Saving a patient from "accidental" klonopine addiction

In 2006, a sleep study showed that I had sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome. I tried using a CPAP machine for the sleep apnea and my inernist at the time suggested that I take .5 mg of a "muscle relaxant" - klonopine, at night before going to bed to address the restless legs syndrome. The drug seemed to work very well -- I slept like I was dead. After a time on the klonopine I would have night sweats and could not get up in the morning and into work earlier than about !0:00 AM.
In April of 2010, my dear mother passed away at age 96+ and in May of 2010, my daughter was graduated from Engineering School and married her high school sweatheart -- another Mechanical Engineer and they moved away to Texas for her first job as an engineer...
in June 2010, my family business had a quench oil fire that did $1.2 million in damages and in mid-June I found it necessary to fire my CEO at the company for his inability to manage his people without screaming at them (including "managing-up" and screaming at me!)
In the winter of 2011, I was in a Florida hospital emergency room with all the symptoms of a heart attack. The Doctor in the emergency room looked at my medical history that I had just given to her here in Florida and said;
"The tests would indicated you are not having a heart attack. You indicated that you are trying to get off klonopine and stopped taking it altogher about a month ago. You can't stop taking this presciption drug that you have been taking for restless legs since 2006 'cold turkey'. You are not supposed to take benzodiapines longer than about 4-6 weeks. It is used to 'put the fire out' for people with acute anxiety. . . but now your body has built up a resistance to it and you are going through withdrawal symptoms -- the very real panic attacks that mimic a heart attack. I am going to give you a dose of klonopine to take and let's see how you feel in an hour..."
I felt "normal" in less than an hour and the emergency room doctor sent me back to my Florida condo with instructions to see my physician who prescribed the klonopine in 2006 and see about a proper program to get me off this prescription drug.
After a few months of seeing a psychiatrist recommended by my Ohio internist, I was "weened off" the Klonopine. In 2012, I found my first personal trainer, deep tissure massage therapist and my first MDVIP doctor, Dr. Melodie Phillips.
Dr. Phillips listened to me -- any time of the day or night. She patiently heard what was going on in my life and helped me to get through my onging klonopin withdrawal symptoms -- panic attacks (that I never had before 2010); dizziness; tired/weak/shakey muscles -- blood sugar swings, and depression that kept me hiding at home from my duties as President at work for about 5 weeks.... Had I not had the full support of my wife, Georgene (and now also an MDVIP member), the people at my family business and the ability to talk to Dr. Phiillips, there is no question in my mind i would be a homeless person still dealing with an addiction.
A combination of daily exercise, following the advice from a benzo addiction recovery group in Canada, and talking with Dr. Phillips -- sometimes more than once a day, and talking wiht a wonderful pschologist, Dr. Gary Sipps, got me through it. There is no question that if had I not retained an MDVIP doctor in 2011, that took the time to listen to me and to help me work through the ongoing symptoms and the non-linear nature of klonopin withdrawal, that I would not have been able to successfully retire from my family business and transition it to my next generation.
Dr. David Zekser, the MDVIP physician that took over for Dr. Joel Silverman is great. The only reason I am not giving my current MDVIP doctor a "5-Star" rating is I have only known him for one years and he has the "big shoes" of Dr. Silverman to fill in 2024!