Difficulties concentrating/memory loss on clonazepam?

It will destroy your memory in short term for sure. I took it for 1 year 0.5 mg Clonazepam and it destroyed my life. Depersonalization is the main issue. No motivation left. Was lucky to stop it and make full recovery.

I was on that exact same medication and dose for 8 years and let me please just warn you to get off of it ASAP. Unless you are planning on taking it “as needed”, sporadically or for less than a year, then it is not a good idea. It has had a huge destruction on my short-term memory and I don’t know if it’s permanent or not yet. I would ask your doctor if any other benzo. doesn’t cause this but I would assume that they all do.
I know it’s hard but coming from someone who has severe anxiety and it worked like a charm, I would never take it again because of how many times I ask my husband the same question in one day, and I just turned 30... I hope they get it off the market, it’s horrible.

Wow... Reading all this makes me want to cry. I've been on benzos since I was 12. I've always taken the least amount possible but the memory loss and lack of empathy is insane. I have forgotten whole blocks of my life . So many times someone will share a memory with me and I have absolutely no recollection of the event. As much as I needed the drug to control racing thoughts and panic attacks it's a hell of an exchange. I see my kids go through things that I know should bother me and they just don't. It's heartbreaking. This drug will Rob you of your life. If there is any other possible solution please take it. Learn to overcome learn to take control back please do something before you forget half your life and lose your empathy for people. What I would give to feel again. I take less than .5 mgs a day and nothing has changed the damage is done

I have been on clonazepam for a little over 2 years started at 2mg and have tapered myself down to 0.618mg. I dose 3 times a day. I am also taking amitriptyline 20mg at night. I am trying to mirco taper of clon using s liquid suspension that my pharmacy prepared. I dry cut until Jan 18 when I hit 0.75mg and could not cut any smaller. So since then I have dropped about 18% which I think is a little to fast as it hit me and I am finding I need to hold for longer period of time. I guess slow and easy is the way to go. I also find I am foggy headed and have issues like the rest have said with some memory. Do you think its the tapering or the amitriptyline which I have been on since April 2017 no changes. Seems to have started when I started getting lower on the clon. Any insights would be helpful.

Purplelavender

I just noticed j am having weird memory loss too and i just started 20mg of prozac and .5mg of klonopin. I didn't know what's causing it bc I'm forgetting things that i shouldn't be forgetting. Did u ever figure out which med was causing it?

I have had a panic disorder since my teens. I started taking benzos in 1980.
I was on Ativan at one time, and was on a dose of 2 mg. 2 x a day of Clonazapem, up till 2010. I am in my sixties. That was a HUGE dose. I cut down to 2 mg 1 x day with the help of a doctor and have been slowly, very slowly weaning off of it altogether. I am down to .75 mg at bedtime. The doctor states, since I have been on this medication for so long that it is OK to take .25 mg when I am finished tapering off.
When I was at a higher dose, back in 2010, I could not remember directions. I had trouble concentrating. That is when I personally started lowering my dose. Still, at a lower dose, I suffered severe depression and memory problems... I also take Lexapro. This drug does a number on your memory. Get off of it while you can. I never thought I could get off this, but it was either being able to remember vs. memory loss.

Ive been diagnosed with scitzophrenia and i only take lamictal and clonazepam. Ive taken it for years i did notice short term memmory loss but not long term memmory loss. I compensate with fish oil, vitamin b's, vitamin c and chew nicotine gum But i still feel like i have memmory loss but no one else has noticed.

Hi Stellamaria,

I completely relate to your difficulties with short-term memory loss and concentration taking clonazepam. I have been on it for 15 years and started out on .5mg before my dose was upped to 2mg morning and night. I am now down to 1mg M/N and still withdrawing! It's taken a long time and numerous side effects I wish I had never taken it in the first place. It is a good thing you have noticed the effects within 4 months, rather than years later, and can do your own research and talk to your specialist about your concerns. If you have to take it, then you have to take it, but to answer your question, yes, one of my worst regrets with having been on this is my memory loss, (and many more!) But my memory used to be photographic, now I have whole periods of time I cannot recall. Please talk to your specialist about how serious this is for you. Wishing you all the best!

Yes, clonazepam or any other benzodiazepine can cause what you described. I have been familiar with clonazepam for way too long. As for Prozac/fluoxetine, it could also be making your memory issue worse, but benzos mess with cognitive functioning big time. If you stay on clonazepam long term, you will set yourself up for very long term changes to your nervous system and minor memory issues will be the least of your concerns. Before you get in too deep, never take a higher dose than necessary, even if your Dr. says it is okay. Tolerance to benzos builds FAST so the dose you are taking now won't be nearly as potent in say, one year from now. Look into any and every other possible way to deal with stress/anxiety/panic disorder/depression so you have ways to cope aside from these meds. Sorry if this post made you nervous.
-sweaty