Pats11

My doctor just suggested I try Klonopin, which I have never tried. I know you are not doctors, but does anyone have any experience with this drug? I am afraid to take ANYTHING. My addiction is to opiates, 111 days sober.

sugarbear1

Do a search with that drug and the word "addictio" after it.

esyla

ive taken it. i'm prescribed xanax, and i dont abuse it.. i was into alcohol, coke, mostly pills.. but i have been on xanax (both benzos) for years and i'm still only on .5-1mg as needed. it's really a decision you're going to have to make yourself... i was on them before i ever really cared about addictions, but it did take me 2 years of therapy before i decided my anxiety was bad enough that i would take it. you can probably hear any story, good or bad, but it won't help you make the call because there ARE so many diff outcomes for diff people. good luck!

MemphisBlues

I find it troublesome that a doctor who is aware that a patient is in recovery would prescribed one of the more highly addictive drugs known to man, and especially since it is being described as one of the harder drugs to detox with because of its unique withdrawal symptoms.

That said, benzos have their place, certainly, but the evolving wisdom is that they are a very short-term solution to extreme anxiety and debilitating insomnia, not simply to placate rattled nerves.

Benzos certainly have their place in alcohol detox. I haven't researched their use in opiate detox.

The manufacturer of Xanax has voluntarily changed its packaged warnings, stating clearly that the drug should only be used for a few weeks. There is a patient-victim initiative to have the Food and Drug Administration require all manufacturer literature to suggest the same thing.

I would recommend you ask the doctor about the addictive potential of the drug, how long he or she thinks you should take it, and if there are other nonnarcotic alternative medications out there. Many SSRIs are prescribed for anxiety.

Benzos simply scare me because my long-term reliance on them and a doctor who had me on 20 milligrams of Klonopin for years, upping the dose from a couple milligrams to the utmost limit for someone who has epilepsy. I don't have epilepsy, but I sure had a lot of seizures coming off of the crap.

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nandm

You will hear a lot of opinions on this topic that range from the extreme of people calling it a poison to those like myself who feel it has been a life saver. Ultimately you will have to decide for yourself what will work for you.

I am a recovering alcoholic with multiple years of sobriety. I also have had a prescription for klonopin for over 6 years now. It has been a fairly effective medication for treating my acute anxiety attacks. I am aware that there are risks and side effects associated with any medications in this class. Because I am aware of that I am careful with this medication. Although drug addiction has never been a part of my history I realize I am not immune to it. So I make sure I only take this medication as prescribed. I do try non chemical interventions prior to taking the medication and only if they fail to work and I am unable to get out of the situation I am in do I take this medication. It has not been a cure all. It has never taken the anxiety completely away. The goal is to get to a point where I no longer need to utilize these types of medications but in the meantime I am thankful I have it as it does allow me some semblance of a semi normal life. I encourage you to make use of other anxiety therapies and treatments in combination with this medication should you choose to use it. Therapy, yoga, mediation, mindfulness, breathing techniques, etc... all can be quite useful.

Pats11

After typing in "klonopin addiction," on google, I am shocked by the results! Between that and all the posts you kind friends have left, I am staying in recovery!!! Thank so much!!

Cerberus

Pats11, i just want to echo what nandm said - I don't feel the drug itself or an addict taking it is the issue, it's how you look at it and use it. As prescribed it can be very helpful. I am guilty of abusing klonopin in the past but today it would not be the same. Having said that, you know yourself best and if you are wary or scared of taking it, maybe not doing so yet would be the best but you should speak to your doc and make sure he/she knows if you are not planning to take it.

Froglet

I treat it like coffee, you need a boost, you take it.

I take them as needed, at low dosages, .50-1MG / week. Never thought I'd be on drugs, just because of work's sake.

esyla

^agreed!!

Kahlia

I also find it weird and disturbing that any Doctor would prescribe Klonopin to any recovering addict since it is one of the most addictive drugs known to man????? As an RN, I don't get it and as a recovering addict, I really don't get it..........I used to take handfuls of them to get high. Please, if you decide to take it, be very careful as it is very addictive . Congrats on your 111 days clean and sober..............just saw your last post, good for you.

Blessings,
Kahlia

Mattcake

I've been taking a small dose of Klonopin for a while now, under my doc's (hawk-like) supervision; it has been very helpful, I've never abused it.

You should be okay as long as you follow your doc's orders. If you're still uncomfortable, talk to your doc, there are other options.

sobercarebear

I am 68 days sober from a year long battle with Ativan and Klonopin. Those pills destroyed my life! I've lost my marriage, my kids, my dignity and my self respect. The pills became my boyfriend they are so highly addictive.

Not only are they addictive, you can have breakthrough anxiety which makes your anxiety even worse. This happens when the medication wears off (say overnight) before you get to the next dose. The body goes into withdrawal. I used to shake, sweat and have increased anxiety if I was withdrawing. This caused me to go nowhere with my pills.

I am shocked that a dr. would recommend these considering you are in recovery. Some feel it is OK to use them if the dr. is going to be monitoring you. However, I feel it is in your best interest to go see a psychotherapist like I do that can teach you coping skills. There are also nonaddictive anxiety meds out there, such as Buspar and Vistaril. I am on these plus an anti depressant, Effexor XR and have noticed less anxiety.

Whatever you decide, just know there are options out there and your recovery needs to be the focus. Good luck!

Justfor1

I was on Klonopin and Ativan for 2 years. My current doctor cut me off so to speak and I have been struggling with anxiety. She has tried every "non addictive" anti-anxiety drug known and nothing helps. That is why I fired her and am going elsewhere. I never got high off of those two. I think I could get addicted to Valium though. It seemed to get me buzzed.

MickeyAnMeisce

As I understand it, non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics tend not to be as strong as benzodiazepines.

MemphisBlues

I really come off as an anti-Klonopin Nazi, and I'm sorry. It's only because of my horrid experience with them, and I do, irrationally, blame them for destroying my life.

And now that I'm "retired, (read: on disability) I don't struggle with the day-to-day stress that most folks experience. I was in a high-pressure, take-no-prisoners, make-others-sweat profession, and I relished it. Fed off of it. And gobbled Klonopin to become fearless in what I did.

Benzos are a very paradoxical class of drugs. Take them for anxiety, get off of them, experience full-blown panic attacks. Take them for difficulty getting to sleep, get off of them, and slip into days of wide-eyed insomnia. Take them for panic disorder, get off of them, slip into insanity. Funny, I never had a diagnoses of any "psychotic" disorder, but getting off of them, I went certifiably insane.

Miss a dose, and experience anxiety as never before, panic like a feral cat in a bag dangling over a raging river.

I was put on every medication there is for anxiety, gobs of Neurontin, Buspar, beta blockers, slews of them. Add Effexor, Prozac, Mirtazapine, Imipramine, heck, I forget the list of medications added to the stew over two decades. They didn't work. Klonopin did. Shoot, Xanax didn't really work because of its short half life.

Klonopin was the drug. It enabled me to function. It also created amnesia, and add alcohol, well, the most shameful, regrettable things I ever did were on Klonopin and beer.

Klonopin provided the one emotion I was constitutionally able to deal with, and that was complete, total, apathy.

And I would take them again. If they work for you and you can get by on low doses, I would never advise anyone to give them up. However, I fear anyone who has been on them long term could face dire consequences getting off of them. At least, that's why there are a half dozen support sites like this one specifically for the "accidental addicts" who find they are trapped in a never-ending cycle of tapering, suffering, reinstating, tapering, becoming total basket cases. My heart goes out to them.

No one should read of my tale of woe with Klonopin and apply it to themselves. I can find no other human prescribed 20 milligrams of Klonopin. And I went cold turkey off of them, even with medical supervision, and, well, slipped into a rabbit hole I would wish on no one.

It just amazes me that 18 days after my last Klonopin I went stark-raving mad. Certifiable. Strapped to a bed. Seizures, fevers, psychotic states...I still have the scars on my wrists and ankles from the restraints that tied me to a bed for three days.

So please, read of my story and know it is skewed big time.

Funny though, I've read of others who were on six milligrams a day and went through the same thing, complete with delayed onset of horrid withdrawals. It ain't like alcohol detox where it's over in five days. The hell hasn't even started by then. And I've read of people being on one or two milligrams who went through the same thing.

Maybe it's curious that the only anecdotes I can find of people who defend benzos are those still on them, and only those who are off of them believe they are the devil's concoction. I find only people who rely on them see no problem with them, and only people who are off of them regret the hell ride they created.

I guess the solution is not to get off of them.

Again, I would never had made it through life without them for as long as I did. It's jut a shame that the price of getting off of them is realization what hell they created for an alcoholic drug addict like me.

MickeyAnMeisce

Ask your doctor about vilazidone(Viibyrd). It's an anxiolytic antidepressant and has a different mechanism of action that benzos, possibly making it much less addictive than benzos. It's also not a sedative/hypnotic or an amnestic, so it most likely won't put you to sleep and make forget things.

Froglet

Where you on them for the sake of combating social anxiety?

I agree with you and I've made my own thread regarding this concern. I use it for the sake of work because I use it to control my physical symptoms of sweating at the slightest thing. I am trying to not take them and reserve them for big meetings.

But I agree that the rebound factor is just TERRIBLE.

MemphisBlues

My panic disorder came to the forefront at work, always. Sweating profusely. Soaking a shirt. Sweat matting my hair to my head during meetings, presentations or just going on an assignment.

And, yes, the Klonopin was prescribed simply for that, to enable me to function somewhat normally in any social or professional situation.

That is why I first went to a psychiatrist 20 plus years ago, and walked out with a prescription for Xanax.

I was then diagnosed with major depression, panic disorder (non agoraphobic with with medication) and generalized anxiety disorder.

Depression is as common in my family tree as beer bellies, blue eyes and suicides. A bunch of suicides.

So that gave me a free certificate to drink as much beer as I wanted and to smoke pot, since no one had grown up with the issues I had, a mother with four suicide attempts, the first my first childhood memory, the third me finding her passed out in a closed garage with car running when I was 14, the last successful when I was in Alaska when I was 20.

So add tens of thousands of dollars to psychiatrists and psychologists working in tandem, a decade living on the maximum does a a half dozen different anti depressants and the same amount of non benzo anti anxiety medications.

So I know where you're coming from. I really do. I wouldn't have been able to have what most would consider to be a highly successful career for thirty years.

But, I got to tell you, it was the steady increase of Klonopin over a decade run that led to my ultimate demise. Yep, poured beer on top of them in gallons there at the end, and my alcoholism certainly is the icing to my demise.

But I got to tell you, Klonopin at two milligrams and then to the sky-high amount of 20 milligrams at the end, created emotional blunting that said so what, f--k it, to hell with it, hand me another beer. Klonopin cures anxiety, no doubt. It also killed nearly any emotion within me, giving me that apathetic, who-gives-a-sh-t feeling, the only one I could live with.

Klonopin removes all inhibitions after a decade run -- for me, that is -- not that I would do immoral things, I just didn't care about anyone other than numbing the pain.

Benzos might be one of the most addictive substances out there, and getting off of them or the necessity to increase the dosage because of tolerance has created a situation where regulators are seriously considering limiting the length of time they should be taken.

Like I said, they sure worked for me. And I'm paying for serious mistakes I've made. But, and this is a big but, I'm not alone in paying an expensive price for getting off of them. It nearly killed me, shattered my soul, created PTSD, shoot...I will bear the scars on my wrists and ankles from the bed restraints that kept me from thrashing about for the rest of my life for what happened to me three weeks after going cold turkey from the dose I was on.

And I've found a lot of anecdotes of people going through the same thing -- seizures, temporary psychotic states, stroke-level blood pressure, the list could go on -- from detoxing from 1 milligrams of Klonopin or less, having taken them for six months or six years.

I haven't had a panic attack in a year. My anxiety is totally manageable. I take 150 milligrams of Zoloft a day. I don't drink. I don't take any other drugs. I just deal with the fact I stumbled through life for a decade smothering emotions with Klonopin -- because I would have sweat attacks.

I suspect there is another solution out there. And I pray that the FDA reigns in these drugs, and I could rip the jugular out of medical doctors who write scripts willy nilly to patients and ditto for shrinks who keep people on them for years.

But, hey, that's just me because of my experience. It doesn't mean the same will happen to you.

Klonopin works. Oh, boy, does it work.

By the way, the shrink who had me on Klonopin for so long is considered a regional expert on depression and panic disorder. He also gets to ride around on planes and give speeches at lush conferences -- paid for my drug companies. Like the makers of clonazepam.

micealc

I have wrote extensively on Benzos,for me they covered up all my Own and my families Inability to cope with life without some kind of sedation.
I have found that the ACA Program is the only Program that really deals with what is the real Problem with me.
To admit this is the First step.......I cant cope with ordinary Feelings,they frighten me.
Put simply.........A Dog cant teach a Cat to Bark......If anyone can get this they are on their way to the Recovery.

MemphisBlues

Pats, I just saw on another thread that you detoxed from 10 milligrams of Xanax a day and your doctor suggested Klonopin? I that was you.

Amazing.

Klonopin is stronger than Xanax. From what I've read, the equivalent of one-half milligram of Xanax is five milligrams of Valium, while a quarter-milligram of klonopin equals five milligrams of Valium.

Klonopin is far longer acting than Xanax.

And your doctor knows you are in recovery?

Amazing.