Misc asenapine

i have severe anxiety and for the past year i was prescribed clonazepam
but my psychiatrist got in an extremely bad car accident,so while he was gone i would see his nurse, who decided to take me off the clonazepam and put me on saphis (asenapine) off label for anxiety

whats you r opinion on this, should i really talk to my doctor about changing it because its a very strong med only for anxiety

I was on it for a while and I can say it was useless for me. Seriously, totally useless. Buspar was better, and that is a useless drug IMO.

The nurse was treating you and prescribing your meds? I don't think that's legal. Hmmm....

J.D. said:

The nurse was treating you and prescribing your meds? I don't think that's legal. Hmmm....

Click to expand...

Depends upon the degree that the nurse has and the circumstances.

When you say that Saphris is a "very strong" medication for anxiety, what do you mean exactly? Perhaps the goal was to get you off something that is habit-forming, like the benzo. Plus you haven't mentioned how you feel on Saphris.

It's hard to give you a complete answer because we don't know your full story.

Were you taking clonazepam on a regular basis or on an as-needed basis? How often were you taking clonazepam and how much?

In my opinion, once a patient has been on benzodiazepines for a certain amount of time (assuming they're taking them on a regular basis - bear in mind that clonazepam has a long half life, even taking one dose every 48 hours could be considered a "regular basis") taking them off benzodiazepines without a taper or some kind isn't safe and isn't good medical practice.