I want to use Clonazepam for long term recovery

[hazmatz]

I suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder & Panic Disorder. The only thing that makes me function like a normal human being, without constant fear and crippling anxiety, is a daily dose of .5mg of Clonazepam (Klonopin) I know benzos are not a cure. But I've heard of people that take up to 4mg of this stuff daily for many years. I am currently in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that is proving to be somewhat effective, however, Clonazepam really improves the quality of my life.

I don't take it for recreational purposes. I need it for my job. I work in a high stress customer service job. Without the benzo, I am awful. My productivity is abysmal, I look and feel awkward / anxious around customers and co workers. But with the drug, I walk in feeling like a million bucks with unmeasurable amounts of optimism and happiness. And then I leave feeling very accomplished.

The problem is that Clonazepam is extremely addictive. I know I can't use it forever. The withdrawal will be brutal and send me right back to where I started. So my questions are:

*How long will it be before I have to up my dosage to .75 daily or even 1mg?
*Is what I'm doing safe for me? I would much rather be dropping pills every morning than have to face my overwhelming anxiety
*Should I tell my therapist what I'm doing by self medicating?
*Can I use Clonazepam and 5htp together? My therapist suggests that a lot of my anxiety and depression is a result of very low serotonin levels.

Any input / advice is greatly appreciated. I'd like to hear some of your opinions on this.

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

*How long will it be before I have to up my dosage to .75 daily or even 1mg?

Clonazepam is better than, say, alprazolam/Xanax or lorazepam/Ativan when it comes to the development of tolerance. This is due to clonazepam's long half-life. The downside to this is that clonazepam/Klonopin takes a bit longer to fully kick in compared to the short- and medium-acting benzos. I'm prescribed clonazepam, 0.5mg/day and I take maybe once or twice a week. I've been taking it at these dosages for years and it is still effective. I do not take it daily, however (even though that's the prescription).

*Is what I'm doing safe for me? I would much rather be dropping pills every morning than have to face my overwhelming anxiety

Taking a benzo daily is asking for trouble down the road. Take it only when you absolutely need it. If you continue taking it daily, you will eventually need to increase your dose because of tolerance. Tolerance is unavoidable if you use daily.

*Should I tell my therapist what I'm doing by self medicating?

So are you prescribed clonazepam or not? Can your therapist prescribe medication? You should probably tell them...

*Can I use Clonazepam and 5htp together? My therapist suggests that a lot of my anxiety and depression is a result of very low serotonin levels.

Yes, this is a safe combination.

 

[hazmatz]

Hey, Neighborhood threat. Thanks for the response.

You mention that you take .5 about twice a week when you feel you need it. On those days, do you take .5 in the morning and just go the whole day with it? Or do you break it into smaller doses like .25 and take them twice? How do you, personally, determine if its a day where you need a benzo?

I think it is a bad idea to dose daily. So I think I'm gonna do what you suggest and take it a little less frequently. The problem is that I always feel anxious, and it fluctuates in intensity a lot. One minute I will feel peaceful and the next minute I feel very anxious, so I don't know when I should be taking the Clonazepam.

Another thing is that my GP suspects that I have hyperthyroidism which can cause anxiety, panic, bad appetite, etc. So I am thinking about getting a blood test for that. It would be quite the relief if all my anxiety was simply caused by a hyper active endocrine gland.

 

[sonicwhite]

No unless you tdoc is liberal I wouldn't bring up the fact that you have been self medicating.....I'm on 1 mg twice daily. Sometimes I don't need that much and I have been on it for five years. It's the only med that has helped so powerfully but like you said....When you go so long on it, the withdraws can be worse than the anxiety you had at first. But all in all if it works I would take it....there are risk's to all meds and CBT never worked for me......I believe that you need it....And your not abusing.....There is no telling how long you can keep going on .5 till you need a raise but it will happen. Just use everyday the way it's prescribed. Don't try to take more cause that can screw up the tolerance and leave you with a pill that no longer works. Clonazepam is the only benzo that works like magic. It ain't nothing like it was when I first started but it just takes the anxiety away and there is no need for me to try to get high off of a pill that helps me so much.

 

[hazmatz]

Thanks for the response sonic. I think I want to use .5mg before I go in for work. I don't work every day so that works out well and I wont be taking it daily. But is it harmful to do something like: take .5mg for two days straight (in case I work two days in a row) and then the third day not take any at all? Will I suffer withdrawal symptoms from something like that? sorry if this is a noob question, I just want to make sure that what I'm doing is safe.

 

[sonicwhite]

It depends on how long you have been using....If you have been on that schedule for a year or so then Yes your going to fill that the klonopin isn't in you and your brain is healing from all the Gaba that has been released. But if you have been short term then you should be ok with doing that......Gabapentin is very good for the days I only want to take one. It seems to kick in the first klonopin longer.....But ya if your job counts on you to be upright and focused and the klonopin doesn't drag you down then by all means use it.

 

[scottdot]

I've been on .5mg 2x daily for 11 years. my tolerance was acceptable up until the past year or so.. now I feel like I need 3.

however I still feel like it works for GAD and acute panic attacks.

 

[mgrady3]

I took it for sleep / GAD - started with xanax but they didn't help much (for sleep that is) so they switched me to temazepam +clonazepam.

It worked great but I found my tolerance was growing far too quickly. I think they started me with .25-.5mg clonazepam and 15-30mg temazepam but within a year was taking 1mg clonzepam and 60mg temazepam.
I kept taking tht dosage for about another year but then it had stopped working and I decided that I wanted to quit benzos all together. It took me quite a while to stop taking the clonazepam. Lots of sleepless nights at first even though i did a fairly slow taper.

If you find that low doses work great and can keep it that way though, then it should be fine. Clonazepam was by far the best relief I ever got. But it sure was addicting.

 

[sonicwhite]

The only thing I find that is really hard about stopping klonopin is the nightmares. I can't handle bloody gory twisted nightmares......I mean they are beyond what a normal dream should be....The fact that I have gabapentin gets me thru those withdraws a little easier...And if I didn't have nightmares I would be able to get off of it....But I am starting to get nightmares even while taking them and we just did a med boost so I think I may have PTSD from my traumatic Psychosis but I'm not going to label myself....Hope the pdoc just treats the symptoms.

 

[harmreductioninc]

It's doable better than using alcohol