Hi! I just found this forum a little while ago and I'm not sure where I should post this - I hope here is O.K? I could really, really use any help or advice from anyone about how to deal with this frustrating situation:

I have bi-polar and have been seeing a psychiatrist -actually, several different ones cuz I've moved a few times over the last few years - but the routine has been about the same. I would go in once every 2 or 3 months and get a fresh prescription for clonazepam (Klonopin) with refill(s) to last unti the next appointment. Perfectly legal...

So now I've moved back to where my family is but no psychiatrists here will take Medicare! (I'm not a senior citizen, but I'm on Social Security Disability & it comes with Medicare automatically). Well, there is only one, but he won't take just the co-pay, which is all I've ever had to pay before and there's no way I can pay up front the $175.00 cash he requires. Even if I could, he doeesn't have an opening for 2 mnonths.. so I started looking for other options, like online...

But so far, I've only run into countless sites that either appear as if they have the medication I need, but none of their links goes anywhere at all, or all the links (regardless of what they say) only lead to Viagra and a couple other things like that. And everything else I ran into has involved foreign pharmacies (or the promise of access to them only after paying a "membership fee"). I know this is a US forum here, so I don't think I'm supposed to post about all the red flags I saw on those. But I'll just say that they seemed to have SCAM written all over them, so I haven't actually tried them - I can't afford to take a risk like that unless I have some confirmation that I will actually be able to get what I pay for.

So now, I only have 4 pills left! I tried to get my last Doctor to call me in another re-fil - he knows that people are not supposed to abruptly stop taking clonazepam - but he is 2000 miles away and said he can't prescribe outside of his State and the States that directly surrround it and besides it's been more than 3 months since he saw me so also wouldn't do it cuz of that.

What do I do???? I've got a medical history that goes back more than 10 years that shows what I've been taking, and am supposed to be continuing to take, but somehow, I'm suddenly unable to obtain it! This forum was the only emcouraging thing I found online and I'm getting desperate. Can somebody please help???

Thank you so much!!!!


Oh, just wanted to say I know I said I moved to where my family is, but actually it's only my Dad and he doesn't have a regular family doctor I could see for the time being (just wanted to mention that so no one wastes their time suggesting that I see my family's GP - I would have already tried that if there was one). Thanks again!

You are definitely in a pickle, NotAmused. Have you looked into the NROP sites?

I am not able to offer you specifics - and I hope that is not "off putting".

Is there a psych doc where you now live? Having been on these meds for so long, I would think that obtaining them wouldn't be too difficult. But what do I know? I always hesitate to respond when I can't offer anything but support - but then I think about what I would want (in addition to specifics).

I hope that others with experience with these meds will give you more info. Withdrawals from any benzos are horrific (and dangerous) as you already know.

Hey, fellow posters - give NotAmused some concrete advice. Please.

In the meantime - can you cut them in half? Am I being ignorant?

If it were me, I would put a great deal of energy into finding a psych doc - ASAP. If you are already doing that, please forgive the advice.

I hope others with more knowledge come in and give you the info you need. Read the NROP thread. WELCOME!

Ok, non of this is really recommended, especially considering i am no doctor, I just have a little experience and knowledge and resource accessability. I have experience with wd from other script meds though, so I know what it can be like.

According to others, pretty much any other benzo will prevent the WD effects, or at least stop them from being near/fatal.
Xanax seem to be one fairly easily attainable online w/o prescription, check on this site.
This is not meant as a permanent replacement, strictly temporary until you can get to see a GP etc..
Be aware you will be taking something not prescribed specifically for you, and although I don't believe that any doctors sole motive for scripts are your health care, they still at least know more than us (well, they're supposed to anyway.....cavaet over).


Not living in the USA I don't know the ins and outs, but couldn't you go to the A+E dept at the local hospital and get an emergency script? Shouldn't the fact you are on benefits waive the fees? If poss then this would at least give you some more time.

Lactimal is also said to help. I have found lots of ads/sites offering its sale with and with out free consultations etc.. But considering the difficulty you have had with trying to purchase clonazepam, I don't know how available lactimal would be.
Lactimal contains lamotrigine, so other medicines containing this compound would suffice.

here is an excerpt from netdoctor


So lamotrigine should be available (easily?) without a script and online.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

Take care.

They've not been treating bi-polar disorder with just clonazepam, have they?

Hi - I'm so glad I found this forum! There are people here who genuinely seem to want to help! That means so much to me. Thank you! It's been a while since I've participated in a forum, and seem to have forgoten how to work some of the functions so I can address my reply to each person.. please bear with me for now. I'll look it up later if it doesn't come back to me......


I was diagnosed 14 years ago, and over the course of the first 6 years, they tried so many different medications, I lost count after about the first 2 years, and have forgotten most of the names... Lithium, Depakote (valproic acid), Tegretol, Wellbutrin, Busbar, Neurontin, Dalmane, Dilantin, Trazedone.. were some that come to mind that just plain didn't work. Others were really awful - Elavil and some other tricyclic anti-depressants, and Halcion.. made me feel even worse than I already did.. and a whole bunch of others that I have no idea what they were.. only that it went on for the worst 6 years of my life. Clonazepam would have been just one more but for the fact that it worked! It was like a miracle. I'd been in & out of hospitals, barely functional for so long, and had long ago stopped expecting anything they gave me to do anything but maybe make me sick. Think it shocked everyone, but in about a week, I was like a regular person again.
So yeah, for almost 7 years now, that is what I have been taking and have had virtually no symptoms since I started taking it. Neither I or the doctors wanted to mess with something that was working. The only other thing I've been prescribed by a psyche doctor in recent years is some temazepam for sleep though I rarely took it. Glad now though that I filled the last one he gave me before I moved. It's no substitute for clonazepam, though one might think so since it's closely related. And I don't have many.



PNWRain, thank you.. I don't think you're "off-putting" at all! I really appreciate your suggestions. Just, I am/have tried them. The problem I never forsaw is that while there are plenty of psyche doctors, there aren't any anywhere near who are Medicare providers - when I got disability benefits, it came with Medicare, which has worked fine for me up until now, since I never had a problem finding one who just charged me the co-pay and billed them for the rest. It had never occurred to me that this could happen, where every single one I called all said the same thing - "we don't take medicare, you'll have to pay the entire fee up front." Psyche doctors are especially high priced - way out of the range of anything even feasible for me. Im sure I'll eventually find one who will accept my insurance... somewhere, but for the time being, I am going to have to find an altenative source.

Lol you're not being ignorant. A perfectly reasonable idea. I wish I had started doing that at the beginning of the last refill (or sooner) rather than near the end of it.




Thanks salviablue... what was the name of the site? (it's missing) I've never tried Xanax. I have though been just very recently looking up the descriptions of the various benzos, since temeazepam and clonazepam sound so much alike, but they affect me very differently - I thought that maybe one of the others might be closer in properties to clonazepam - xanax I think was one that seemed like it might be closer - I'd like to try it if I could get it fairly quickly. Also, that other one you mentioned (I can't see your post right now) I don't remember what it was called since I have never heard of it before.. the one where you quoted the description from another website - I'm interested in looking up a bit more about it because that description sounded almost identical to clonazepam which is also supposed to be meant for seizures, with a more off- label use for bi-polar and anxiety. Thanks for that info as well, I'm certainly going to look into it.


Thanks again so much all of you for your input. I'll check back later too... This forum seems to have a whole lot if information too that I haven't had time even to look at most of it. Wish I'd found this place sooner.

Alprazolam is much more different to clonazepam than temazepam is, and is best avoided in your condition. It is short-acting, fast-acting, and is notoriously difficult to withdraw from. Because of the great difference in duration of action between alprazolam and clonazepam, equipotent doses are difficult to calculate. Despite the charts stating that 1mg alprazolam = 1mg clonazepam, the alprazolam will feel completely different and be gone in a few hours. This tends to leave patients wanting more, and the cycle of dependence and addiction may follow.

You may get away with using low doses of temazepam until you can return to clonazepam, and it may involve breaking the pills or using a small amount of the capsule.

Doesn't the larger question here involve the efficacy of using clonazepam singly to treat bipolar disorder?
I've seen all sorts of off-label uses for this drug and I understand its anticonvulsant properties but I have never heard of a patient properly diagnosed with bipolar being prescribed clonazepam as a first-line medication treatment.
OCD, yes but not bipolar.
Is this some new protocol being used by psychiatrists as of late of just a possible misdiagnosis initially?

I don't know about any possible misdiagnosis or replacement treatments, but I think the main issue here is to provide the guy (OP - notamused) a way of staving off the withdrawal effects (which according to lit. can be fatal from benzo`s) until s/he can return to hir usual script and then go to a GP for review once s/he finds a doctor that accepts medicare. Until that time, I feel the most important thing is an easily and quickly available benzo and/or other drug(s) that will, as mentioned, stave off the wd and provide some kind of stability of disorder. Providing its not going to make notamused any worse (contraindications/totally the wrong thing) then anything for the short term will be better than wd plus bipolar disturbance.

I don't know much about benzo's and maybe even a suggestion of one was wrong of me to do, its just that it was the main one I saw repeatedly for sale, online w/o a script. Suggestions of anything better, more easily/quickly available would be superb.

I have asked the question else where and will refer back here any advice given for corroboration.

That was the thing that seemed to scream at me out of the initial post. The list of treatments mentioned combined with the many that cannot be remembered make it hard to understand exactly what's happened here.

Many antimanic and antipsychotic drugs have unpleasant side-effects upon initiation, but often these decrease as the drug is continued, and time is needed on these medications to see if they are suitable. I am wondering if some of these drugs that have been prescribed to the patient have been given a fair chance.

As you say, monotherapy with clonazepam can only really treat certain anxiety-related symptoms of the bipolar disorder; whether this has been interpreted as blunting the moods swings, I can only guess.

What is certain though, is that the patient finds a good consultant, draws up a list of medication previously taken (which may need some digging around but is necessary), duration of treatment, and side-effects, and has a good consultation in order to continue treatment, whether it includes clonazepam or not.

If necessary, go to hospital if you run out of meds. Being on clonazepam for that length of time cannot be suddenly interrupted, and the doctor at the hospital should understand this.

clonezapam is offered at pharmaoffshore. Go thru the threads and you will find them. It will take several days for you to receive. But it is there. I agree completely with the others that you should find a doctor, whether it be in a clinic or whatever. Hospitals are very reluctant to prescribe and if they do-the number of meds are limited. Please keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. People on this board understand and do care. If you need to send me a pm, please feel free to do so.

notamused

I think a primary care Dr who knows you were on that medication and it helped you and how your circumstances have changed they would be glad to help you

I know quite a few people who had to move to primary care when they got laid off and Drs have co operated.

I hope you can get your medication and not have to pay for it.

I see this thread is a few weeks old but I will just have to give it some CPR here. LOL!

I myself was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1994.

It took two suicide attempts and a lengthy inpatient stay before I was properly diagnosed. I was always diagnosed as clinically depressed, no one ever saw me manic, I was out shopping!

I, too, am on Soc Sec Disability and have Medicare.

I am hoping that NotAmused has received some help by now but, for future readers who may be in the same predicament. Here is what you need to do:

First - look for Community Mental Health Centers, as opposed to private psychiatrists. They are government funded and have sliding fee scales, they accept Medicare and don't require that you pay the co-pay if you can't afford it.

Second - if you are closer to desperation. Go to the nearest hospital ER. Take your prescription bottle with you and explain your situation. If for no other reason than to play the CMA game (you know, cover my ...) they will give you a scrip for at least one to two weeks worth.

Who is it on here that writes the novels? I think I just joined the club LOL!

Anyhow, I spent a pretty agonizing 6 - 8 years of my life trying all of the various meds. (same list as NotAmused plus even more, not sure if I remember them all either) I remember I made a seriously dedicated effort at compliance, the mood stabilizer was Lithium, don't remember the anti-depressant and the other garbage they gave me. The result was that I lost a year of my life. I was pretty much a zombie, I have very vague memories of this time in my life and my family said it was the worst period of time they had seen me go through (including the two attempts, the second of which was nearly successful).

Yes, Klonopin is used in treating bipolar and yes it does address more of the anxiety type symptoms.

I am currently taking 60 mg Prozac and 30 mg BuSpar daily. Ambien 10 mg almost nightly for sleep. I have an Ativan scrip for 1mgs, I use them when I feel the mania coming on, usually only 1/2 or even 1/4. When depression starts to rear it's head, I bump the Prozac up to 80 mg for a week or so.

These drugs are prescribed by my pcp. She bugged me for like 2 years to try psych again, I did last year. The psychiatrist said: if this is working for you, then don't mess with it.

So, the moral of this novel is: IMHO bipolar is way overprescribed. Yes, there are some people that can't function without the mood stabilizers but those are some pretty nasty chemicals with some harsh side effects. I fought my bipolar with education. I learned about the disease and I learned about myself (lots of talk therapy!)

Now, if I could just beat the OA and DDD and the rest of the CP crupola I caould go back to being a fully functioning, normal person again.

Hang in there NotAmused, you know yourself best!

Notamused, Glad to see you got your meds.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the local hospital be a starting point in a situation like this - especially if there is a public hospital near by? I would think that they would have the means of referring a patient to a physician that accepts medicare, or am I way off base here?

I'm curious as to the answer myself - the last time I had any dealings with civilian hopitals was when I was a teen (with the exception of a car accident a few months back, and all physicians I have been referred to have been referred to me by either my attorney or other physicians that my attorney referred me to)

I would like to know this in case I find myself in the same situation (I refuse to let the VA touch me). Right now I'm too injured to work, and seeing that my no-fault just got kicked to the curb I might wind up on Medicaid till I can work. I dread the thought of having to jump through hoops to get the medical care I need.

When does bi-polar normally show up? At what age?