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Benzos Social Anxiety Disorder RX

cadams122593

cadams122593

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 29, 2012
Messages
20
Location
Florida
New member here and have been a lurker for quite some time. (not telling which sections heh ;)) But i have recently being going to a psychiatrist and telling him about my social anxiety and general anxiety. The first meds i tried was mirtazipine. Didn't work, had an allergic reaction (I'm not allergic to anything that i know of) and it cause my throat to swell it was had to breath. 3 days later, on a new med obvious. Busipiron is another anti depresant. This one gave me weird weird hot flashes about 15 minutes after i took the pill and then after about 30 min of that it stopped and then i just felt normal. Still had all normal symptoms of my anxiety for a month. Go in and tell him this and prescribes me Clonazepam. (I had also been telling him that I have had very bad sleeping habits. Staying up till 3 - 4 am most nights. I take .5-1mg in the morning and 1mg at night. Its been working amazing so far. better than anything I've ever tried for anxiety. The anxiety so far evaporates and puts you in a happy/relaxed mood most times. I'm actually taking 1mg in the morning and 1mg in the night because I feel the .5mg isnt doing it as long as it should. and the anxiety relief from the 1mg is amazing to me. (and I have been going to sleep a lot better o the 1mg) I have been taking a little bit of Etizolam (1mg or 2mg) as well. Do you think the doses will counter act and I'll be needing a larger dose for anxiety relief? I really just wanted to push the bounties. I've only taken 2mg of the clonz at once with Etiz at 2mg as well. I'm going to start going back on the schedule tho. Just wanting to spread my experience around and see other peoples stories with it.
 
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Do you plan to stop taking benzos at some point? with all the negative effects they have on the brain you should bro, are you following a regular therapy (psychologist, not psychiatrist or doctor), doing sport, eating healthy, looking into meditation or sophrology or yoga to name a few ways to treat anxiety naturally...?
 
I tell ya u better be careful with that klonopin. It is soo addictive and be advised if u start takig more than prescribed u will be putting yourself in a bad spot cause then u will tell urself oh I feel good with 1 mg so what does 2mgs feel like then what about 3mg and then u have a huge tolerance and u need more than u can even get on the streets. I was on klonopin for 8yrs and I did ok my first couple yrs til I tried opiates and mixed them n overdosed, luckily I am here still. I just got a tolerance to the klonopin and had to take a shit load to feel better. hope this makes you think. Not tryin to be deb downer,lol!
 
I know that it's very addictive. But the constant anxiety, the uncomfortableness of sleeping, the irritability, constant stomach pain, just feeling uncomfortable in my own skin, really feel outweighs the cons of addiction (not that I want addiction to happen). I never want to go over a 2mg dose per day. Im not trying to get fucked up on this medicine. And I usually have an ease of stopping something once I know that it becomes bad for me. I have very good self control and a good pdoc that is willing to work with me. Some people withdrawal from Adderall after a while of taking it. I took it for 3 year and stopped cold turkey. No bad effects, from not taking the Adderall, except for anxiety that popped up 2 years after taking Adderall. Never abused them. 30mg twice a day was my recommended dose of Adderall IR. Do you think 2mg a day of Clonazepam is a lot and you could suffer from withdrawal if taken as the doc prescribes? I dont want to end up taking 8mg a day like some of horror stories I've read on here about benzo withdrawal. More feedback appreciated.
 
This varies a lot from individual to individual. I've been taking the notiously addictive temazepam for 5 years 4 days-on/3days-off each week to keep tolerance buildup in check and have never felt any sigh of withdrawal even though this drug does not remain in the body for very long. Unless I'm just not observant enough to notice WD's (which I doubt) I don't see how a long-acting benzo such as clonazepam would cause WD's if you skip a day here and there.
 
Ive been prescribed klonopin and temazepam together for years now and know quite a lot about them. I am given the klonopin for "anxiety" and the temazepam for sleep. If you like, your welcome to PM me and ask me anything you like. I personally believe that klonopin is one of THE BEST medications out there.... especially considering its half life. Good Luck.
 
2mg a day of clonazepam is a considerable dose if you have no tolerance. If you use it on a regular basis the dose is definitely high enough to experience tolerance development and hellish withdrawals, though not that bad by benzo standards. Imagine what you're feeling now multiplied by ten with insomnia, nausea, and derealization added to the experience. Everyone is different - you might be able to use every other day and get effective anxiolysis for years, or you might be like me and start experiencing tolerance withdrawal after two weeks on a lower dose than you're using. If you do get addicted - and you seem to already be escalating your dose - your life will get much, much worse than it is now, possibly for a very long time. Have you tried any other antidepressants? They may not be popular here but they do work for a lot of people. Hydroxyzine? This will start working right away and has no addiction potential and imo more tolerable side effects than long-term benzos or SSRIs. Some doctors don't know about its anxiolytic effect which is a shame; it should be a first-line treatment for anxiety disorders.
 
I agree with above posters about clonazepam. I started it for RLS with opiate withdrawal, but still have RLS on occasion. I took the 2mg tab and split in 1/4ths. It is very strong. I know of people who could not get off the drug. I try to skip days and if I realize I haven't been, I get nervous. It has like a 30-40 hour half life. SO dosing every other day is great advice.
 
cadams122593 said:
James Brown. Clear your inbox and I'll send you a message!
Click to expand...

Sorry bout that. I haven't really been using BL for a couple years so I wasn't aware of my inbox being full. I believe I have taken care of the issue... your welcome to try to PM me anytime ...again. lol
 
I've been on Klonopin for almost 12 years now. I started with 1 mg twice a day & have had the dosage increased only once, so now I'm prescribed 1 mg 3 times a day. I still usually only take 2 a day though, but have that extra dose if its needed. I can get away with taking only one a day if I have to & have never suffered withdraws of any kind from the benzos. I have also never abused this med, so I'm sure that helps keep my tolerance down. It has worked wonderfully for me all this time. Its half life is so long compared to xanax & some of the other meds like this. That is another reason why I think it works so well. I was prescribed temazepam 30mg, about 2 years ago in addition & I take it as needed for sleep. Which is not every night, but usually through the week so I can get enough sleep for work. On the weekends it does not really matter how much sleep I get. I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any more question that I may can help you with.

Jen
 
I also was given Clonazepam for anxiety and to help with insomnia. Social anxiety, general, whatever type..5 mg, I took a half. Made me tired and uncoordinated the next day, and did not really alter my activity with anxiety. I did fall asleep I guess, but still felt pretty bad

Not a help for me. I also felt slightly more depressed after a few days. Alprazolam distinctly made me more depressed and maybe dysphoric. Lorazepam just made me tired, slow, and forgetful.

I do have depression as well, perhaps moreso than anxiety. Benzos were not helpful for me.
 
I suffered from severe social anxiety for pretty much as long as I can remember. In my teens I was put on sertraline which did nothing except give me bad side effects, and after that I swore off psychiatric medication. Finally last year I gave in and decided to see a psychiatrist again after spending a year unemployed and unable to get through a job interview. I was on paroxetine for a month and it was worse than sertraline, hellish and horrible and did absolutely nothing for anxiety or depression. Then I was put on mirtazapine and lorazepam. The mirtazapine worked for putting me to sleep (although it gave me vivid nightmares and made me so sleepy it was hard to wake up in the morning), the lorazepam was too weak and didn't last long enough, if I took it in the morning I would experience rebound anxiety by the evening unless I was willing to take more than the prescribed dose, so I was finally put on clonazepam...which has been a miracle drug for me. My doctor prescribed 5mg a day although I only took as many as needed. 0.5 did nothing, 1 helped a little, 2mg worked wonders although my tolerance of course caught up to me. Since then I've gotten a job and some semblance of a social life and have taken part in things I never thought I would have the courage to do. (Of course I've also done some stupid things because of the reduced inhibitions, but my psychologist says that's just my own poor judgment coming out that I need to work on and the meds are not the cause.)

I regularly see a psychologist to conduct cognitive behavioral therapy, however he was the one who suggested I go on benzos in the meantime since CBT can be a slow process and my life was wasting away.

The tolerance and dependence issue has always caused me some anxiety (which is what the clon is supposed to be treating), but with a slow taper withdrawals can be kept to a minimum. After being on it for six months I tapered down until I was off it for about a week, I had minimal withdrawal symptoms but once I was off it I was back to being the same old socially anxious mess, the anti-depressants were doing nothing and the CBT hadn't worked yet, so I went back on them. Clonazepam fortunately has a very long half-life. I've found I can go 3 whole days without a dose and not experience withdrawals (Note this is only my own personal experience and I would not suggest foolishly experimenting to see how long you can go without a dose since everyone is different), only on the 3rd night without taking clon did I experience a very unpleasant night with some crazy withdrawal things going on that terrified me. But overall it has a much longer half-life than compared to say, alprazolam, it may take longer to get off of clonazepam but the withdrawals will be milder. If you google benzo withdrawal symptoms you can find a frightening laundry list of things that will make it sound like quitting benzos will plunge you into the depths of hell. But everyone has different body chemistry and reacts to drugs differently, only a certain percentage of the population will experience one withdrawal symptom or another. Some people won't experience any significant withdrawal symptoms with a slow and steady taper.

So clonazepam, like all benzos, is a double-edged sword. I would suggest finding a good talk therapist and trying cognitive behavior therapy to try to cure the anxiety. In the meantime you have to treat it the best way you can. My goal right now is to get to the point where I can switch to using benzos on a PRN basis rather than a daily basis. I'm planning on soon doing another taper down to zero- being on it non-stop for years would definitely scare me.

One way benzos like clonazepam are supposed to help anxiety is by making you realize you can do things you thought you couldn't do without the sky falling down on you. As my psychologist put it, giving someone with a fear of flying a Xanax and putting them on a plane isn't curing someone of their fear of flying. But after they've flown a few flights with the Xanax they realize they're not going to die by hopping a flight and will be willing to fly without needing the Xanax. When I first started my job I felt I needed to take clonazepam every day in order to function at work or I would be afraid to even walk in the door. Eventually I realized I don't need it as I got used to performing my tasks and interacting with my co-workers, my fears were unwarranted. So there is a method behind therapeutic use of benzos when it comes to curing anxiety beyond what benzo detractors would claim is just "masking the symptoms".
 
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2MG clonaz is indeed a dose, if taken daily, is high enough to give you hellish withdrawls, make adderal w/d feel like a walk in the park in comparison... 2mg clonaz is "euivalnt" to 40-80mg valium (diazepam) that's a lot, a long taper to get off...

Again, don't dissregard what i posted in my first post about natural ways to treat anxiety, at least that way, you can maybe take clonaz at first whilst you work on your meditation, sport, yoga, etc. and as long as you don't take the clonaz too long, you can get away with no addiction, no withdrawal, no cognitive problms, increasd quality of life due to NO MORE anxiety... naturally.
A close friend of mine did this recently with valium, used it as a crutch until his therapy, sport and meditation started paying off, now he's off the benzos and no longer anxious...
 
Divinus Salviarum I see you are fairly new so I wanted to say welcome to BL! I am also new to the site myself. There seems to be a lot of great people on this site & there is a unlimited amount of information & knowledge here. I really enjoy participating in the discussion forums.

I'm glad you have found something that works well for you & and helps your anxiety. It sounds like you are doing really well. I too feel as though it has been a miracle drug for me. Anxiety can be debilitating & can make depression worse. It can strip you of all happiness. Some people don't understand that until they have experienced it themselves. I have been on Klonopin for many years now & I don't expect that I will ever be able to completely come off of it, but I am okay with that. I'm lucky to have a wonderful psyc doctor.

Again welcome to BL!

Jen
 
Hi,

Welcome to BL.

I took that drug for severe hyperthyroidism (which caused intense anxiety/insomnia coupled with organic dp/anxiety), as the tricyclic antidepressants I was prescribed kept me up all night with the room spinning. It worked for me for sometime, and I would add other benzos at times. I had to switch to a longer acting one to taper off. Gave me Tranxene.

I was put on Paxil thereafter. It did help on a very low dose for anxiety. Not sure if that drug is still prescribed but that's how I got out of it with many herbal supplements/vitamins and walking through hell regardless of what my brain thought otherwise.
Blood pressure meds lowered my anxiety also, as well as anti-convulsives, and living through every panic attack with breathing techniques, when I though I would die.

I'm still up way too late though, don't know if that will ever change. I relate! /:

- Smoky
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. benzos slowly and progressively took everything I ever loved. was prescribed a couple mg's of ativan daily for 2-3 years, havent taken one in a year as of 3 minutes from now and I'm STILL withdrawing. everything I have ever said about this drug has gone to deaf ears, so all i advise is look into benzo withdrawal before you consider long term usage. losing your wife, child, job, house, bodily function and mind for over a year because you decided you didn't like being a zombie is something i wouldnt wish upon anyone. k-pin has a long half life too and is pretty easy to get addicted to. rule of thumb in my book is either decide to take them for a few weeks or the rest of your life. tread safely!
 
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