Clonazepam for Myoclonic Jerks at Night

[AlbertJ]

Hello,

I have been away from this forum and am now back and could use some encouragement.

Last first week of March, after three consecutive nights of less than three hours of sleep, I was not able to sleep at all in the next three nights. I developed myoclonic jerks when I was attempting to sleep or was dozing off. The jerks became more violent on the third night of being unable to sleep. My body was twitching that I was kicked out of sleep so I went to the ER.

On the ER, I was given two vials of Benadryl intravenously to help me sleep but to no avail. I was sent home and was prescribed Baclofen. I was only able to sleep after about 86 hours of being awake.

The next morning, I went to a neurologist who prescribed me 0.5 mg of Clonazepam at night to control the myoclonic jerks. I was scheduled to have an EEG but the lockdown hindered me. My neurologist was not replying to any of my message about me continuing Clonazepam as my jerks have not fully gone away. I also experience the jerks when I try to resume sleep or take a nap in the afternoon. The jerks start when I am relaxed and about to doze off. The worst experience was my head twitching in a sec.

Thankfully, I found a neurosurgeon who was able to help me secure a new prescription for Clonazepam. He said that the jerks are brought about by an excess of cortisol and imbalance of neurotransmitters in my brain brought about by stress and my lack of sleep.

The myclonus is controlled I believe by Clonazepam as I no longer experience the violent jerks but I still have the less violent ones when I doze off. In addition I have had fasciculations since 1994. It happens when I lack sleep for several days.

But what I am frightened are:

1. I might have an MS
2. I might not have an MS but will take Clonazepam for the rest of my life to be able to sleep

I am so quite aware of the side effects and withdrawals effects of Clonazepam, being a benzodiazepine. I am afraid that my tinnitus will get worse over time because of Clonazepam.

Any one here who had a long-term use of Clonazepam? Might I have an MS?

I could use a little encouragement in the midst of my health issues and the pandemic.

Thank you.


Warm regards,
Albert

 

[IAmCalifornia]

In my experience, and just my experience... I had a friend who had MS. The way it started for him was he kept tripping and randomly losing control of his legs. It started off infrequent, and then became frequent, whereas he went to the doctor- also developed so come-and-go eye blindness- and eventually got the imaging which showed lesions. He did not have any myoclonic jerks. I've had those (they are a pain in the ass), so I get it, your neuro doctor sounds right.

I haven't used clonazepam so I can't comment on that.

 

[AlbertJ]

In my experience, and just my experience... I had a friend who had MS. The way it started for him was he kept tripping and randomly losing control of his legs. It started off infrequent, and then became frequent, whereas he went to the doctor- also developed so come-and-go eye blindness- and eventually got the imaging which showed lesions. He did not have any myoclonic jerks. I've had those (they are a pain in the ass), so I get it, your neuro doctor sounds right.

I haven't used clonazepam so I can't comment on that.

Thank you for your comment, @IAmCalifornia.
I guess I have been reading too much on the Internet - and further feeding my health anxiety.
Do you still experience myoclonic jerks? How did you manage them?

Warm regards,
Albert

 

[linearb]

1 - you probably don't have MS. Do the medical tests, rule it out, but 99.9% of the people who are worried they have MS do not.

2 - I take Klonopin every day and might for the rest of my life and it's not great but there are far worse fates if it really comes to that, which it won't for you

Also, tonic muscle jerks as a result of excess glutamate, implies a lack of cellular magnesium, as this is the chemical mechanism that mediates glutamate excitatory activity. Meaning, you may just be deficient in magnesium; this is common in both protracted stress states, or as a result of poor dietary intake.

If it were me I would supplement the 0.5mg kpin with some amount of Calm brand mag citrate, work the magnesium dose up slowly, and see if the jerks settle down.

During periods of extreme stress and insomnia I have been in a state where I will "almost" fall asleep, and then this sets off an alarm bell in my head and I violently jerk awake. I don't know if this is what you are describing.

My wife, under normal circumstances, can go through extreme myclonic jerks, and this has been the case for the whole 15 years we have slept together: when she is past "dozing off", she often goes into a period where for 3-4 minutes here legs and sometimes torso will appear to spasm, and then she falls asleep. This never seems to wake her up. However, for other reasons, she also has been using magnesium citrate for a couple years now, and thinking about it, I have to say that the incidence of her myclonic jerks have dropped a whole lot... which is great, because even though it never wakes her up, falling asleep next to a myclonic partner is a bear.

As far as benzos go, if you use them daily for more than a couple weeks, you are going to want to back the dose off gradually and not just stop taking it, and you will have some amount of rebound insomnia and anxiety. Thems just the breaks. The first time I withdrew from Klonopin, after using it for 5 years, it took me 14 months to complete the withdrawal and much of that was hallmarked with poor sleep and insanely vivid nightmares. So, if possible, avoiding long term benzo use is a good idea.

 

[AlbertJ]

1 - you probably don't have MS. Do the medical tests, rule it out, but 99.9% of the people who are worried they have MS do not.

2 - I take Klonopin every day and might for the rest of my life and it's not great but there are far worse fates if it really comes to that, which it won't for you

Also, tonic muscle jerks as a result of excess glutamate, implies a lack of cellular magnesium, as this is the chemical mechanism that mediates glutamate excitatory activity. Meaning, you may just be deficient in magnesium; this is common in both protracted stress states, or as a result of poor dietary intake.

If it were me I would supplement the 0.5mg kpin with some amount of Calm brand mag citrate, work the magnesium dose up slowly, and see if the jerks settle down.

During periods of extreme stress and insomnia I have been in a state where I will "almost" fall asleep, and then this sets off an alarm bell in my head and I violently jerk awake. I don't know if this is what you are describing.

My wife, under normal circumstances, can go through extreme myclonic jerks, and this has been the case for the whole 15 years we have slept together: when she is past "dozing off", she often goes into a period where for 3-4 minutes here legs and sometimes torso will appear to spasm, and then she falls asleep. This never seems to wake her up. However, for other reasons, she also has been using magnesium citrate for a couple years now, and thinking about it, I have to say that the incidence of her myclonic jerks have dropped a whole lot... which is great, because even though it never wakes her up, falling asleep next to a myclonic partner is a bear.

As far as benzos go, if you use them daily for more than a couple weeks, you are going to want to back the dose off gradually and not just stop taking it, and you will have some amount of rebound insomnia and anxiety. Thems just the breaks. The first time I withdrew from Klonopin, after using it for 5 years, it took me 14 months to complete the withdrawal and much of that was hallmarked with poor sleep and insanely vivid nightmares. So, if possible, avoiding long term benzo use is a good idea.

Thank you very much for your insight at sharing you story, @linearb.

The MS thing came to mind after reading articles and watching tons of videos about it. I must admit that T has made me quite a hypochondriac. My neuro advised me yesterday to do more meditation to avoid thinking about health stuff.

It is interesting to note that, alongside not having been able to sleep for straight three nights, I had withdrawn from magnesium citrate when the myoclonic jerks appeared. I used to take 200 - 400 mg of it. Now I take 250 - 500 mg magnesium malate and have been tinkering with the dosage in light of my jerks.

It must be "tough" to take Clonazepam on a regular basis - but if the benefits outweigh the risks or potential risks, then sign me up.

I have been also trying to reduce my dose of Clonazepam alongside melatonin - but it seems it will really take time for my symptoms to subside, if at all.

On a positive note, my sleep has so much improved. The past several years have been stressful for me. It took toll on my health and sleeping habits on top of T and H.

I really hope and pray that my symptoms would resolve soon. I also hope that yours will improve more over time.

Thank you very much for replying to me. I appreciate it.

Cheers,
Albert

 

[Ken77]

You are probably worrying way too much and that is causing most if not all of your symptoms. I am speaking from personal experience lol. Try to avoid focusing on worst case scenarios.

 

[AlbertJ]

You are probably worrying way too much and that is causing most if not all of your symptoms. I am speaking from personal experience lol. Try to avoid focusing on worst case scenarios.

Thanks, @Ken77. Yes, my health anxiety is driving me nuts. My neuro has asked me to meditate and choose what I put in my mind.

Warm regards,
Albert

 

[Tanni]

Hi Albert,

I experience exactly the same -- every night, as I'm falling asleep. MS has been ruled out. The Doctor thinks I have excess cortisol and anxiety, same as with you.

I'm not on any medication, as usually I can still sleep after it's woken me a few times. Let me know how you get on!

 

[linearb]

Hi

I use clonazepam 2mg daily, and I have withdrawn from it in the past after years of use. Myclonic jerks and a psychological fear that I had MS were both parts of my withdrawal.

As you know, this isn't a great drug to be on long term. I've been back on since 2017, because as of now my quality of life on Clonazepam 2mg + gabapentin 600mg is significantly better than the quality of life I had from 2010-2017, during which I tried basically every drug and non drug treatment known to humans including being a lab rat in a number of studies.

I think the bimodal tech in development at the University of Michigan works, and I look forward to a day when I have one of their devices and I can attempt another withdrawal from Clonazepam. In the mean time, I will just keep taking it, unless I run into a wall where it stops working.

I am almost 40, and 15 of the last 22 years of my life have involved benzos or benzo withdrawal. I went a long time in the middle with no benzo exposure at all, to see if this was all drug related and something I would "heal" from. In my case, nope, my ears and brain seem messed up, drugs seem to help, and I am not looking deeper than that right now because life is short and hard, like a bodybuilding halfling.