What are the symptoms of clonazepam withdrawal?

I made a good physical recovery over a few years, but the challenges in the mental journey from the accident and later, drug withdrawal, continues even today. From 1998-2003, I was gradually prescribed more medications and in high doses. These worsened rather than helped the mental symptoms. At the time, I didn't know the difference. In 2003, I was on daily high doses of the following drugs: Klonopin 5-6mg/day, Effexor 300mg, Paxil 30 mg, Wellbutrin-300 mg, Dexedrine 100mg, Zyprexa 15 mg, Modafinil 800mg, Neurontin-unknown dose, occasional Viagra. I don't remember if I was still taking high doses of Trazodone. Trazodone use coincided with visual disturbances of seeing blue-violet shades and repetitive images from object movement. I was also using some methamphetamine and cannabis. I was in a constant altered state from these medications/drugs and/or from the head trauma. In late 2002-2003, I smashed hundreds of rocks on my kitchen floor because I saw fractal patterns inside. Smashing the rocks made a deep hole in the concrete. The kitchen cabinet surfaces and shelves were piled completely with smashed rocks. Rocks filled tin cans on the shelves. I could see fractal wave patterns flowing from objects, so I was creating art with natural objects arranged according to how I felt their energy fields interacting. My entire living space was transformed with many natural objects. This included driftwood hanging from the ceiling, a spare toilet used for flowers, dried seaweed, and poppy pods, and dried grass.

In 2003, I was arrested spent 5 months in jail. l was denied all of my medications and started withdrawal. I was put in a suicide cell because I was petrified about being placed with the general population, so I said I was suicidal. The first two nights, I heard mostly female voices through the walls. I told a man facing possible capital punishment not to fear death because I've been there. Three days after my arrest, I saw the jail doctor. He refused any medications and aid I was done with withdrawal. He did prescribe Zyprexa at 20 mg/day, and 4-8 weeks later, Trazodone to aid sleep and possibly either Effexor or Wellbutrin.

Over the next 2-3 weeks, my condition worsened. I was severely constipated, and my muscles would fail me. I held on to the security man when I was moved because I could suddenly collapse. My failure to be able to get out of bed sometimes when medications were given was defined as medication refusal. My legs twitched at night, starting 30 min after I lay down. They jerked up and down and was very uncomfortable. I often fell against the wall in my cell. One day, I was rushed unconscious to the hospital with open head wounds because the guards claimed I was banging my head against the toilet. I don't remember. I probably fell against the toilet. I was having convulsions in the hospital. The emergency team wasn't told about my recent medical history. They even did a spinal tap trying to determine the cause of my seizures. I don't remember going to the hospital, just waking up in the hospital chained to a very comfortable bed. I spent 2 days in the hospital.

I gradually improved over the 5 months in jail. When I was released from jail, I saw a doctor who, over a 6-9 month period, weaned me off the medications (Effexor or Wellbutrin and Zyprexa) that were prescribed in jail. He refused to prescribe D-amphetamine sulfate for my ADHD and head injury. The doctor who prescribed all the meds before my arrest lost my medical records. But, I found a copy. During the first year after my release, I either went deeper into depression or was already deeply depressed, with high distraction and an altered state 24/7 EXCEPT for 2-3 evenings a week when I forced myself to go contra dancing: an intense aerobic activity with an eye contact component. For two hours after the dancing, I felt normal, then the altered state returned. I hated it. I felt this for a year. I switched doctors to an expert in mental health. He started me on an older antidepressant that felt like a switch in my brain. The severe depression was gone. Later he switched to another medication and started me on D-amphetamine based on the recommendation of a psychologist. Gradually, I stopped the antidepressant.

So, it is difficult to know when the withdrawal finished because possibly, it blends with recovery and other medications that were later prescribed. It is also difficult to say which drug produced a given withdrawal symptom. The withdrawal was a mixture of all the drugs. But, I felt then and now, that Klonopin was the most potent, and the reason for my frequent loss of muscle control during the worst period of the withdrawal. I feel 2-3-5-or even 10 years is my time frame for withdrawal and recovery.

How am I today? Well, in 2011, I flew to Novosibirsk, in Siberia to meet a woman I met online. She found me by my horoscope, not my profile photo of me holding onto the horns of a live goat. The goat picture and my stories about compost convinced her I was not a scam. I lived there 2 years and for the first time since my DUI collision in 1998, I rode a bike-across the River Ob. I was put to work in the English language schools. My favorite was a school that also worked with ADHD children. In 2020, I started a collaboration with a company, doing the initial extractions of Amanita muscaria, a red psychoactive mushroom with white spots on the cap, for the development of a micro-dose amanita supplement. I learned how to import metric tons of Amanita legally. So, I took a chance and discontinued my disability status after 22 years and the monthly payments stopped. So, I hope you and others find value in this very true story.

"Mental Health Symptoms
The psychological symptoms of Klonopin withdrawal can include:
Anxiety
Irritability and agitation
Insomnia
Panic attacks
Restlessness
Nightmares
Strange bodily sensations
Depression
Strange perceptual changes (things touch, taste, or feel different)
Problems concentrating
Trouble remembering things
Delusions
Confusion
Auditory or visual hallucinations
Delirium
Feelings of unreality
Distorted body image
Suicidal thoughts"

Keep in mind that there are many factors involved in the severity and length of time withdawal symptoms may appear and last. Most people who follow a strict tapering schedule from their doctor may not experience many or most of them.
Best regards and best of luck to you.
Wildcat