Jay1

I call that stage "pre-hppd", when you can sort of force visuals on by staring at something for a while, but you don't notice the visuals otherwise. It's, imho, the first warning signs from your brain to stop taking drugs.

I'd say all the usual rules apply... stay sober, eat well, exercise and try to de-stress in whatever ways work best for you. 

I've found there is quite an arrogance amongst the GPs i've discussed HPPD with... They dislike the idea that someone might be more well read about a topic than them and there is also a drug stigma that still prevails. 

I hope the move to 5mg isn't too rough on you. 

Keep fighting, Jay

There's every chance he recovered naturally and just carried on the clonazepam for no reason. 

Clonazepam is a magic bullet for us, but it seems very unlikely to be a cure. Tread carefully. 

Surely a doctor knows that you cannot stop cold turkey from 6mg. That's insane. I hope the hospital treat you better. 

Hope to hear better news. Stay strong. 

Hindy, while I understand what you mean, I think it's important for people to say if they are feeling suicidal, so that we can try to help as much as possible. 

Hall, as you can see by the replies re: meds... Everyone seems to be very different, so best to chat to your doctor and, if you do decide to add another med, taper up very slowly.

Keep on fighting, all. Better times will come. 

Thanks for checking in and letting us know the progress... Very happy to hear you are feeling better!

I say this a lot, but it really does feel like most people who come to this forum tend to get a fair amount of the way back to a full recovery within 3 months of their first post. It gives a lot of hope for people. 

I hope you can stay away from smoking weed again... Trust me, there is nothing more boring than being mentally ill for years/decades. Hollywood makes it look interesting and glamorous , but that's so far from the truth. Not being able to do the simple things that people enjoy in life is very, very tedious. 

the dream like feeling is known as derealisation and is part of a collective of disorders that are associated with HPPD. 

As for your last question, no one knows... not a single person. If you want to really get better, just forget about drugs. 

I feel your pain, mate... I had the same feelings when I was put on Prozac... Such a horrible feeling that just further compounds the misery of HPPD. 

I'm sure most of us on here have thought about ending the pain, but also love our friends/family and can see that better days can come.

Dealing with severe hppd reminds me a bit of the lyric from Bohemian Rhapsody "I don't wanna die, i sometimes wish i'd never been born at all"..... I don't want to inflict the misery of suicide on my family (and also know that the really bad times don't stay forever)... But I do sometimes literally wish i'd never been born, where my life of pain didn't exist and the concept of hurting my friends/family doesn't come into it. 

I hope you starting to see light at the end of the tunnel soon... Reach out any time.

Yep, it really can get hellish, at times. When I used to drink a lot (self medication) I really hit a darkness that I look back on now and am amazed I survived and even got a lot of shit done. 

I find that taking this condition day by day makes it a bit more palatable, that and klonopin!

Keep fighting everyone, better days do come.

It was fine for me (though didn't help me). Everyone is different though, so get more feedback and if you want to go for it, just slowly taper up the dose with your doctor's recommendation 

Seems Pimavanserin is not available in the UK, shame.

There is no known cure, as far as i'm aware... But meds like benzodiazepines can help dampen the issue (benzos have their own issues though, so always speak to a doctor first).

Alcohol deffo affects my hppd... If I get drunk, the spike for the next few days is horrendous , probably the worst I could ever feel, mentally. 

I try and balance it now... Where i have a few beers to feel sociable, but without going so far that I get a hangover. 

The only two things that work for me are benzos or alcohol. 

Yea, propranolol is good for removing the physical feelings of anxiety, but not the mental side of it...

I think your best bet is to speak to the doctors about having panic attacks, that is probably the simplest way to get prescribed limited amounts of clonazepam to use as you described. In a perfect world, all GPs would know about HPPD, but that's far from the case. 

Using anxiety or panic attacks will bypass this (and isn't really lying, as hppd causes both).

As for the driving aspect, I have no idea how the laws are around that, from country to country. 

It did nothing for me, negative or positive, but everyone is different. For dosing, see something like Erowid

I was taking into to try and find an alternative to benzos for anxiety relief.

Yea, i'd stop asap... but obviously consult your doctor and see if you need to taper

Mate, this is a very small community and sometimes posts go through the cracks. We all have our own problems and some times I don't have the mental energy to answer every post, i'm sure others are the same. 

I'll try and come back to this post when i have (hopefully) better energy tomorrow... But swearing at people is the worst possible way to try and communicate. 

Prozac made my anxiety 100x worse and i wanted to end my life to stop the pain... I'll never touch another SSRI

I hope you are doing ok... Keep on fighting, mate... PM me if you need anything

Hey, is it possible to do a rough sketch of where to place the 2 points? I always struggle with the terminology 

That's a great find! I look forward to hearing how you get on

Nick has summed it up perfectly. Keep on fighting and please let us know progress over the coming weeks and months.

Yea, was the brand name. 

It did nothing for me, i went up to 2g per day... It also did nothing to hinder me though, so could be worth a try.