found a happy medium - 1mg klonopin

[molly897]

yes I know it will suck to come off of, my question is how long do I have before my tolerance will be built? a .5 at noon and at three has kept me anxiety free all day

I plan on telling my Dr but I know I'm going to have to move up in dosage eventually so I was just wondering what you think. is it any different than taking a 1mg since I'm taking it so close together?

this is the only thing that has worked for my anxiety. adderall and benzos do not mix.

 

[izzy66]

i've taken klonopin for at least 10 yrs. i'm Rxd 1mg twice a day but rarely take more than 1mg/day. after i got my anxiety under control, kinda "in the middle of the road" so to speak, i frequently skip a day or two cuz i do not want to go through benzo w/d horror that happens to a lot of people. i'm more freaked by the potential for physical addiction than having a continuous low level of anxiety. when i feel especially jacked up i take one and have extras to take if i need to.
everyone will have different experiences but i have overall had a positive experience over a long period of time and have managed to avoid the horrible problems some folks go through w/ k-pins. keep an honest clear perspective and they can be very helpful.
best of luck to you.
-izzy

 

[ocean]

izzy- do you ever feel the side effects being on that dosage for so long?
I lowered down to 1mg about, maybe 6 mos ago and I am wanting to go up again b/c I have really bad side effects- but struggle with the idea........
I'm wondering if I have such a reaction b/c I am borderline diabetic and process it faster than others???

molly- I hope it works out for you!!
Keep us updated!

 

[unsettled]

I've recently discovered that you can stay on a small dose of Klonopin without raising it and still get beneficial effects from it. I hover around 2mgs a day but I've noticed I can take half of that one day and be fine, alot of my "withdrawal symptoms" were in my head, I figured that out after my psych explained to me the long half life of the drug.

If you can stay at 1mg do it, if you have to go up to 2mgs do it if it works for you. Klonopin has been one of the few drugs that works for me but I know the hell that benzo withdrawal is so I've been trying to keep it low. I try and take the minimal amount on days when I'm not having any anxiety issues.

For me Ritalin has helped my anxiety oddly enough because I get more done and I don't feel as overwhelmed and therefore I'm less likely to fall into negative thought patterns that would cause anxiety attacks.

Less is more when you're really just trying to stay mentally healthy, I know that if I'm too mentally healthy for too long I'll inevitably do something to fuck it up... I haven't figured out why that is, I just dislike monotony I guess.

But yes I think you can stay on a low dose of Klonopin but if you find yourself taking too much for too long be honest with yourself and those around you, have someone you trust hold onto them for you if you need to. Never quit cold turkey if you've become dependent on them. Good luck!

 

[villian]

i am a member of a benzo withdrawal site and many of the people their maintained the same dose for years. personally I up dosed quite a bit, but I wasn't taking them purely for medical purposes

 

[endzone]

So, if just for fun, I took 3-1MG klonopins last nite n I'm still very messed up this morning, what could I do to come down? I just took a 15mg adderall hoping itll help.

 

[theartofwar]

So, if just for fun, I took 3-1MG klonopins last nite n I'm still very messed up this morning, what could I do to come down? I just took a 15mg adderall hoping itll help.

go back to bed n sleep it off bud. Throwin in amps will make you feel alert an up - but believe me if you still are feeling a benzo , get behind a wheel you may as well be booze cruise - can easily get yourself in trouble.

Be safe w/benzos , I mean it - been on em for 14 years - rx'd dose and I don't mess with it. I've been down the roads of chewing my booze with em , but now like said - RX dose and my problems = drastically in check compared to ever in my life.

 

[izzy66]

izzy- do you ever feel the side effects being on that dosage for so long?
I lowered down to 1mg about, maybe 6 mos ago and I am wanting to go up again b/c I have really bad side effects- but struggle with the idea........
I'm wondering if I have such a reaction b/c I am borderline diabetic and process it faster than others???

molly- I hope it works out for you!!
Keep us updated!

i keep my dose low so i don't get the fatigue, tired, bitchy feeling i often had when i took 2mg every day. once i backed off regular dosing i don't have neg effects anymore. i'm def on board w/ the "less is more" idea when it comes to benzos. xanax just flat out pisses me off now cuz of fatigue feeling but k-pins keep me on an even keel on the lower dose and there's no tired bitchy feeling. however there are days i take 2 or 3mgs sometimes too. my Rx says "as needed" and i really dose based on how i feel.
if you can control them, they can be really a godsend for anxiety and panic attacks.
listen to your body and adjust accordingly
-izzy





















.

 

[molly897]

thanks for everyones reply i appreciate it. very encouraging and i'm looking forward to staying on this medication actually.. i took the same dose today cause i felt .5 wasnt enough when i tried to just take .5 today. so i will keep trying to not take it but not go over 1mg unless needed. this is the only thing that's worked. i'm so happy. ahh

 

[Bojangles69]

Ehh I hate terribly if this "rains on your parade" in anyway but I was started on 1mg klonopin and this is how it went for me:

First 3 days at 1mg were 100% anxiety free.
Day 4 I dropped close to 90%.
Everyday after that for the first month I dropped more and more till I was about 10% anxiety free ( I say 10% cause I felt just a tad bit better than normal... just a tad).

But for the majority of that month I didn't feel much of anything after the first week.

I was then put on 2mg.
The 2mg "sorta" held me for 3 more months. I mean it was basically the same thing again though. The first week I was about 100% anxiety free, then very quickly most the anxiety came back and my brain just wanted more.

Fastforward 6 months the doctor has me on 4mg. At this point I'm feeling 4mg less than the 1mg I had the first day. The klonopin was essentially worthless for me, I came off. No wds cause I prob wasn't on long enough.
I actually went back to klonopin again in the future and it was the same thing, I was off in a very short amount of time.


Thats just me though. The majority of my anxiety is biological and from what speed did to my adrenal glands. Even though I get psychological anxiety I imagine its prob less than a nice majority of the population. I had panic disorder but again that was directly tied to adrenal output.
At the end of the day you won't really know how it works for you untill a few months pass. But try to make up your mind before 6-8 months because I've always stopped before that time with minimal wds. After that and you'll be on it too long, will be at a higher dose, and benzo wds are not something you want to play with.

G/luck!

 

[Lolie]

I think one problem is that it's easy to get used to being anxiety free and then it becomes even harder to tolerate any anxiety at all. And it's hard to make yourself learn other ways of reducing and managing anxiety when you have the option of pushing your dose higher and not experiencing it at all.

The downside of regular dosing rather than as required dosing is that you eventually reach a point of needing to take it to avert withdrawals even on days when you're not anxious - so not only has your ability to reduce and manage anxiety not changed but you've also picked up a physical dependence which needs servicing even though it provides little relief anymore. I honestly that doctors who don't set out a tapering off plan when they first prescribe benzos are doing their patients a huge disservice.

 

[artaxerxes]

I've been talking .5 - 1.5mg of xanax for over 10 years with no bad side-effects and no need to increase my dose. Usually I take .5-.75 every night before bed time. Taking 1.5 mg is rare and for when I have panic attacks, which have lessened in frequency enormously since I've been on the medication.

I taper off every few months just to be sure I can do it. My doctor says that the low dose that I've maintained allows me to do this. The taper does work: I have a little trouble sleeping but otherwise no negative side-effects.

I've never taken it recreationally and I think that's an important factor. I suspect that even a few recreational doses of xanax could fuck up a person's tolerance.

I have also done a lot of work with therapists and a lot of CBT. When I was really in the worst years of my "breakdown," the xanax helped me to calm down enough when I needed to practice my CBT techniques. And it helped me to get some sleep, which I desperately needed for my mental health. This is exactly how they're supposed to be used.

The drug alone (I'm talking about benzos now) won't fix problems, but used in combination with other therapeutic techniques like CBT, meditation, exercise, diet, etc, I think it works well to help you get better and live a healthier life.

I'm glad to hear it's helping you out. Hopefully it'll help you live a more stable, healthier life with less stress.

 

[Bojangles69]

I honestly that doctors who don't set out a tapering off plan when they first prescribe benzos are doing their patients a huge disservice.

Even though you don't sound overtly emotional in that comment you sound very "covertly" emotional. And it sounds like the only reason you wrote that is because a dr prescribed you benzos one day, you never really researched what you were taking, and wound up addicted.
But how exactly is that the drs fault?

Drs don't make laws on what drugs should and shouldn't be legal, its their jobs to prescribe medicine. Its your job as the medicine taker to be more aware of the finer complexities of long term use of a specific drug. Should a doctor also write down how many mililiters of water you need to swallow everytime to take a pill?

If for just one minute you had chose to think about that statement with logic, and not emotion, you would have seen some very clear cut common sense problems with it.

1) You are practically asking doctors to prescribe a remedy (tapering) for a problem that does NOT EVEN EXIST. When you say "first prescribe benzos" (or even doing it in the middle of a habit) you automatically imply that the patient will be stopping at that dose and time.
There is NO reason to prescribe tapering schedules at ANY time other than the END of a habit/regime, because that is the ONLY time a habit is ever considered constant. This is why doctors go to medical school.
So they should dysfunctionally waste time and money, to prescribe a tapering schedule when 1 month down the road that same schedule will be worth more value burned? Or should the doctors job also become divising and updating every patients "tapering schedule" to consider the length of time they've been on a drug (1 month, 2 months, 10 months, etc) and every change in dose? (1mg, 2mg, 10mg)
Do you realize what you are actually implying by that statement?

2) The same exact way that drs need to standardize dosing regimes is for the same exact reason that everyone reacts differently to different medicines. There is NO PLAUSIBLE way to figure out the "perfect" dose for every patient. Same way there is no "perfect" tapering schedules for any patient (even at the proper time).
So even IF doctors had the time (which they don't and shouldn't) you would wind up getting a standardized schedule that would be pretty close to a clone of what the person before you got. This type of plan would effectively = shit, which it does. Because doctors who DO attempt to devise plans usually suck at it BECAUSE they know there is simply no "standard taper". Even though there is no real standard dose for medicine, they NEED to find one as they NEED to prescribe medicine. They don't need to prescribe tapers. And I'm thankful enough that some actually try. I just wish some people would open their eyes and give doctors more credit where its deserved instead of displacing their own incompetencies everytime the patient makes a mistake and fucks up something.

I'm not trying to be rude, but comeon, its in no way important by any means nor is it even possible to apply.

 

[Cyc]

Drs don't make laws on what drugs should and shouldn't be legal, its their jobs to prescribe medicine. Its your job as the medicine taker to be more aware of the finer complexities of long term use of a specific drug. Should a doctor also write down how many mililiters of water you need to swallow everytime to take a pill?

If patients are qualified to deduce the "finer complexities of long term use" then they would be qualified to prescribe themselves the drug in the first place.

While it is true that access information online is available, there can be no expectation that patients Google their meds, or pick up a medical textbook. The only thing they can be expected to go by, are their doctors advice and the pamphlet (if provided) that comes with the medicine.

I'm sorry, but personal responsibility is not on the patient, when being advised by a medical professional. Why do you think doctors whine about insurance premiums so often?

 

[molly897]

Word bo... i'm already taking 1.5 (4 days later, around the same time your tolerance built) but i don't have enough so i'm MAKING myself take less. i only have one .5 left and my appt is tomorrow at 10:45

i've only had .5 today and feel fine but i usually take one before i sleep. but i will need it much more in the morning so i'm hoping to just sit it out

i am very serious about not taking the same dose every day cause i am scared of building tolerance. but i feel so normal on it that if i my dose raises so be it. in the mean time i will keep only taking it when i feel need be and still train myself to take less naturally

 

[bagochina]

For some reason this post reminded me of my first valium [actual] script. Man I can still remember I was in my apartment on a Sunday afternoon sitting Indian style on the wood floor. I took 30mgs and everything just dripped away, I felt perfect. I can recall saying to myself man this is what I have been needing. Granted I took my first v-cut valium at my first job [13 yrs old] working at a Mom & Pop pharmacy probably 10 years prior to that day. There was just something about that day that is burned in my memory. Everything was just perfect, god I felt so good from a few blue tablets, nothing mattered. Wind was whipping the trees out side, and I can almost hear the doorbell ringing.

Now 10 years after that day sometimes I do miss that feeling. Only 8'ish months totally off benzos and I wont lie sometimes a xanax sounds fucking real good. Even though I have pretty much no stress in my life. I miss that comfort I would get from those, I seem to forget the hell that they would put my body thru though.

Anyways molly, I would definitely try to stop taking them before bed. I think that is a worthless practice and will just increase you dose quicker.

peace.
seedless

 

[Bojangles69]

If patients are qualified to deduce the "finer complexities of long term use" then they would be qualified to prescribe themselves the drug in the first place.

While it is true that access information online is available, there can be no expectation that patients Google their meds, or pick up a medical textbook. The only thing they can be expected to go by, are their doctors advice and the pamphlet (if provided) that comes with the medicine.

I'm sorry, but personal responsibility is not on the patient, when being advised by a medical professional. Why do you think doctors whine about insurance premiums so often?

You sound rather naive to actually be promoting ignorance in a situation where peoples lives are at stake.
I also quite obviously never said patients are qualified to prescribe themselves drugs. You sound like a wannabe politician.

Doctors whine about insurance premiums because they understand the basic fact that humans make mistakes, and so do they, and they sure as hell don't wanna pay for it. If your job is devoted to helping people should you lose your license because one patient was ignorant? A lot of doctors don't realize that teenagers shouldn't come off of steroids w/out a specific protocol. Some teenagers are taking straight off them and kill themselves. You know why? Cause the medical doctors don't understand they have to refer them to an endocrinologist if they don't know about the endocrine system.

Should people on this forum who are teenagers and don't know about steroids go to a doctor to get off and do exactly what they say?

It is near impossible for a doctor to predict the extreme wealth of different responses people get from medications, a person should not adhere to science as dogma because it can kill them. People are absolutely not 100% responsible for what often happens in medical settings. In surgery its different, in medicine its very different. I realize what laws are but I also realize what survival is. Good luck not being responsible. And next time address the main point of what I say. When you respond to irrelevant beliefs of my own that have nothing to do with the main topic, then use your own words to respond to, it comes off as desperate.. "sorry" (oh and next time you don't have to actually say sorry, I'm a big boy).

thanks take care

 

[Bojangles69]

i am very serious about not taking the same dose every day cause i am scared of building tolerance.

I think this is something intelligent people realize from naturally having a certain level of common sense.
Your anxiety will not always be the same everyday, and you will not need the same amount everyday imo.
Doctors can not do this because of the natural subjectivity and impracticality of you telling them your problems everyday. Thats why for almost every medicine I've taken except ssris I have almost always done that.

I don't think a moderator would recommend it, but I think as long as you always make sure it doesn't surpass a certain dosage you should be cool. I don't think you would have done it/considered it unless you already knew you could do it and that it would serve you better in the long term.

 

[molly897]

I think this is something intelligent people realize from naturally having a certain level of common sense.
Your anxiety will not always be the same everyday, and you will not need the same amount everyday imo.
Doctors can not do this because of the natural subjectivity and impracticality of you telling them your problems everyday. Thats why for almost every medicine I've taken except ssris I have almost always done that.

I don't think a moderator would recommend it, but I think as long as you always make sure it doesn't surpass a certain dosage you should be cool. I don't think you would have done it/considered it unless you already knew you could do it and that it would serve you better in the long term.

see, i took .5 yesterday at 12.. n by 7pm i was wishing i could take my last one but i had to save it for this morning. i'km anxious as hell right now not as bad as i usually am but usually when i take 1mg i don't wake up with anxiety

thanks for the advice my doctors straight up said before to cut my pills in half about one of em before so he'd probably have no problem with me sensibly managing my own dose

 

[Bojangles69]

Molly this is a real important question but do you get anxiety in your body?

Like racing heart, heavy breathing (have to catch your breath), shaking of limbs and stuff like that?
Or do you find its mostly in your head and that your body doesn't react much at all?
I'm just curious because my point is if you have ANY physical manifestations of anxiety klonopin is complete and utter shit for them.
A lot of people I talk to who have anxiety tell me "my hearts always racing, I can't sit still, I'm always fidgety nervous" and unless you address that hypersensitive state at the core its going to be truely hard to have a chance with the mental anxiety. Beta blockers are an ABSOLUTE must for that type of anxiety and it pisses me off that more drs don't prescribe them (when their less addictive/dangerous than anything I know). They work very powerfully and selectively to stop all that shit completely.

And in all honestly I've seen so many people get that physical aspect under control, and have a large portion of their mental anxiety go away with it.

But in terms of how you feel anxiety in your body, do you find that you are focusing more on controlling your body, or your mind when the anxiety happens? Its a real basic question yes and I think I tried to get this from you once before but I don't remember what happened. I must have went to 3 psychiatrists and told them this story:

My heart never stops racing, I always feel like I'm breathing shallow when I get anxious which just perpetuates my heart racing. I get shakey and fidgety, I CAN NOT sit the fuck still for a minute.

Then Dr says "and what kind of thoughts go through your mind?"

And I say something like: "I'm thinking why I can't control my heart, why I can't stop shaking, why I feel like my whole body is under pressue and about to explode"

Then stupid ass retarded Dr says "hmm, it sounds like you have a lot of mental anxiety going on... I'm going to prescribe you klonopin".

That happened to me like I said on 3 occassions and I was STILL always anxious. But when I thought about it, most my anxiety was me focusing on the way I couldn't control my body when I got anxious.

It wasn't untill I went to see a specialists, who did heart tests, ekgs that figured I have high adrenal output, which coincidentally keeps me in a hypersensitive state of anxiety most of the time.

I don't need benzos, I don't need ssris, all I need in reality are beta-blockers and I'm good to go. They shut down ALL that nervous energy in your body. And I think simply due to how effectively work, you can't help but notice how calm you are and it really helps demolish a lot of anxiety.

I don't know I just hate to hear about people suffering from this shit, I've dealt with it so many years and can honestly say if it wasn't for betablockers alone I'd be dead right now.