klonopin
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: oklahoma city,oklahoma
Posts: 30
klonopin
I just had my meds changed I'm still taking cymbalta 60mg a day but have switched from lorazapram 1mg 3x daily to klonopin 2mg 2x daily.
Just curious what people's opinion or experience with klonopin has been like.
Just curious what people's opinion or experience with klonopin has been like.
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Midwest USA
Posts: 2,284
My experience has been that Klonopin helped me out a lot with anxiety. It stays in your system much longer than Ativan. The problem has always been weening off of it. Drinking on it is of course very dangerous.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,614
It helped me quite a bit with my anxiety however it is very hard to wean off from as well as highly addictive. So, make sure you adopt habits like exercise and meditation to deal with anxiety while on the klonopin so that when you are of of it you have something to fall back on. It is not meant for long term use.
IO Storm
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Southern California
Posts: 18,436
Last month I was prescribed 1 mg. daily Klonopin for bipolar and GAD. This month...my
psychiatrist increased the script to 1 mg. twice daily. He IS aware of my history of alcoholism...I just passed 5 years sober, but the breakthrough anxiety was so bad, trying other medications....I trust my psych, but am concerned. It does work very well for me,
however.
psychiatrist increased the script to 1 mg. twice daily. He IS aware of my history of alcoholism...I just passed 5 years sober, but the breakthrough anxiety was so bad, trying other medications....I trust my psych, but am concerned. It does work very well for me,
however.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,126
Klonopin and me. Well, not a pretty site. NavyVet, I've read some of your other posts. What you've been through is amazing and the fact that you are here is inspirational to us all.
I was prescribed Klonopin a decade ago. I suffered from panic disorder and major depression all my life. Klonopin worked. I was on it for 10 years, the dosages eventually increased to 20 milligrams a day. Twenty.
Surprisingly, I was able to function, even though I washed them down with beer. Oh, and I lost everything dear to me and everything I own. Another story, and not just attributed to Klonopin.
Please be advised that Klonopin is the longest-acting benzodiazepine there is. Twenty milligrams is the top of the recommended dosage -- for epileptics.
Getting off of Klonopin is sheer hell for many people. It's not meant for long-term use. Check out benzo.org and benzobuddies.org, two websites based in the United Kingdom.
Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, you name it, they're meant to me prescribed for a period of four to eight weeks. The clinical trials for the efficacy of these medications was no more than nine weeks, pretty much the standard run for most of the psychotropics.
There's a petition pending before the FDA which stands a very good chance of being accepted that recommends that all benzodiazepines carry strict labeling that warns against use longer than four to eight weeks and strong warnings of developing protracted withdrawal symptoms after cessation. The maker of Xanax voluntarily changed its labeling stating the same. England, Canada, Australia, much of the European Union, all now mandate this labeling.
I went cold turkey off of Klonopin and in about 10 days went crazy. I had seizures, hallucinated, you name it. The paradoxical effect of benzos is that after you come off of them, the withdrawal symptoms are insomnia, anxiety and panic. If you took it because it took you an hour to fall asleep, expect severe insomnia. If you took it for anxiety, expect to have panic attacks. If you took it for panic, well, I guess you end up having the experience I had.
I'm no doctor. I have spent months (the months when I couldn't walk, talk, hold a glass of water, tolerate sunlight or a ringing phone, when a fly buzzing my head made me duck as it were a 100 mph fastball, when I couldn't venture outside because of unfathomable terror) researching these drugs.
If you explore the above-mentioned websites, you will find hapless, accidental addicts who have withdrawal symptoms from this class of "minor tranquilizers'" lasting, on average, six to 18 months. My case is an extreme, but people on those websites report horrid experiences coming off of a half milligram of Klonopin.
If you need it I would never tell anyone not to take it. But please, be aware of the ride you could possibly be in for. Another feature of benzos is that you build a rapid tolerance to them, thereby needing more of the drug to gain the same efficacy people in other posts talk about, hence my climb to the equivalent of 400 milligrams of Valium a day. Was it malpractice for my shrink to prescribe it to me? Well, he was considered a leading expert on depression and associated panic disorder. I happily swallowed them.
I was by no means an accidental addict. The alcohol warning on the bottle was a beer commercial to me. But the amazing thing is that my panic and overwhelming anxiety has diminished incredibly since recovering from my withdrawal experience.
I ended up in the hospital six months ago. When I tell my story on those websites, they are amazed. To this day, I still have symptoms -- tinnititus in my left year (never had it before), a pins and needles feeling (never had it before) and hand tremors (never had them before). I've been "sober" for six months.
Please tread carefully. And if you do come off of them, taper the medication slowly. On the benzo support sites you will find reference to a clinically tested tapering method, a reduction every week or two by one-tenth of your daily dosage over a period of months. May people are advised to switch to Valium, which has the longest half life of all benzos, and taper it.
And it doesn't take long to become addicted. And it doesn't take long-term use to develop severe withdrawal symptoms when trying to get off of it. And it doesn't take a high dosage to develop severe withdrawal symptoms. Many people report inter-dose withdrawal -- as you build a tolerance to the drug, if you don't take more, your body trips into withdrawal.
Don't panic. Most people -- perhaps just "normal" people, unlike many of us here -- take benzos for a while and have little problems letting them be.
I wish that was the case for me. Please discuss the potential consequences of long-term use with your doctor. Many doctor's, however, believe benzos are magic bullets and that only addicts become addicted to them. Hmmm....
OK, I can't quit writing about this. Rehab centers, too, are normally clueless about benzo withdrawal. Benzo addiction is unlike heroin, cocaine, booze, you name it. From my understanding, the body goes into withdrawal from heroin as it's eliminated from the body. Once it's gone, all that is left is the demon that made the smack addict inject it into a vein. The physical withdrawal is gone. I'm not talking about craving, but the actual physical scream for the drug.
The biochemistry of benzos, however, is that once it's gone, it takes neurons months to relearn how to absorb the naturally occurring neurotransmitter that calms us, the same hormone benzos replace. The brain forgets how to do it. That all-is-well hormone God gave us simply doesn't have a home to land on. Benzos replaced it and neurons no longer remember how to absorb the natural stuff.It takes weeks or months and in some cases a year or longer for neurons to absorb the feel-good hormone. From what I've read, no other addictive drug does that to the human body.
And you're left in a very special kind of hell. For some people. Most people, supposedly, no problem. And I guess those aren't among the THOUSANDS of people who sit in bed at a computer posting on the benzo support sites for month after month after month....
I was prescribed Klonopin a decade ago. I suffered from panic disorder and major depression all my life. Klonopin worked. I was on it for 10 years, the dosages eventually increased to 20 milligrams a day. Twenty.
Surprisingly, I was able to function, even though I washed them down with beer. Oh, and I lost everything dear to me and everything I own. Another story, and not just attributed to Klonopin.
Please be advised that Klonopin is the longest-acting benzodiazepine there is. Twenty milligrams is the top of the recommended dosage -- for epileptics.
Getting off of Klonopin is sheer hell for many people. It's not meant for long-term use. Check out benzo.org and benzobuddies.org, two websites based in the United Kingdom.
Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, you name it, they're meant to me prescribed for a period of four to eight weeks. The clinical trials for the efficacy of these medications was no more than nine weeks, pretty much the standard run for most of the psychotropics.
There's a petition pending before the FDA which stands a very good chance of being accepted that recommends that all benzodiazepines carry strict labeling that warns against use longer than four to eight weeks and strong warnings of developing protracted withdrawal symptoms after cessation. The maker of Xanax voluntarily changed its labeling stating the same. England, Canada, Australia, much of the European Union, all now mandate this labeling.
I went cold turkey off of Klonopin and in about 10 days went crazy. I had seizures, hallucinated, you name it. The paradoxical effect of benzos is that after you come off of them, the withdrawal symptoms are insomnia, anxiety and panic. If you took it because it took you an hour to fall asleep, expect severe insomnia. If you took it for anxiety, expect to have panic attacks. If you took it for panic, well, I guess you end up having the experience I had.
I'm no doctor. I have spent months (the months when I couldn't walk, talk, hold a glass of water, tolerate sunlight or a ringing phone, when a fly buzzing my head made me duck as it were a 100 mph fastball, when I couldn't venture outside because of unfathomable terror) researching these drugs.
If you explore the above-mentioned websites, you will find hapless, accidental addicts who have withdrawal symptoms from this class of "minor tranquilizers'" lasting, on average, six to 18 months. My case is an extreme, but people on those websites report horrid experiences coming off of a half milligram of Klonopin.
If you need it I would never tell anyone not to take it. But please, be aware of the ride you could possibly be in for. Another feature of benzos is that you build a rapid tolerance to them, thereby needing more of the drug to gain the same efficacy people in other posts talk about, hence my climb to the equivalent of 400 milligrams of Valium a day. Was it malpractice for my shrink to prescribe it to me? Well, he was considered a leading expert on depression and associated panic disorder. I happily swallowed them.
I was by no means an accidental addict. The alcohol warning on the bottle was a beer commercial to me. But the amazing thing is that my panic and overwhelming anxiety has diminished incredibly since recovering from my withdrawal experience.
I ended up in the hospital six months ago. When I tell my story on those websites, they are amazed. To this day, I still have symptoms -- tinnititus in my left year (never had it before), a pins and needles feeling (never had it before) and hand tremors (never had them before). I've been "sober" for six months.
Please tread carefully. And if you do come off of them, taper the medication slowly. On the benzo support sites you will find reference to a clinically tested tapering method, a reduction every week or two by one-tenth of your daily dosage over a period of months. May people are advised to switch to Valium, which has the longest half life of all benzos, and taper it.
And it doesn't take long to become addicted. And it doesn't take long-term use to develop severe withdrawal symptoms when trying to get off of it. And it doesn't take a high dosage to develop severe withdrawal symptoms. Many people report inter-dose withdrawal -- as you build a tolerance to the drug, if you don't take more, your body trips into withdrawal.
Don't panic. Most people -- perhaps just "normal" people, unlike many of us here -- take benzos for a while and have little problems letting them be.
I wish that was the case for me. Please discuss the potential consequences of long-term use with your doctor. Many doctor's, however, believe benzos are magic bullets and that only addicts become addicted to them. Hmmm....
OK, I can't quit writing about this. Rehab centers, too, are normally clueless about benzo withdrawal. Benzo addiction is unlike heroin, cocaine, booze, you name it. From my understanding, the body goes into withdrawal from heroin as it's eliminated from the body. Once it's gone, all that is left is the demon that made the smack addict inject it into a vein. The physical withdrawal is gone. I'm not talking about craving, but the actual physical scream for the drug.
The biochemistry of benzos, however, is that once it's gone, it takes neurons months to relearn how to absorb the naturally occurring neurotransmitter that calms us, the same hormone benzos replace. The brain forgets how to do it. That all-is-well hormone God gave us simply doesn't have a home to land on. Benzos replaced it and neurons no longer remember how to absorb the natural stuff.It takes weeks or months and in some cases a year or longer for neurons to absorb the feel-good hormone. From what I've read, no other addictive drug does that to the human body.
And you're left in a very special kind of hell. For some people. Most people, supposedly, no problem. And I guess those aren't among the THOUSANDS of people who sit in bed at a computer posting on the benzo support sites for month after month after month....
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 8,614
Geez memphis.... I am one one mg of klonopin down from two... I'm so scared I'll have withdrawals like once before when my dr. took me off it way too fast... the protracted thing is what I had. I'm kind of s***ting a brick after reading that now.
I got nothin'
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: My house.
Posts: 4,890
I'm on a benzo for 'emergency use only'.
It's a low dose--I am only to take it when I absolutely need it. My therapist and doctor is quite well aware of my history with alcohol. I've been nothing but honest with them.
I've had the bottle since October and I still have more than half left.
I'm lucky my bad spells of anxiety are few and far between. Most of my normal-worry-anxiety I deal with by going for a walk or at least getting some fresh air--time to collect my thoughts and to put things in perspective.
I strongly suggest discussing all concerns with your doctor. Ask as many questions as you can. You'll get a lot of opinions here as to what you should do with your health. Best to consult the professionals when it comes to your well being.
It's a low dose--I am only to take it when I absolutely need it. My therapist and doctor is quite well aware of my history with alcohol. I've been nothing but honest with them.
I've had the bottle since October and I still have more than half left.
I'm lucky my bad spells of anxiety are few and far between. Most of my normal-worry-anxiety I deal with by going for a walk or at least getting some fresh air--time to collect my thoughts and to put things in perspective.
I strongly suggest discussing all concerns with your doctor. Ask as many questions as you can. You'll get a lot of opinions here as to what you should do with your health. Best to consult the professionals when it comes to your well being.
IO Storm
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Southern California
Posts: 18,436
Originally Posted by Bamboozle 
I strongly suggest discussing all concerns with your doctor. Ask as many questions as you can. You'll get a lot of opinions here as to what you should do with your health. Best to consult the professionals when it comes to your well being.
Thank you for your post)))))
Putting it all together
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: St. Louis, MO.
Posts: 469
About Klonopin
As a Nurse, Klonopin, helps me with panic attacks, that crippled me after I stopped uaing........I was then weaned down off it after 3 months due to the addictive factor.....I did not want another DRUG, but sometimes we NEED something at a CERTAIN time to help us medically. THis sounds like you but please be careful. It is VERY addictive. I now take something else for anxiety as it will JUST be there...I am not BI-POLAR but can stay up for 3 days because without something for my nerves, I am a wreck....my job does not help...high stress....but I love my job???? Go Figure
Many Blessings and Peace,
Kahlia
Many Blessings and Peace,
Kahlia
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 6,262
OOOOPS .... in an earlier posting I said I took Klonopin to sleep every day. I confused it with Trazadone.
I have Klonopin for panic attacks but rarely take it, fortunately. I'm a recovering alcoholic but was never into drugs. I urge caution since it IS addictive.
I have Klonopin for panic attacks but rarely take it, fortunately. I'm a recovering alcoholic but was never into drugs. I urge caution since it IS addictive.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: oklahoma city,oklahoma
Posts: 30
Well I'm working on 9 days sober was finally able to get a half-way decent night sleep last night.
On monday the 7th of this month I was drinking beer (I thought I was doing good since it wasn't whiskey) ended up drinking 3, 6 packs had to keep going back to the store cause I was only going to drink 1, 6 pack.
Anyway the depression kicked in and I took all of the klonopin I had, going by the date on the bottle I was able to later deduce that this 52, 2mg pills.
Well as usual it didn't work maybe somebody has a plan for me and was looking out for me I don't know.
I'm still going to get it re-filled when the due-dates line-up but I'm going to be extra carefull.
So far no alcohol has been all right been going on some long walks has helped and finally going to pick up my guitar again.
Also going to see my counslor on the 1st of April.
On monday the 7th of this month I was drinking beer (I thought I was doing good since it wasn't whiskey) ended up drinking 3, 6 packs had to keep going back to the store cause I was only going to drink 1, 6 pack.
Anyway the depression kicked in and I took all of the klonopin I had, going by the date on the bottle I was able to later deduce that this 52, 2mg pills.
Well as usual it didn't work maybe somebody has a plan for me and was looking out for me I don't know.
I'm still going to get it re-filled when the due-dates line-up but I'm going to be extra carefull.
So far no alcohol has been all right been going on some long walks has helped and finally going to pick up my guitar again.
Also going to see my counslor on the 1st of April.
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