like to mention that one time my pharmacy changed manufacturers of the actual pill and the pill itself did not relieve my anxiety! I have to make sure now that the pill I take has "TEVA" on it.

Klonapin is my security blanket. There is nothing worse than a panic attack. Wait, there is... Memory loss.

I am not sure if I have short term memory loss from other "substances" I have chosen to put into my body but I have severe short term memory loss! I have to take notes for work or I completely forget what someone just told me. My friends always call me out and say "You must have forgotten, but I just told you that like 5 minutes ago". It's completely embarrassing.

I do not know what to do b/c Klonapin is the only thing that I have found that can be of a security blanket and medication to help me with my panic attacks. I have tried therapy with a psychologist and a psychiatrist, imagery, deep breathing, concentrated breathing, temperature changes when feeling anxious, yoga, meditation, music therapy, benadryl, melatonin, and many other things I probably forgot! ohh emm gee, you name it!

I guess every person can be affected differently but that's my 2 cents! Be well!

 

[weekend addiction]

I think Xanax XR had the least effect on my memory of the 4 big ones (includes Klonopin). Too bad my psych doctor doesn't believe in Xanax.

 

[lalapanda]

I've been finding klonopin more easy to access and I've been drinking and taking handfuls of 2mg pills and I find it harder to pronounce/spell words half the time (this used to be very very easy for me)
I'm American and I've always got good grades in writing class and stuff. And the memory thing.... ha hahahahahahah, short term memory? I forgot what that is.
No but seriously, any time anyone asks me "Hey remember when X happened" I almost always am like,"what? No? are you making that up? "(Even when I wasn't on pills that day/week (that I recall anyway)

 

[MoreFeens4Morphine]

I've been prescribed .5mg klonopin BID (twice a day) for the past eight months. (Although I usually take them 4-6 times a day). I can't say I have noticed any memory impairment. However, I am one of those types of people who can hear a phone number once and recite it back to you immediately. Or a full address. I guess I was blessed with a great memory. Both long-term and short-term. I'm sure it is reported clonazepam has side effects in regards to your memory. On the other hand though, just look at any prescription medication that is advertised on television today. They are legally obliged to list any and all side effects test subjects encountered during every set of trials. Even if 1 person out of 10,000 said they thought about suicide while on the medication, they have to put that in their list of side effects. So in my opinion, it isn't the medicine. It is the person; more so, the person's brain. Everyone's brain chemistry is unique; therefore pinpointing a reason to possible short-term or long-term memory loss is next to impossible.

 

[Weasel7]

Yes.

To demonstrate the point, I don't actually remember when it was when I started taking klonopin. However, by process of elimination, I think it must have been some time in March or April, meaning I've been taking it for about 4 months. I'm only on .5mg every other day because I'm very sensitive to meds in general and I only weigh 100 pounds. Now, when someone asks me what I did yesterday, I can't remember, until I think about it very hard. It's very scary to me. But if I stop taking klonopin, I will have terrible panic attacks. The last one I almost killed myself by accident.

 

[weekend addiction]

Fuck yah. I think Klonopin is the most amnesiatic benzo pound for pound. I like it because I can drink on low doses without ill effect unlike other benzos. It also doesn't kill a weed buzz like other benzos. But still I hate the amnesia\clinical effect ratio greatly. Fortunately my dose is so low its not a huge issue. Definitely had worse memory with 4mg Xanax a day.

 

[tyto_alba]

I think Xanax XR had the least effect on my memory of the 4 big ones (includes Klonopin). Too bad my psych doctor doesn't believe in Xanax.

I've had the same problem with several doctors these past few years. GP's and psychiatrists are reluctant to prescribe xanax, but are ready and willing to prescribe any other anti-anxiety med, and are also quite happy to send me out the door with even stronger pills, like anti-psychotics, which they give to me even though I'm not suffering from psychosis.

Weird that xanax is avoided by so many doctors.. even those who prescribe stronger drugs.

 

[tyto_alba]

Hello all. I've been on the generic form of klonopin for 7 years now. I take 1-2 milligrams per day. I have dealt with short-term memory problems for a long time. According to a bit of research I've done online, and also according to many other posts here, klonopin does indeed cause memory problems.

I'm here on this site because my short term memory has gotten worse lately. Tonight, for example, I set my car keys down somewhere at my brother's place, and later could not find them. He had to drive me home, so I could get the spare set of keys, drive me back, and then I drove home. Good thing he lives close by.

When getting ready for work, I have to remember a few things, like making sure my notebook is in my backpack, bringing a water bottle, making sure I have enough supplies (I'm a park attendant at a nature reserve.) I usually forget several things, and getting out the door is a challenge. Quite stressful trying to remember things. Up and down the stairs I go, several times, before I have everything and am ready for work.

I don't know how much of these memory problems are due to klonopin, and how much are just caused by anxiety.

By the way, I have not found klonopin to be very effective at alleviating anxiety. I take it because not much else has worked in the past, because the doctors I've seen have been reluctant to prescribe xanax, and because klonopin is better for me when I am trying to get to sleep.

Sometimes xanax works better during the day than klonopin. I was on xanax regularly years ago. My parents both have xanax prescriptions.. maybe I should see their doctor. My parents let me have a xanax if my anxiety gets especially bad, Sometimes the xanax doesn't even work well.

Like another person wrote on this forum, the manufacturer makes a difference. I used to be on klonopin that I purchased from Walgreens. I have to pay cash, and Walgreens is expensive. I started getting the pills from Walmart, but those got to be expensive too. I've found the pills cost less at Costco, but the pills there are a different color than the generics and Walgreens and Walmart. I have found the Costco pharmacy pills to be the least effective. I'm thinking of paying more to get better-manufactured pills at a different store.

One more thing.. I've tended to avoid alochol, but the past couple weeks I have been drinking in moderation.. approx. 10 beers in a month. I am wondering if the minor alcohol consumption is messing about with my mind as it tries to process the klonopin.

Has anyone had increased short term memory loss because of klonopin? For those of you who have experienced this, have you noticed that drinking in moderation makes your memory worse?

Thanks.

 

[Intenselife]

Been on klonopin 1mg twice a day for almost 3 months now daily, and i have not noticed any impairment in memory and hopefully won't. Usually a pretty big change in memory with benzos comes into play when:

A) You are on a high dose prescribed or unprescribed, which would be 4mg or more daily.
B) You drink heavily, or often (since alcohol itself can impair memory especially when your on a benzo, even though like me you aren't abusing it by taking high doses, since i'm tolerant to my dose of 1mg twice a day i can drink just the same amount as before on benzos without it affecting me any differently, although when non tolerant it's very common for people to "black out" or have memory problems from the two mixed) But even so if tolerant like me, and no memory issues when drinking it still can occur if you drink frequently.
C) Basically abusing benzos, especially at higher doses and often OR if you have been on them for some years even at a lower dose.
D) If you already have memory problems, or other psychiatric disorders.

I was initally prescribed gabapentin for anxiety by my old idiotic psychiatrist and that created more memory problems on a daily basis and other negative side effects which made me recently stop taking it.

Also benzo withdrawal can sometimes create more memory problems than being on the benzo itself.

 

[Cyanoide]

Strange.

When I used benzos daily (especially clonazepam) I didn't notice any kind of memory impairment.

Now, when I just every now and then take benzos (mostly others than clonazepam though) I clearly notice my memory is somewhat impaired. I forget keys, iPod's, wallets, phones...Stuff that I usually never do. People around me notice it too. And I don't do any monster black out doses at all.

 

[Intenselife]

Strange.

When I used benzos daily (especially clonazepam) I didn't notice any kind of memory impairment.

Now, when I just every now and then take benzos (mostly others than clonazepam though) I clearly notice my memory is somewhat impaired. I forget keys, iPod's, wallets, phones...Stuff that I usually never do. People around me notice it too. And I don't do any monster black out doses at all.

Maybe because when you were taking them daily, the withdrawal had an impact on your memory so now when you take them you notice a memory impairment issue from the possible damage the klonopin daily did in terms of memory that you were unaware of while on it. A lot of people that are not taking massive doses of benzos or abusing them and are prescribed to them at lower doses notice MORE memory problems when coming off the drug (if they do).

 

[Midazle]

Ativan (Lorazepam) is said to have more amnesic effects and is shorter acting than clonazepam. I have been on Xanax, Ativan, and Klonopin seperately and can say that Ativan left me the most forgetful, klonopin long term though I find my short term memory is slightly effected...I would say Xanax has the least forgetful effects unless your the kind of person that takes 4mg at once no tolerance...I prefer Klonopin since its long half life means dosing frequency doesnt have to be so often and if you forget a dose you don't start to withdraw.

 

[gskhaladon]

Clonazapn help

Hi!

My name is Paul and I am writing about my gf Michelle.

She has NO short term memory at all. Its like 50 first dates other than she has long term memories, she knows me, her son, her ex, her family, but the day before never existed.

In her mind its still early summer before she had two epileptic seizures in the same day. She is a lifelong tonic/clonic epileptic.

At the time of the seizures, she had been seizure free for 3 1/2 years. Due to 100s of falls in her life @ 6'1 (6'4+ in heels) she has a great deal of musculo/skeletal issues, nerve damage in her right wrist, and a nuerostimulator to control the pain in her ankles. She has been diagnosed with chronic regional pain syndrome.

So, in June she was on paxil 2.5mg, birth control, Tylenol PM, and 200mg of zonegran (on 16 years for seizures).

She had a minor surgery to replace the nuerostim in her spine for the ankle pain.

They gave her a muscle relaxer flexaril which led too..

She had two seizures and sprained her ankle during one. We think the flexaril caused the seizures as she has a sensitivity to nuerotin based drugs.

They added a short course of tiazadine, and then switched over to 0.5mg clonazapan 2x daily.

She ended up in the hospital with fluid in her lungs and had a thoracodomy and 2 chest tubes.

During recovery she was on 5mg oxycodone as needed, tapering off as August wore on.

Come mid August, she was physically doing better when we decided to go on vacation and after checking with her PCP and her neurologist I let her drive a bit and she nearly killed us. I got her off the road ASAP, and later I questioned her and she didn't remember driving at all. I'm like OMG, what? Backtracked and apparently she wasn't processing anything from short to long term memory. For the last two months she was mostly bed ridden from two surgeries, two seizures and fucked up on the oxycodone and sleeping a lot so I never asked questions like 'so what about that movie we saw last night', but mostly, are you hungry/cold/hot/need meds/etc?

So what is the prognosis for being able to process short term memory again? She has been off for 33 days and nothing has changed.

The doctors seem to know nothing about this. They have her seeing a 2nd neurologist, a clinical psychiatrist, a nuero-psychologist, and she had a CAT scan on Friday.

This is really scary, she's a bright 38 year old woman who basically spends the day in bed watching mindless TV because she cannot process memories. She does what I ask for chores and help around the house, but she cannot drive, work, or help in her own care, remember to take her medications etc.

Oh she is only on the paxil, birth control, and zonegran now. I also got her off the Tylenol PM and switched her to melotonin.

HELP!

~Paul

 

[Sol Andre Raz Somoza]

I am a meesnger my memory is better with benzo Im with tramadol 1500mg and clonazepam6mg every day ..week ends 2 to 3 grams tramadol feels like coaciane to me and the benzo chill me out no the kind of hype .. it really helped me with my bipolar for 10 years of abusing drugs and finding the right cocaktail I guess I found my Talisman now