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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Clonazepam and anxiety

M

Mehdi_adi.moada

Greenlighter
Joined
Sep 26, 2014
Messages
26
Hi this is my first post in bluelight. So i have anxiety and i take about 8 1mg during the day. Is that harmful? Thanks
 
Hi. This isn't appropriate for this subforum, so I'll go ahead and move this. Posting guidelines may be found for each forum, either as a link near the top or a stickied thread.

Also, yes, this is bad: you are moderately to severely physiologically dependent on clonazepam, and withdrawal is hell.

ebola
 
thats a mega dose. Coming off of a short term 6MG spread throughout the day was a battle and I only took THAT for a month. I'm on a low low dose now and If I don't take .25 in the morning I get sick, so yes...this is a problem. If you want to quit safely and most comfortably you HAVE to taper and if your brain starts telling you "give me alcohol NOW" it's your gaba system trying to compensate for the lessened dose of benzo. Don't drink.
 
Hello and welcome to bluelight (:

It's smart that your asking. I'm sure you'll get most if not all of the answers you're looking for.

Good luck!
 
I have been on clonazepam for several years; last year I was reduced from 8mg/day to 6mg/day; for around two weeks the difference was VERY noticeable (after all, it was a sudden 25% drop!) but am now used to the lesser dosage, which several posters here seem to think is a very high dose but it is just about right for me - and can assure you that certainly the brand I am dispensed, Roche RIVOTRIL 2mg tabs, are the best thing that happened to me. Not only does it control my epilepsy but it also is the greatest prophylactic for my panic disorder that I could imagine. Since starting clonazepam about 13 years ago, my panic, (Thanataphobic) has broken through only a handful of times, compared with BEFORE Rivotril, when I would suffer several episodes every single week. My anxiolytic, lorazepam tabs 2.5mg taken four times daily, is not nearly as effective as my previous one, XANAX 2mg three times daily; it is also far more sedating. The problem was cost. The UK must have the highest priced Xanax (there are NO generic alprazolams available here, only the original Pfizer/Upjohn brand, and now only in the very low dosage 0.25 and 0.5mg strengths. I was spending so much of my income (I am only on a disability benefit) on my Xanax, for which I required 12 x 0.5mg tabs daily, the 1 and 2mg strengths having been withdrawn From the UK market back in the 90s, so had to change to the closest equivalent.
I am not a great fan of lorazepam so buy 2mg alprazolam (usually either 1mg Ksalol by Galenika, Serbia, or 2mg Alplax by Gador, SA of Argentina, to ensure that I have a supply of the one which helps most.
Clonazepam Imfind does NOT have terribly much of an anxiolytic effect. Nor does it have much of an hypnotic effect. It is the best anticonvulsant I have had and the off-label use as a preventative for the panic syndrome is the greatest thing about it.
I have tried the 500mcg tablets but they are simply too weak to help so I use the only other strength available which is 2mg. And that is about correct. I WAS worried about reduction from 8mg to 6mg but now my body has adapted it does the job.very well indeed, killing the two birds, one stone.
Alprazolam is certainly the best anxiolytic benzo, though many prefer diazepam, maybe because of the very long half life, or maybe because of 'recreational' value, I don't rightly know why. But diazepam interferes with my cognitive functioning and is also FAR too sedating even at doses which are way too low to tackle my GAD. With alprazolam and lorazepam (and also, one I use occasionally for the change of scenery, oxazepam 4 x 15mg - highest strength available in UK, and only as generic, 80% of which dispensed is the Actavis one - also four times per day.
So to sum up, I do NOT find clonazepam to be an effective anxiolytic and its onset of action is far too slow to be of any use in an acute situation anyway, but as an anti convulsant and as the (unlicensed) prophylactic for panic disorder, is second to none.
I appreciate many of the posts here about the general tendency towards unwanted side effects and iatrogenic addiction, but these are of little import to me as I have no intention of quitting it when it is the only thing I ever found in my life to enable me to live it more or less normally.
The water-dispersible Torrent Clonotril 2mg is the best alternative (I often buy those on a private International Prescription) as the onset of action is three times faster than regular Rivotril tablets. Many of you may know these as 'bananatrils' which they are often called because of the quite strong banana flavour of the little drink produced when they are taken as advised, dissolved (well, they do not DISSOLVE but form a suspension) in a small amount of water.
I will defend clonazepam to the hilt as it has given me my life back, and I have NO intention of either cutting dosage or (AAARRRGGHH) stopping taking it all together.
There is an argument for stopping the anxiolytic, but not one with which I agree. I would be willing to cut down to 7.5mg daily (three rather than four tabs per day) but that is about as far as I would go.
I am currently in negotiation with my doctor about just that. I will post to let you know what happens. She is threatening the local drug addiction team but I am afraid that is NOT AN OPTION. I will have nothing to do with them as their policies of rapid (and, let's face it, downright dangerous) reduction go against everything I know and have read about BZD withdrawal. This may escalate into what might be called a fight between us. We will see what prevails. Benzodiazepines have their rightful place in the formulary for patients such as myself, for whom nothing else has ever worked and believe me I have tried every therapy under the sun.
I have been on BZDs constantly ow since 1976 and have no intention of stopping now. Or ever. And clonazepam in particular is a God given gift to people like me.
 
14-16mg

Guess what since last week i doubled my clonazepam dose. Now it's 16mg. It's almost 12PM and i've already took 7 cheers:)
 
Your dosage (assuming that you take 8-16 mg daily) is already really high. Beyond dependence issues, the current dose will lose efficacy as an anxiolytic over time, whatever it is. Under a physician's care (ideally), I would try to taper off of them. I would maintain with the longest acting benzo you can acquire, reducing the dosage by roughly 20 percent every 2 weeks. Clonazepam is good for this purpose, but Valium is better.

ebola
 
Hi! Welcome to BL.

I've been addicted to benzos before. Oy! :\
I would get out sooner than later. If you need to stay on them or choose to I would suggest tapering down to maintaing a minimal dose. Tranxene is longest acting. Quite sure.

~ Smoky
 
Klonopin is Suprisingly easy on your body . Is 8 a day good ? No . But it's not rotting your liver . It's a very strong benzo too, your only risk is stopping them . Can cause bad problems especially at that dose
 
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