Search the Community

My pdoc recently swapped out alprazolam (Xanax) 1 mg 3x/day, which wasn't doing anything (neither anxiolysis nor sedation), for clonazepam (Klonopin) 1 mg 2x/day with an extra one as needed (up to 3 mg/day), which is sedating the crap out of me. It's helping the panic and anxiety! But it's also keeping me from functioning daily like I want to. I'm already on dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) 60 mg/day and armodafinil (Nuvigil) 200 mg, which I would think would offset the sedation, but it absolutely is not at all. Is there a solution to this situation? Back off on the dosage? Increase one of the stimulants? (Probably can't increase the dextroamphetamine because my doc won't go past the max dose...) Ride it out until I develop tolerance to the sedation?

Hi everyone So here's a little background: I have been taking Klonopin daily for 4+ years now. The dosage at first was 1mg a day, increased to 2mg a day, then 3mg a day, back down to 2mg. I was on 2mg a day for the majority of the time using Klonopin. At the beginning of 2018, I discussed with my psych that I want to VERY slowly taper off Klonopin completely, since I feel my anxiety and panic are not as bad as they were, especially with being on Prozac. He agreed, so we tapered very slowly. I would make 25% to 33% reductions every visit. So far I have made it down to 0.75mg a day. That's huge for me! My anxiety is still close to nonexistent, but I do worry about one thing. When I do eventually get off Klonopin completely, will my anxiety and panic come back even though I have been having mild symptoms from tapering that do, eventually go away? Looking for answers from people who have gotten off benzo daily use and successfully remained (mostly) anxiety-free. Thank you very much.

So I am currently following the Ashton manual taper schedule for getting off 4mg alprazolam a day and am between stage 5 and 6. I am on 1.5mg Xanax a day and 40mg Valium a day. Anyone else thing this is a high dosage of diazepam? Despite taking 40mg at once, I still don't feel much of any effects, no sedation or memory impairment, no memory loss or blackouts, no ataxia and no 'feeling high'. Is this abnormal for being on such a high dose of diazepam? The pharmacist literally was so hesitant to fill my monthly prescription for diazepam because it was for #120 tablets and said they've never seen someone prescribed such high dosage of diazepam. Pharmacist wanted to call my doctor first, but ended up filling it anyway after I showed her the Ashton taper schedule I was following. All the pharmacist asked was for me not to take it all at once, but my doctor said it was fine to take all 40mg at bedtime so that's what I do. Anyone else have experience using Valium to help taper off Xanax or other short acting benzodiazepines? It has been going surprisingly smooth so far, and I'm thankful I have a psychiatrist who is willing to allow me to take it at my own pace, giving me an extra week at the same dosage before decreasing the alprazolam. I am excited to get off Xanax but at the same time sad because of how much it helped. But I guess it's for the better because I wasn't using it as prescribed anyway. Would love to hear from anyone who has tapered off xanax, using a taper schedule or not.

I have had sleeping difficulties for quite some time now and I eventually posed to my psychiatrist today that I really would like something to help with sleep. I left with a script for 1mg of clonazepam. I just took it for sleep, he said to take it an hour before bedtime. I took Xanax for anxiety and paranoia, mainly during my depressive episodes but I've never taken any other benzo, and I've never taken it for sleep. He says to take it every night. Is it safe to use a benzodiazepine frequently on a regular basis?

Since tapering down to .75mg/day (properly with no withdrawal) I have noticed my dissosiation symptoms gradually become obstructive the past month. Resuming 1.5mg/day has made me realize how much the med helps; it is worth going to see the p-doctor every 3 months. I don't consider myself to be overly anxious or prone to panic, so tapering down is easy for me to do. I am glad that I went down from 3mg to 1.5, but lower than 1.5 is not enough to have a benefit for me at this time. Doctor told me sometimes the demand changes, and a lower dosage can be just as well.

So I've officially quit taking benzos (specifically Valium). I actually didn't mean to, I just ran out and didn't get around to refilling for a few days. I didn't feel addicted to them at all - took only to sleep at night and just the (relatively small) amount prescribed - but I guess my body got completely used to/ dependent on them, because day 2 and 3 felt awful. Crazy, intense headache, chest pain/heart burn, general aches, and the sort of irritability/ Mean Reds that aren't solved by Tiffany's and makes you want to set things on fire. According to Wikipedia, the withdrawal symptoms "even from low-dose use" lasts six to twelve months!!!! And I know it's just Wikipedia, but they have research to back that up, as well as research showing cognitive effects occurring in people who've only taken benzos for three months and those effects lasting more than a year! Anyway, this made me realize that I never want to take them again. I have enough problems with my brain, thank you, and being back in school I need every cognitive ability I can muster. I don't mean to put down benzo use, I wish they had helped more with social anxiety/paranoia/etc and think it might be worth it if they had, but the only thing I noticed (if I took during the day/eve) is that they lowered my alcohol tolerance quite a bit. Which brings me to my next reason to stay off them: lately my addictive side has been rearing its ugly head. I never abused benzos because I don't think they're fun. But I don't think they have helped with my drinking, which has become more of a problem recently, and I know there's a cross-tolerance between alcohol and benzos. So hopefully being off them will eventually help me to need drinking less. It's just crazy. The irritability, the headaches, the gut issues, the increased panic response to loud noises, the skin-crawling - it seems almost as bad as when I got off opiates years ago. It's so strange to go through all this for something I barely registered as a medication. Obviously I know it would have been better to taper down slowly, but as I said I didn't mean to quit taking them. Now that I have it seems silly to start again just to taper down, so I'm going (staying) cold turkey. I was just wondering if anyone else has quit benzos and has any advice? Or has more information on withdrawal and how long it might last?

As the title says really, why would lorazepam 1mg (3 per day) not help for either agitation or social anxiety. I'm completely new to benzos having previously tried loads of other meds. I was expecting the benzo to help me cope with social interaction but so far I've used a few times with no success at all. Today I tried a double dose (2mg) and still wasn't able to talk or ask questions in class and in the end I left early. The benzo was my doctors idea and a bit of a last resort option as everything else has failed to help with the agitation and anxiety. - I'm talking years of various therapies, antidepressants, meditation, exercise, etc. Maybe my expectations were too high but I feel quite disappointed right now and I'm not sure where to go from here. My Dr said go back in 1 month but I think I need someone different as lorazepam just isn't hitting the spot. Anyone else had similar experiences?

I am new here. I found this site when googling alternatives to xanax. Anywho.. I have depression. I am currently untreated and it has taken over my life the past year or so. I have within the past 3 months started to get panic attacks sometimes daily. I feel like someone is sitting on my chest or something in stuck in my throat and I want to explode like the hulk or cry until my eyes dry out. My doctor is not the best and the referral she gave for a shrink told me I am bi-polar, have poor impulse control, anxiety, and a whole laundry list of things..then tried to prescribe me enough medicine to knock out a bear for 6 months..I left and never went back 3 months later I got a letter from my insurance stating that place had been shut down. Now here we are over a year later and I need something done because I'm a hot mess. I want an anti-depressant which I'm going to ask for either zoloft (which I've taken and did good on) or prozac (which my doctor prefers to prescribe). My point of this long post is what do I ask for in regards to the panic attacks???? I'm pretty sure her go-to is xanax but I don't want it because I know a lot of people who got addicted to it. So pretty much what do you take for panic attacks??? What is good/bad/ugly???