Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I've had RLS for 26 years
I've been on Clonazepam for nearly 28 years and it is the ONLY medication ive never stopped using.
Recently I reduced my dose and my RLS symptoms were significantly reduced
This was consistent for months until about a month ago when my RLS returned (mostly due to DA augmentation)

Has anyone had their Clonazepam seemingly cause an increase in their symptoms ???

I've been on Clonazepam for over 25 years. I have lifelong RLS. Took a year off Clonazepam eight years ago and it was a disaster. My doctor advised me to go back on after the worst year of my life on DAs. After that Clonazepam no longer gave me the undisturbed, RLS pain free sleep. I always thrashed around at night, but woke refreshed. Now I have RLS type pain in my thighs every time I wake, even from a nap. I used to attribute a lot of the worsening condition to that year off but that may not be true. Maybe just ageing.

I had a Harvard doctor say at 65 my body can't metabolise it like when I was younger. That was during RLS.org video conference question. Doctors will not give me a higher dose because of fear respiration will stop in the middle of the night so I am stuck on 2 mg. plus Lyrica. I can't find a doctor with a solution.

I'm experimenting adding low dose Requip since it has been seven years since I took it and it did work for a short time. That doesn't seem to be working so next I'm going to try Gabapentin again. In combination it gave me the confidence to get off Clonazepam but did not allow restful sleep by itself. I feel for you. You are your best advocate so learn what you can. Best of Luck. Rick

Icantsleep wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 7:30 am

Has anyone had their Clonazepam seemingly cause an increase in their symptoms ???

I'm wondering the same thing. A year ago (Jan/Feb 22) ago I was on 20mg Oxycodone and looking to reduce to 15mg, some nights were OK with 15mg, but too many weren't. After my bout with Covid in March my RLS symptoms flared up a bit and I was up to 25mg for a couple of months. I asked my neuro if there was a way to reduce the dose, and he suggested clonazepam. And at first it seemed to help somewhat, as I could go down to 20mg without issues, but a reduction to 15mg wasn't possible. I hoped time would help, but in late autumn I've had to up my opioid dose to a steady 25mg again, and now I have a lot of breakthrough symptoms and sometimes need 30mg. Not sure if the Clonazepam is the cause, but I've start tapering it and we'll see what happens...