Benzo's - Clonazepam?

Hey all,

My first post here, but i have been searching about the site for a while now.

I have been suffering from bad anxiety and panic attacks for about 1 - 2 months now, i've also seen a psychiatrist who beleives it is generalised anxiety and panic disorder.

He prescribed me some diazepam because i couldn't handle the anxiety anymore, but i seemed to have a bad reaction to it. It just made my anxiety worse, and felt like i was zoning out in a sense ( made my de-realisation/de-personalisation alot worse ) gave me a few panic attacks, too.

The doctor was willing to prescribe another anxiolytic/benzo and gave me a prescription for clonazepam 0.25mg for 2 weeks only.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me how i would react on this medication/what i should expect on this dose? I understand they work in a similar way, but i am too scared to take them at the moment because of the bad reaction i had with the diazepam.

Clonazepam is a very potent benzo. Meant to be very good for anxiety, and panic. I didn't realise you could get 0.25mg thought the lowest was 0.5mg.

Anyway you probably have tried it how is it?

I started a course of Clonazepam about three years ago after being diagnosed with panic disorder. I had a great psychiatrist, and we started me at .5 MG. This had to gradually be increased to 2 MG a day (a very high dosage).

Why? Because I was holding down a job that involved people yelling at me everyday, screaming expletives, death threats, sexual harassment, and eventually (in the end) being physically attacked on the job. Most of the people on my team were on heavy meds to cope with this abuse.

Clonazepam and Klonopin are like the devil. Administered correctly (at the right dosage), they are very good at controlling and nearly eliminating panic attacks.

They are, however, EXTREMELY dangerous. This cannot be overemphasized. If you are on a high dosage, for instance, and extremely sensitive to meds, if you go cold turkey (completely stop taking) either of these drugs, it can be fatal. The withdrawal side effects are so extreme that your body can shut down in a matter of days and you die.

I quit that awful job and have now undertaken getting off of Clonazepam over the course of one year. Every 6.5 weeks I reduce my dosage by 1/8.

It is absolute hell psychologically; and there are physical side effects also.

A very good resource is the Ashton Manual, which discusses at length "BENZODIAZEPINES: HOW THEY WORK AND HOW TO WITHDRAW." Highly recommended. Just Google that title and you should be able to find it.

Just got the prescription for 0.25mg clonazepam 3x daily. Will see how it goes.

Dan

It seems like different benzos are matches for different people--maybe body chemistry has to do with it. I take clonazepam daily, prescribed .5mg twice a day and I try to stick to that. I take them in halves, so .25mg a dose. My old therapist told me to take them whenever I felt necessary, because he trusted me and knew how conservative I was/am about taking them. So my dosage does change depending on the stress or panic of each day.

I have taken Xanax many times before when my prescription ran out on a weekend night, for example, and a friend or family member would lend me a pill. Although it does help somewhat, I find that Xanax just does not bring relief like Klonopin/clonazepam does, for me. The medication you are describing, Valium, does seem to work very differently also. I can't remember if I've ever taken it, but I do know that it is a sought-after recreational pill among the people I know. That makes me think that it can be more of a 'zoning out' drug as you described than a drug that makes you feel normal again.

Hope the clonazepam helps! Please always be wary of becoming dependent. I know it worries me, which is why I would like to taper off soon.

Only got a 3 week course - we will review there after.

Can therapists prescribe meds in the states. Here they can't. Xanax isn't even available on the NHS, although can be got privately.

I am surprised diazepam has any recreational value.

Dan

Dan - benzos are the devil drug here in the UK! Such a bad name because idiots abuse them - used sensibly they are brilliant for anxiety.

Lucky if you get 2mg diazepam here!

Laura

So true - you know my stance on them Laura. Luckily my shrink is old school and agrees to an extent.

Indeed I had a battle getting 2mg tablets from my GP.

Ofc antidepressants are a safer and probably better option, but they don't work for all.

Dan