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Hi, I smoked a good amount of weed like 15 years ago when I was younger and before I took any meds or was diagnosed with adhd. I’ve been taking Adderall for a few years or so, klonopin, and the ssri/snri has been changed a few times. I am doing good overall but I have a hard time relaxing to just watch a movie without sort of fidgeting or thinking of things to do, playing video games sometimes, and winding down at the end of the day. I have tried a little weed a couple of times in the last month and it helped. I don’t abuse my meds and I am looking for info on what other people have found that take the same or similar meds and use weed? Adderall XR - 25mg twice a day. (May go back down to 20mg) Cymbalta 60mg a day Klonopin is .5mg up to 4x a day, and I usually take 1mg in the earlier evening and then .5 or sometimes 1mg later at night when I can’t get to sleep. I don’t think I’d need as much klonopin if I smoked a little. I’ve read the stuff online and there’s not a ton of good info on mixing these; and I asked one doctor and they said some people do but they don’t suggest it and that it also can depend on when you use the weed. I’m in a state that has recreational use legal and I was looking at getting a medical card but the cost isn’t worth it as there’s no savings and it’s expensive.

So, I decided to make an account because I wanted to get some ideas about what I can do to stop some of the pain of Klonapon withdrawl. I am not a substance abuser and I was perscribed clonazepam since I was 12, right now I am on a .25mg taper I take once at night which has been a little over a month now, and I started at .5mg for about 10 months , I was on a higher dosage prier to that taking 10 mg for the rest of my earlier young life taking it. I am 22 now, and most of the symptoms now seem to be under control except throughout the day I still feel a rapid heart beat, though my bpm is 62 and my blood pressure is normal, I got blood tests done and an ekg, everything seemed fine there, so I was wondering if there are any non narcotic suppliments that do not interfer with the withdrawl recovery process, and things I can do to keep my head on straight about my issues+ things that help anxiety, I would also like to know how long I should be expecting to feel palputations? Thank you =)

I have been taking 1-2 Klonopins a day for a few years and prior to that more Ativan prn than Klonopin. Recently it seems all I have needed was 1 mg a day of Klonopin. I have also been wanting something shorter acting for prn use. So I proposed to my pdoc that we change my benzo script to 1 Klonopin every day and 1 Ativan as needed. So I get 90, 1 mg Klonopins and 60, 1 mg Ativans in a 90 day period.(I get 90 day fills on all meds except Schedule I I) Pdoc seemed to like this. It seems to be working fine.

Stupid,but was severely depressed, so took much clonazepam. Go to the ER or it will be ok?

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.

I was taking prozac for depression, .5mg klonopin daily for GAD, and lithium orotate for suicidal thoughts. I take rozerem at night for non24 sleep phase disorder. The prozac stopped working and so my pdoc switched me to lexapro but it made me exhausted all the time- i basically would sleep, wake up, eat a little, go back to sleep... after two weeks she’s switching me over to effexor instead. I am starting at the lowest dose, but I’m not sure when to take it- is this going to be a morning pill? right now i take the lithium and rozerem at bedtime, and was taking prozac, klonopin and then the lexapro in the morning. I switched to taking the lexapro at night when i relized how exhausted it was making me. still, i slept all day and night. so effexor- i’ve read enough to know it’s an snri, and it’s a bitch to climb back off of. and it can take up to a month to work? is there anything else about this combo i should know, or does anyone have experience with these meds together? i’m diagnosed with depression with psychotic features (since the 90s), general anxiety (past five years), non24 SPD, and chronic suicidal ideation. I know the non24 is the weird one, but I’ve found ways to set up my life/work schedule to manage it- i’m not sleep deprived. any thoughts would be great, i’m a relative newcomer to being medicated- i’ve only had access to a pdoc regularly dor the last three or four years, before that it was just urgent care or ER, random doctors trying to treat me.

Psych Dx: treatment resistant depression (major + persistent), generalized anxiety, adhd Psych Rx: bupropion 450 qd, buspirone 15 bid, adderall 20 am 10pm, clonazepam .5 prn Other Dx: celiac, gerd, vulvodynia/vulvar vestibulitis, oab, seasonal allergies, idiopathic chronic nausea, neuropathy, myalgia, & arthralgia Other Rx: myrbetriq 50 qd, pantoprozole 20 bid, topical estrogen qd, topical clobetasol prn, topical lidocaine prn OTC: mucinex 12-hour bid, vitamin D3 qd, fish oil qd, probiotic qd, zyrtec qd, nasacort qd, saline spray bid, melatonin prn Previous Psych Rx: seroquel, depakote, lamictal, remeron, trazadone, lithium, ambien, sonata, zyprexa, lexapro, prozac, temazepan, xanax, rozerem So I've clearly been on a lot of meds over the years (since first being put on seroquel in early 2013) partially because I was initially misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. I've been on my current cocktail for quite awhile, and I had been doing pretty well with my depression but it's gotten significantly worse lately due to some life events + unyielding chronic pain that has been getting worse for the last two years. For the neuropathy I tried gabapentin for several months and it did absolutely nothing. I've been suggested Lyrica (which even with my good insurance is still $100 a month or $200 for 3 months with a mail order pharmacy which is a lot more than I can reasonably afford) and Cymbalta. Does anyone with depression and/or neuropathy have any experience with taking Cymbalta and Wellbutrin together? The two SSRIs I've taken (lexapro & prozac) in the past both gave me severe gastrointestinal side effects and I wasn't able to stay on them long enough to see if they even helped. It would be great to have a cheap, generic drug improve my nerve pain and depression, but I'm nervous about trying another SSRI. I'm also fairly uncomfortable with the idea of going off bupropion, bc it's been pretty damn effective if not adequately so. Because when I wasn't on bupropion I was a MESS and I'm afraid of going back to that level of depressed. Also curious if anyone has any success with using any med, Cymbalta or otherwise, as an adjunct treatment for depression? I have recently gotten back to therapy so I'm hoping that will help some but it's hard to follow through on anything from my therapist (or from my physical therapists, doing anything besides going to work & sleeping) bc of executive dysfunction, constant fatigue, pretty severe anhedonia, general feeling of emptiness.

Is Klonopin the only benzo that doesn't cause problems with libido and ED? I've been on klonopin, xanax, and now valium, and both xanax and valium killed my sex drive but klonopin did not. Klonopin did make me more grouchy and irritable though and was less effective for anxiety. Xanax and valium also made it hard to get an erection while klonopin did not. Haven't tried ativan or any others.

Used to work great for me - I don't think I've developed a tolerance issue, because I've been taking this drug in the same dose range for years, and not always daily. Anyone else experience this?

Ok so I've been creeping around here for weeks now and finally decided I had to post something. I keep reading horror stories about klonopin quiting on me and all this awful stuff and that klonopin shouldn't be used everyday. However my doctor prescribed me 2mg to take Dailey which I've been doing but im worried about devolping tolerance and upping the dose. I hear that the anti anxiety effects take a long time to devolp tolerance to if it ever does happen. Is there any long term users who have been on klonopin daily? I really don't feel it effecting my anxiety but I've decided to work all the time to keep my mind off of it but I still can't get this fear of klonopin out of my head. I'm not abusing it I'm taking it as directed and the doc said I might be on it forever. I'm not too worried about staying on it if it's safe and I don't have a problem with coming off it slowly to avoid withdrawals when I'm stable. Sorry for rambling my question is basically why are there so many horror stories and has anybody taken it daily long term and been fine? And does the internet just hate benzos? I also just increased my citalopram to 40mg last week

I took Xanax and it made me sleepy without decreasing my anxiety. So we tried Ativan. After 4 days I was ready to kill myself in a VERY out of character manner. Luckily I recognized that it was due to the Ativan and sent the bottle to the box with all the other poisons I've tried that failed. Next, I tried taking a longer-acting one (Klonopin) and even that one has me fucked up the next day, albeit less-so. It's *almost* a solution in dire situations. Almost. But not. If I wasn't so fucking anxious I'd be less depressed. Or so I thought. Turns out the only energy I have is nervous energy, and when you take away my nervous energy I become a lump of human waste. Suicide starts to seem rational, not like a kneejerk reaction bourne of panic. I NEED anxiolytics to keep my job. I don't need them often, but they are very, very, very necessary when I do. Is there anything else anyone has had success with? Atarax does nothing but make me dangerously sleepy (it doesn't even help my allergies, which is its on-label use!...wtf) and Buspar gives me very bad headaches. Of course, marijuana helps, but we don't have licensing in my state yet and I don't count this as a solution because it's always a crapshoot when you get some. You don't know the potency, the ratios, the strain, etc. It is not a viable anxiety treatment at this point and I certainly cannot be taking that at work! Not until we get some dispensaries with very low THC strains. I mean, that's assuming we haven't started WWIII by then though.... Thanks.

Does anyone know if klonopin can cause joint pain? I recently switched from valium to klonopin in my cocktail and my joints hurt. My muscles also feel stiff and painful.

I have run the gammit for SNRI/SRIs in the last 18 years. Most I cannot tolerate. A year ago I started Lamictal for treatment resistant depression. I have depression and generalized anxiety. The Lamictal initially worked great for both! However, about 6 months into it my anxiety resurfaced. The anxiety is so bad that I have trouble driving/riding on the highway because I'm afraid we're going to have a terrible accident. I am in constant fear that something bad will happen to my loved ones or my pets. I have to check everything in my home 2-3 times because I'm terrified my house will be broken into. I've started exhibiting signs of OCD. I am in therapy. Since starting the Lamictal, I've tried Lexapro (nonstop headaches for 2 weeks that I just couldn't take it anymore), Neurontin (didn't work at all), Lyrica (up to 100 mg now-takes the edge off but not completely), Seroquel (made me so angry-like a total personality change and felt pressure in my chest) and propranolol (did nothing). My neurologist had suggested going back on Effexor for my migraine headaches. I took it for 9 months but it seemed to exacerbate my anxiety. I'm currently on 200 mg of Lamictal. I am super frustrated! I feel like my pshychiatrist is throwing meds at me & she's more or less told me we don't have a lot of options left and talked about compounds of Klonipin or herbal remedies. I guess my question is: should I start over from scratch? I've read others comments that said Lamictal caused them to have anxiety. Lamictal works for my depression but my anxiety tends to depress me because it just wears me out and I feel at the end of my rope! Or is there something else I can add? Ive tried: Zoloft, Paxil, Wellbutrin, Cymbalta, Lyrica, Neurontin, Seroquel, Propanolol, Lexapro, Effexor Please give me your thoughts!

Hi all. I am currently taking 1.5 mg Klonopin and 20 mg Lexapro daily for OCD. Both meds work really well. Although 'Special K' has lost it's efficacy after I inadvisedly attempted to taper last year. i couldn't handle the withdrawal symptoms and resumed at a higher dose. Now I really want to get off of K because I am concerned about long term affects, and my memory is now being afffected by the higher dose. But things go 'real bad' for me when I don't have a a potent benzo in my system. Up until now I had the view that even if K shortend my life, that the peace it brings makes it worth it. Now I am not so sure. Anyway, I am considering a much slower taper this time using the Ashton method. And I am pinning my sanity on the use of L-Theanine, an amino acid that calms me as well. The only problem there is that I have to take it every hour to maintain the effects. A thin tightrope to walk every day. Also, when I'm off K, it may not compensate enough. So.....I am wondering what other's experience is with L-Theanin eis. For those with sever OCD or anxiety, does it work well as a benzo substitute for you? Thanks.

I broke down and finally went through with it thoroughly to see a Tdoc then a Pdoc last year and since then have tried quite a few different meds for my Dx (see signature below). Just a few months back my Pdoc went on maternity leave (while I was just given the Buspar to try) and was assigned another Pdoc while she was away. When it was time to go back I went in and told him what issues I was having with the Buspar and he Rx'd me the Clonazepam (0.5mg 3x daily) to try. It did work for awhile. My regular Pdoc came back, she seen what I was on and pretty much said she didn't like the idea of anyone being on it & how it was addicting, etc. She asked me if it helped, I said "Yes" (was too afraid at the time to say that it worked well for awhile but not as much anymore in fear she would change it to some other Rx) and she also asked if it helped with my sleep as well, of which I said "No" (because it didn't) and she gave me the 15mg daily of the Mirtazapine for sleep. Found out that 15mg makes me way too groggy the next day, so I just take a sliver of it each night (probably a mg or 2) and it works great like that. But back to the main issue at hand, the Clonazepam... it worked for awhile but not-so much now, but I am afraid to bring it up to her. I don't know what I should say to her, I've just been telling myself that I'll go in and act like everything's hunky-dory and working great but I hate that I am feeling the way I do (luckily not as bad but still). What should I do?

Hi all— I started taking clonazepam for sleep and anxiety on Thursday evening. Today is Sunday. My current dosage is 1mg at bedtime. I am also on mirtazapine, 30mg at bedtime, for depression. On Friday I woke up feeling refreshed, as though I was alive again, after a full night of sleep. That same day I noticed what looked like a bug bug bite on my right cheek which I dismissed as such. On Saturday I had another bug bite under my right eye, again I brushed it off as a bug bite. But today I woke up with the same bites, this time a lot more red, tender, and itchy than the previous days. The right side of my face shows a clear rash starting over my eyebrow through the right side of my nose and finally descending to my right cheek with a splotch under my right eye. I don't feel any worse, nor have I had any changes in vision or anything else that warrants immediate attention. I've notified my doctor and I will be hearing back from him on Monday. Should I be worried? Has anyone else had a similar experience? I don't want to stop taking it because I don't want to stop sleeping again. I wonder if the rash will disappear as my body gets used to the medication. Any feedback is appreciated!

I have severe anxiety. I have been in the hospital for it. At times I cannot eat for days because of it. I break out into hives over it. I get panic attacks with a heart rate so high the doctors didn't think it was a panic attack until they could come up with no other answers. The burning chest, the panicked mind, etc. It hinders my everyday life more than my BPD, but no psychologist, therapists, or psychiatrists believe how severe it is. I have been prescribed Buspar which gave me bad muscles spasms and ticks that I could not control. Hydroxozine only puts me to sleep and only at the highest dose. Celexa and other antidepressents that are supposed to help anxiety as well only made it worse. I am pretty sure I was prescribed one other lower strength anti-anxiety medication, but it was a joke. Did absolutely nothing. When I was in the hospital, I was given Ativan, and it was the best thing in the world. It was fast, and it worked! It was only 1mg, but for some reason, it worked splendidly! The doctor wrote me a small prescription of Xanax only a 0.5mg which is supposed to be equivalent to 1mg of Ativan, however it did absolutely nothing and I threw the rest away with great disappointment. I have asked a few different psychs to prescribe me Ativan, even a small prescription for the worst of days at the lowest dose. They refused every single time because they said they would never prescribe me anything with addictive properties. I assume it is because of my daignosis or because I asked and are afraid of an addiction developing. I don't blame them for that, but that leaves me SOL considering nothing else has worked, and my life is suffering because of my anxiety. Someone recommended I ask a doctor about Klonopin. I am however, reluctant to see a doctor about it because I think I will probably just be rejected. I can only go see a general practitioner for it right now, and it is probably highly unlikely I will get it from her. I don't know that I want to waste my time just to be disappointed again. Has anyone had similar experiences where nothing else worked? Does Klonopin help any of you, and how does it compare to Ativan?

Well.... I found this site by searching "self harm kits", I just wanted to know what other people did, if it was common for people to carry around supplies with them or whatever. So now I'm here, reading about other people and their struggles. Relating and not relating, though still understanding. I think that maybe if I have an actual place to talk, a real place that I can have feedback on, then maybe I'll be able to resist hurting myself. Okay so actual info part: My name is Shane. I'm listed as agender on here but a more accurate term would be agender/transmasculine. I use He/Him pronouns but they/them is also okay. I'm 19, I'll be turning 20 in December. I've been dealing with self harm problems and MI for almost 8 years now. I'm also trans so that doesn't exactly help me in any way... Anyways, from the beginning now. In 6th grade I became friends with someone who is my best friend. At the time, he was self harming and I guess that's where I had gotten the idea to do it to myself but I don't blame him or anything, it's not his fault that I started to do the same thing. Though not as intense as him, he was actually cutting and giving himself eraser burns, I was doing no-bleed scratches with a bent paperclip. At the time, I didn't really understand why it helped, but it did. Sometime in junior high I tried to tell my mother that I was depressed and had been for a few years. I had scoured websites, taken quizzes, doubted I was mentally ill, retook quizzes, looked up symptoms. Everything was the same. I was depressed and I didn't want to feel this way. So I tried to tell my mom, she didn't think the same thing. She didn't think I had any reason to be depressed. Which of course made me feel worse because I knew there was no emotional/situational reason for me to be depressed, I just was and I couldn't stop it. So I continued to self harm. There were a few times when my mom had confronted me about the scratches on my arm and even a time when I had a huge bleeding scratch down my arm. (all in 8th grade). It wasn't until 11th grade that my mom actually took me in to see a doctor. I had to check off a list to see if I was actually depressed and I was prescribed medication (Fluoxetine and Xanax), it helped but not for long. Eventually it stopped working, so I stopped taking it (I know, I know). I again tried to tell my mom that the meds weren't working anymore. She just thought I wasn't taking them, of course I wasn't but they weren't working long before that. This last February (2015), I didn't quite try to kill myself. I was in college by then (second semester). I was in a campus library, downstairs, in an area I knew people didn't walk around a lot. I found myself a spot and had decided to take the bottle. I didn't. I was scared it wouldn't work, so anxiety took over and stopped me. I went home that night and cried in my mom's arms. I told her that I was scared and that I needed to be admitted. She was very hesitant to take me in. So I was in a mental hospital for about 2 weeks.I am now taking duloxetine and klonopin and trazodone. I attempted to kill myself by overdosing on trazodone a few months afterwards. My girlfriend forced me to throw them up. I still self harm. I don't think my meds are working anymore. So anyways. That's my story. Thanks for reading. 12 yrs - 17 yrs: sx- Depression, GAD 17 yrs - 19 yrs: Depression, Anxiety, sx-BPD 19 yrs - now: Depression, Panic Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder Also, on and off anorexia that hasn't be professionally diagnosed.... idk, I go through periods of not eating at all to completely binging myself out on food.

Though I came up surrounded by close family members who struggled with various mental illnesses, I wouldn't say I had an especially traumatic or even a really remarkable childhood, apart from the sporadic, sometimes episodic fireworks Crazy can bring. On the whole I had a pretty typical middle class upbringing, for which I am grateful. My older sister served as my introduction to the mysteries and miseries of mental illness. She suffered from Bipolar Disorder, and it was clear my parents despaired at her condition. There was much acting out, at least one suicide attempt that I am aware of, multiple stays at inpatient facilities, and an ever-changing cocktail of medications throughout her teens. She tapered off meds when she planned to start a family, and has done amazingly well without them. My younger sister struggles with panic disorder and more physical ailments than anyone her young age ought to be saddled with. My mother was a survivor of child abuse, and subsequent to the passing of her father when I was about 12, she suffered a series of psychotic breaks that led to the first of several inpatient hospitalizations, and a lifetime of profound treatment resistant MDD that continues to this day. Not only did she not perpetuate the cycle of abuse she suffered but I never even knew what she'd been through until I was much older. My father never (to my knowledge) sought treatment for any mental illness, and tended towards stoicism and emotional opaqueness. I suspect however that he suffered (or even suffers still) from depression -- at the very least. HIs siblings suffered from myriad mental maladies. His upbringing was somewhat of a mystery to me, as what remained of his immediate family were separated by geography. I believe he too was a survivor of child abuse, based on what I've gleaned from anecdotes. My older brother was a bit of a black sheep, and when youthful indiscretions of the self-medicating type became too much for my well-meaning folks to handle he was given an ultimatum and joined the armed services. He was stationed in South Korea, and I gather his self-medicating ways came along for the ride. Upon returning stateside he had a hard time reintegrating, finding stable work, and had to rely on the support of his family more than I think he would have liked. He was a very emotional person, and felt things very deeply. I imagine if I would have asked him for one word to describe himself he might have chosen "failure". That's certainly not how I would have described him, but he was the type of person for whom every setback might have seemed like the universe pointing a spindly celestial finger at the tip of his nose and proclaiming FUCK. YOU. By the time my brother killed himself with the sputtering exhaust of the sparkly brown hatchback my mother had given him, I was living my own kind of Crazy. Today, I find myself at a strange cross roads. I am happily married. Successful, especially considering I never finished college. I have more than my fair share of material possessions. I have family and friends whom I love, and who love me. As much as I curse those who use the phrase, I'm Blessed. And yet, I can't recall a time I felt more lost. You see, growing up as an insatiably curious child in a household surrounded by Crazy, and where both parents worked in the medical field. So I didn't just *live* with Crazy, I, in a sense, *studied* it. Psychology. Anatomy. Psychiatry. Biology. Pharmacology. And most especially *Psychopharmacology*. I was never under the illusion that reading medical texts would make me a doctor any more than reading cookbooks would make me a chef. But I found, and still find the subject phenomenally interesting. In the late 80's and early 90's before webforums, TV drug adverts, wikipedia, etc., it seemed physicians expected laypeople to know almost nothing about medicine, so much so, that if you knew even a little, and went in with talking points memorized, you were going to leave with whatever it was you came for (within reason). Maybe it's always been that way. But I certainly felt clever, and in retrospect maybe a part of the burgeoning vanguard that changed how pharmaceuticals are consumed. Modern medicine is so unabashedly, brazenly consumer driven, I doubt any clinician bats an eye when patients come in and know exactly what their diagnosis is, the name brand and dosage of the drug they want, and oh by the way I've already printed off my own coupon that makes my copay 3 dollars until the drug goes off patent in 2030. But back to my personal tale of medico-consumerism. 22 years ago, at about 14 years of age, I self-diagnosed myself with depression. PART II To Follow Later

So, Per doctor's orders, I was taking extra Klonopin yesterday to deal with my anxiety. Needless to say I had about 4mg, which I normally handle without too much trouble. However, I made the mistake of going out to dinner with a friend. I had two beers with dinner and whammo, the next thing I know I'm getting cited for public intoxication and have a court date set for next Thursday (fun!). So, I know it's been said before, but let this be yet another cautionary tale... do not mix your benzos with alcohol.

I started Klonopin about six weeks ago after attempting to live life off benzos for quite some time and ending up in the hospital several times for panic attacks. At first, Klonopin seemed to balance me quite nicely, but as time goes on it seems like the effects are getting stronger depending on the day and dose timing, and after a few days of consistent dosing I start I feel really out of it, like I took twice the dose I did. Has anyone experienced this? Could this be an interaction with anything I'm taking? (See signature)

I've been taking a small to moderate amount of Ativan since 2011. At first the scrip was for 30 1mg tabs a month, but that got tapered to 20 and then 15. So it's not like I'm taking it every day or anything. The problem is that it's only ever been moderately effective, and I often have to take 2mg instead of 1mg to get the appropriate anxiolytic effect. I've been reading the bipolar and other forums for a few months and seem to notice that the vast majority of bipolar people seem to prefer Klonopin over the other benzos. I myself have taken it a couple of times in the past and do recall that it had a better effect on me than the Ativan does. I'd like to ask my pdoc to switch from Ativan to Klonopin, but I'm afraid he's going to say it's because of tolerance buildup (which it isn't, it's always been this way) and won't want to do that for me. Is there a way I could couch this to him that would make it more likely he'd agree to the switch? In this day and age of addiction paranoia, I'm sure there's a right way and a wrong way to go about this.

Hello lovelies! So, some back story first. I'm a 22 year old female. Diagnosis history: Age 8: Anxiety/panic disorder Age 12: Depression Age 15: ADD Age 19: minor OCD During elementary school I dealt with very severe anxiety symptoms. I had frequent panic attacks, wasn't able to eat lunch in the school cafeteria, and I had separation anxiety from my mother. I was started on Paxil which helped. In middle school I was diagnosed with depression. I was taken off Paxil and prescribed 20mg Lexapro per day, which was later brought up to 40mg. I self-harmed mildly and infrequently for several years but quit on my own and without psychiatric intervention. I was on 40mg of Lexapro per day up until this past March. I felt that while it had my anxiety almost completely under control (it was at least very manageable most of the time) but I was lacking motivation for many day-to-day activities. I felt tired often and like I had no drive to do day-to-day tasks. At this point I was switched to fluoxetine (aka Prozac) 20 mg per day. I found that it made me feel much more agitated than the Lexapro, but I thought it was pretty manageable so I started taking it every other day (my own choice, I did not consult with a doctor on this). That was working fine until two weeks ago, when out of nowhere I started to experience very bad anxiety symptoms for the first time in a good ten years. It started somewhat mild, with restlessness and some agitation. Then, when I tried going to my job, I felt very trapped and anxious, nauseous, and generally very agitated. After that it gradually got worse and I was less and less able to leave the house. I felt light-headed, agitated, anxious, etc. I had some leftover Lexapro and called my psych's office to see if I could switch back to that. My primary psych doc is out of the office til late October so I just spoke with the nurse on call. I was switched back to Lexapro, 40 mg a day, immediately. The next two days my symptoms were worse and my mother drove up to my apartment and took me to the ER. The told me I'd taken too much Lexapro too soon and to cut the dose to 20mg per day for a week and see how I was feeling. Two days ago was the height of the severity of my symptoms. I started feeling pressure in my chest like I couldn't breathe, I thought I was going to pass out, and I was having severe muscle tremors constantly. I couldn't walk to the kitchen without having to shake my hands and arms and even my neck. I felt weak because I'd been shaking my legs so fiercely for so many hours overnight and hadn't slept. I was having severe nausea and repeatedly almost vomited, so I called an ambulance, worried I was experiencing severe serotonin syndrome or something. At the hospital I was given Ativan which calmed me down significantly and basically put me to sleep, since I hadn't gotten more than probably 3 hours of sleep in 48 hours. I was given an Ativan prescription, as well as Zofran for nausea. Yesterday I visited a psychologist at the same clinic where my primary psych doc usually sees me. He prescribed Ativan, .5mg twice daily as needed, and klonopin, .5mg twice daily as needed. He believes I do have some mild serotonin toxicity so I am now off of Lexapro and Fluoxetine. So here's where you guys come in! Have any of you had an experience like this? What helped? I'm currently feeling less anxious and less agitated, but still slightly uneasy. More prevalent is the fact that I can't stop wiggling my leg. If I start to feel worse I'll have to start shaking my hands or my head too. It's like I can't sit still and I'm extremely restless and need to keep moving, so my leg is constantly shaking. The klonopin and ativan seem to calm it down a bit, but not completely. Thoughts? I can't try to go back on the Lexapro for awhile because there's too much serotonin in me right now. (Doc said maybe a week off of it would be okay.) Some concerns: Klonopin and ativan really relax me, so I've just been in bed for two days, basically. I worry about worsening depression symptoms. What if this leg shaking doesn't go away? Have any of you dealt with increased motor movement from anxiety where you just can't stop moving one or more of your body parts? Any other stories, tips, input, advice, etc would be so greatly appreciated! I haven't been this unwell in many, many years and I wanted to reach out to a community like this one where I'd feel a little less alone in dealing with this. Thank you all so much, and I hope you're all doing well today.

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?

Dear Friends, I just started taking Klonopin (actually I take the generic!) and I can't find any reasonable-sounding information on what to expect. How quickly is this supposed to work? Do I need to wait weeks for it to start working? My prescription is 0.5 mg once a day, twice if needed. Took it this morning. No effect whatsoever. Also if any of you have taken klonopin please let me know how it worked for your anxiety? I know it affects us all differently but I would really appreciate any info you can share. Thanks.