Clonazapam not showing up in urine tests

[LaurieG]

Hello! I'm wondering if anyone else is having this problem. I've had at least three negative results for Benzodiazapam in my urine over the last few months. I didn't have clonazapam urine tests during the Covid years and I'm with a new doctor now, who I think is nervous about continuing to prescribe Clonazapam for me due to these negative tests. I take at least .5 ml every single night...have for about 22 years! Somtimes I take 1/4 - 1/2 more to sleep some nights and still the urine tests are negative. Is anyone else having this problem or can anyone suggest what I could do about it?

Thank you!

[ViewsAskew]

Not a clue! How frustrating.

[Stainless]

They give you tests to see if you're selling it? Wow! That's nuts. I also have experienced prescription requirements and pharmacies make you feel like a criminal on this drug.

I was on Clonazepam for close to 20 years and was doing fine. I dealt with daytime RLS like I had all my life and Clonazepam let me sleep with PLM doing its thing, wake rested and take on the day. I went from .5 to 2.5 mg over those years. Then I got off over 6 months, tried everything else, was miserable and ended back on Clonazepam plus Lyrica and feel much worse. I don't know if it worse because I quit but it sure feels that way.

My advice is that if such a low dose works for you don't let your doctor lead you down a bad path like DA and Lyrica. If you go to higher doses later in life, it is a real nightmare to get off of. Best of luck.

[Rustsmith]

I have not been tested for clonazepam, but was tested once for methadone which also came back negative. The problem is that we take on the low end of the dosing range and this can mean that your test results are below the detection limit for the test. The problem is that most doctors take lab test results as the absolute truth, which casts doubts upon the patient. I blame the labs for not doing a better job of reporting their results. I used to work with chemical analysis labs and instead of reporting zero, they would report ND (not detected) or "below limits".

I found a study by NIH that looked at results of urine tests for clonazepam and NIH found that 10-15% of the results for patients on low doses were coming back negative.