Clonazepam and Diazepam

[thomasc93]

Had a couple questions regarding the two benzos listed in the post title.

For my first question, I was prescribed generic clonazepam. The bottle says take 0.5mg twice a day, but my psychiatrist said to only take 0.5mg before bed, and that he would raise me to the full dose later. However, I really do like the feeling I get from that 0.5mg tablet (feels kind of like a mild alcohol buzz). How much more profound would the effect be if I took a full 1mg dose before bed? And would this make me build up a tolerance/addiction faster if I did this? (Kinda want to avoid getting hooked on it, it's just that this week will be VERY stressful for me and I want some serious relaxation.)

Also, while the clonazepam works extremely well for me/makes me feel amazingly (and slightly euphorically) relaxed, I do unfortunately feel very hungover and groggy in the morning. My dad has some Valium that his Dr. gave him a while ago for insomnia, and he doesn't use it anymore. Since it's shorter acting, if I took this before bed, would I get as much of a hungover feeling since it's shorter acting than the klonopin?

And what about taking the klonopin (say 0.5mg; I have generic tablets to be taken orally) sublingually? Is there an advantage to this?

Thanks guys!

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

welcome to the world of benzos. you actually need these for therapeutic purposes? then you need to fight as hard as you can to keep your dose down. intentionally taking more than you need for extra buzz will put you in the express lane to fucked. so yes, obviously bumping your dose will build your tolerance and addiction faster.

.5mg of kpin has you feeling hungover/groggy in the morning? valium isnt all that shorter acting. and it is much more reinforcing (in general). meaning you will be even more likely to come up with reasons to justify taking it and taking more. but i doubt .5mg will have you groggy the next day for long. that's really, really sensitive.

for sublingual, yeah it makes kpin come up faster. but if your pills are huge, whether it is worth holding them under your tongue is up to you.

 

[Legerity]

Yeah really try to keep your dose as low as possible, it's ridiculously easy to build up a tolerance quickly. Depending on your doctor he may be willing to continue to up your dosage but I would strongly recommend keeping it low if you will be using it daily for an extended period of time, even if this means accepting a milder effect if tolerance develops.

 

[thomasc93]

welcome to the world of benzos. you actually need these for therapeutic purposes? then you need to fight as hard as you can to keep your dose down. intentionally taking more than you need for extra buzz will put you in the express lane to fucked. so yes, obviously bumping your dose will build your tolerance and addiction faster.

.5mg of kpin has you feeling hungover/groggy in the morning? valium isnt all that shorter acting. and it is much more reinforcing (in general). meaning you will be even more likely to come up with reasons to justify taking it and taking more. but i doubt .5mg will have you groggy the next day for long. that's really, really sensitive.

for sublingual, yeah it makes kpin come up faster. but if your pills are huge, whether it is worth holding them under your tongue is up to you.

Yeah, I mean the grogginess isn't too bad. If I get up, walk around, and eat a good breakfast, it's gone in 20-30 minutes. The thing I never understood as far as that goes is that I'm never sedated at night on the kpins, just relaxed. I took it yesterday around 7ish and didn't go to sleep until midnight or so, but I woke up the next morning quite drowsy and groggy.

I actually only plan on using them for the next week or so; the psychiatrist gave them to me because I'm going through a really high stress period preparing for graduation and everything (was out sick for a while, so working to get all of my makeup work done). I won't build up a tolerance over two weeks, will I?

As far as the dose, he said while he wanted to keep me at 0.5mg, he said if I was tense I could go up to 1mg , but not over 1mg without talking to him first. Some days I'm more stressed/anxious than others, so it would be nice to have more relaxation. But if that's gonna get me hooked on them then I won't do that.

The weird thing was that he gave me a scrip for 120 0.5 mg pills, but I made it quite clear that I only intended to use them for a two week period until school ends.

And is that all sublingual admin does? I mean, if I take one, I feel relaxed in 45-60 mins or so, so if that's all that happens, then I mean there's really no point for me then to stop taking it orally.

 

[thomasc93]

Yeah really try to keep your dose as low as possible, it's ridiculously easy to build up a tolerance quickly. Depending on your doctor he may be willing to continue to up your dosage but I would strongly recommend keeping it low if you will be using it daily for an extended period of time, even if this means accepting a milder effect if tolerance develops.

Yeah, it's just like I said in the above post that some days my stress level is higher than others. The psychiatrist, who knows that both my aunt and grandmother have been treated for anxiety, said I may eventually need to come back to him and get an emergency PRN stash for future use since I may be genetically prone to anxiety. But if you guys think taking 0.75mg tonight (1 and a half tablets) instead of just the one 0.5 tablet would significantly increase my chances of addiction, then I won't do that. I most likely won't stay at the 0.75mg dose every night, just nights where I'm more tense than usual (probably the next two to three days).

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

But if you guys think taking 0.75mg tonight (1 and a half tablets) instead of just the one 0.5 tablet would cause addiction, then I won't do that.

^i hope you do not really think it breaks down that simple.

but take whatever you want. what do you want here? for bluelight to ok you up-ing your dose? your doc already said you can take 1mg.

 

[thomasc93]

But my main concern is addiction. I had a friend who was hooked on lorazepam, and that scared me with how hard it was for him to get off of it. My experiences with benzos is little to none, so I really don't know anything about them. I mean, it seems like I'm basically doing legal recreational drugs/using drugs to cope with stress like a lot of people do. I never thought I would be an addict of anything, but I could see that happening with something like this.

Just nervous, I guess :/ I don't want to build up a tolerance to 1mg, since then I'll have to increase again, right? I'm just really nervous about getting addicted by upping the dose.

 

[SPC123]

Also, while the clonazepam works extremely well for me/makes me feel amazingly (and slightly euphorically) relaxed, I do unfortunately feel very hungover and groggy in the morning. My dad has some Valium that his Dr. gave him a while ago for insomnia, and he doesn't use it anymore. Since it's shorter acting, if I took this before bed, would I get as much of a hungover feeling since it's shorter acting than the klonopin?

Valium is NOT shorter acting that clonazepam. In fact diazepam has a half life 3-4 times longer than clonazepam.

 

[thomasc93]

Valium is NOT shorter acting that clonazepam. In fact diazepam has a half life 3-4 times longer than clonazepam.

really?? goes to show you how much I know about benzos as far as dependency/tolerance buildup goes, which are worse for developing an addiction?

 

[polidelaiko]

I take 0.5 clonazepan at morning and 5mg diazepam (valium) at night. I dont find valium that addictive, in fact its very easy for me to forget to dose some nights, maybe I fall asleep before that.
Valium isnt just longer, its more sedating as well.
Most addictive benzos would be the shorter acting ones like alprazolam.

 

[wolverhamptonian]

I take 5 mgs of diazepam 2 a day my advice would be to try and get switched to a more longer acting benzo like diazepam and gauge your response to that anxiety wize.Because eventually long term constant use of any benzo may lead 2 dependance but with a longer acting benzo you have more time 2 put things in place ie a back up plan.Also the withdrwal effect will have a later onset i would think long and hard about what you choose 2 do because benzos can end up causing the actual problem you were being treated for to be intensifyed but if your going to use a benzo and its long term i suppose a longer acting one is the lesser of 2 evils if you like be lucky my friend.

 

[MrRoot]

I cant understand why any Dr should handle out benzos for someone trying to learn something important when graduating. Benzos really affect the way that brains store memories from work memory making it harder to remember and learn things. You are in a mental fog where you work at half of what you otherwise would.

Benzos for stress for graduating? Everyone has that stress and such an important stage there should not be benzos present.

 

[thomasc93]

I cant understand why any Dr should handle out benzos for someone trying to learn something important when graduating. Benzos really affect the way that brains store memories from work memory making it harder to remember and learn things. You are in a mental fog where you work at half of what you otherwise would.

Benzos for stress for graduating? Everyone has that stress and such an important stage there should not be benzos present.

Well there's actually a little more to the stress than just graduation. I've been on my school's homebound program for the past 7 months because from November to mid/late February I had some serious gastrointestinal problems. With the homebound program, all work must be given and returned through homebound and for the past two months, my teachers haven't been getting the email requests for work, so the teachers haven't been sending it. They just learned I needed work, so I just, about a week and a half ago, got two months worth of work for five AP classes that I HAVE to have done in TWO days. So yeah, I've been doing schoolwork for 12 hours straight everyday without eating and not sleeping till about 3:30AM or so because I'm so stressed and worried about everything. So yeah, because the anxiety and stress was impacting my life so much (not eating, not sleeping, etc.), he gave me some Klonopin to calm me down.

 

[nicksoutherland90]

Had a couple questions regarding the two benzos listed in the post title.

For my first question, I was prescribed generic clonazepam. The bottle says take 0.5mg twice a day, but my psychiatrist said to only take 0.5mg before bed, and that he would raise me to the full dose later. However, I really do like the feeling I get from that 0.5mg tablet (feels kind of like a mild alcohol buzz). How much more profound would the effect be if I took a full 1mg dose before bed? And would this make me build up a tolerance/addiction faster if I did this? (Kinda want to avoid getting hooked on it, it's just that this week will be VERY stressful for me and I want some serious relaxation.)

Also, while the clonazepam works extremely well for me/makes me feel amazingly (and slightly euphorically) relaxed, I do unfortunately feel very hungover and groggy in the morning. My dad has some Valium that his Dr. gave him a while ago for insomnia, and he doesn't use it anymore. Since it's shorter acting, if I took this before bed, would I get as much of a hungover feeling since it's shorter acting than the klonopin?

And what about taking the klonopin (say 0.5mg; I have generic tablets to be taken orally) sublingually? Is there an advantage to this?

Thanks guys!

valium lasts much longer than klonopin (clonazepam) you got it backwards their man. 1 mg isn't a very high dose and compared to xanax IMO klonopin is complete shit. Valium is a more mellow buzz and its half-life is something like 22-36 hours or somethin like that (that doesnt mean the high lasts that long) and i personally find a valium high better but i have to take a much higher dosage. i take about 4-6 mg's of klonopin to get a buzz and about 70-80 mg of valium to get a decent buzz but about 100mg to really please me...you seem to have a much lower tolerance though so you would probably be good with a couple more mg's of valium. and you shouldnt have a hangover at that low of a dose even if you are intolerant. Sublingually you can take either of the pills and the klonopin is virtually tasteless at least i know the 1mg k-pins i'm RX'd are tasteless when dissolving

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

^He's got it right. Diazepam is the longer acting of the two. Take a look at the Benzo Conversion Chart in my signature for half-lives of all the more common benzos and how they compare to diazepam (Valium).

 

[thomasc93]

valium lasts much longer than klonopin (clonazepam) you got it backwards their man. 1 mg isn't a very high dose and compared to xanax IMO klonopin is complete shit. Valium is a more mellow buzz and its half-life is something like 22-36 hours or somethin like that (that doesnt mean the high lasts that long) and i personally find a valium high better but i have to take a much higher dosage. i take about 4-6 mg's of klonopin to get a buzz and about 70-80 mg of valium to get a decent buzz but about 100mg to really please me...you seem to have a much lower tolerance though so you would probably be good with a couple more mg's of valium. and you shouldnt have a hangover at that low of a dose even if you are intolerant. Sublingually you can take either of the pills and the klonopin is virtually tasteless at least i know the 1mg k-pins i'm RX'd are tasteless when dissolving

Ohh, ok! Well all I'm really trying to do is get through the stress for the next two weeks, but the next 1-2 days will be extra stressful because grades are due tomorrow (but by saturday at the absolute latest, if I can't finish by friday). I took the extra 0.25mg of clonazepam last night, and I really didn't feel any increased effect, even after several hours. As far as the hung over feeling goes, it's not really like feeling hungover, but just extra tired/drowsy feeling. It's not that bad.

But with the klonopin, it was great the first night, but every night since my first dose is almost unnoticeable. the first dose felt like a relaxing alcohol buzz; the other two have simply felt like I was very slightly relaxed, tense but still a bit relaxed. But I guess for now I'll just keep the dose at 0.5mg since I really didn't notice a better action with the extra halftab.

What about using these as PRN? my psychiatrist mentioned that after school lets out, I can just use these on an as needed basis. but it seems like if I was going to use them as needed, he would give me something shorter acting. is it normal to use kpins for as needed?

 

[nicksoutherland90]

Ohh, ok! Well all I'm really trying to do is get through the stress for the next two weeks, but the next 1-2 days will be extra stressful because grades are due tomorrow (but by saturday at the absolute latest, if I can't finish by friday). I took the extra 0.25mg of clonazepam last night, and I really didn't feel any increased effect, even after several hours. As far as the hung over feeling goes, it's not really like feeling hungover, but just extra tired/drowsy feeling. It's not that bad.

But with the klonopin, it was great the first night, but every night since my first dose is almost unnoticeable. the first dose felt like a relaxing alcohol buzz; the other two have simply felt like I was very slightly relaxed, tense but still a bit relaxed. But I guess for now I'll just keep the dose at 0.5mg since I really didn't notice a better action with the extra halftab.

What about using these as PRN? my psychiatrist mentioned that after school lets out, I can just use these on an as needed basis. but it seems like if I was going to use them as needed, he would give me something shorter acting. is it normal to use kpins for as needed?

K-pins (at least in South Carolina) are usually prescribed as more of a sleep aid and a lot of docs will use it for RLS (restless leg syndrome) when drugs such as requip prove unsuccesful. They can be prescribed simply for anxiety and stress though i just find lorazepam and diazepam are the more popular meds for anxiety and stress (thus attributing to my comment earlier about them being complete shit compared to xanax and valium) I have been RX'd them since i was 16 and i am now 20 years old and i never really have got a good buzz off of k-pins without drinking on top of them i dont know why. Even Ativan and Temazepam will give me a better buzz than the K-pins but i do have friends that swear by them. I would just stick to your normal dose man because you seem to be like me and klonopin has no real recreational value to me (and apparently you). Hope this helped man.

 

[laCster]

at first i could sleep 12-14+ hours on benzos if i wanted to, now i can barely get 2 hours of good sleep without waking up...lyrica does not interfere with REM sleep like benzos do and it's great for anxiety. however, i would keep the benzo script for times that you just feeled completely overwhelmed and you are having panic attacks.

 

[wolverhamptonian]

I agree with nicksoutherland90 and laCster theyve got it bang on the money.

 

[K'd-OUT-in-AZ]

valium lasts much longer than klonopin (clonazepam) you got it backwards their man. 1 mg isn't a very high dose and compared to xanax IMO klonopin is complete shit. Valium is a more mellow buzz and its half-life is something like 22-36 hours or somethin like that (that doesnt mean the high lasts that long) and i personally find a valium high better but i have to take a much higher dosage. i take about 4-6 mg's of klonopin to get a buzz and about 70-80 mg of valium to get a decent buzz but about 100mg to really please me...you seem to have a much lower tolerance though so you would probably be good with a couple more mg's of valium. and you shouldnt have a hangover at that low of a dose even if you are intolerant. Sublingually you can take either of the pills and the klonopin is virtually tasteless at least i know the 1mg k-pins i'm RX'd are tasteless when dissolving

Half-life of Diazepam isn't 22-36 hours, its actually 20-100 and its active metabolite is 36-200 hours. So its in your system for a long time, its duration is also very long. It builds up in your system so the longer you take them, the longer the duration. For instance, after taking them daily for a few weeks I decided I'd give myself a break and the effects of that last dose continued on to the following day, about 16 hours! I was drowsy all day. But the initial effects don't last that long, maybe 12 hours. Some say shorter, I used to think so until I started taking it daily. One dose would last all day, at least the residual effects would.

Klonopin on the other hand lasts about 8-10 hours (some longer), almost as long as the effects of Diazepam. Its half-life is 18-50 hours. 0.5mg of clonazepam is equivalent to 10mg diazepam. While I think Diazepam is really sedating, I think clonazepam is more powerful. For diazepam, any dose lower than 30mg is not effective. But at 60-80mg Diazepam I can get really fucked up for a long time. 2mg of clonazepam will also get me really fucked. 0.5mg of clonazepam isn't going to really do anything, your on too low of a dose. But its best to stay low for the longest amount of time. You don't really begin to feel the full effects of clonazepam until you take roughly 1.5mg.