Benzos Clonazepam or Nitrazepam?

[MusicFiend420]

"I also find, at least for myself personally, that the benzo equivalency charts are rather useless and not very accurate."


^^^^^ This ^^^^^

 

[the_ketaman]

Ive taken Valium, xanax & temazepam for years and developed ridiculous tolerance to them. The other day I had 20, 5mg vals which did nothing, tolerance is too high to use less than a bottle of temaze 10mg(so 25!) and when I entered detox I was taking 12, 2mg alpraz a day and can still take 5-10 without getting messy but recently ive been using clonazepam(Rivotril 2mg) and I love it and dont need anywhere near the equivalent dose to other benzos. I just tried Nitrazepam today and 1 5mg tab helped semi-calm me down from a BAD anxiety attack. Ive had meth and am also incredibly anxious and just took 20mg of nitraz. It seems to kick in super quick and actually makes me tired, not just messy and passing out is the only way Id sleep with other benzos. They dont make me tired.

Clonazepam is now my fav benzo and Nitrazepam will be up there im guessing. The only think about clonaz is if I have too much it really fucks with my balance and memory/mental abilities more than xanax and once I fell asleep at a friends on clonaz and apparently walked out and around a dodgy suburb for 1/2 an hour and came back without knowing id even left the building. God knows what I did, it scared me coz ive never sleep walked in my life!

Gotta be so careful with benzos. My friend was hit and killed by a freight train last week coz he stumbled in front while he was rolling a cig. Very sad but also has caused me to only use benzos for their purpose & not go overboard/get messy.

 

[Survival0200]

I would take nitrazepam, just for the exoticism of it.

 

[Methacodone]

Sorry for bringing up an older thread, but it's better than making a new one.

Let me chime in on here, I've never tried Nitrazepam, but I have RX'd Clonazepam.

I've done plenty of re-search on drugs, most including Benzos and Opiates.

Nitrazepam is a hypnotic drug of the benzodiazepine class, indicated for the short-term relief of severe, disabling anxiety and insomnia. It also has sedative and motor-impairing properties,as well as amnestic, anticonvulsant, and skeletal muscle relaxant effects.
Clonazepam is a benzodiazepine drug having anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant, amnestic, sedative, and hypnotic properties. It is marketed under the trade name Rivotril by Roche in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Peru, South Africa, the United States, and Spain; Linotril and Clonotril in India, South Korea, and other parts of Europe; and under the trade name Klonopin by Roche in the United States. Other names, such as Ravotril, Rivatril, Iktorivil, Clonex, Paxam, Petril, Naze and Kriadex, are known throughout the world. Clonazepam has an elimination half-life of 18–50 hours and is generally considered to be an intermediate-acting benzodiazepine. Clonazepam has no active metabolites. Clonazepam is a chlorinated derivative of nitrazepam and therefore a chloro-nitrobenzodiazepine.
Clonazepam has an intermediate onset of action, with a peak blood level occurring one to four hours after oral administration. Long-term effects of benzodiazepines include tolerance, benzodiazepine dependence, and benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome, which occurs in one third of patients treated with clonazepam for longer than four weeks.
Benzodiazepines such as clonazepam have a fast onset of action, high effectivity rate, and low toxicity in overdose; however, as with most medications, it may have drawbacks due to adverse or paradoxical effects. The benzodiazepine clorazepate may be an alternative to clonazepam due to a slow onset of tolerance and its availability in a slow-release formula to counter fluctuations in blood levels. The pharmacological property of clonazepam, as with other benzodiazepines, is the enhancement of the neurotransmitter GABA via modulation of the GABA_A receptor.

So, in conclusion, if you have chronic anxiety, Clonazepam is def. the better option, as stated above Nitrazepam is for short term use ONLY.

For me, Clonazepam is a god send, it lasts long, feels good, takes away my depression/anxiety, and overall is an EXCELLENT benzo.

 

[tricomb]

I would take nitrazepam, just for the exoticism of it.

it's not that exotic or rare. It ain't special.

 

[rickm99]

So if you're used to dosing 3mgs clonazepam, theoretically an equivalent dose would be 60mgs nitrazepam. I would try half of that though, perhaps starting with 20 to 30mgs nitrazepam to begin with, and see how you feel with that. As I mentioned before, it's really very sedating.

I disagree--
10 mg Nitrazepam threshold should not be exceeded -- this already the max recommended daily dose -- especially if you have other benzos in your system and are new to this one. Conversely, Clonazepam has a much higher therapeutic window, and can go up to max recommended dose of 20 mg/day depending on the condition being treated.

Yes, theoretically [0.5mg clonazepam=10mg nitrazepam], however:

• clonazepam has a typical posology of 3 times daily, up to 4mg/day for panic, and up to 20 mg/day for seizures.
• nitrazepam has a typical posology of once nightly, up to 10mg/day for insomnia.

 

[Jabberwocky]

This is old thread being opened, but I will give my opinion since @rickm99 opened it and I disagree with a post to an extent. The reason why clonazepam has such max recommended dosage is because it is used to treat epilepsy. In my opinion, the reason why nitrazepam has such low recommended dosage is because it is marketed as a hypnotic benzodiazepine and has long duration of action. This combination is not perfect since long duration of action means that it will be felt next day and higher dosages could lead to next day impairment when person with low tolerance for benzodiazepines takes it. There is not something intrinsically dangerous or different with nitrazepam when it is compared to say diazepam. It is an old benzo and for people who have tolerance so high that they can take 4mg clonazepam and not sleep I don't see any danger in taking 20mg nitrazepam. It is just not that useful as a hypnotic when one has big tolerance to benzodiazepines and is, in my opinion, not that pleasurable. Especially if you need to get your work done next day.

So basically it is an old regular benzodiazepine which has more hypnotic effects than diazepam, but it is not inherently dangerous in higher doses than 10mg. I am not advocating taking medication in other way than prescribed but I believe that I am giving true information. Please correct me if I am wrong. If not let this thread rest in the past.

Peace

 

[bingey]

blegh nitrazepam gives me a terrible hangover only benzo I ever experienced this with

 

[rickm99]

Hey Psycho_Logic: Thanks for the reply. I agree with you about nitrazepam having a long duration of action, making higher doses more prone to hangover effect. But clonazepam also has a long duration of action, and both drugs have anticonvulsive properties. You're right that nitrazepam was marketed for insomnia (although originally it was also used as an adjust for seizure disorders), while clonazepam is aimed at panic disorder and seizures (even examined for a variety of other conditions such as schizophrenia and others).

My main points of contention are:
1. Clonazepam at 3mg daily is a reasonable (medium-high range) dose for anxiety treatment. It isn't therapeutically indicated for insomnia.
2. Nitrazepam at 10 mg is already the maximum dose to help with insomnia. Going double or triple that dose will do more harm than good.
3. Morphling's advice is misleading for a clonazepam to nitrazepam switch. (He said 3 mg clonazepam theoretically equals 60 mg nitrazepam; then said that 20-30mg nitrazepam would be a good place to start).

Essentially:
Starting nitrazepam at 2-3 times higher than its highest recommended dose will only emphasize its undesired effects and diminish its intended purpose of alleviating the symptoms of insomnia/anxiety. If you don't respond to 10 mg of nitrazepam (or slightly more), then it's probably not a good idea to double or triple that dose in hopes of improving your symptoms.

So basically [nitrazepam] is an old regular benzodiazepine which has more hypnotic effects than diazepam, but it is not inherently dangerous in higher doses than 10mg.

Depends what you mean by "higher doses than 10mg". If you mean 15mg, that's one thing, and I agree, probably not inherently dangerous. But if you mean 20-60mg (as Morphling was saying), that's something else altogether, and may very well be inherently dangerous for all we know.