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Clonazepam

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MomOfTwo

MyPTSD Pro
Has anyone used this to help with panic attacks or insomnia? I have been feeling so incapacitated at times and am hoping it will relieve some of my symptoms.
 
Clonazepam will stop your panic attacks. the problem is that this is a benzodiazapine - and if you will start to use it more than once a week, you will build tolerance, and than addiction and dependence - psychological and physiological.

So be very careful and use it maximum once or twice a week.
 
Thank you. The pharmacy asked me to show id and even wrote my license number down. I have never had to show ID and they know me there. I guess the government maybe asking for that information or pharmacies are.
 
Your doctor should be discussing this with you and explaining the difference between addiction and dependence(they aren't the same). You also should have received a packet of information from your pharmacy when you picked up the prescription. It's for panic attacks and anxiety, don't be afraid to use it if you need it. Stay in touch with your doctor and if you take it enough that you need to slowly ween your body off the drug, your doctor will help you do so. But don't resist taking it because you're worried about dependence. Your doctor obviously believed it was worth the risks to prescribe it for you. I was also told by my doctor that taken at need or regularly for a month would be fine, but that it wasn't meant for long term.
 
I was prescribed that recently, and I find it pretty effective. However at at least 1mg they prescribed me .5mg So I have to take two to get any real relief. It wont effect everyone the same though.
 
Has anyone used this to help with panic attacks or insomnia? I have been feeling so incapacitated at times and am hoping it will relieve some of my symptoms.

Hello MomofTwo,

I have taken this medication before. It works very well, It is good for panic attacks and also trouble sleeping as it can make you sleepy at first. I was on Xanax for quite sometime and then switched. So glad I did, If your are feeling the way you say that you are then this medication would be a good fit for you. Hugs and good luck !
 
I take clonazepam daily - it is the best anti-anxiety medication for me and I have tried many. At one point, I was taking three a day in order to manage, but at this point in time, I am only taking one. Under the care of my psychiatrist, I was weaned off it at one point (husband and I were planning a pregnancy) and I was fine with tapering the dosage down slowly to nothing. I did struggle with the anxiety though, and fairly rapidly post-birth, I re-started it.
 
I was on Xanax for 5 years, and then my psychiatrist switched me to clonazepam in hopes that it would be longer acting and easier to get off of. I was taking 2 tablets of the 0.5mg during the day and 4 tablets at bedime. I have tapered from the 6 tablets per day to 2 tablets per day over the last 5 months. The taper has been difficult, we are stopping the taper now so that I can stabilize. It still is effective for me. I don't know if I will be able to get off of it.

I'm also on 3 antidepressants, a mood stabilizer, prazosin for nightmares and gabapentin for anxiety and sleep. I also have sleep apnea and shift work disorder. The Nuvigil for the shift work disorder helps, but makes me anxious. I am 56, and it seems to be getting more and more difficult to hold a full time job. I have had 4 sleep studies in the past 14 years. I have very little to no REM sleep. My brain waves when I sleep are like the brain waves you have when you are awake. The neurologist & psychiatrist believe it is a form of my hyper vigilance, as soon as I start to go into REM, it is a if my brain wakes me up. I hate this.
 
I tried the clonazapem for the first time this week to see if would help me sleep and it did not help me to relax it seemed. It is a .5 mg tablet and I took it along with my sleeping pill in hopes it would relieve anxiety around sleeping. Sleep deprivation is something I wish was not such a big part of my life.
 
I have to say that this is not a good medication to take for anxiety, sleep or anything else. In fact, don't take it unless you have no other options. There are other medications effective for these things. I am on this drug, yet again, and I wish I wasn't. There really is no practical difference between "dependence" & addiction for all practical purposes, all it means is you don't have a psychological dependence on the drug--which really doesn't matter when you are going through the hell of withdrawal.

The withdrawal, btw, is worse than coming off cocaine (done appropriately). Abrupt cessation can cause seizures, hallucinations & death. Dependence can occur within 2 weeks.

I could write 10 pages of the hell of coming off this drug in small increments.

One important thing to know is that if you use this drug for anxiety there is a rebound effect that occurs when you try to come off it--which is why many people don't. They think that their anxiety is worse because they aren't on the medication when in fact it is the opposite, withdrawal causes even more severe anxiety than the original anxiety that was being treated and this withdrawal symptom can last a year before the body is able to regulate itself again. I had terrible anxiety for a very long time, and I had no anxiety issues.

This is only a small portion of what this drug can do to you--there is a reason most doctors will not prescribe it any more.

1 mg = 20 mg valium

I have been on benzos since I was 5, and this particular one since I was 10. It took me 1.5 years to withdraw from it (3 mg), which is not unusual. It did not get easier with time. The side effects are so lousy I wish I never went back on it again, but I had no choice because it is the only drug that successfully treats my epilepsy--& was the last drug tried after all else failed. And my seizures came back.

I know I'm an unusual case but I am also uniquely qualified to understand the effects, short & long term of this drug, not to mention all the research I had to do in order to get off of it.

I would strongly recommend thinking carefully before you decide to use this drug, and do not just rely on your doctor to tell you it is okay, many don't know enough about it. Take a look at the Ashton manual, written by Dr. Heather Ashton, to get an idea of what you are in for unless you plan to be physiologically addicted to this for the rest of your life.

Many doctors will tell you that you can be tapered off in 6-8 weeks, which is usually not the case.

I would not wish this on any one, to be completely honest... Every one has to decide for them selves, but I think you need to be aware there are very real risks with this drug than to just take it thinking it isn't that bad, or if your doctor said so then it must be safe or appropriate.

At least if you decide to do it anyway, you will not be going in blind.
 
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